A year and a half ago, Rebecca Allen started fleshing out a concept for an inclusive collection of nude high heels in a range of skin colours—about time, right? Allen, an ex–finance employee of Goldman Sachs in New York, had long been aware of the dearth of options for stylish, nude pumps that matched her skin’s hue.
So, the executive got to work designing pumps in five shades of nude, started manufacturing them in Porto Alegre, Brazil, named the collection the New Pump, and launched this spring under her eponymous label, Rebecca Allen. “I pulled over 70 patent leather swatches and carried them with me wherever I went, so I could always try them on different women and under different lighting,” says Allen of her research process, adding that regardless of complexion, a lot of women like the middle shade, Nude III.