Melbourne celebrity stylist Lana Wilkinson launches her debut shoe collection

When celebrity stylist Lana Wilkinson racked up a designer shoe bill of $8000 in a month so she could dress her A-list clients in peak party season, she knew she had to rethink more than just the maths. She decided to start her own business and paint the town patent pink – one fabulous stiletto at a time.

Wilkinson, who lives in Melbourne’s western suburbs with her husband Liam and their two daughters, made a name for herself as a stylist to some of the most high-profile WAGs including Rebecca Judd and Nadia Bartel.

It helped that they were friends, but it also led to plenty of styling work that wooed everyone from Zoe Foster-Blake to Megan Gale and Nicole Warne Shadbolt (that’s @nicolewarne on Instagram – 1.7 million followers and counting) in 2014.

Wilkinson’s namesake shoe label has launched with nine new styles for spring/summer a month ago. There are kitten-heels and slingbacks for those who don’t fancy a towering stiletto, too. She’s got red-carpet-ready looks aplenty, and heels for your next milestone celebration – endorsed by her favourite Melbourne girl gang.

“I felt there was a gap in the market for reasonably priced and good quality dress shoes when I was styling,” she says of her epiphany.

“Everything I liked was a high-end designer and they were simply too much to pay all the time. I also couldn’t get samples of everything I liked when I needed product in bulk, so I would end up buying shoes and they’re still there in my archives.

“I also didn’t want to run samples back and forth either.”

Wilkinson’s mission to find fun, flirty shoes that don’t cost the earth saw her jot a business plan, find manufacturers in China and plot her business journey by asking friends who worked in footwear manufacturing and retail.

“It helped [that] I had people I could bounce ideas off, but ultimately the decision was mine and I had to make the leap of faith. If I was going to do this it had to be done properly,” she says.

The heels are named after friends on Melbourne’s social scene; among them Lorinska (Merrington, Yummy Mummies reality TV star), Jade (Kisnorbo, make-up artist), Bec (Judd) and Nadia (Bartel), and designed with party feet in mind.

“I’m all about bold colours. I am not really into nude or black shoes. I also love metallic so that’s what you’ll find in my collection,” she says.

“The shoes also had to be comfortable, I had to source the right leathers; the finishing had to be spot on and the quality had to amazing. I had all these boxes to tick. I wasn’t going to put my name to something that wasn’t quality or up to my standard.”

Wilkinson, who had a part-time job working with her father in his dry-cleaning firm in her early 20s, got a taste for fashion early and also knew the hard work involved in running your own business by watching him in action.

“A lot of people spend a lot of time talking about starting their own business, but not only did I talk about it, I made it happen,” she smiles.

And she wouldn’t have done so without the encouragement and support of her husband, family and friends.

“For me it’s about something coming to fruition. I would rather try and fail than not try at all. I always want to keep challenging myself.”

lanawilkinson.com

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