Maud Frizon de Marco (born Danielle Maud Frizon; 1941 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, France) is a fashion designer specializing in women's shoes. She began her career in the 1960s as a model for Parisian Haute Couture Houses of Nina Ricci,

Jean Patou Jean Patou (; 27 September 1887 – 8 March 1936) was a French fashion designer, and founder of the Jean Patou brand. Early life Patou was born in Paris, France in 1887. Patou's family's business was tanning and furs. Patou worked with his ...

, and André Courrèges. At the time models had to provide their own shoes to match the clothes designers assigned them for their

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

shows and

photo shoot A photo shoot is the process taken by creatives and models that results in a visual objective being obtained. An example is a model posing for a photographer at a studio or an outdoor location. A photo shoot is a series of images that are taken ...

s. Frizon disliked the available shoes from other designers, and in 1969 elected to create her own and opened her first boutique in the

Saint-Germain-des-Prés Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the no ...

district of Paris. That first shoe collection, with each pair hand-cut and finished, was praised by critics as sexy and unpredictable. Frizon was an immediate success. Building on the traditions of Beth Levine and foreshadowing the later designs of

Manolo Blahnik Manuel "Manolo" Blahnik Rodríguez (; born 27 November 1942) is a Spanish fashion designer and founder of the eponymous high-end shoe brand. Biography Blahnik was born in Santa Cruz de la Palma, in the Canary Islands (Spain), to a Czech father ...

, Frizon shoes were showy and extravagant, and her name joined the ranks of the

haute couture ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...

boutiques. At the height of her success in the 1980s her reputation was similar to that of Blahnik today. Frizon often used expensive and everyday materials together in unusual combinations:

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia altho ...

and

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...

suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was firs ...

and satin,

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbag ...

and

crocodile Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant me ...

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...

was a regular at the boutique, famous for her love of Frizon's high-heeled Russian boots. In ''Shoes – Fashion and Fantasy'' Colin McDowell wrote "If shoes can be said to have a personality, none have more so than the products of Maud Frizon's imagination. hey areoriginal and innovative shoes that reto footwear what Dom Perignon is to champagne". Although Frizon released shoes under her brands Maud Frizon and Miss Maud, she also designed footwear for Azzedine Alaia,

Missoni Missoni is an Italian luxury fashion house based in Varese, and known for its colorful knitwear designs. The company was founded by Ottavio ("Tai") and Rosita Missoni in 1953. History Early beginnings The business was founded in 1953, when O ...

and

Sonia Rykiel Sonia Rykiel (; ; 25 May 1930 – 25 August 2016) was a French fashion designer and writer. She created the Poor Boy Sweater, which was featured on the cover of French ''Elle'' magazine. Her knitwear designs and new fashion techniques led her t ...

, among others. She is credited with introducing the 1978-79 cone heel that continued into the early 1980s, and she was the exclusive shoe designer at that time for the influential

Thierry Mugler Manfred Thierry Mugler (; 21 December 1948 – 23 January 2022) was a French fashion designer, creative director and creative adviser of Mugler. In the 1970s, Mugler launched his eponymous fashion house; and quickly rose to prominence in the fo ...

and Claude Montana lines. She is married to Luigi De Marco
/ref> with whom she founded and operated her company. In 1999 Frizon and De Marco sold the company and its brands to Helene Wajnblum-Liu and her husband, who added handbags and leather accessories to the line as well as expanding the chain of Frizon boutiques. The firm remains headquartered in Paris, with boutiques in Paris, Lyon, New York, Beijing and Hong Kong.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frizon, Maud 1941 births Living people French fashion designers French women fashion designers Shoe designers