Shoes are no more a mad obsession for women as they can be for men, as fully on view at the little soiree Andy and I hosted for George Esquivel Thursday night.
From wardrobe stylist Miles Siggins to new media brand strategist Will Kopelman to fashion-art photographer Mike Rosenthal, there was much sole-ful longing going on at Esquivel’s Third Street salon in mid-town L.A.

Some 150 steps go into crafting each pair of his bespoke brogues and boots, in the highest tradition of those made in Italy and the UK’s North Hampton and all made in George’s studio just an hour south in Orange County. To George, and his many fans, who include The Killers and pro basketball players including size-19 star Yao Ming, quality is about the people not the place.
Even a Paris-based designer such as Tim Hamilton seems to think so, having rung up George just the day before with a major order for some two dozen pairs of sandals for his runway show in Paris. And he needed them in less than a week. (“I should be working,” George sheepishly whispered during the party.) When his Italian shoe factory flaked, Tim got a tip about Esquivel and the buzz surrounding the line, and called.
The hum includes a feature in the June issue of Vogue, and style.com’s recent shout out proclaiming Esquivel’s women’s oxfords the “new flats.” George’s women’s collection might be a capsule compared to the men’s, but it’s a striking one and even has a new convert in Dita Von Teese, who popped in pre-party with someone else in mind and was soon contemplating a pair for herself, even though she’s rarely if ever out of the highest heels.
Arianne Phillips and Raven Kauffman were similarly gobsmacked with the quality (Raven works with Italian factories on her couture bag line, and couldn’t believe what George was pulling off so close to home), as were Lisa Bush and Scott Vineberg of Mona Moore, a trove of bleeding edge shoes (Demeulemeester, Van Noten, Rick Owens), and who also know their way around a great pair of lace-ups.
In the end, in fact, it wasn’t a man who scored the night’s complementary pair of Esquivels. Andy stirred the box of cards, and I chose the winner: Tasha Nita Adams, a fellow fashion writer and natty gal-about-town. Guess, in the end, when it comes to a to-die-for pair of shoes, the cosmos always favor the ladies.