Young brit shoe designer Cleo B, whose shoes are available on www.the-stylestore.com, talks us through the last couple of months and the inspiration behind her A/W10 designs.

OCTOBER
Lineapelle Fair took place in Bologna. This is where I go to source almost all the leather and components that make up my collections.The fair takes place twice a year so  I’ve had ample time to identify by favourite city spots. I always steal a few hours and take myself down to the market area where there are really cute street stalls selling the most amazing fruit and vegetables.

I wish I had this on my doorstep in London - North End Road Market doesn’t seem to compare and is considerably less romantic!   

The fair is huge, and 3 days spent trawling around by myself with a heavy bag really took it’s toll. I found an amazing stand offering  these luscious rabbit skins that I literally could have fallen asleep in. Sadly, they won’t be featured in the AW10 collection, but I love them all the same:

One Italian stand was decorated with these kooky (that’s the only word I can think of to describe them!) sketches. I can’t remember who did them but they amused me:

NOVEMBER
The CLEO B Autumn Winter 2010 collection is inspired by Arabia, I went back to my Lebanese roots and gathered lots of inspirational imagery. Al Saqi Books on Westbourne Grove is amazing - I bought two books here. It specialises in Arabic books and the shop assistant was unbelievably knowledgeable. I have just read ‘Beirut I Love You’ by Zena Al Kahil, which is  a woman’s memoir based in Beirut during the war. It sounds like heavy reading, but was light, enjoyable and moving and I named my AW10 shoes after characters in the book! Here are some of the Arabian images that have inspired my designs.