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54 the buzz the buzz 55

I am meeting Lara for tea and cakes at Harvey Nichols today, and I feel a little underdressed. Lara is wearing a dark,

fitted boucle dress with structured shoulders, beautiful heels from her own range, and an indecent shade of red lipstick. I already want to be her best friend (imagine the perks!), and I definitely want to steal her ring. “It’s from my range,” she laughs.

The Slovenia-born designer has rocked the accessories world since launching her jewellery range in 1997.

Since then, the sought-after jeweller has worked with fashion greats including Gucci, Lanvin, Exte, Guy Laroche, Julien McDonald and Costume National, as well as being a design consultant to Cartier since 2001.

Hoarding an accolade of awards (including Jewellery Designer of the Year 2009), Lara originally studied Industrial and Graphic Design at the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts before moving to London in 1994 to take an MA in Jewellery and Metalwork.

In November 2009, Lara launched her range of shoes.

Describe the Lara Bohinc girlSomeone who likes good design and wants something unique.

What are your wardrobe staples?Lots and lots of shoes and accessories! I always wear jewellery and a wide belt. During the daytime I wear denim skirts in all shapes and colours, and I love white shirts with interesting detail and leather jackets.

If you had to give one piece of fashion advice, what would it be?What I find really bad is when I see girls on a night out and they walk around with bare feet and their shoes in their hand. My advice would be if you can’t wear heels, then don’t. Wear flats. If you wear heels you have to wear them all night.

What are your must have beauty products?I love Shu Uemura because they mix groundbreaking technology with old Japanese wisdom. I really like that.

What first got you interested in jewellery?It all comes from when I was very little. I was always going through my mother’s wardrobe and the treasures in her jewellery box. From

then I got a bake-in-the-oven jewellery kit, and it developed. I always wanted to do many things with design, I didn’t know if I wanted to be an architect, a designer or make jewellery, ceramics or glass. I had so many ideas of how to design everything!

How does your experience and training in jewellery design and metalwork translate into shoes?With my shoes, I wanted something reasonably comfortable with great style that fits into what my brand is about. They’re not flats, you can’t wear them to the gym, but I wear heels all the time and wanted a pair I could wear all day and through to the evening.

What inspired you to design a range of shoes?Shoes were always the plan. I was just waiting for the right moment.

Why now?Because of the recession, most brands are scaling back, I wanted to do the opposite and push forward.

Which celebrities would you most love to see in your shoes? I’m not obsessed with celebrity, it doesn’t mean that much to me. Celebrities have stylists and are

told what to buy or what to wear, I find individuals who choose my pieces and how they wear them much more interesting.

Lara Bohinc is available at Harvey Nichols.

Words: Jenny Boden

From bake-in-the-oven jewellery to her first range of luxury goatskin heels, rising star Lara Bohinc talks to the buzz

In Her

Shoes