Latest news with #Christen
Observer
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Observer
Those ugly shoes? She'll make you love them
In late 2018, a seismic shift took place in footwear — an epochal moment that now feels like a lifetime ago in fashion. Daniel Lee's debut collection for Bottega Veneta broke the mould, introducing shoes that seemed almost revolutionary. Square-toed clunkers — sandals characterised by exaggerated, spatula-like soles that jutted out beneath the foot — and pumps with bulbous, stubby toes made their debut at fashion month. At first glance, they appeared hideous, almost grotesque; their unconventional shapes challenged notions of beauty and tradition. However, within months, these shoes became a culture-shift phenomenon. They appeared on the feet of nearly every celebrity, editor, influencer and luxury insider. Retailers such as Vince Camuto and Shein swiftly produced their own versions — dupes — of the viral Lido sandal, a simple slide with an enormous, blown-up interpretation of Bottega's signature intrecciato woven leather. The designer behind these provocative shoes is Nina Christen, a Swiss shoe designer whose distinct vision played a crucial role. 'It's funny what you can make people wear if you do it the right way,' she reflected. For over a decade, Christen's influence has subtly shaped contemporary shoe design, her work sinking into the industry's subconscious, trickling from luxury houses to streetwear. She has collaborated with Phoebe Philo at Celine, Jonathan Anderson at Loewe, and the Olsen twins at The Row. Last month, Anderson appointed her as the design director of shoes at Christian Dior — an ambitious role and one of the most coveted in fashion today. Yet, Christen continues to pursue her independent vision simultaneously. In 2022, she launched her own brand — Christen — a move born partly from frustration. She explained that her designs for other houses represented her taste, her perspective, 'but they were never 100% myself.' Her opportunity arose when she met Paul Dupuy, an entrepreneur who co-founded Zoi, a health-tech start-up focused on longevity. Christen had designed uniforms for Zoi's staff and clients, and Dupuy was so impressed he offered to help her create her own label. His familiarity with industry insiders, thanks to his mother's fashion background and his network, helped turn her idea into raised $5 million in capital and took charge of logistics, including planning a store in Paris scheduled for 2026. Christen already possessed a comprehensive vision: beyond footwear, she dreamed of perfect Japanese denim jeans, a leather jacket, and fine jewellery — her debut piece being a diamond toe ring. Every detail was mapped out — the packaging, branding, logo and market positioning. Her shoes are produced in Italy by the same factories that serve luxury brands, ensuring impeccable craftsmanship. Price points ranging from $1,100 to $3,650 reflect her commitment to quality and her desire to compete at the highest level. In late June, Christen's Paris studio offered an intimate peek into her universe. The raw cement floor was set with more than 30 of her designs, arranged in a carefully curated grid. Among these, styles from Loewe's spring 2023 runway stood out: cartoonish, fantastical creations — pumps embroidered with deflated white balloons, sandals blooming with hyper-realistic anthuriums, and red rubber pumps resembling Minnie Mouse. Christen was candid: 'You can't wear this for more than two hours. But Jonathan Anderson was very open to ideas that crossed the line between art and fashion.' She has a profound love for the geometry of shapes. 'When I think about toe shapes, it's all about the square, rectangle, circle, oval,' she said. 'What is the degree?' She wore a pair of pure white sandals that left most of her foot exposed, seamlessly bisected by a single strip of leather that ran through the big and second toes — like a strand of floss. The sole was thin, elongated, almost oversized beneath the toes. 'It's about creating things we're not used to yet,' Christen explained. 'When I make something and I don't know if I like it — that's often a good sign.' Her work is driven by experimentation — she strives to redefine norms and challenge perceptions of beauty. She finds inspiration in the mundane, the ugly, even orthopaedic shoes — everyday items that, through her lens, become something more intriguing. Her biggest seller after the first year? A grandpa-style slip-on boot lined with goat shearling. 'Once you wear them,' she says, 'you can't wear anything else.' Her designs highlight the power of the everyday, transforming the familiar into avant-garde statements. — NYT
The Star
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
She made fashion's weirdest footwear, now she's design director of shoes at Dior
Back in late 2018, a lifetime ago in fashion, a radical shift happened in footwear. Square-toed clunkers – sandals defined by exaggerated, spatula-like soles that jutted out from under the foot and pumps with bulbous stubbed toes – were shown in Daniel Lee's first collection for Bottega Veneta. At first sight, the shoes were hideous. Within months, they were on the feet of nearly every celebrity, editor, influencer and luxury VIC in the land. Retailers like Vince Camuto and Shein promptly issued dupes of the popular Lido sandal, a simple slide in a blown-up interpretation of Bottega's signature intrecciato woven leather. Lyst declared them the 'hottest shoes in the world' in 2019. 'It's funny what you can make people wear in fashion if it's done the right way,' said Nina Christen, the Swiss shoe designer responsible for the Lido. Christen's distinctive touch has quite literally been all over some of the most influential shoe design trickling down from luxury houses for the better part of the past decade. She has worked for Phoebe Philo at Celine, Jonathan Anderson at Loewe, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen at the Row and Lee at Bottega Veneta. Last month, Anderson hired Christen as the design director of shoes at Christian Dior. It's one of the biggest jobs in fashion right now, and she is balancing it with a moonlighting gig, too. Read more: Era of the Frankenshoes: Why are hybrid footwear becoming so fashionable? Last year, Christen introduced her eponymous independent shoe brand. The first pure expression of her design identity came partly out of frustration. The shoes she designed for other brands were her taste, her take, she said, but they were never 100% herself. Opportunity arose when she met Paul Dupuy, an entrepreneur and a founder of Zoi, a health-tech company in the longevity space. Christen designed uniforms for Zoi's staff and clients, and Dupuy was so impressed that he offered to help her start her own brand. His mother was a fashion designer, and he has friends in the industry. He got it. 'When she told me she designed shoes for Loewe and Bottega, I was like: 'OK. This is solid,'' Dupuy said. Christen already had a complete vision for a brand beyond shoes: the perfect pair of Japanese denim jeans, the perfect leather jacket, even fine jewellery, the first piece of which is a diamond toe ring. All are prototyped and planned. She had the packaging, branding, logo and positioning in mind. Dupuy raised US$5mil (approximately RM63.6mil) in capital and helps with business logistics, including with the planning of a store in Paris slated for 2026. Christen shoes are produced in Italy by the same factories and specialists that work with big luxury brands. The prices – US$1,100 to US$3,650 (RM4,668 to RM15,485) – reflect Christen's uncompromising production standards and ambition to compete at the highest level. On a morning in late June, the raw cement floor of the studio below Christen's apartment in Paris was set with more than 30 examples of her designs arranged in a neatly art-directed grid. Three styles from Loewe's Spring/Summer 2023 runway collection stood out for their cartoonish, fantastical qualities. There were pumps embroidered with an explosion of deflated white balloons and sandals abloom with a giant, hyper-realistic anthurium. Red rubber pumps that looked fit for Minnie Mouse were particularly complicated. 'You can't wear this for more than two hours,' Christen said of the pumps. 'But Jonathan Anderson was very open to ideas that really crossed the line between art and fashion.' By comparison, the styles on display by Christen's brand appeared compact, sexy and razor-sharp. 'I love the space of geometric shapes,' Christen said, surveying the body of work at her feet. 'When I think of toe shapes, for example, it's all about that. Is it a square? Is it rectangle? Is it a circle? Is it oval? What is the degree?' Dozens of Nina Christen's shoe designs – Bottega Veneta, Loewe and Celine, among them – arranged in a grid in her home studio in Paris. Photo: The New York Times She wore a pair of white sandals by her brand that left the foot nearly naked, bisecting it with a single strip of leather like a strand of floss through the big and second toes. The sole was thin and slightly elongated under the toes, like an insole that was a size too big. The proportions of the shoes varied wildly, but a common thread was a certain offness. Christen thinks a lot about redefining standards. 'It's about creating things we are not used to yet,' she said. 'When I make something and I don't know if I like it, that's always a good sign.' Christen, 40, grew up in Bern, Switzerland, in her own words, 'obsessed with fashion without an explanation'. 'It was just in me,' she added. There she studied technical tailoring and pattern-making and practiced on the 'normal' garments she prefers to wear in her personal life. She never dreamed of being a shoe designer. Finding Switzerland to be a fashion void, she moved to Paris. While completing a master's degree at Institut Francais De La Mode, a shoe design workshop liberated her. 'I realised I could do all kinds of crazy things,' she said. Christen met Lee in 2017 when they were working for Phoebe Philo at Celine. Before that, Christen did the rounds consulting for less elite players, including Marimekko and H&M. Consulting for the traditional French rubber boot brand Aigle proved to be one of her most formative gigs. Read more: Jane Birkin's original Hermes bag sold for over RM42mil in an intense auction The platform rubber boots she designed for Philo's last collections at Celine, and subsequently the viral Bottega Veneta Puddle Boot introduced in 2020, were directly descended from what Christen learned at Aigle. 'I thought, 'Why not make it fashion?'' she said. 'Working with Nina was a special collaboration,' said Lee, who has been the creative director of Burberry since 2022. 'She's a designer that understands precision and refinement.' Rather than reference the work of a specific artist or architect, Christen draws from the worlds of science and spirituality. She cited CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, as a source of inspiration, the tangible effect of which is difficult to explain. 'It's more that I like to think about things that are impossible,' she said. 'From drawing shoes to the reality, there is this huge gap of things that you can do, things that you cannot do. I enjoy finding a way to do new things.' The power of the mundane, even the ugly, courses through Christen's work. 'Every day I see normal people wearing extremely interesting things that have nothing really to do with fashion,' she said. Orthopedic shoes for the elderly have been good source material. After Christen's first year in business, its most popular shoe is a grandpa-style slip-on bootee lined in goat shearling. As Christen said, 'Once you wear them, you cannot wear anything else.' – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Time of India
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Jared Goff and wife Christen Harper celebrates birth of baby girl — Meet Romy Isabelle Goff
Jared Goff and wife Christen Harper welcome baby girl (Getty Images) Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff is entering a new and more personal chapter of his life — fatherhood. Goff and his wife, Christen Harper, joyfully welcomed their first child, a daughter named Romy Isabelle Goff. The couple shared the heartwarming news on Instagram with a series of black-and-white photographs, showcasing tender family moments. Their announcement, just weeks before the start of NFL training camp, has captured the attention of both fans and fellow NFL families. Jared Goff's fatherhood journey begins as wife Christen Harper delivers baby girl ahead of NFL season In a coordinated Instagram post on Tuesday, Jared and Christen introduced baby Romy to the world. The post included intimate moments — a tiny newborn hand clutching Christen's finger, Jared cradling his daughter, and the new family of three sharing a peaceful moment in bed. Jared proudly wore a "Girl Dad" hat, already embracing his new role. Christen, overcome with emotion, shared in her Instagram Story, "Heart is bursting into a million pieces!!!!!" The background song she chose, 'Green Eyes' by Coldplay, subtly hinted at one of Romy's features, adding an extra personal touch to the reveal. Although they kept the exact birth date under wraps, the couple's joy was unmistakable. NFL WAGs and friends rushed to the comments with congratulatory notes. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Is it legal? How to get Internet without paying a subscription? Techno Mag Learn More Undo Olivia Culpo, who recently welcomed a baby with 49ers star Christian McCaffrey, wrote, 'Congratulations!!!' Camille Kostek, longtime girlfriend of Rob Gronkowski, added, 'My heart 🥹🫶🏼 I love you guys and baby Romy 🎀.' Anna Kupp, wife of Cooper Kupp, also shared, 'The most precious gift. So happy for you both! 🤍' A journey of love, milestones, and fatherhood dreams fulfilled The couple's love story began in 2019 after meeting through the exclusive dating app Raya. Jared proposed in 2022 during a getaway with friends, and the two tied the knot in a scenic Ojai, California wedding on June 22, 2024. Just months later, their dream of starting a family became reality. Back in February, the pair revealed to PEOPLE during the NFL Honors that they were expecting. Jared shared, 'I'm looking forward to becoming a dad,' while Christen added, 'We're just excited to enjoy this special time together and just soak up every second.' Goff had long envisioned himself as a father. 'I've always dreamt of becoming a dad. Now that it's real, I know it'll add a new perspective to life, and it'll be great,' he told PEOPLE. As the NFL season looms, Goff has just enough time to enjoy his first days of fatherhood before returning to the field, where he'll once again balance the roles of leader — both on the gridiron and now, at home. Also Read: So Long, London or so long, Bill? Jordon Hudson's Taylor Swift lyrics post fuels rumors of split from Bill Belichick Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
USA Today
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'Quarterback' review: What did we learn about Jared Goff in the series' 2nd season?
There are spoilers here, so proceed knowing some things might be given away Netflix released the second season of its "Quarterback" series on Tuesday, featuring an inside look at the 2024 season through the eyes of Jared Goff, Joe Burrow, and Kirk Cousins. One of the clips released before the new season aired featured the Detroit Lions quarterback reminiscing on his calls with head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes when he was first traded to the team in 2021. The rest of the season follows the ups and downs Goff experienced as he led the team to a 15-2 season and a disappointing playoff loss. SPOILER ALERT: The following observations contain spoilers from Season 2 of "Quarterback." Goff says Rams blindsided him Goff didn't hold back when talking about his conversations on the side of the Los Angeles Rams who threw him into their trade deal with the Lions for Matthew Stafford. "Three weeks after the last game of the season, get a call from Sean [McVay] and really did not expect anything," Goff said. "He lets me know they're trading me to Detroit and I'm like, 'Whoa, okay, alright. What the hell? What's happening?' I would say about 30 seconds after that phone call, it was on Twitter." The Rams traded Goff with two first-round picks and a third-round pick in exchange for Stafford. The Rams went on to win the Super Bowl the following season. "You wish that it wasn't such a blindside and that there was some sort of maturity, I guess, to have that conversation and to be able to let me know what was going on and how things went down. And why this is happening. It was my first real taste of true adversity and your career is kind of at a fork in the road." He admitted the playoff win against the Rams in 2023 had something a little extra since it was his former team. Amon-Ra St. Brown should've been No. 16 In an alternate universe somewhere, Lions' wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown is wearing No. 16. In Episode 2, St. Brown's girlfriend, Brooklyn Adams, admitted to Christen Goff that when it came time for St. Brown to pick a number, she was supposed to count the number of receivers who were drafted ahead of him in 2021. "I messed up, and it's not 14," Adams said. "I was off by two." The Netflix crew talked to St. Brown about it, and he said he should've chosen No. 16, but that Goff looks better in it. Christen helps Jared memorize play calls Goff's play-call tutor at home is his wife, Christen. He said the couple will sit on the couch to relax and watch TV, but Christen will sit there with a play sheet and read the plays off for him to repeat and practice. During Episode 3, Christen reads off a few wordy, outrageous-sounding plays for him to repeat, including the one that the following week saw running back David Montgomery throw a touchdown against the Titans. Inside the Stumblebum When the story of the 2024 season reached the Lions' late-December matchup with the Bears in Chicago, Netflix caught all of the build-up and reaction to the infamous "stumblebum" play that saw Goff and Jahmyr Gibbs purposely tumble in the backfield before Goff uncorked a pass to Sam LaPorta for a touchdown. The Netflix crew took viewers to the week of practice before the game, showing the offense practicing the trick play to iron out the kinks. Goff at one point said he almost actually fell to the ground. "Don't tell me that," then-offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said. During practice, they fine-tuned the play to include Gibbs taking a dive and having the offensive line call out "fumble" to throw off the defender meant to be watching LaPorta. "That boy needs an acting job, huh?" wide receiver Jameson Williams said after the play worked to perfection during the game.
Time of India
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Jared Goff's wife Christen's effortless glam turns heads in maternity shoot as the couple awaits their baby girl
Christen Goff is proving that maternity style can be equal parts radiant and refined. As her due date draws near, the model and wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff captured hearts with a final maternity photoshoot — and it wasn't just the baby bump that stole the spotlight. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Dressed in a soft, neutral-toned outfit and glowing with natural glam, Christen let her serene presence and effortless beauty speak louder than any filter. The look struck a perfect balance between simplicity and star power. Inside Christen Goff's glowing look: Minimalist makeup that shines In a selfie shared to her Instagram Story, Christen sported a fresh-faced glow with dewy skin, lightly blushed cheeks, and nude-toned lips. Her caption read, 'Squeezing in a last min little maternity shoot before bb arrives!' The minimalist look emphasized her features with grace, showcasing her signature calm confidence. Fans and followers were quick to praise the shoot, admiring not just her style but also the quiet strength she continues to exude in these final pregnancy days. Earlier in the week, Christen posted images from a dreamy beachside shoot alongside Jared Goff, wearing coordinated neutrals as the sun set behind them. The photos gave fans an intimate look at the couple's bond, with one touching moment showing Jared kissing Christen's forehead as she cradled her bump. It was maternity magic — natural, romantic, and deeply personal. A dreamy countdown to baby Goff's arrival 'Just waiting for our girl,' Christen wrote in that earlier post, signaling the countdown to the couple's biggest milestone yet. After revealing the pregnancy in February, the couple kept the baby's gender under wraps until this month's private reveal event. 'The most beautiful day celebrating baby G with all of our friends! What a lucky girl,' she shared in an Instagram reel, which showed the joy and celebration among loved ones. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Also read: Christen's maternity glow has been more than just skin deep — it's been a symbol of poise and power. Before taking her final bow ahead of labor, she also made waves with a pregnant comeback for the 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Applauded by fans and influencers like Alix Earle, Christen is redefining modern motherhood — one soft-lit frame at a time.
