Creative Concept Direction & Capsule Collection Design for Spanish shoe brand Flabelus.
Jimena worked as a Creative Consultant for the Spanish footwear brand Flabelus from September 2020 to February 2023, where she guided the brand’s overall creative vision. At the time, Flabelus offered only a single shoe style—the classic Venetian slipper. She was brought on to expand the collection while preserving the brand’s signature venetian shoe insole, mold, and last. In addition to leading the design direction of seasonal collections, she played a key role in shaping the visual identity and story behind the brand. The new silhouettes she developed continue to be reinterpreted and sold by the brand today.
Little Woman, by Louisa May Alcott, is one of Flabelus' core inspiring novels.
When commissioned to design their SS21 Capsule collection, Jimena took Jo (Jo March, the principal character from the novel) to discover the Orient.
Jo lives very happily in the English Countryside with her sisters, with whom she holds a very close relationship. One day, she decides to leave the romantic English countryside to travel for the Orient. During her trip she encounters new cultures, places and friends who accompany her during her discoveries. Back in England, she is not the same, a piece of Orient remains in her.
The romantic dresses, ornaments, and motives of the Victorian countryside (embroidered daisies, toile de jouy, chintz, chiffons, corset’ files) are gradually replaced by the Silk Routes’ natural raffias, hand-made crochets, crystal stones, shantung silks, and Indian embroideries.
S/S 2021 - Jo Goes to the Orient
The fiction character of Mulan will be our primary source of inspiration for the SS24 campaign because in many ways she demonstrates the core tenets of a the Flabelus women. Her delicate femininity, eastern fashion style, loyalty to family and her sheer confidence are all reasons why we want to emulate her aura in the campaign. However, a Flabelus woman also has to contend with a modern world – a world that is increasingly digital and disconnected from the physical reality.
By bridging these two concepts, we land in “Intergalactic Wonderers; Mulan Travels to the Metaverse”/Mulan into Eternity, a campaign designed to link key characteristics of Mulan – with the fast paced, futuristic and digital landscape which is creeping into our everyday existence.
Flabelus will be a brand that will comfortably thrive in this contemporary world by taking the best aspects from the past and evolving them into the future.
Campaign Creative Concepting & Production
