Imagine a museum-quality fashion collection peeking out of boxes collected in a private home, discontinued Spring/Summer 2018 Calvin Klein boots stacked alongside Pre-Fall 2023 mesh sock-shoes by The Row. Well, we found all this and more within the sprawling trove of Thom Browne Senior Footwear Designer Jeremyn Lee.
In a Dropbox folder, the designer has accumulated meticulously shot photography of each pair, organized by size, and labeled by brand and season. Never before shot in full, Lee’s archive here emerges less like a personal closet and more like a living archive of recent fashion history’s most elusive moments. These are objects once relegated to Tumblr screenshots and youthful daydreams, now catalogued with grown-up finesse.
At his Fort Greene home, the collector shared with CULTURED how his collecting habit arose, which pairs have established themselves as all-time icons, and how a shoe can be as much a design object as an expertly crafted furnishing.
Where does the story of your personal collection begin?
I’ve always loved shoes. My mother would take me shoe shopping with her as a young child. She always wore high heels and I remember being so drawn to them. My parents really encouraged my interest in fashion, and I eventually moved to New York to study Fashion Design at Parsons. In my junior year, I started an internship with the shoe design team at Marc Jacobs. There, I learned about fashion archives for the first time, which inspired me to start collecting.
How would you characterize your collection?
I’d say my collection is very nostalgia-driven. My archive is largely focused around specific designers and runway seasons I was obsessed with when I first started following fashion as a teen. Most of the shoes I own are ones that I saw on Tumblr 15 years ago, which I never thought I’d be able to actually own. A large portion are shoes that were never produced; I’m always on the hunt for runway samples. In terms of designers, my top two have always been Miuccia Prada and Marc Jacobs so most of my collection is Prada, Miu Miu, Marc Jacobs, and Louis Vuitton.
Which pairs provoke the most conversation from viewers?
Definitely these Maison Margiela Spring 2009 “oversized sandals.” They’re wedges, but half of your foot floats off the back so they look super tiny, like baby shoes. They were part of the brand’s 20th anniversary collection and were sold as display objects rather than actual shoes. I saw all the shoes from this collection at a Margiela sample sale 1o years ago. Not buying them is one of my biggest regrets.
How do you discover new shoes (and seasons) of interest for collecting?
I’m always researching and looking back at old runway shows and magazines. I have a list of vintage stores and auction sites I’ll check daily or weekly. That’s how I’ve acquired most of the heels in my collection. I usually don’t plan when I get a new pair, they’re often ones I just stumble upon.
If you could snap your fingers and instantly own the fashion (or footwear) collection of anyone else, who would it be and why?
In terms of fashion archives, Alexander Fury, because he just has everything. In terms of a collection or closet, Lotta Volkova, because she’s best dressed. For heels—classic answer I know—Lady Gaga because she really shaped my teen years and she has the Alexander McQueen Armadillo boots.
What is the strangest set of circumstances that you’ve experienced in acquiring a pair of shoes?
That’s between me and my shoes.
Tell us something unexpected about the collection.
That 95 percent of the heels I have are my size. I love being able to try them on.
Given your professional background and collecting prowess, would you explore designing shoes for your own line?
Yes! It’s always been a goal of mine.
What are the five holy-grail shoes in the whole collection, if you can decide?
In order, this would have to be… One: Prada Spring 2010 Chandelier Sandal. Hands down one of the most iconic Prada heels of all time. These are one of the shoes I saw on Tumblr and fell in love with. I really never thought I would be able to find a pair and I almost never see them for sale, especially in my size. Two: Marc Jacobs Fall 2012 Pilgrim Shoes. Probably my favorite Marc Jacobs shoe season? I remember seeing the photos of Marc himself wearing these with the pink polo dress. I have at least seven different versions that I’ve picked up throughout the years. I also have three of the Stephen Jones fur hats from this show. Three: Givenchy Spring 2013 PVC Sandals. I have three pairs of these—it’s such a nutty combination of materials—plus there’s a very iconic photo of Kim Kardashian wearing them that’s worth looking up. Four: Louis Vuitton Fall 2011 Python Pumps. This pair is a runway sample I found at a vintage store a few years ago. They never produced them in the extreme heel height from the show. I remember being 14 when this show happened and immediately being obsessed with the shoes. Five: Balenciaga “3D Pumps” from Fall 2021. These are a very recent addition to the collection. They’re numbered editions and fully 3D-printed in this clear squishy material. I love them because the shape is based on an actual Barbie shoe (I’m a huge Barbie collector also).
Which shoes are currently on rotation (and how many are typically in rotation)?
In terms of shoes I personally wear? For the past two years I’ve been very into ballerina flats—there’s always a pair in the rotation. This summer, I’ve been wearing Belgian loafers a lot. The two pairs of shoes that I’m most loyal to are square toe Prada derbies from 1999 and black rubber Birkenstock clogs. I’m on my second pair of both.
in your life?
