Inspired by her Uzbek grandmother's indomitable strength and 1930s glamour, Cheyenne Morris, the designer of luxury shoe line Tashkent [5]—named after the capital city of Uzbekistan—is giving the shoe landscape a distinctive new silhouette.

While she majored in sculpture at the School of Visual Arts, Morris used her local cobbler's equipment in her off-hours to create handmade, one-of-a-kind shoe creations when she was just 19. She refined her designs quickly, and just a few years later, Morris manufactured two seasons of her own line which sold to stores like Scoop and Tracey Ross. She then took some time off to attend FIT and hone her technical skills, simultaneously working at Delman [6] alongside the legendary Flori Silverstein. Afterwards, Morris moved into retail to learn that side of the trade by opening a vintage footwear shop, The Shoe Shack, in eastern Long Island.

Morris' precipitous route to creating Tashkent and her 360-degree knowledge of footwear is serving the brand well. Now five seasons in, Tashkent is produced in Italy with sumptuous materials and a distinctive mix of hard and soft elements—from a metal tap nailed onto a pair of textured metallic linen, square-toed ballet flats, to a peek of a fur cuff, or soft flannels mixed with hard Velcro straps. But her true innovation is her sculptural lasts: Morris creates new shapes, angles and silhouettes not seen before in the footwear landscape. No small feat when you consider that basic shoe lasts haven't changed much in the last 50 years. This line is one to keep a close watch on, and to start buying now—we're betting they will become cult collectibles any day.

—Meghan Cleary [7]