Flat chat: the rule Aussies have to learn in Paris

Flat chat ... Jasmine Stefanovic (left) and Tamie Ingham of Mara & Mine have their sights set on European expansion after building their business in the US.Credit: James Nelson

If there is one thing the world has learnt from the style of French women, it's that they walk. A lot.

So it makes sense that French women are hardly seen in sky-high stilettos, preferring a sensible kitten heel, moccasin or slipper.

Tamie Ingham and Jasmine Stefanovic have been honing their Mara & Mine shoe business, which began excusively with flats, for several years in Australia and the US, and now, buoyed by this French style maxim, are set to take on the ultimate fashion test of Paris Fashion Week.

But Ingham and Stefanovic, who will miss attending Sunday's Logies with her husband, Karl Stefanovic, won't be diving in the deep end of the Seine alone, having teamed up with a fellow design darling in Marina Afonina of Albus Lumen.

Ingham said she'd admired Afonina, who has won several Australian fashion awards since launching three years ago, and relished the opportunity to create a collection for Albus' Paris show, which will take place on Tuesday night, Paris time.

"We built on our core, existing styles with new fabrications and styles to create something more targeted towards the 'Albus girl'," Ingham said from Paris on Monday.

Ingham said working with Marina Afonina (pictured) brought 'two designers together [to create] something new for both audiences'.Credit: Edwina Pickles

Albus Lumen is a brand very much built on the fantasy and romance of modern travel – think natural fabrics and fluid shapes in an earthy palette – so it was a challenge for Mara & Mine to pivot from its traditional aesthetic while staying true to brand. The collection includes moccasins and suede ballet slippers with square toes and blanket stitched edging in colours inspired by Peru, where the Albus campaign was also photographed.

Ingham said collaborations worked best when both brands can "offer our customers and [the customers of] who we’re collaborating with something they haven’t seen before".

"The alchemy of bringing two designers together and creating something new for both audiences is something really exciting," she said.

Since launching, Mara & Mine has secured major wholesale accounts in the US including Bergdorf Goodman and Saks, as well as keeping its own Sydney store and e-commerce platform.

Ingham said both channels are critical to a brand's survival in the existing retail climate.

"There is still a very traditional customer who likes to come to the shop ... They want to touch and feel the product," she said. "It’s shoes, they want to try them on."

Last week, a survey by media strategy company Blis, found about two-thirds of Australian consumers still prefer to shop in physical stores for clothing and footwear.

Blis' Australian and New Zealand managing director, Nick Ballard, said physical stores were here to stay "as long as they adapt to the changing landscape and evolving customer expectations".

"Consumers do not see a delineation between online and offline shopping, rather the modern consumer journey fuses both worlds and it is imperative that brands and retailers do the same," he said.

A number of other Australian brands are showing in Paris over the next two weeks including Toni Maticevski (in collaboration with Heart of Bone), Steven Khalil and Paolo Sebastian.