MILAN — Hip accessories brand Neous is entering the sneaker chat.
The London-based accessories label, best known for its minimalist shoe designs and modernist flair, is making its foray into the sporty category with the Berenices style, launching worldwide on Tuesday.
“It was a natural evolution. The Neous woman doesn’t live in one register. She moves between work, travel, family and evenings out, and I wanted to design for the entirety of her life, not just part of it,” founder and creative director Vanissa Antonious said about the move.
The Berenices sneakers by Neous.
Courtesy of Neous
For the former Harper’s Bazaar UK editor and stylist — who established Neous in 2017 with a focus on blending form and function and then expanded the approach to bags in 2020 — what was missing from such a customer’s wardrobe and from the market was a sneaker that wasn’t driven by logos.
“I wanted the Berenices to speak in the same quiet, sculptural language as the rest of our collections. A sneaker you choose for its lines, beauty and its quality,” she said.
Hence the name, which directly links to the brand’s signature Berenices handbag and nods to the same sculptural lines and suede-cum-supple leather construction. Only this time Antonious added nylon to the mix, too, for extra performance and enhanced textural interplay. A classic lace-up ensures a secure fit, while slim, slightly extended soles imbue a retro vibe in the slender, squared-toe design, which is crafted in Portugal.
The Berenices sneakers by Neous.
Courtesy of Neous
Asked about the top features she always knew she wanted to incorporate in her take on the category, Antonious first pointed to a discreet logo. “The design itself should be the identifier. I didn’t want the sneaker to speak louder than the wearer,” she said, adding that this element was closely followed by “fluid lines that are never broken, synonymous with Neous.”
“I wanted the Berenices to read as one uninterrupted gesture rather than an assembly of panels,” said the founder. “And third, our use of contrast materials continues, playing texture against texture, with contrast colorways still to come. The first iterations establish the architecture. Color will be how the style evolves.”
The Berenices sneakers by Neous.
Courtesy of Neous
Launching in a refined palette of olive green, burgundy and dark chocolate shades in addition to black, the Berenices sneakers will retail at 345 pounds at the brand’s online store as well as international stockists spanning from Selfridges to Net-a-porter.
Antonious said her ultimate goal was “to create a true signature, not a seasonal drop, but a style that becomes synonymous with the brand and lives in the collection for years” and whose design would be “considered enough to still feel right a decade from now.”
The Berenices sneakers by Neous.
Courtesy of Neous
The creative and development process came with some challenges. The designer described it “an entirely different discipline” compared to the one behind her brand’s popular footwear, which range from refined, barely-there strappy sandals to unfussy kitten-heel slingbacks and mules.
“With a sneaker, the complexity is hidden. There is an enormous amount that goes into it: understanding proportion at a completely different scale, how textures and materials sit against each other, where you need softness and where you need structure, the flexibility of the soles and how it all evolves over time,” said Antonious. “Getting that balance right, a shoe that feels supple the moment you put it on but holds its architecture over time, took far more rounds of development than anything we’ve made before. It deepened my respect for the category enormously.”
