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Shoe Week Grand Finale: Feast Your Eyes on the Freda Salvador Shoe Boutique and Design Studio

By Kristen Philipkoski

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  • Papay and Palomo-Nelson in their boutique-slash-studio
  • Megan Papay and Christina Palomo-Nelson, the duo behind Freda Salvador
  • We told them a joke :)
  • They designed the shop/workspace themselves!
  • The circular shelving serves up the Spring 2013 collection as you enter.
  • The wall of the lounge area is decorated with photography by their landlord, who was a fashion photographer in the '70s.
  • OMG Shoes! And Pabst
  • The transformable spring line.
  • More from spring 2013.
  • Do dads on the selves
  • The underside of the shelving reveals vintage signage.
  • Frida Kahlo shrine of sorts in the office area.

Photos by Aubrie Pick

No San Francisco Shoe Week in could possibly be complete without giving a proper shout out to Freda Salvador—pretty much the most exciting thing to happen to shoes in the Bay Area in years—possibly ever. We don't mean to fawn so, but take a gander and these images and try not to immediately want to hang out in Megan Papay and Christina Palomo-Nelson's boutique/studio. Then there's their ingenious shoe design, which transforms a loafer into an oxford, depending on your mood. Their pre-fall and fall 2013 lines (they design for four seasons!) have even more modular aspects, including a black boot with a decorative piece that becomes a bracelet.

Papay and Palomo-Nelson seem to have struck a perfect balance when they met as designers at Anyi Lu (featured in our eco-shoe post earlier today). Papay describes her personal style as "ecclectic and bohemian," Palomo-Nelson calls hers "tailored and androgenous." When they couldn't decide on a loafer or an oxford, they did both. Papay loves consignment shopping at Fillmore and Fifth and Goodbyes on Sacramento. Palomo-Nelson is a fan of The Two Bandits and wears her sister in law Jennalee's jewelry designs as well. They're not exactly opposites, but somehow puzzle pieces that have found their complementary fit.
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