In a world where fashion is fickle, it takes a keen eye to navigate the fads from the long-lasting trends.

Enter owner of Manuka boutique Escala Shoes, Gail Lubbock. Gail’s meticulous eye for detail and “insatiable curiosity” has led her to become one of Canberra’s best-known style experts.

Since taking over the boutique in 1998, Gail has sourced shoes and accessories from some of the most in-demand designers in Europe, including Aquatalia, Antonio Barbato and Thierry Rabotin; with some labels sold exclusively through the store.

She now travels to Milan every six months for about a week, scouring shoe fairs and trade shows for beautiful, well-designed shoes, boots and accessories to stock.

“I always go and expect something fabulous, and every time, without fail, I find it,” Gail says.

“So every six months, designers are having to recreate, reinvent and reconsider, and they always step up to the plate. It’s my job to find something I know our customers will love, but also that is of very high quality and wearable.”

Interestingly, Gail began her career as a nurse but says she always had a love for fashion. Even as a child, in her hometown of Orange, she would often sneak into her mother’s or aunt’s wardrobe to “clomp around in their shoes.”

“My mother was always dressed beautifully, she had a lovely eye for colour so I grew up with all that,” she says.

“I still remember twelve and sixpence bought me my first shoes—a pair of Moxoms—from the local store in Orange.”

After moving to Canberra in 1978, Gail decided to give up nursing due to a back injury. She started to work in retail, where, at the time, the buying process was largely dictated by men.

“It worked well for a long time, but as they were mainly men who were responsible for buying, I was always curious and wondered if there was something there that they don’t see,” Gail says.

“A woman’s eye is always different to a man’s eye; they have a different vision. A lot of theirs is concerned with the economics of the whole thing, whereas I’m more concerned about the aesthetics.”

After taking over Escala, Gail gradually built up the business, taking her first buying trip to Europe in 2005. She’s returned every six months since. Her favourite season to visit is winter: “I just love it—the boots, the leathers, the textures, the fabrics.”

When she’s not in Europe, Gail spends time in-store or researching new trends; a task that wasn’t easy before the online world erupted.

“Back then I’d have to just subscribe to magazines to learn about the industry, along with new designers and a whole raft of information,” she says.

“Now it’s much easier, I keep up with the various websites and keep a fine eye on fashion. I’m an insatiably curious person as well, I love to find out what people are doing, what they’re wearing, and maybe finding new shoe designers.

“It’s a fascinating industry, and it’s always changing so you do have to keep up to date. And the more you know about your industry, the more interesting it becomes.”

As trends are ever-evolving, Gail says she’s now noticing a global casualisation in the fashion industry.

“Flats are very in right now, and the more practical, blocky heel is much more prominent than it was a few years ago,” she says.

“Casualisation often means that it’s comfortable and it’s adapting to fit with a lot of things. This autumn/winter season I’ve also noticed a lot more colour, plenty of pinks and deep reds—I love that.”

While travelling Gail will often visit the factories that make the products she sources, allowing her to see the intricacies that go into making each piece.

“Visiting factories is wonderful and gives you such an insight into the process,” she says.

“I’ll go into the leather rooms and just love seeing the different things they do with them; the colours, the embellishments, the textures, and watching the intricacy of a woman on a sewing machine doing different embroidery. You get to understand why they are so expensive, due to the hand component.

“It’s also certainly lovely being able to recognise the people making the pieces, knowing they’ll go to a good home with our customers here in Canberra and say ‘thank you very much, we’re really enjoying what you do back on the other side of the earth’.”

Photography: Tim Bean Photography.

This article originally appeared as part of our A Matter Of Taste article in Magazine: Taste for Winter 2018. Find out more about Magazine here. 

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