Step Up Your Style with Paul Stuart

FASHION&DESIGN

IMAGE COURTESY OF PAUL STUART

Step Up Your Style With Paul Stuart

Javier Suarez joins Paul Stuart brand as new shoes and belts creative director.

BY JOESPH PASTRANA

Of all the accessories in menswear, only one item is able to stand apart from an ensemble. A tie or pocket square, for instance, can serve as the perfect finishing touch or provide an unexpected splash of color. But depending on the suit or outfit, it may otherwise simply blend in unnoticed. Footwear, on the other hand, conveys style all on its own. And it has the power to just as easily make or break any look. This simple fact was precisely what everyone at Paul Stuart realized when they decided it was time to upgrade its accessories division with exceptional footwear. In late 2021, the company found the right person for the job when it appointed Javier Suarez as shoes and belts creative director for the brand.

Among only a handful of American menswear labels truly respected by discriminating gentlemen, Paul Stuart was established just prior to WWII with a store that today still stands at the same corner of Madison Avenue it has occupied for over eighty years. Its array of signature custom tailored, made-to-measure, or readyto-wear clothing, sportswear, as well as the “younger” Phineas Cole” collection is overseen by creative director Ralph Auriemma. He has set the tone for his collections by combining Savile Row, Old Hollywood and a distinct New York vibe to create timeless American classics with contemporary sophistication. The brand takes pride in crafting each item with utmost precision from the finest of materials to truly reflect the lifestyles of the modern men.

Suarez is a perfect fit in this rarefied environment, having started out at Bally of Switzerland and working close to three decades launching and developing the men’s shoe business for Salvatore Ferragamo. According to Suarez, his career in footwear was, “Perhaps both by chance and design. My appetite for style and fashion may directly be attributed to my parents who had the resources, eye, and taste for design and quality in their lives. In particular, my dad, who died very young, left behind trunks of custom-made suits, shirts, and shoes, which I would rummage through to admire and imagine wearing. Years later as my own fashion taste evolved, shoes always played a key role. I had landed work in a luxury shoes and leather goods store on East 54th and Park Avenue. But my mother sensed I had not yet formed a clear career path and advised me to ‘specialize in something’. I did! Once I stepped into that shop I just never looked back. As I advanced my career in merchandising, creation, and product development; footwear fed my natural interests in design, engineering, and business.”

After leaving Ferragamo, he continued, “I became a bit bored and restless. I searched for an opportunity to utilize my creative and production skills closer to home.” And he found his new home at Paul Stuart. Suarez explains further, “Throughout my career, I have focused on capturing the essence of the lifestyle of my customers. Being a New Yorker, I knew and shopped Paul Stuart. It has such an iconic and personal familiarity to me. The fresh, impeccable quality, and prestige of the brand was to me a source of inspiration. My aim was to create a wardrobe of exclusive shoes that would carry the customer from workday to weekend to any formal occasion.”

To accomplish this, his designs are coordinated with the menswear. He says, “Ralph does a fantastic job with seasonal storyboards, color cards, and materials that from day one served as a perfect roadmap to the brand. He sets the mood and image of the clothing. But it’s not a matter of simply matching the footwear with the garments. As a crucial and distinctive accessory, footwear holds a feature role in any look perhaps beyond just compatibility. Shoes are many times the protagonists, for better or for worse, that can either enhance or serve as a counterpoint.”

The new loafer collection epitomizes fine craftsmanship and comfort in suedes and leathers to complement trousers or relaxed pants for business casual environments such as meeting with colleagues or a night out with friends. “It’s a very adaptable, casual dress shoe,” says Suarez. The Penny with a beef roll in handsewn leather comes in brown and navy leather and camel suede retails for $675. The Mason, available in coral suede along with the traditional black, brown, and tan tumbled leather with contrast stitching on a leather sole, is $595.

And no footwear wardrobe is complete without a truly standout pair of sneakers. This season the slip-on takes over and the new styles are reimagined in blue tumbled calfskin and tan suede. Made in Italy, they retail for $350. Traditional lace-ups come in pine green and Bordeaux suede for $325 while classic lace-up sneakers in orange, teal green, white leather, and blue denim retail for $495.

Suarez contends that the direction in today’s men’s wear surrounds the idea of innovation. “This season, fashionably relaxed footwear styles are important additions to a well-dressed men’s footwear wardrobe. Our collection delivers luxurious leathers, suedes, raffias, and shearlings paired with comfort details like an ergonomic footbed in the sandals. It’s a true feel-good collection that exemplifies what we are known for at Paul Stuart.” And unlike larger footwear companies that rely on factory machines, Javier prefers the artisanal families in Italy to turn his designs into reality. He says, “The strength of Italian production is the revered tradition of craftsmanship that individual craftsmen and even entire families have been practicing for generations!”

Suarez concludes, “We’re so thrilled that as a destination for fine tailoring Paul Stuart now provides footwear in these sumptuous antique calf, grain leathers, and sophisticated suede colors that make them truly the ideal match with the lavishly textured materials and colors of our tailored clothing and sportswear.”

JOSEPH PASTRANA is a New York-based fashion journalist, public relations consultant, and the author of the nonfiction fashion must-read “Homespun - True Tales of Tweed”. His extensive professional experience encompasses working with a wide range of fashion, beauty and luxury lifestyle brands. He was previously fashion director for trade publication MetroStyle for which he covered seasonal Fashion Weeks in New York, Paris and Milan, and has written profiles and reviews on designers and collections including Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Bill Blass, Van Cleef & Arpels along with stories on Saks Fifth Ave, Sotheby’s, Louis Vuitton, Patek Philippe and many others. Today, he is aff iliated with Mannfolk PR in publicity and brand development projects while continuing to cover fashion, art, interior design and luxury. He is also currently working on his next book for literary imprint house Thane & Prose.