Fashion hits the road

Tamara Mellon 'mobile closet' makes stylish stop in River Oaks District

This fab shoe closet rolls into River Oaks District.

Photo courtesy of Tamara Mellon

How's this for a Halloween treat? Forget the candy — a fab, mobile shoe closet is coming to town.

Tamara Mellon, the luxury retailer known for weekly product drops and direct-to-customer sales, is taking her show on the road with a massive mobile closet filled with shoes.

From Thursday, October 31 through Sunday November 3, the truck will be parked in the River Oaks District and open for guests from 10 am to 7 pm, giving shoe lovers a chance to see, feel, touch, and try on a vast array of boots, heels, flats, sneakers, and other chic choices.

The Houston visit is part of a multi-city U.S. tour that kicked off back in September and finishes up mid-December in California's Bay Area.

To be clear, shoppers won't get to take their favorites home with them; they'll still have to place orders and have the shoes shipped to their doors. But the shoe closet does offer the fantastic advantage of displaying every shoe in every size, giving fashionistas a try-before-you-buy confidence.

The traveling shoe closet is a 24-foot truck with floor to ceiling glass panels revealing the brand’s best selling silhouettes. Customers enter through the back of the truck, which opens up to inside the shop. That should provide endless Instagram opportunities for Houston's social media glam gals. (They can even track the truck on Instagram at @tamaramellon and share their own experiences with the hashtag #flashyourmellons).

“We are always looking for new ways to make luxury accessible to more women,” said Mellon in a press release announcing the shoe tour. “Driving cross-country to meet our customer gives us the unique opportunity to connect with her in person. To better understand our woman and her needs, nothing is more valuable than a face-to-face conversation.”

Tamara Mellon, globally known as the co-founder of Jimmy Choo, began her eponymous company as a way to redefine the luxury experience. With a set of designs made for and by women, Mellon ditched the high mark-up by creating personal relationships with leather designers in Italy, arranging for exclusive designs that offer luxe mystique without the luxury retail price. Those in the know love the brand for its Cobbler Concierge, which provides some shoe TLC if necessary.

For those who've already bought into the TM experience, the mobile shoe closet should help them show their friends what they already know: luxury doesn't have to be out of reach. And for those who don't yet know the Tamara Mellon story, it's a pretty safe bet that a shoe truck — come on, a shoe truck! — is going to be a big draw.

where-to-shop

From catwalk to moonwalk

Houston company unveils Prada-designed spacesuit for mission to moon

Photo courtesy of Axiom Space

The Prada suit, which fits men and women, will enable astronauts to perform a spacewalk for at least eight hours.

Fashion met the future as Houston-based Axiom Space and luxury fashion designer Prada revealed the design of the spacesuit that NASA astronauts will wear during their upcoming journey to the moon.

Axiom, a space exploration company, and Prada, a global luxury brand, debuted their design of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan, Italy.

Set for 2026, NASA’s Artemis III mission will be the first “staffed” lunar landing since Apollo 17 in 1972. Four astronauts have been selected for the 30-day mission.

Components of the white, gray, and red spacesuit include:

Lights
HD camera
Cellular communications
“Endurance athlete”-style nutrition
Backpack with portable life support system
Custom-made gloves
Boots designed to withstand lunar temperatures and rough terrain

Axiom Space Prada spacesuit The spacesuit work is being performed under a nearly $1.3 billion NASA contract.Photo courtesy of Axiom Space

Axiom says the suit, which fits men and women, will enable astronauts to perform a spacewalk for at least eight hours. It’s geared toward lunar missions and low-earth-orbit missions.

“The AxEMU has significant advancements in safety, mobility, sizing, and performance,” the company says.

During development of the suit, Axiom placed a dark cover on the outer layer to conceal the suit’s proprietary technology. However, the suits worn on the lunar surface will be made from a white material that reflects heat, and protects astronauts from extreme high temperatures and lunar dust.

The spacesuit work is being performed under a nearly $1.3 billion NASA contract.

“Going beyond our limits is one of the company’s values that perfectly reflects the spirit of the Prada brand and my parents’ vision. I’m very proud of the result we’re showing today, which is just the first step in a long-term collaboration with Axiom Space,” Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada’s chief marketing officer and head of corporate social responsibility, says in a news release.

Axiom says the suit is near the final stage of development. Already, it has gone through testing by astronauts and engineers at Axiom, NASA, and SpaceX facilities.

Among the tests were reduced-gravity simulations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and underwater simulations at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, also in Houston.

The suit will undergo an in-depth design review in 2025.

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This story first appeared on our sister site InnovationMap.

fashion design prada nasa space