Salvatore Ferragamo Pink Cage heels

Apart from inventing the cage heel, Salvatore Ferragamo also managed to inspire me into adding pink to my shoe-drobe.

Nautical Sandals from Stella McCartney

I love nautical themed clothes, shoes, basically anything.
Usually it comes in the form of stripes and that can get a bit boring after some time.
That's what makes this sandals so appealing to me. You can scape the stripes and still have the nautical vibe.

Fendista Platform Pumps

I don't like all those Fendi accessories with the brand logo all over them.
But put one single logo in what would otherwise be just another pump and BAM! Every Fendi lover fashionista's dream pump comes true.
I suppose they didn't have to think too hard to come up with the name then.

Dsquared "Backbone" shoes

Dsquared's A/W 2010 collection is full of shoes with "backbone" heels. Knee high boots, mary janes, ankle boots, peep toes. You name it, they made it.
I have to admit that mixed feelings emerge when I see them.
On one hand, I don't think I would wear them unless I were a crime-fighter super hero, with a tight leather catsuit, blue neon hair and super powers(the ability to do something to bones, perhaps). No super powers, no catsuit, not wearing the shoes.
But on the other hand, one has to admire the designer's ability to put his idea into practice. And it did turn out pretty great.

Court Jester shoes

I can't seem to get away from red or black. But with something like this, why would I want to?
I better speed up my game and start making some shoes, pronto!

Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte F/W10-11

This pairs should be named RodARTe. The first thing I thought when I saw these was how much it looked like a Joan Miró's painting made into shoes.
I love Miró's painting because they look like drawings of one's dreams, making little sense and full of primary colours.
Therefore, wearing these would be like dream-walking.
If only they had my dream price!

The casting of a shoe last.

After a long time trying to get a shoe last, I decided(once again) to try and do it myself.
The first thing I did was look up for other crazy people that had the same brilliant idea, to see how they went about it.
Since the world wide web does not lack creative minds, it didn't take long to find several ideas and these are the ones I selected as a starting point: http://labricoleuse.livejournal.com/130607.html and http://luscher.org/making_shoe_lasts.php
In the end, I decided to use a mixture of plaster and a plaster polymer to make the last. As much as I'd like to brag, it wasn't my idea. I just followed the suggestion from the art supply store lady.


Here's how it all went down.

Once I decided on the shoe, I used masking tape to extend the edges of each shoe. I did it from the inside out and as tall as I could.


This is how it looked like once I finished both shoes.


To prevent the mixture(plaster+plaster polymer) from sticking to the shoe and to make the de-moulding easier, I spread vaseline all over the inside of the shoes.
There aren't any photos from the mixture preparation process because it's working time is very short. The preparation was very straight forward though. I just followed the instructions that came with the products. However, if you want the mixture to be more fluid, add a little more water than instructed.



Pouring the mixture into the shoes wasn't very tricky. I used a funnel and poured it in as slowly as I could to have as little air bubbles as possible. I did tip the shoe forward so that the toe area was fully covered firstly and after the shoe was full, I tapped it for a couple of times to help the air bubbles come up.


The instructions stated the working time as approximately 5 min and curing time for thicker layers as 5-6 hours. I ended allowing around 20 hours for it to cure.

De-moulding:
I started cutting the shoe at the seams and then, pealing it like a banana! :P


The last had lots and lots of uneven edges. To correct that, I used a chisel and carved away. I also used sandpaper to smooth out the lasts.



To allow me to nail the insoles to the last without breaking it, I needed to leave a hole in the sole of each last. So, I glued some coin shaped clay into the insole of each shoe before pouring the plaster+polymer mixture. After de-moulding, I simply removed the clay and then, I filled it with cork.



This is how the lasts looked like once they were done . They are far from perfect but I think they are good enough for a first attempt.


Room for improvement:
-I believe boots are better for casting a shoe last, since you can skip the masking tape part, you won't end up with your left shoe slightly(or very) different from the right shoe and there will be less carving to be done.
-Don't stop mixing the plaster right up to the pouring time. I let mine sit just for a little while and it made the last come out with different layers.
-On the same different layers note, try to do the amount you'll use for one shoe and then make more mixture for the other one.

Bandage shoes

Most of the times I go for high heels, either when I'm buying or designing them. So it came as a surprise when I designed this one without having to mentalize the words 'flats... flats... flats...' beforehand.
I like this pair a lot. It's bandage vibe scream 'comfortable' and make me feel like walking all over town in them.

Court shoes by Letizia Sung

It's so hard to say something about my design.
I suppose I can start by saying what inspired this court shoe. It was a chair I saw in a magazine. The apertures the chair had looked very interesting and the apertures in the shoe are my take on it.
I like that it's not a seasonal shoe so you can wear it all year round, pairing it with stockings if it get's too cold.
I love it in red but I think it would be great in blue. And yellow too.

Love them. Hate them. Love them...

This pair of CL mules could easily go to my 'hate them' list. But as it turns out it ended up in the never ending 'love them' list.
Being open toe scored it many, many points. The upper manages to not only be see through but also resembles 2 kinds of animal print without actually being any. The colours go with everything I can think of and the bow gives it that extra pinch of girlish flair.
And although I would make the toe opening a bit smaller, it doesn't look like the toes are going to be spreading and spilling out of the shoe.
I can imagine how great my feet would look in them. Can you?