British shoe designer, Jane Winkworth is known by the fashion press as ‘Queen of Ballet Flats’ and is the founder of French Sole, home of the original, own-brand, designer Ballet Flats.
Charlotte-Anne Fidler,
Creative and Fashion Director.
I simply adore eBay. When I sold French Sole and retired three years ago, I had amassed over two thousand pairs of shoes, all brand new and mostly samples, which I had kept over the years in a storage unit that I seldom visited.
Another question that seems to come up over and over again is “Are you still wearing French Sole shoes?”
A regular question I often get when bumping into my old customers from the early Munster Road or Ellis Street days is - “What ever happened to…” followed by the name of one or more of my amazing girls who were all such an important and integral part of the French Sole story back in the heady days of the Charity Sales and Princess Diana.
French Sole first began life in the 1960’s when shoe designer Jane Winkworth was a teenager and holidaying in the South of France. As a life-long devotee of everything “ballet” Jane adored wearing ballet flats. After stumbling upon a tiny store in St Tropez which sold a range of brightly coloured ballet flats, she bought several pairs. She decided there and then that one day she would design and sell her own range of ballet flats for everyday wear - and so the story begins.