PARIS — Nomasei continues its push on the American market in Los Angeles.
The Parisian shoe brand is holding a pop-up from April 15 to 28 in West Hollywood, taking over a 700-square-foot space located at 642 North Robertson Boulevard.
“The U.S. is our biggest market from the start, with New York and Los Angeles neck-and-neck,” said Marine Braquet, who cofounded the brand with footwear designer Paule Tenaillon. “It’s also a zone where there are committed designers we wanted to met.”
As is now customary, the brand will bring a tight edit of its 29 styles, including yet-to-be released styles the Nottibianche flat sandal and the Flip ballerina style, and offer by-appointment customization workshops for its bestselling Nono loafer.
But what really cinched the deal for the pair’s Hollywood debut is the collaboration with journalist and author Laura Brown that will make its in-person debut at the pop-up and is launching online on Tuesday.
The project came together “with absolute spontaneity and went without saying — just a desire to do something nice together,” Braquet told Footwear News.
She and Tenaillon first met Brown in 2020 while on a U.S. tour to pitch the brand to editors and stayed in touch. It’s through her that Nomasei collaborated in 2022 with (RED), the charity founded in 2006 by Bono and Bobby Shriver to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS.
Brown said that the duo’s “taste, character and humor” that she admired from the get-go made this project between friends a no-brainer. “It’s shoes that brought us together as friends, so it makes perfect sense that friends should make shoes [together],” she added.
The starting point was two designs that Brown regularly wears. The chunky Roma platform sandal is available in khaki suede and glossy polka-dot embossed leather, while the Roma, with crossover straps and buckles, comes in khaki or caramel suede as well as the polka-dot version.
The Roma sandal
Courtesy of Nomasei
Priced between $570 and $590, they will also be available on the Nomasei website from Wednesday.
Los Angeles marks the third pop-up in the U.S., which accounts for 50 percent of sales for the six-year-old French brand.
Its previous two weeklong stops in New York’s NoLIta were successful operations that saw more than 200 pairs fly out the door and queues around the block, which Tenaillon credited to “visibility with a product that’s affordable.”
Prices in the U.S. range from $450 for the Felicita sandal and up to $1,295 for the thigh-high Whisper boots in stretch lambskin. The Nono loafer starts at $610.
In addition to an appearance on Netflix’s hit show “Emily in Paris,” the French brand has been worn by real-life bold-face names like Bella and Gigi Hadid, Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Jessica Parker and Pamela Anderson over the years.
Meanwhile, the brand is working on its first funding round to fuel its expansion. Last year, the founders told WWD and FN they were looking to raise a “one-plus-ten” amount, a million-euro sum to shore up the profitable business, followed by 10 million euros in two years “to really accelerate,” with perhaps a first permanent flagship, Braquet said at the time.