InterviewFrom The Phantom of the Opera to Hamilton, the Wares From This Shoemaker Found Their Way to BroadwayHow one woman鈥檚 love for historic clothing led her to design shoes for Broadway.
By
Ruthie Fierberg
January 14, 2018
Shoe style: "Georgiana" 18th Century Shoes (this was our first shoe design in 2011).
American Duchess Inc. / Chris Stowell
鈥淲hen I was in high school, I got into vintage clothing,鈥� says Lauren Stowell. 鈥淥ne thing led to another and you end up at a Renaissance fair with your mother. When that happens you either go 鈥楾his is great鈥� or 鈥楾his is lame.鈥� I went the 鈥楾his is great鈥� route.鈥�
Stowell particularly enjoyed the historical research aspect of dressing up, looking at original garments and reading up on them wherever she could. A trained illustrator and freelance designer, Stowell had been sketching 鈥渢chotchkes and stuff you buy in a Hallmark shop鈥� when she realized historical footwear was something people needed and couldn鈥檛 make for themselves.
She began in 2009 with a single product: the Satin 18th-century shoe. It sold like hot cakes. In April 2011, she introduced two more styles, and by year three she added 13 new styles.
But it took 鈥渕aybe a year before I realized we were selling to stage and film,鈥� says Stowell. , ships directly to wardrobe supervisors and staff at production houses. 鈥淪idney Shannon [head shopper for the costume shop at the Met Opera] ordered 15 pairs of shoes from us and I lost my mind.鈥�
To date, American Duchess鈥� shoes have hit the decks of Broadway productions such as the 2016 revival of Les Liaisons Dangerouses, Bandstand, Dr. Zhivago, and Fiddler on the Roof and her buckles grace the feet of actors in Hamilton. 鈥�Phantom鈥檚 been a customer for years now and we鈥檝e sent stuff all over the country matching up with their tour whenever they need things or they have a new principal,鈥� Stowell says. She鈥檚 caught her styles on the screen, too, in shows like Alias Grace and Outlander.
There鈥檚 a reason high-profile costume designers choose American Duchess. 鈥淲e come at it from a research angle because nobody鈥檚 really done that before,鈥� says Stowell. 鈥淚t has to be accurate. Our customers are historic consumers and re-enactors. A lot of historic sites buy our shoes and if we get one thing wrong we hear about it and the shoes don鈥檛 sell well.鈥�
And Stowell has done well to capture her niche market. 鈥淭here鈥檚 us and one other company that makes shoes that actually have 18th-century latches or actually button,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e the only company that makes button boots that function with a button hook and don鈥檛 have zippers. It鈥檚 one of the things we鈥檙e known for.鈥�
As she did when she was a teenager, Stowell pours over research to ensure her shoes鈥� authenticity. Museums around the world feature original shoes in their collections and put them online; she references online collections from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has gone in person to view shoes at the L.A. County Museum of Art. 鈥淭here鈥檚 also tons and tons of prints, paintings,鈥� she adds. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a shoe-making manual, primary sources the 18th century, from Victorian era, Edwardian, old advertisements, old Boot and Shoe Recorder [catalogs], trade magazines鈥攋ust a huge wealth of information where you can reference and cross-reference things, stuff about how shoes were constructed, which was quite different from today.鈥�
When it comes to creating a world onstage, costume designers rely on American Duchess for precision because of the look, but the authentic construction and feel also informs actors as they build their characters. 鈥淲e want to understand what our ancestors or ancestresses were feeling in their lives when they wore their clothes,鈥� says Stowell.
鈥淲hen I dress up, and I do it correctly from the skin out, where I'm wearing all of the underpinnings, and I've hand-sewn the dress, and then I put on the shoes, and I buckle them or I button them, and I have that experience, that's an experience that somebody 100 or 200 years ago also had.
鈥淚t's a very real feeling of beginning to understand the women in the past, and how they lived their lives through dress.鈥�
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See the Styles of American Duchess Historical Footwear That Grace the Broadway Stage
See the Styles of American Duchess Historical Footwear That Grace the Broadway Stage
From The Phantom of the Opera to Hamilton, the wares from this niche shoemaker found their way to the Rialto.
6 PHOTOS
"This was the first initial design I did back in 2010."
Shoes style (on foot): "Antoinette" Mules in Blue. (We don't make these anymore)
Shoe style: "Georgiana" 18th Century Shoes (this was our first shoe design in 2011).
American Duchess Inc. / Chris Stowell
Shoe style: "Dunmore" in red leather.
Shoe style: "Kensington" in ivory. This is one of the gowns we made for "The American Duchess Guide" book.
In his second outing working on a giant television musical event, Tony-winning costume designer William Ivey Long does the time warp again, this time trading 鈥�50s greasers for 鈥�70s fettish and glam rock.
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