We'd like to introduce Emily King as June-July's Guest Editor.

Emily is a respected design historian and a mover and shaker in the London arts scene. At the moment she's spending most of her time in Lisbon, curating an exhibition as part of the forthcoming design biennale, Experimenta, which opens on the 28th September 2011 and runs for two months.

Operating economically (as do the entire hard-working and resourceful Experimenta team), my plan is to exploit Lisbon's fantastic resource of small, often quite eccentric museums and institutions. Taking a bunch of idiosyncratic collections - at the moment I am working with seven - I am going to lodge them for two months inside a handful of the city's finest hidden treasures. So far it's working beautifully, with all the potential host institutions lining up neatly along the route of the famous no.28 tram. From the geological museum at one end, to the decorative arts museum at the other, the trail runs from stone-age flints, to ancient Egyptian pharmaceutical equipment, through a Roman amphitheatre and into a heavily furnished formal salon. The matieral that I will be bringing to these places is yet to be finalised. Come to Lisbon this autumn and take a look!

Putting a collection of one kind inside that of another raises questions about acquisition, ordering and display, and how these activities shape our understanding of both the past and the present. This is an especially pointed exercise in Lisbon, where there seems to be a very particular sense of how things are gathered and shown. Walking through the city hunting down the perfect venue to exhibit this or that, I am constantly coming across sources of inspiration.

A well-known Lisbon favourite, on the shopping street Rua do Carmo, is the glove shop Luvaria Ulisses. Lodged in a space little bigger than its doorway, it displays the stock in neatly formed chevrons, women's gloves on the left, men's on the right. There is a sense of abundance and variety that belies the shop's tiny size.

Valeria is a leading collector of contemporary art, famed for her patronage of women artists.
She is one of London's favourite fashion icons.
She lets us in the Italian childhood experiences that led her to love exquisite accessories.

A passion: from mother to daughter

When Rupert asked me to be a guest editor for this page, I thought “he definitely found the right person”, as I LOVE shoes (and accessories) and I believe it is a passion passed on through generations. Almost inherited.

As a young girl in Italy I remember very vividly going shopping with my mother and my twin at the beginning of each season for the ONE pair of shoes that would stay with me and set my style for the season. We were allowed to choose only one (designer pair) and I was so excited about that one gift.  It was a defining moment for me, every season. I couldn’t wait.

What about now, what would you do if you had to choose just one pair of shoes for the whole season?

I grew up with the teaching that it is better to buy one beautiful and special thing (whatever that would be), instead of opting for many cheap ones. It is all about beautiful material, design and details.  About going for quality vs. quantity. 

I was told that quality lasts forever.

When I was a little girl, we had clothes made by my mother’s tailor. We would choose our fabrics and styles.  As little girls we received jewelry as presents, and we grew up having custom-made rings and bracelets by my mother’s jeweler. It was not just the fun of being creative through this experience, but also learning to be choosy. To be selective and particular, means to have a direction and I guess it is good in everything you do in life.  I try to pass this on to my little girl (and to my boys as well).

I have things in my wardrobe that have been there for years - it seems forever. The aspect of longevity in accessories especially, is key to me.

I love fashion and I follow it, but I mould it around me instead of the opposite. When shopping now, my choices are rarely dictated by the “fashion” of the moment. Instead I think in absolute terms “do I love it? Is it me?”.  I buy shoes every season but funnily enough, I often do not wear them until later on. Time passes by, they sit there for a while. And then, I rediscover them.  The thing about seasons and “in” or “out” of fashion does not really apply to me.

In Portofino wearing my mother’s friend high hill sandals

At home with my mother and twin and brother

Letizia (my girl) wearing mummy’s hat and sandals

I think I inherited all of this. I believe I have been taught my relationship with fashion and my love for beautiful things. I will certainly do this with Letizia, “the one-pair only” policy when shopping for the new season’s shoes with mummy.

Priya Sathyanarayan lives in North Carolina, United States.
Her swooning spirit, clever writing and great (shoe) style have won us over, and won her the competition to be Rupert Sanderson's guest editor in May.
Congratulations Priya!

Badaude is a writer and illustrator.

She produces a weekly column for the Times, and is publishing a book about London with the Tate in June.

Be a Guest Editor

To mark the re-launch of our website, we're giving Rupert Sanderson fans the chance to become one of our Guest Editors! We're inviting you to submit your own piece to us and the entry we love the most will be posted as our Guest Editor for the month of April and the writer will receive a pair of shoes of their choice. Compromising of photos, shots of stuff you love (or hate!), reviews, quotes and latest obsessions, we want to hear your story in no more than 500 words. The layout is pretty simple (have a look below): a photo of yourself accompanied by a mini biog – who you are, what you’ve done and what you do. This should be followed by some punchy prose on the subject that’s exciting you, peppered with snaps – phone pics etc. Get writing and email alex@rupertsanderson.com to submit your entry.

Alex Kotsias: PR Manager for Rupert Sanderson. Age: 26. Star Sign: Libra. Studied: Classics at Warwick University. Loves: The National Theatre, 6 Music, Primrose Hill, shoes (ahem).

 
It's all go in the Rupert Sanderson press office this month. Having just returned from the Paris shows and appointments (see pictures)...

...It’s now going to be non-stop for the next few months with new collection events, 10 year anniversary planning and celeb action! But that’s how we love it - especially the part where my assistant Lara and I get to road-test the new samples.

But I’m not here to simply fill you in on the whirlwind world of a fashion PR Manager – as the new News Editor of our site, I wanted to tell you a little bit about the ‘Guest Editor’ slot on our fabulously re-vamped website and invite you to make your own entry! So get writing and submit your work to be in with a chance of winning the position of Guest Editor as well as a brand new pair of Rupert Sanderson shoes!