Paraboot has invited the French artist Garance Vallée to rework its iconic CHAMBORD model into a brand new, original design. This collaboration showcases the body’s place in space which is omnipresent in her approach.

The artist took this pair of smart, timeless Derby shoes and turned them into a model she could wear for all her everyday activities and travels, as well as in her workshop. Bringing architecture, art and design together, she worked on the shape and materials of this pair of shoes to create new, organic lines as well as curves and counter-curves. By assembling pieces of leather in various different tints and grains, she creates a harmonious effect based on the natural, earthy shades that feature in all her paintings, like an extension of her pictorial world. In an understated style, the CHAMBORD is transformed into a patchwork of leather insets that form a living body, a second skin tailored to our contemporary lifestyles and travels.

With her words, Garance Vallée traces the history of this collaboration:

« For this collaboration, I looked for a model of shoes that suited my lifestyle which alternates between work and the workshop.

This is the pair I build in,
This is the pair I deconstruct in,
This is the pair I sculpt in,
This is the pair I dance in,
This is the pair I think in,
This is the pair I stay out late in,
This is the pair I pound the city streets in,
This is the pair I paint in.

Chambord is a Derby shoe that’s smart but also boasts a hybrid, timeless, golf-inspired style that transcends cultures, worlds and lifestyles.

As in my art, I have tried to build bridges between disciplines, to bring architecture, art and design together in order to explore new relationships between people, their bodies and space.

A pair of shoes with organic lines appearing to create movement, bringing them to life. I wanted the object to become the subject.

An idea becomes a gesture. An uncontrolled gesture. A happy accident.

Like when a drop of paint falls onto the shoe, spreads out and forms an unexpected splash of colour on my foot. That’s the idea. A motion that is frozen in time.

An uncontrolled gesture born out of a defined shape. »

Paraboot x Garance Vallée