Utahn's boot gets her to N.Y.

Designer Madden to produce the SLCC student's design

A Salt Lake Community College fashion design student will be flown to New York to meet with designer Steve Madden after competing in a national shoe-design contest earlier this year.

Krista Nielson's "Kristaa Boot" will be produced and made available this fall on Madden's Web site, as well as in retail stores.

The boot design, which finished a very close second to another student designer's idea, was "inspired by my love of patent leather and sleek stiletto heels coupled with the playfulness and flexibility of patterns and polka-dots," she said.

Nielson, who is nearly finished with SLCC's 18-month fashion-design program, was one of five finalists chosen by Madden out of hundreds of entries for the Art + Sole contest, which is sponsored by his shoe company. The finalists were chosen based on originality, creativity, construction, pattern and commercial value, according to the Web site.

As a runner-up, Nielson's design captured 42 percent of the public vote, which led to her being invited, along with the winner, to have her design produced for Madden's new fall collection. Beth Macias, of San Francisco, also garnered 42 percent of the public vote but was awarded the grand prize after several vote recounts determined her the winner.

"He has to produce her shoe because she's the winner, but he's choosing to make my shoe," Nielson explained.

Whenever she checked the Web site, the voting was neck-and-neck. "It was within 10 votes every day," she said. "But the worst was the wait when it was over. There was a week or so when I didn't know who won."

The Web site informs visitors that Nielson's design was a runner-up to the first-placed "Bethh" flat shoe, but says, "You loved the 'Kristaa' boot so much that Steve has decided to produce it, too."

The two designers will have an opportunity to tour Madden's factory later this summer to watch their product become a reality.

Nielson said she has loved everything about women's clothing since childhood and even sewed some of her own while in high school, as well as for her daughters. But she has only recently discovered her knack of shoe design. Now, she plans to research the market and "see where it can take me."

"I love shoes. I have quite the collection of them, but I never really thought about designing them until now," Nielson said. Arguing that both fashion and beauty should be versatile and effortless, Nielson said she "enjoyed taking a classic design and making it fun and whimsical."

Since receiving word that Madden liked her design, she's been able to come up with several more to ask him about when they meet. Before then, she said, she'll have no trouble using the additional prize of a $250 shoe gift certificate.

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E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com

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