3 days left! We know that our current Spring/Summer 2013 collection has caused a bit of a frenzy, so now’s your chance to grab some popular styles at a fabulous discount! Unfortunately the sale is UK only, but don’t worry we have more events coming up around the world for all you other deal hunters!

In order to gain access to the sale you’ll need to set up an account. Once you get in to the site visit our sale:

Your hunt for one-of-a-kind footwear ends here. Miista are based in Hackney, London and have their finger firmly on the fashion pulse. All-leather brogues with Perspex heel inserts and brightly-hued sandals with soft plastic straps are your quick ticket to fashion-savvy dressing this season. One thing’s for certain, you won’t find styles like these on the high street.

The sale includes some of our hottest Spring styles like Zoe, Ondria, Palmira and Ossi as well as some fantastic styles from past seasons! We’ve included images below of some of the fan favorites that are currently marked down — and if you’re interested be sure to head over soon, the clock is ticking!

PALMIRA £65.00

ZOE MIRROR SILVER £69.00

ESI BURGUNDY WITH LUCITE £59.00

ONDRIA £79.00

OSSI £89.00

CHLOE £65.00

WENDY £99.00

VAL £79.00

And this isn’t it…there’s so many more great styles up on the sale, don’t miss it!

Another Miista crew Irish native, Úna grew up in Limerick, Ireland — which she made sure to credit as the home of Munster Rugby and the frequent scenery in My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding (she’s a reality tv junkie — the worse it is the more dear to her heart). At the age of 13 her family relocated to Dublin and she began schooling at the Alexandra College, where she just happened to meet another Miista Sophie Gabbett. She speaks fondly of her time there, “we learnt how not to go to class, chase boys and bet on horses…well rounded education.” After graduation she spent some time working with Buffalo Dublin where she learned the ropes of the shoe business — which was not a far cry from her sister Maeve’s endeavors. As Úna puts it, “My sister Maeve is a Podiatrist in Dublin. I make the shoes, she mends the feet.”

A summer jaunt to London in 2005 turned into a full time stay and after some more time in the industry she decided to enroll in the London College of Fashion, earning a degree in Footwear Design and Technology.

When Miista first started it was Úna and Laura against the world. She took on a major commitment as just an intern and her uncompromising loyalty and support has been an integral aspect of Miista’s success. A major proponent of the work hard, play hard school of thought, Úna loves to party and is the perfect plus one. Bubbly, vivacious and absolutely hilarious, the girl can befriend anyone and always has a good time. Her love of beer and sunglasses is rivaled only by her love of creatures of the feline variety and she can always be counted on for a quick pub stop after a long day at work. Now that she’s graduated and is officially a full time Miista, Úna spends the majority of her time managing production quality at our Spanish factories and it is safe to say that Miista’s London HQ is going through some serious Corcoran withdrawals. But it’s expected — Úna is our traveling (wo)man; if she’s not at one of the factories, she could be visiting her parents in Los Angeles where her father is contributing work to America’s first high speed rail, or romping around Ireland with friends. But trust, when this girl is in London we make the most of it!

So let’s get down to business so you can MEET THE MIISTAS: the Úna chronicles.

1) So you came to London on a whim — what made you stay and how did Miista factor in?

Well, it was the summer of 2005 and I decided to go to London for the summer with my great friend Nessa. I ended up having such a brilliant summer and loved London so much that I decided not to return home. I worked in the shoe business for a few years, then I ultimately enrolled at London College of Fashion, where I studied Footwear Design and Technology.

At the end of my second year at LCF Laura set up Miista and was looking for an intern — in steps me. We started with 2 desks, 1 computer, a load of sketches and not an awful lot else….

I interned for 2 months, then for the remaining duration of my degree I worked part time. On completion I came on full time and I now work mainly on production between London, Spain and India.

2.) Give us your top three character building experiences, the times that you can credit with helping you to become the person you are today. Good, bad, ugly; the major ones that molded you.

1. Secondary school, boring as it is, is definitely where most of my character was moulded. The majority of my close (female) friends are from school. This is where I mastered the art of mischief, and more importantly getting away with it.

2. Summer of 2003, inter railing around Europe. This is where I learnt …. it’s illegal to sleep on Italian beaches, organising 5 boys is challenging, the train station floor in Vienna is not comfortable, and leaving your phone back in Ireland is not clever.

3. Arriving in India for the first time. The camel filled roads and the F1 dirt track driving was enough to shock me. Now nothing really fazes me there, it’s my fourth home now.

3.) Describe your personal style and why Miista works into your wardrobe well.

My style is pretty conservative. During the week I’m in Spain working at the factory, so it’s jeans and a t-shirt. At the weekend I love to put on a dress. I try to invest in classic wardrobe staples, and add accesories to update my look. Miistas work really well for me, they dress up the most basic outfit. Mansi from AW12 is my all time favourite boot. It’s smart, super comfy, and the metal toe cap stops me from scuffing the suede. I’ve worn them so much and they still look new. Siri was meant to be part of my life but we’ve already gone and sold out!

4.) How would you define Miista’s design foundation of Measured Madness?

Laura designs great shoes that actually fit in with everyday life, without fail she adds a twist. This seasons Zoe is a great example, a standard ladies Oxford transformed by using in-house development, amazing textiles and sourcing crazy iridescent leathers. Fun, slick shoes that aren’t “taxi shoes” — brilliant for London living.

5.) You’ve been with Miista since the very beginning, what’s the journey been like from then to now? With all the changes happening in the company what are some of the constants?

It’s crazy to think we’ve only been going since 2010. It’s gone so fast but it also seems so long ago when it was just Laura and myself in a shared studio. Now we’ve our own HQ with a hard working, tight knit team in London, NY and Spain. It’s amazing how far we’ve come in such a short space of time. We’re so lucky to have such great stockists and customers who really support and help the brand to grow. As an initial non believer, I see now how instrumental social media has been to Miista. I wonder where we’d be now without it …. We’re always learning, trying to better ourselves each season. It’s brilliant working in a team of people who are all mad about the brand, sometimes it’s the madness that gets us through….

Miista SS12 DOLORES

Úna has a bit of a kitty obsession

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE OR PRINCE
Prince, Justin gives me the creeps (but not a much as Bieber does).
CASH OR CREDIT
Cash
FAKE TAN OR FAKE HAIR
Both!!
LAST DREAM YOU HAD
I honestly can’t remember. I count shoes to fall asleep most nights (who needs sheep).
W OR V
W
FAVORITE ASPECT OF LONDON LIVING
Dog friendly pubs. I don’t have a dog YET… some day!
LUCKY NUMBER
7
ZODIAC SIGN (IS IT TRUE FOR YOU?)
Taurus, I’m very true to my star sign. Determined, emotional …. raging bull!
BEST HALLOWEEN COSTUME EVER
I’ve been a cat every since I can remember, apart from 3 years ago I was a ghost.
#1 THING YOU SPEND MONEY ON
Thankfully my shoe wardrobe is sorted, so it has to be bags. I absolutely love them. I seriously can’t wait for the AW13/14 Miista bags, they’re amazing!
CHILDHOOD DREAM JOB
I wanted to join An Garda Siochana (Irish Police) mounted unit.
AT THE UNA AWARDS, WHO WOULD WIN BIGGEST PUBLIC MESS
Eh, me!
MOST WORN ARTICLE OF CLOTHING
I live in my furry cashmere stole.
YOU CAN ONLY HAVE ONE KIND OF ALCOHOLIC DRINK FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT IS IT
Gin & tonic, it’s brilliant.
SUNGLASSES OR HAT
Sunglasses.

FILM The Bling Ring
We are counting down to the release of Sofia Coppola’s next production and when June 14th hits you can guarantee Miista butts will be in theater seats. The story hits all of Coppola’s favorite themes: the emptiness of celebrity, obsession with celebrity, the unsure confidence and brazen recklessness of teenage girls, the entitlement of rich kids…and all of it told through her special blend of sparse dialogue and breathtaking visuals. The story itself is hilariously incredible and we highly recommend that you check out the Vanity Fair article covering the string of Hollywood Hills robberies committed by fame hungry Valley kids. Written by Nancy Jo Sales, The Suspects Wore Louboutins is not only a fantastic read but also the basis of Coppola’s film. She actually optioned the article for the film.

The group of kids would track where certain celebs were by monitoring gossip sites — Paris is hosting a party here, Lindsay is attending a premiere there — then find out their addresses and “go shopping” in these celebs’ homes while they were off being famous in another city. With Emma Watson as the karmically conscious, Adderall buzzing, someday leader of a country/defendant Alexis Neiers the film is bound to be a slam dunk.

MUSIC Modeselektor
This inventive German electro group has stolen Laura’s heart. She had the chance to see them live recently and has been listening to their albums nonstop ever since. The group consists of Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary — the two have been making music together since 1996 but refuse to commit to one certain niche or genre. When asked to pin down their sound they reply, “Happy metal, hard rap, country-ambient, Russian crunk. We don’t like it if people tag us as being a certain style or school or scene or whatever. We don’t really care about all that.” And neither do we! Forget the labels and enjoy the dope beats.

WEIRD Staggering Beauty **not for those prone to epileptic seizures**
In a bad mood? Take it out on the worm creature of staggeringbeauty.com. Created by George Michael Brower, a San Francisco based Google Creative Labs designer and developer, this experiment in JavaScript for Google Chrome transports you from the office to a fever paced rave with hyperspeed visuals and a tripped out wiggly worm. And although the purpose is straight forward, you may find yourself returning and spending a strange amount of time wiggling that worm into rave mode. Be warned.

INSTAGRAM Weird Wife
We’re not sure how we began following Momoko on Instagram but we’re sure glad we are — she’s a Japanese blogger whose posts range from forward fashion looks to wacked out cartoons and everything in between. If you read our blog then you know we’ve got a serious affinity for various Asian aesthetics going on right now and Weird Wife is definitely another brick in that wall of cool. Check out her blog Grizzly Butter for more.

google eyes

unicorn powder

hamster man

#messyhair

"love or..."

#weird

OOTD

subway

TREND Eyes
Eyeballs are trending so hard right now. Jeremy Scott (well what he stole from Jimbo Phillips but that’s a whole other can of worms), UNIF, Topshop, Japanese label UNDERCOVER, Isolated Heroes, Kreepsville 666…it’s like everyone is down with eyes recently. It makes sense though. As we move into this ’90s nostalgic teenage boy fantasy land of screaming monsters and bizarro punked out prints with random body parts and gnarly graphics, eyeballs are really just a natural part of the progression.

Undercover AW13 RTW eyeball trench

Spike & Eyeball dress...can't seem to find who's responsible for this...

Isolated Heroes Cyber Barbiez collection's eyeball dress

TopShop

Kawaii style graphics like this are becoming super popular

Definitely similar to Jeremy Scott & Jimbo Phillips graphic designs

Kreepsville 666 eyeball bags

BOOKS Dear Diary by Lesley Arfin
Lesley Arfin, once Vice columnist now Girls writer, brings her personal diaries to the public. From middle school onward, they detail frenemies, scene boys, embarrassing parents, NYC living and a descent into drug addiction. Arfin includes entries and then updates for each one — often interviewing the subject of whatever major issue was going down in her life at the time. The book is honest, relatable and so much fun to read, even when it’s not fun to read. She retains humor even at the darkest moments and manages to inspire while avoiding the saccharine pitfalls that usually come with the territory. Highly recommend.

Buy here at Amazon. Oh and did we mention Chloe Sevigny does the introduction? Pretty prettyyyy prettyyyyyy rad.

Buy Miista Trudy Black in our online store HERE.

Michelle is wearing Miista Trudy Black, check out her blog!

Light played a major role in our current collection. With science fiction fantasy and the natural beauty of organic material as the two main yet opposing themes, light was the concept that brought everything together. You’ll see its effects throughout the styles — whether is light bleached raffia or the gorgeous reflective properties of iridescent leathers — light touches each of our Spring shoes.

It’s for this reason that we were immediately attracted to the “Light and Shine” editorial. The pieces plays with light in a similar manner — ombréd colors giving that same bleaching effect, neon whisps of color flowing across the imagery, reflection and variance highlighting the subject. It’s application can begat so many different results and we’re fascinated by the ways it can alter what it touches without ever really touching it at all.

“Light and Shine”
Photographer: Vincent Kos
Fashion Stylist: Sandra Keijzer
Makeup and hair stylist: Pascale Hoogstraate
Model: Lin @ Touche Model Management

In The Economists “The Robot Problem” the issue at hand is the exponential growth of Artificial Intelligence and what happens when it surpasses human ability. According to Moore’s Law computer processors double in complexity approximately every two years. This staggering move forward for technological beings brings us the assumption that by the year 2040 Artificial Intelligence (or AI) will have surpassed human intelligence — meaning that robots will be able to do everything we can do but faster, more efficiently and without all the drama. Assuming that this is true and that robots enter the work force, human kind is left at a serious disadvantage. We’ll no longer be needed for any tasks. Robots will know everything we know; they will be capable of complex decision making. It’s not like only the factory jobs will disappear, robots will of course be able to assemble products faster and much more cheaply than their human counterparts, but we’re talking high level, critical thinking required jobs. Humans will effectively be phased out of the workplace with robot labor becoming the only viable option for companies to stay afloat as their competition decide on the robotic route as well. Humans will become permanently unemployed. Unemployment rate 100%. And at the same time there will be all together too few consumers to create demand for the products that the robots are so quickly and cheaply producing. Reality check: this whole hypothesis isn’t set for hundreds of years from now, it’s expected to start in 27 years.

One of the answers suggested for this robot problem is this: “The only way out will be to vest humans at birth with ownership shares in the robot means of production, as Noah Smith has suggested, creating a post-capitalist society of hereditary aristocratic humans and robot slaves.” As totally organic beings become the minority, flesh and blood is seen as “special.” And the special ones are given a right-of-birth income transfer, a stake in the production of the robotic race. Economist Karl Smith can’t help but wonder though — if we reach this point where AI surpasses human intelligence, does that mean we’re assuming that these robotic creatures are also capable of having an inner life? Will they be sentient beings? And if they are capable of this, are we setting up yet another race for years and years of slavery and grinding poverty? Are we now faced with a serious moral dilemma, left to consider the rights of beings that do not yet even exist?

The Economist goes in a different direction though. It first posits that the first machine to surpass human capabilities will most likely be Google — not a friendly robot man. But the core of the issue becomes not what do we do with this new robotic race, but how will we even be able to separate from them? Brain to computer interfaces are just now coming into existence — machines that can be controlled through thought alone. Give this technology a few years and perhaps we’ll all have chips implanted into our brains, changing the channel, starting the car, writing up a Word doc. And naturally the chips will communicate with other chips implanted in other heads. In embracing new technology we become more and more inextricably involved. Networks of humans will be communicating with networks of machines. This idea naturally led us to reconsider the words of Donna Haraway, a prominent science and technology scholar and professor, who argued as early as 1985 that we are all already cyborgs.

cyborg: a combination of nature and science

Haraway’s interests focused primarily on technology, feminism and socialism, and her 1985 essay “The Cyborg Manifesto” explores the ways in which we are already part man, part machine, although this early on her case was mostly metaphoric. Haraway’s brand of feminism refuted the Goddess route where women found themselves through spirituality and nature and rejected the patriarchic field of technology. She found these women relying heavily on the word “natural” which to her meant “as it’s always been,” “as it should be,” “unchangeable.” This, to her, stymied women. Left them chained to the past in shackles of their own creation. Haraway insisted that women accept the technological aspect of their lives, after all the human body, even in 1985, is a high performance machine. Diet, medicine, specialized clothing, exercise, training, equipment. And our body as a machine exists in a network of other machines via human relationships. Man is not an island.

A cyborg, as it’s most base definition, is a product of science and technology. Hard to argue against all of human kind being that. And even almost 30 years ago Haraway understood the network aspect which applied then but means even more now. The Economist is painting a picture of the future where machines and humans will be connected — telepathically even as the machines, if smarter and more capable than humans, will be able to predict and anticipate our every move — and the line between organic and machine will be blurred. Haraway knew this many years prior and it’s incredible to see the new validity her words take on today. So what will happen when these new machines enter the picture? The network will build, it will expand, but these hypotheses of slavery suggest far too clear of boundaries. Instead of viewing this new life image as one “race” pitted against the other, the fight instead will be to retain identity. As Charlie Stross explains in his theory the “Glasshouse,” the key concern of post-singular society will be the protection of individual identity as infinite access causes too many blurred lines.

With a swirling of assumptions the one thing that will be true for the future is that purely individualistic life will become far less common. Humans have always thrived in communities and as these groupings become more and more central to our core beings, even so far as to exist as a technology inside of us, it will be important to consider the implications and strive to not lose the individual.

If you’re interested in the topic we definitely recommend reading “The Robot Threat” over at The Economist as well as some of Donna Haraway’s work, particularly “The Cyborg Manifesto” (go for the updated 1991 version instead of the original 1985).

10 days left for you to take any Miista style and superimpose it into a new environment. The contest asks you to tell us WHERE’S YOUR MIISTA — is it swimming in the ocean? Cooking up a gourmet feast in the kitchen? Stomping around on the glorious feet of Ryan Gosling? You can put your Miista anywhere — or next to anyone. If you aren’t skilled in the art of Photoshop, you can always use a simple collage app on your phone — think DIPTIC or PicsArt — and juxtapose your favorite Miista style next to something ridiculous, similar or entirely outlandish.

The idea here isn’t to find out who’s best at Photoshop — we want to know who’s the most creative! We don’t care if your pixels match or if it’s a little blurry, we care that you put some thought into it and manage to make us laugh. And remember, the caption is important too!!

So there’s a little over a week left and the entries that are coming in continue to shock us. You are all so creative it’s awesome and makes us want to give away more free shoes! You’re allowed to submit as many entries as you’d like and to do so just upload your masterpiece to Instagram, tag #WHERESYOURMIISTA and @miistashoes, include a killer caption and be sure to follow our account. That’s it!

Now for the technical aspect — if you don’t have access to Photoshop but know the basics definitely check out the free, online program pixlr. It has all the photo-editing tools you’ll need and is very easy to use. And if you need to brush up on your layering skills, just Google “free Photoshop tutorials” and you’ll get a huge list of resources. You’ll really only need to know how to use a few of the tools so even if you’re learning from scratch it’ll take around a half an hour. Or if all of this just isn’t up your alley feel free to use one of the collage apps we mentioned, or you can even print the images out and collage by hand! As long as you submit to our Instagram @miistashoes and tag #WHERESYOURMIISTA by midnight on May 31st we don’t care how you get there or what you do!

We still haven’t decided how many winners there will be — and probably won’t until the contest is over. It’s all going to depend on the quality/quantity of entries. And be sure to note that you may use a certain style within your design but you are not guaranteed to win that style. The winners’ shoes depend on our current stock within our online shop. So if you use the purple iridescent Zoe in your image and the style is still sold out at the time of prize picking you won’t be able to take that shoe home. There will be plenty of choices though so don’t be sad!

Now on to some of the entries! These have been chosen at random (well actually at how easily we can just pull them up on the computer since most of them are on our phones) so this does not speak to who will be winning — we swear! Check these out for inspiration and get working on your own entry!!

@michelleane0us

@moustachic

@katekuhl

@moustachic

@phemerci_oxo

@bellasunder

@gkyli

@birdinfurs

@kathidral

@jazzyka

1. Sweatshirt – Chrostopher Kane

2. Skirt – Christopher Kane

3. Necklace – Net a Porte

4. Bag – Proenza Schouler

5. Sunglasses – Browns Fashion

6. Miista Maggie Black

Check out the the newest streetstyle photos from London.

FOLLOW @MIISTASHOES ON INSTAGRAM AND TWITTER!

It’s the time again: London girls rejoice because Santa is coming in May and bringing with him a full sac of Miistas where prices start at just £10! Does it get any better than that?

MIISTAS MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
WHAT
Miista Sample Sale
WHERE
Netil House
1-7 Westgate Street, E8 3RL London, United Kingdom
Right near our office in Hackney, East London
WHEN
May 31 – June 1
WHY
Because we’ve got so many amazing samples from our Spring/Summer 2013 ELECTROMANCER collection along with samples and overstock pairs from our past collections! There will be something for everyone — not just the lucky girls who have sample size feet — and the prices are better than they ever have been!

We’ll be revealing our collaborators as we get closer to the day. Be sure to keep up with us on Facebook, as well as Twitter and Instagram @miistashoes for all the important details! In the past we’ve worked with amazing lines like USED Vintage Clothing, Muubaa, Beara Beara, Kat & Bee Jewellery and more! So you never know who will be joining us this time around but you do know that this is not something to miss! If you’ll be in the London area or in driving distance — or want to book a flight for an off the cuff get away — be sure to keep your schedule open and your bank accounts ready!