Caroline Issa for LK Bennett shoes and bags

By Anna | March 4, 2013

Recently Alex and I were invited along to Leeds’ LK Bennett store to celebrate the launch of their capsule collection of shoes and bags designed by style icon Caroline Issa.

The Leeds store is the only place in Yorkshire you can see the range in the flesh – and it’s in some illustrious and selected company. In the UK, it can also be found in Manchester, Edinburgh, London and Newcastle, but elsewhere it’s only being stocked in New York, Paris and the Middle East. You can also buy online.

The shoes and bags have been inspired by Caroline’s trips to Thailand, with neon colours, embroidery, oriental flowers and pom poms.

A departure from the staple styles you might associate with LK Bennett, you might think, but Leeds store manager Emma Pickering says classic clothing and statement pieces are a perfect combination.

Emma said the company approached Issa because they felt her style “represented the direction we wanted to go in.

“Caroline has said in articles that she likes to dress from the shoes up. Quite often she wears quirky shoes and the rest of her outfit is classic or simple.

“It’s really exciting. It’s so different for us. It’s young, fun and quirky.”

Emma feels the collection is perfectly suited to their Yorkshire clientele.

“In Leeds we have a lot of younger customers who want to look fashionable and individual. The collection really reflects that.

“We have sold quite a few pieces already and across the company it has gone bananas.”

The pieces have been made in very small quantities so if you see something you love you should move fast. These are surely future collectors’ items.

Alex and I picked our favourite styles to try on. Sadly with a house move round the corner I couldn’t afford to take them away – much as I would have loved to. The shoes were really comfortable and I can think of a dozen outfits that they would have single-handedly made look a million dollars.