The Higher the Heel: Thom Solo on Lady Gaga, McQueen, and Bitch Factor
Stomp, strut, point, pose, heel to toe, hip to hip. Fantasies in every curve, heroines in every point. From average street stompers to the Opera heels worn by Lady Gaga, heels are transformative. The right heel changes the way you walk, talk, and feel. Boston-born shoe designer, Thom Solo, has his rendition down pat, and his high heels have graced the feet of pop superstars everywhere. Lana Del Rey, Britney Spears, Doechii, and Mother Monster herself, to name a few.
From a young age, Solo was bound to create. Frequent trips to New York City with his mother, later followed by teenage escapades featuring underage clubbing, introduced Solo to style, ravenously consumed on the cosmopolitan streets of late 90’s NYC. Summer holidays in Provincetown, the notoriously queer and creative coastal Massachusetts town, meant Solo spent the dog days of summer painting and photographing.
It was in his early years at university studying fine art, while researching for a sculpture 101 class that Solo was flicking through an edition of Times magazine, and chanced upon a single-page black and white photo of Alexander McQueen's Plato Atlantis collection (2009) featuring McQueen’s Armadillo heels, which mutated the human foot into a new, gravity-defying form. ‘I don't think anything ever compares to the mental orgasm that comes upon discovering McQueen's work for the first time’, Solo says over email.
During his studies, Solo discovered a group of Armenian shoe craftsmen. After days spent in the studio, he would rush to the cobblers and study their craft, amalgamating fine art teachings with toe boxes, vamps and insoles. Off the back of Solo discovering McQueen's work, and through his cobbler learnings, it soon became time to see if he could fill the shoes he so badly wanted to make.
'Nick Knight is one of the reasons I fell in love with fashion. There was a floral pair of boots I made, inspired by his work with flowers, says Solo, as he recounts the first pair of heels he ever made. 'That pair eventually went on to be recreated for Lady Gaga's Artpop tour,' he adds. I would say the shoes were successfully filled, no?
Solo was still in university when Gaga famously wore the aforementioned thigh-high floral boots. This was his first mainstage moment, literally. Solo succinctly summarises those first moments of recognition, saying, 'As humans we all have an internal pilot light. When the paparazzi images hit, that pilot light turned all the way up, and there was no turning back.' The rest is high-heeled history - platformed and 8 inches high to be exact.
The great shoe designers of the world, like Salvatore Ferragamo, Manolo Blahnik, Roger Vivier, Christian Louboutin, have always saddled and strapped the It-women of their age. Ferragamo crafted delights for Hollywood’s silver screen stars like Joan Crawford and Gloria Swanson, while Manolos and Jimmy Choos were the Carrie Bradshaw shoe of choice in the 90’s. Solo, not unlike those who came before him, is presenting his shoes on the feet of women in the right places.
Above all, and perhaps more importantly, Solo is inspired by the women that surround him. ‘I was raised by a single mother and a wonderful community of women. I've always been inspired by their strength, resiliency, and unabashed ability to carry on. That's why every collection is an homage, a love letter to women.’
The women in Solo’s professional life include Britney Spears, Doechii, FKA Twigs, Demi Lovato, and Lana Del Rey. Solo's relationship with Lady Gaga has continued since that serendipitous first collaboration; the musician wore the Opera Heels during the promotion of her recent album Mayhem. An ultra-high platform version of a stiletto, the opera heel comes in a multitude of colours, with a sharply pointed toe box on top of a thick round platform.
‘It is so crucial that pieces be bitchy but comfortable’, says Solo. Each Thom Solo heel is masterfully crafted to give the ultimate umph, whilst retaining female strength and resilience in shoe form. We all know the pain of a beautiful but uncomfortable shoe; nothing brings the confidence down from a 6 inch to a flat quicker. That's why the making of the opera heel took 6 months, working between his manufacturers in Europe and Asia, as Solo’s largest priority was the actual functionality of the platforms. Each tweak and turn in creating them was intended to make the wearer as comfortable as possible with optimum bitchy effect.
‘With my designs, I am creating statement pieces to accentuate the power and strength women already possess. Fashion can be armour in helping to express that.’ Armour is an intention that Solo frequently infuses into his craft, visibly similar to the solidity and beauty of McQueen's own practice. Take the Armadillo heel, Solo's first high heeled inspiration, based on the armoured mammalian. From inspiration to kinship, McQueen and Solo's practices both go to lengths to embrace the beauty of the inviolable women around them. Two people separated by continents and experiences whose craft seems to run linear to each other.
‘For me, shoes truly are the catalyst for conversation, they inspire escapism and fantasy.’ Solo creates wearable sculpture, his high heeled creations create a shield around the wearer. Every step is that much bitchier and that much stronger for Solo’s candour and consideration. With Thom Solo, it's always one heel forward and never two steps back.
