The Fat Radish

The Clothes: Sexy harlequin cartoon gangsters? From the '90s? This is what I got from Olivier Rousteing's spring 2013 show for Balmain. Balmain always

Cobbler extraordinaire George Esquivel was on hand at Maria Cornejo's Bleecker St. store last night to celebrate the launch of his fall/winter shoe collaboration with Cornejo. Esquivel, who handcrafts exquisite leather shoes in his Orange County workshop (he employs only 8-12 craftsmen), only produces a few shoes a year so he's game to collaborate. He says it allows him to explore other design concepts. But only if the shoe fits (I couldn't resist). "The collaborations that I do have to be seamless and grow organically," Esquivel told us. "Maria read about me at the Vogue Fashion Fund last year, called me up and we hit it off." It's the first year Esquivel and Cornejo have teamed up, and this is Esquivel's first fall/winter line for Cornejo. "[Cornejo's] collection is structured and architectural so we tried to create lines in the shoes and give them some texture and shapes that are just a little different," Esquivel said. "They're just a little off-center."