Street Style Star Jenny Walton: "You Don't Need Heels To Look Great"
The street style star and jewellery designer recently launched a capsule line of flats with Pretty Ballerinas that mirrors her polished and timeless style.
By Imran Jalal,
Jenny Walton is a familiar name if you’re an ardent follower of the street style sphere. While the New York-based illustrator and jewellery designer might not be your archetypal hyped-up street fashion personality of today, she stands out among the crowd for her cheerful and charming personal style.
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Peruse through her Instagram account, where she commands a following of over 280,000 followers, and you will notice her flair for ladylike dressing and vintage fashion. The fit-and-flare look is a silhouette she wears like a uniform, along with her blonde tresses which are almost always tied back into a sleek Evita-esque bun.
It's the kind of polished chic reminiscent of her forever style heroine Audrey Hepburn. It's also the kind of aesthetic that has been well-documented on The Sartorialist, the OG street style site founded by her husband Scott Schuman, where she used to be fashion director.
Like Hepburn who was often seen wearing ballerina flats, the sensible footwear style holds a special place in Walton's wardrobe. "When the weather is nice my shoe of choice is ballerina flats," she says. "You don’t need heels to look great – look at people like Audrey Hepburn or Sofia Coppola who wore ballet flats beautifully even on dressy occasions."
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So it was a natural fit when Spanish ballerina flats specialist Pretty Ballerinas came knocking for her to design a capsule collection which is now at the brand's Paragon and Takashimaya S.C. stores as well as www.prettyballerinas.com.sg.
The Parsons School of Design alumna (she actually took an elective for shoe design) created four styles that showcase her taste for all things pretty and feminine, like the use of her signature daisy motif.
Ahead, we speak to Walton on what to know about the outing and the evolution of style in a post-pandemic world.
How did you land the gig with Pretty Ballerinas?
"Pretty Ballerinas reached out to me about the idea of doing a collaboration together and I was instantly intrigued since the company has such a long history and makes such beautiful shoes. I also have been wearing ballerina flats ever since I was young so I just loved the idea of working together."
Describe your personal style and how did it inform the designs for Pretty Ballerinas?
"My personal style tends to be a bit classic but hopefully usually [comes] with a twist and something unexpected, like a vintage bag or piece of jewellery. I grew up watching a lot of Audrey Hepburn films and going to antique markets with my mother so I was always aware of a more classic style and older pieces. The ballerina flat designs were inspired by the jewellery that I create and the idea of taking the different floral elements I already use but applying them to shoes."
How important are shoes to your personal style?
"Shoes are incredibly important, they’re the most functional part of an outfit after all, as they have to not only look great but take you from one place to another. Since I can’t travel during quarantine, I’ve been going on a lot of long walks and it wouldn’t be possible to do the long walks in much else other than ballerina flats, loafers or sneakers."
If you can choose one pair of design from the collection as a must-have, what will it be and why?
"I personally love the Swarovski crystal ballerina flats. I love the coated cotton (I’m a vegetarian so for me it was important to explore materials that weren’t just leather). I had so much fun coming up with the layout for the shoe and most importantly for picking out the colour combinations of the cotton and the crystals. I love the shoe we achieved and how it could so easily work for day or night."
Do you think that quarantine life has redefined our attitude towards sensible footwear?
"I do think so. I do think a lot of quite high heels are uncomfortable. There are some that aren’t but we can’t kid ourselves and say you can outrun a man in sneakers in very high heels. So while I appreciate the beauty of heels incredibly, they’re not the most functional for a woman who wants to go out on long walks and not be limited by her footwear."
How about the way we view fashion and dressing up?
"I think dressing up and dressing in a way that makes you feel great is still an important part of our lives. But for a lot of people, that means very different things. I get a lot of pleasure from trying out different styles, playing with colour and proportion and really experimenting with what my wardrobe can do and the different ways I can mix and match it."
How do you foresee the post-loungewear fashion landscape to be like?
"I think people have been wearing more and more knits over the past few years and I can definitely see it continuing in that direction because they really do feel great on the body and move with the body – they’re not so rigid so it’s perfect for the body as it expands and contracts. Of course, gender norms have changed so much and I think will continue to change, I think the line between 'female' and 'male' will just continue to become blurred."
As the former fashion director of The Sartorialist, what observations have you made about how the street style scene has adapted to this new fashion landscape?
"Being around my husband Scott Schuman and seeing from his daily work out on the street of New York, I think the streets of New York are really starting to come alive again. People are now playing with 'streetwear' and casual clothes in a very exciting way that I think we’ll continue to see grow."