Cobbler to the stars steps into retail with Q by Pasquale
Pasquale Shoe Repair, cobbler shop of the stars, marked its 50th year in business last week by taking a well-shod step into the boutique business.
Q By Pasquale, which opened to the public on Thursday, is located in the former restaurant adjacent to the San Vicente Boulevard space the repair shop has occupied since 2003. Its brightly lighted spare white interior, minimalist glass and wire shelving and single zebra-skin rug are a marked contrast to the cluttered workshop across the way, where two clubby stuffed chairs and most available wall space are filled with half a century worth of Hollywood headshots that hang as silent testament to the skill of cobbler and owner Pasquale Fabrizio.
But the new 1,500-square-foot space (which includes a 600-square-foot enclosed shop and an expansive patio walkway) is the perfect blank canvas against which to display the fantastical footwear designed by Fabrizio, handmade in Italy and sold bearing the Q By Pasquale label.
The eye-catching line, which launched in 2005, certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea, but footwear aficionados of a certain stripe (or spot, or lace pattern) will no doubt find something to round out their holiday wardrobe. Pieces in the fall collection range from the Pasqualina -- $695 patent leopard-print heels -- to the $2,500 Stella, a sand-colored calfskin boot trimmed in Murano glass macrame.
Also on display (but not for sale) is one Fabrizio's most outlandish -- and expensive -- creations: a pair of towering high-heeled shoes with tubes of colorful Murano glass wound around spike-like metal heels and finished off with flourish of 24-karat gold and sinuous leather straps studded with glass beads. (When the limited-edition pair was available, it cost a cool $7,500.)
In addition to footwear, the boutique stocks a selection of Q By Pasquale handbags, jewelry by Cristina Grazioli, and an edited, exclusive selection of jeans and leather jackets from Parasuco.
Q By Pasquale, 5616 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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-- Adam Tschorn
Top photo: Shoes from the Q By Pasquale line. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times
Bottom photo: Owner and namesake Pasquale Fabrizio, left, shows shoes to "Entertianment Tonight" co-anchor Nancy O'Dell. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times
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