It was a match made in heaven on Los Angeles’s idyllic Melrose Place: The It girl and beloved shoe brand By Far and the It girl herself Devon Lee Carlson. The social media maven, YouTube-hauler extraordinaire, and phone case entrepreneur and I meet at the By Far store, a newly opened hub of the brand’s beloved bags and accessories right next to an under-construction Gucci store. By Far’s spot is a candy-coated injection of glamour into the luxury strip that was walloped by COVID-19 closures.
Carlson and I are looking at the store like it’s Willy Wonka’s fashion factory. Carlson, of course, enters with her millennial Julia Roberts smile while wearing an itty bitty green mini skirt and a big concert T-shirt with a picture of Cher and some cute nameless bag (the skirt and the purse are both secondhand—the girl is a keen thrifter). “I need to have walked in here with something By Far,” she jokes.
A lovely salesperson takes her seriously and guides her to a large sloping triangular black leather bag, their Amber bag, which also comes in verdant green, pale olive, and rich caramel. Although Carlson is perpetually showered with gifts from brands—that comes with the territory of having millions and millions of followers—she is obsessed with By Far. “I actually changed into By Far shoes all in Paris because they are so comfortable. I can run around town,” she says. “They are genuinely my favorite shoe brand.” She notes that it isn’t just her who has a soft spot for the brand, but also her sister and her mother.
We are taking photo after photo. (Carlson snaps a picture with a cute powder pink Micro Fran bag featuring a hulking gold BF buckle logo.) After all, the store makes for the perfect image. The De-Yan–designed By Far interior is groovy with curved textured walls, a retro conversation pit, some charming yellow beams, and walls and walls of accessories, shoes, and bags of course. By Far’s brand director Kristina Taneva tells me that the layout is based on what colors perform on Instagram. And why not? By Far’s shoes look good IRL and also make for a killer double-tap moment.
The union between Carlson and the By Far founders makes perfect sense too. Both of their rises to success were organic. By Far was created in 2016 by three enterprising Bulgarian women—Valentina Ignatova, Sabina Gyosheva, and Denitsa Bumbarova—none of whom have a background in fashion. Ignatova was working selling solar panels when she couldn’t find shoes for a garden wedding and, voilà, was linked with a Bulgarian shoe factory. From there they decided to create shoes, starting with a glove boot—the Sofia.
That’s another thing that I’ve noticed about By Far: They are a brand that believes in just going for it. This fearless philosophy also reminds me of Carlson, who launched her phone case label Wildflower at 18. She was eating in a restaurant and approached Miley Cyrus, who complimented the punky studded phone case Carlson made with her sister Sydney. The sisters realized they had an idea on their hands—a mirror selfie-friendly phone case—and launched what is now known as Wildflower Cases.
Like many fans of By Far, Carlson’s introduction started with the block heel shoe, their ubiquitous Tanya sandal. This was the shoe liked around the world on Instagram. By Far released it, and the same day they received their first order from Los Angeles—sans advertising! Maybe it was the luck of the draw, but that doesn’t matter anymore. By Far’s saucy but palatable ’90s flair has an addictive chokehold on celebrities and cool girls. Ignatova reminisces on how Gigi and Bella Hadid carried the shoulder Rachel bag during fashion week in 2019 while they were surrounded by paparazzi. Someone else from the team recalls that Kendall Jenner wouldn’t take her By Far shoulder bag off, “for like, two years!”
Carlson has boiled By Far’s appeal down. “The silhouette is just normal, but the pieces themselves are expressive of who’s wearing it,” she says, pointing to a pair of Mare flip-flop sandals that have a subtle tri-buckle on the strap. Carlson’s style is perpetually changing and right now she is in her “normal girl” phase. “I’m having a lot of fun with my girlfriends, but also wearing cute clothes while doing so!” She needs a shoe that can fit into whatever sartorial mood she’s in. “Some people do too much with shoes!”
Aesthetics aside, Carlson also adds one of the most important observations about the footwear: “By Far shoes are the only ones that won’t tear your feet up.” I start to wax poetic on my own experience of buying a pair of incredibly chic, very ’90s Croc-embossed leather thong heels (not from By Far). Unfortunately, 30 minutes into wearing them, my feet looked like they had been attacked by something feral. Ignatova, in her to-the-point tone, says everything I need to know. “Girls make these shoes, so you know they are comfortable.”
Author: Liana Satenstein
June 1st, 2022
https://www.vogue.com/article/by-far-devon-lee-carlson-melrose-place
Photos: Liana Satenstein / @liana_ava
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