It started with one pair

Johanna grew up in 1980s Paris, surrounded by women of strong character. With her grandmother, a seamstress, she began early on to imagine the clothes she wanted to wear — and discovered something that never left her: the way a cut, a material or a single detail can change a silhouette.

As a teenager she spent hours in the vintage shops of Paris, looking as closely at how clothes were made as at the clothes themselves: a button, a seam, a shoulder, a proportion. Pieces from other eras, worn before her, and able to feel obvious again once taken out of their context.

That way of looking has guided everything since.

After training at the Institut Français de la Mode, Johanna worked with houses and designers of very different worlds — among them Phoebe Philo, Sonia Rykiel and Elie Saab. She sharpened her eye there, and above all a conviction: a strong piece should never take the place of the woman wearing it. It should reveal something that was already there.

Shoes always held a particular place in Johanna's wardrobe — and among them, the western boot. A boot she grew up with. A silhouette recognised at once, carrying images of open country, music, cinema, independence.

But also a boot whose exact version she could never find. She loved its character, less so its excesses. She wanted to keep its presence without slipping into costume. To keep its strength, in a line that was finer, more precise, more at ease in a contemporary wardrobe.

So she began to draw it. The toe changed. The heel came down. The arch was reworked. The shaft found another proportion. And above all, comfort became inseparable from the silhouette.

Out of that search came Midnight. The first Shiloh.

In 2019, Midnight gave rise to Shiloh Heritage. Not to a succession of collections meant to disappear a few months later, but to a house built on one conviction: some shapes deserve to be deepened rather than replaced.

Midnight became the starting point of a vocabulary. Another height. A new embroidery. A different leather. A suede. Fringes. Studs. Unexpected colours. The silhouette stays recognisable; its expression changes.

That is how we think about collections: not as a constant search for newness, but as continuous work around pieces we want to keep.

Over time, Shiloh could have become many things. We chose to stay close to what made us begin. The western boot. Because there is still a great deal to explore in a single shape, once you agree to give it time.

A few millimetres changed. An embroidery rethought. A new proportion found. A colour that completely transforms a pair known for years.

Our models are not made to belong to a season. They enter the collection when they feel right, and stay as long as they go on being so.

A house born of a pair Johanna wanted to wear. And still looking, since, for how far that pair can take us.