Salehe Bembury's Oeuvre Is Spotlighted in 'Salehe Bembury: I Make Shoes'

Summary

• Salehe Bembury is releasing a mid-career retrospective book with Rizzoli.
• Titled Salehe Bembury: I Make Shoes, the book will explore the last 15 years of Bembury’s designs.
• Bembury is known for creating silhouettes like the Crocs Pollex Clog, his collaborations with the likes of New Balance and his work at brands like Versace and YEEZY.

Salehe Bembury has created some of the world’s most desirable footwear over the last 15 years — the Pollex Clog with Crocs, the 2002R “Peace Be the Journey” with New Balance, the Chain Reaction during his stint at Versace, a swath of boots during his time with YEEZY, even lending a hand to the Lunargrand when he was a member of the Cole Haan team early in his career. Now, Bembury’s oeuvre is all being presented in one place: a new mid-career retrospective book from Rizzoli.

Titled Salehe Bembury: I Make Shoes and designed by PlayLab, the book spotlights Bembury’s most notable footwear and apparel creations from the last decade-plus, both as a collaborator and a brand employee as well as his work through his own Spunge design practice. It’s not just about the finished product either, as across its 368 pages there’s a wealth of sketches, renderings and samples, showing how his creations go from idea to process to product.

“Most of my audience knows me for one or two things,” Bembury said in a recent interview for Hypebeast Magazine #35: The Wavelength Issue. “To some people, I might be the Crocs guy and they have no idea that I worked for Versace, or there’s someone in Milan that’s like ‘Oh, that’s the Versace guy’ but has no idea that I worked at YEEZY. I’m excited about the book because it’ll show the audience everything I’ve been a part of. Getting more people familiar with the total span of my work is really important to me.”

Salehe Bembury: I Make Shoes will be released on October 14, and retail for $55 USD.