Cool Hunting

Neon Shoes
Designed from pieces of hand-painted leather, these sexy men's-style dress shoes recently premiered at Neon's winter fashion show and bring action and color to any get-up. The Brazilian label's co-designer Dudu Bertholini has been collecting leftover painted cow skin—some of them rare—from his trips abroad to New York and throughout his home country, at last finding the best use for them. Because he only...

Melissa Winter '08
Brazil's plastic footwear company Melissa, whose latest new collaboration was with none other than the Grande Dame of British fashion, Vivienne Westwood, is keeping it coming with some other exciting models in its upcoming Winter 2008 collection that deserve spotlights. It's proof in the plastic that the mania for their candy-scented shoes—much of them done in partnership with major designers—will once again go unrivaled....

Melissa Spring/Summer '08
The thought of plastic shoes, as in jellies, makes some of us run for the door. But Brazil's Melissa (also known for their eye-catching revolving store design) has been gladly enlisting legions of shoe-crazy females to their cause. The latest, 100% recyclable footwear made via injection molds features seven new models under the theme "Bedtime Stories" and is about to hit stores for the...

Papé Sandals
Brazil—where Havianas were born—is renowned for fabricating sandals because they've had the years of practice to make them beautiful. Enter Papé. Papé sandals blend customization with fashion, versatility and Brazilian quality craftmanship. Their kiosk, located in Sao Paulo's swanky Shopping Iguatemi mall, allows the customer to pick the material and the type of leather sole and the staff helps with the different ways to...

United Nude Cupped Heels
United Nude have done it again with the Cup, a new model from the Spring/Summer '08 collection with interchangeable heel backs. The consistent inventiveness of this brand's footwear design is just a pleasure to behold. Unlike the Mobius and the Eamz styles, the Cup isn't a particularly radical shape but the heel feature is one of the best examples we've seen of convertible fashion....

Lazy Oaf Pimp My Pumps
The result of an exhibit called "Pimp My Pump", Lazy Oaf's off-the-wall designer shoes are inventive one-offs all using the classic plimsol as a canvas. Definitely in the same vein as French artist Manu Angot and our own Seth Brau, the collection includes works by such up-and-coming talents as Kate Moross, Brennan & Burch (pictured right) and Peskimo (pictured center). We like them all,...