RARITY: From Soil to Sole, Black Women Reshaping the Shoe Design Industry [Fashion Editorial]

Amongst the zeitgeist of fashion footwear live emerging designers, with hidden talents that are slowly being revealed to the mainstream world. Whilst keeping innovation and creativity alive in women’s footwear, Black female shoe designers remain some of the most underrepresented professionals in the industry, with little information on how many of them exist, let alone are successful. One of these promising talents is North London-born artist and shoe designer Tomi Agape, who launched her womenswear brand “Guapé” in 2024.

MARIANA wears Giovanni Ciani, LAGWORLD, and Guape Studio

CREDITS

Creative Director & Stylist: Sheldon Da Cr8tor

Photographer & Retoucher: Tallulah Ballard

3D Artist & Retoucher: Elisabeth Bolshinsky

Co- Stylist: Francesca Thompson

Make up Artist: Simmi Virdee

Assistant Make-up Artist: Mollie Merrifield

Models: Mariana Jaguite, Priscilla Anyabu, Tomi Agape, Gelmira Fortunato Manico

Production Runner: Ramona Olivia Oppong

Special thanks: @guapestudio + @ambedogreens

Citing some of her favourite shoe designers, including vintage Manolo Blahnik heels as well as Roberto Cavalli and Ferragamo, Tomi Agape began her strides in footwear following the acclaim of her budding music career. “I’m an artist first”, she explained, “I didn’t even think my reception would be this good!” adding that the positive response her work received was a major surprise considering her diversion into fashion. Guapé shoes have already trodden iconic ground, covering the soles of notable figures in entertainment such as the esteemed Nigerian songstress Tiwa Savage, upcoming Lagosian artist Deela, and influential presenter Priscilla Anyabu. “Even though I’m from London, it’s people from all over the place who love the designs,” the creator detailed, expressing the potential marketability of this niche field in fashion.

PRISCILLA wears Nusra.N, XHENXHEN, Celeste Jewellery UK, and Guape Studio

Contemporarily, the few Black female designers who do choose to pursue this untapped market end up representing the even smaller population that get their “big break”, including Aminah Abdul Jilil of “Aminah Abdul Jilil”, Diana Dube of “By Dose,” and Jessica Rich of “Jessica Rich.” But Agape does not believe that this filtration of minimal Black talents into the wider fashion landscape is necessary or desirable, stating, “You don’t have to wait for there to be 30 others or 40 others - if you feel like you can do it, just try.” Urging aspiring Black designers to take on these challenges, she mentioned that the pressures that fall onto Black women are factors to acknowledge and overcome when building a brand, claiming, “you have to be extremely tenacious. Try and figure out what you want your brand identity to be for your shoes. Know why you’re here. It’s not about them.” It’s no secret that the fashion industry has enabled gender exclusivity by default, with the employment of creative directors and artistic directors being primarily White and male, yet, artists such as Tomi are bracing themselves for this reality by maintaining resilient attitudes and accepting that “as a woman, you have to go a bit harder and have tough skin.”

GELMIRA wears SLXW, AEM Designs, IVYJ Studio, Celeste Jewellery UK, and Guape Studio

With new releases for the brand incoming, such as a pony-hair cowhide thong-toe boot, Guapé is being developed to set the tone for more emerging designers and prompt them to push themselves beyond the stereotypical portrayals of womenswear and footwear designers, who are primarily cisgender men. Focused on propelling her brand to the top, amongst the legendary names that inspired her, Tomi Agape encourages other Black women to pursue this career, believing that “the more of us that do it, the more others will think ‘Oh! Let me do that too!” Recognising the growing number of Black women in apparel recently, she compared the footwear industry’s potential to clothing and highlighted “how many clothing brands there are [that are] owned by women - shoes should be the same.” Agape’s mission to destabilise the current reality that Black women shoe designers are a rarity begins with her own collections, as she discussed what she thought the future of shoe design could be with more inclusion of talents like herself, admitting that “I’m hoping that it gets to a point where there are so many of us that we cannot be denied.”

TOMI wears Kaydm Freud and Guape Studio