Nicholas Hixon is the founder and creative force behind ADELINE.

A designer by instinct, his creative language was shaped in interiors and architecture. Spaces built to guide movement, alter perception, and create emotional response. But walls and rooms were never enough. The ideas were too large, too intimate, too personal. He needed a medium that could move with the body.

Shoes became that architecture.

In 2012, during a fundraiser fashion show, Hixon designed his first pair an experimental piece crafted from flooring materials and inspired by American Colonial architecture. The heels were nine inches high with a four-inch platform, carved from crown molding sourced at the local hardware store. It was unconventional, unrefined, and liberating. For the first time, creativity felt unrestrained.

What followed was obsession. Shoes were dissected, rebuilt, tested. Prototypes were worn, reported on, refined. Research led to unexpected places, trying on size-14 heels in a department store in Milwaukee to understand balance, grip, and weight distribution. Creativity learned to live inside constraints.

During the pandemic, experimentation expanded into AI, where curiosity reignited and new forms began to surface. In April 2024, Hixon entered an international shoe design competition and was selected as one of six designers to study bespoke shoemaking under an innovative designer who once created for Thierry Mugler. The experience reshaped his approach, learning not just how shoes are made, but how ideas become inventions. That design later earned an Honorable Mention at the Global Footwear Awards in November 2024.

ADELINE takes its name from a lyric in Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own. The lyric reads “I’m all messed up, I’m so outta line.” The phrase became a philosophy. ADELINE exists out of line, by design. We’re pushing form, disrupting proportion, and layering unexpected materials to tell stories through silhouette and texture. Each design is produced in Italy, where craftsmanship and material integrity meet expressive intent.

At ADELINE, we tell stories through shoes.

Our designs move beyond occasion. They are not limited to date nights or dance floors—they are self-portraits, emotional reflections, and moments of identity made tangible. Each piece draws from heritage, nostalgia, and the quiet memories that shape who we are long before we know how to name them.

We design with intention, never excess. Every shoe is made to order, allowing materials, construction, and craftsmanship to be considered with care. Nothing is pulled from a shelf or rushed through production. Each pair is created with the same level of dedication because luxury is felt in the details, and in knowing something was made specifically for you.

If you’re curious to see what happens behind the scenes, how an idea becomes form or how emotion becomes structure, we invite you to subscribe to our newsletter. And if you’re drawn to something more personal, bespoke consultations are available. We’d be honored to bring your vision to life through the lens of ADELINE.

Quietly intentional. Deeply personal. Always out of line.