Julia H. Engel Breaks Down Her New Shoe Collab With Margaux, and It's a Spring Dream

Julia Engel: My style has been the same pretty much my whole life. It's been very feminine. I love florals, I love lots of color.

Moving from San Francisco, which is pretty cold year-round, so very limiting . . . and living somewhere that's allowed me to dress Spring-like year-round, it's been fun to incorporate that into [all] seasons. And to me, Gal Meets Glam is very much a Spring brand. Which is why we wanted this collaboration to launch now. We really wanted to embrace those core sort of brand identities with Margaux, and have it kind of launch in our peak seasons.

But Charleston is a beautiful city that's full of pastels, and it's sort of all the things that I personally love in my own aesthetic, and I think it just inspires me every single day without me even realizing it.

PS: Was there a specific influence or inspiration behind the floral prints on the shoes?
JE: All of the floral prints in the collection, they're prints that were pulled from our Spring [Gal Meets Glam] line. So, you'll see, they're from our March and April designs. Once those pieces come out later next month and the following month, you'll see them done in some different colorways. Those are all prints that we designed last year when we were working on the collection, and I'm always drawn to floral prints that almost look like home decor prints, something that you'd find in a wallpaper, or feels almost 18th century, but brought to life in new, fresh modern colors and silhouettes that are a little bit more current in what the modern woman wants to wear.

JE: For the flat, I've worn mine with a silk midi skirt, with a sweater and a denim jacket over it, for an office [or more casual look]. You can kind of make that work for anything.

I feel like a lot more women wear flats nowadays. I mean, I have a baby, I'm running around, I'm working full time. It's just not super practical to be in a heel all day unless it's very comfortable. I wear flats all the time with my dresses. I think it's all about knowing your proportions and getting your dresses tailored to hit at the right spot if you're going to be wearing flats. Whether that's having a really flattering midi dress, or having a maxi dress tailored to hit you at the ankle so that it looks appropriate with flats. It's just knowing those proportions, and making it work, I would say. But I think 100 percent, I love wearing any sort of flat shoe, like our loafer that we did in a collaboration with Margaux last fall, I wore with everything from dresses to jeans to skirts, everything in between.

PS: Do you have a travel shoe that you swear by?
JE: Honestly, just a really comfortable flat. I like for my travel shoe to also be a shoe that I'm going to wear a lot with whatever outfits I have planned for my next destination. That way I'm not having extra item I have to lug around. So, for example, our pointe, you could wear that with jeans, you could dress it up, you could dress it down. I think the print adds an element of special-ness, so it doesn't feel like you just kind of have a simple, neutral ballet flat. It feels special enough to kind of mix and work with a bunch of different outfits. I'm all for bringing two to three pairs of shoes, and making that work with as much as I pack as possible. Although I am known for over packing so . . .

JE: I'm a huge fan of the espadrilles. I mean, it's pretty much the only shoe I wear from March until November. So that was really exciting to launch a whole new shoe style with Margaux, as this is their first espadrille they've done. I would say that this espadrille is exceptionally comfortable, because Margaux, their whole philosophy is about having a shoe that's comfortable. When traveling, I wear my espadrilles all day long. To me it's a shoe that adds height, while not being uncomfortable, because it's that really comfortable, cushy platform. I [also] love the texture that espadrilles add.

It's kind of like adding a basket bag to something. It's adding that hint of a natural element that just adds a great texture to a look. So if you have a little bit more of a dressed up dress, I love adding an espadrille to kind of dress it down, instead of pairing it with a heel. But even in the colder months I'll wear my espadrilles with jeans and a denim jacket to kind of make it a little bit edgier, and still have it be appropriate for whatever particular season.

JE: A really great flat or ballet flat. It's just going to live in your closet for a long time, and you can essentially wear it with everything. I mean, to me you just can't go wrong with a flat. I think if you were to pick one shoe and that would kind of be your one big purchase, I would definitely go with the pointe.

JE: I would say this round, it's probably the mule. I think mules are my favorite shoes to wear right now. The fact that it's a new shape for Margaux, and I think they just knocked it out of the park with the fit, and the quality, and the craftsmanship. And then just bringing in that oversize bow in our GMG print, it just blends both of our brands in this new unique way that I am really, really excited about.

Margaux x Gal Meets Glam Espadrille in Blush ($175)

Margaux x Gal Meets Glam Espadrille in Blue Floral ($185)

Margaux x Gal Meets Glam Mule in Navy ($195)

Margaux x Gal Meets Glam Mule in Blush ($195)

Margaux x Gal Meets Glam Pointe in Toile ($195)