NEWGEN’s Danielle Romeril is a Wonderland fave. Her Cali-inspired SS16 collection, that saw Venice Beach meet Palm Springs, had us dreaming in shades of green for days. The lush tropical clothes aside, nothing caught our eye quite as much as the footwear in all its crazy-weird yet totally covetable incarnations. Courtesy of a collaboration with everyone’s fave 90s shoe brand Kickers, Danielle fused her signature textured and playful style with their iconic chunky soles. The result? A collection to die for. Two parts girly, one part punk, the sandals have been created with contrasting textures, fabrics and colours in true Danielle fashion and that classic Kickers sole is the cherry on top of our California-poolside ice cream sundae. We grabbed a minute with Danielle herself to talk us through the collab.

What inspired you for SS16?

A portrait series called “Farm’ by photographer Jackie Nickerson, it was published in 2002 and I fell in love with the images of African farmers at work in their fields back in Uni, I stumbled upon it again in the library researching the new collection- the images just felt so fresh and relevant. I loved the textures and the layering and knotting. I took the colour palette from a Vivanne Sassen image titled ‘Paradise Lost’ and that is where the collection’s name came from.

What made you want to collaborate with Kickers?

Kickers were such a big part or the uniform of my youth that it seemed like a really fun collaboration to do. I got to delve into the archives and re imagine the iconic Kick Hi and Kick Lo. The Danielle Romeril girl is always out and about, too busy living her life to wear up tight clothes or shoes – so Kickers really works with that life. I wanted to create something unexpected and a bit off kilter. To keep the shape simple and a touch sporty but to really focus on the texture and surface.  

What was your studio soundtrack whilst creating the collection? I discovered this amazing track from a Japanese artist from the 80’s called Mariah, the track is Shinzo No Tobira, it’s a classic but sounds so fresh-everyone should listen to it. It was on repeat for a lot of the collection, I’m sure the team in the studio were fit to chuck the speakers out the window by the end of the season. We played a lot of FKA Twigs when we were working on her bespoke pieces for Bestival.

I also listened to a lot of Young Fathers- they are just so amazing live, hands down the gig at Koko in May was the best gig I have ever seen. On stressful days I like to listen to Fleetwood Mac, Rumour or The Savages.

Jamie XX In Colour was a pretty amazing summer soundtrack and got us through the later nights.

Can you sum up the collection in three words? 

Tieing- Layering- Texure