Ten Minutes with Shoe Designer Angeline Tournier

Cross edgy glamour with a quirky sense of humour and you end up with London designer Angeline Tournier’s museum-worthy line of footwear under her Angeline Tournier London brand. From studded leather on cartoon-wrapped platform wedges to slick embossed leather tennis shoes that go just a touch girly with embroidered hearts, Angeline’s shoes are that perfect something extra to lift any outfit from ordinary to extraordinary. Her palette of metallics and pop art fluorescents is perfectly on trend while the elegant silhouettes mean these shoes will be closet favorites for a long while. Here’s ten minutes with the Matthew Williamson alum.

Oligoville: Tell us about your brand and how it is different from your competition.

ANGELINE TOURNIER: Our shoes are cute, with a twist. Our signature shoes are the cartoon wedge (exhibited at the Cartoon Museum in London) and leather heart metallic tennis shoes. They are comfortable to wear: the heels are not too high and the toes are rounded, and they come in sizes 5 to 13.
Oligoville: How did your career or interest in design begin?

ANGELINE: I loved shoes because I couldn’t buy any beautiful shoes in my size growing up. (I’m an 11.5.) I started off with a career i law, but after seven odd years, I finally followed my dream, left law, studied shoe making at the London College of Fashion (Cordwainers), then gained more experience by working for U.K. designer Matthew Williamson and in a shoe factory in London making Vivienne Westwood shoes.

Oligoville: What’s your design inspiration?

ANGELINE: Mainly color and texture and the leather itself. I visit Italy twice a  year to choose my leathers. I usually have an idea in my mind of what shoe I want to design for the following seasons, but often seeing and feeling the leather itself gives me new ideas on color combinations or a vision of an entirely new shoe. I don’t work the traditional way with mood boards and abstract inspiration. Designing is an ongoing process. I always think about shoes and how to improve them.

Oligoville: Describe a typical day for you.

ANGELINE: Running the business has now become a fairly smooth process. I have a production manager in Portugal who visits the factory daily to ensure my designs are interpreted correctly and the shoes are made on time. I speak with or e-mail her daily. With digital cameras, explaining small changes is easy. I spend every day receiving orders and dispatching them, plus doing all the business stuff and designing.

Oligoville: Describe your fashion style.

ANGELINE: Casual but stylish. I like wearing flats, for example, our metallic tennis shoes with jeans, a t-shirt, and an interestingly cut jacket from a small, London-based designer.

Oligoville: Tell us about some unexpected setbacks you have faced since starting your business and what you learned from that.

ANGELINE: I ordered far too much stock the first two seasons. (We work two seasons in advance.) I had to find more storage space, and was left with large quantities of some styles at the end of  the season, which I had to sell at very discounted rates.  Eventually I learned how to judge which might be the best selling styles, ordering more of those styles and smaller quantities of an experimental style.  Although sometimes I’m proved wrong! I also now know which sizes sell the best, and order greater quantities of those sizes.

Oligoville: What has been the most rewarding part of your career?

ANGELINE: Making something tangible, in contrast to drafting legal opinions. I also love working my own hours and for myself, and being able to raise a family and work.

Oligoville: Tell us where you expect to see your business in the next five years and some of the goals that you have for your brand.

ANGELINE: Keep on increasing sales and brand awareness.

Oligoville: What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

ANGELINE: You really have to love and believe in your product because there are hard times where only your self-belief gets you over a hurdle. You end up with more responsibility and work than when you’re just an employee. But you hopefully will be living your dream, or at least having a go at it.

Oligoville: What song never fails to make you happy?

ANGELINE: “California Dreaming” by The Mamas & the Papas, “F.E.A.R” by Ian Brown, and “Boom Shaka Laka” by Shaggy.