Special edition Heart & Soul

Gosh, this post is way overdue. I wanted to blog about it but somehow forgot and also forgot to wish the lovely Kim on her wedding!

Heart & Soul has somewhat become a favorite with brides, without intentionally designed with that in mind. It has also become one of the most popular shoe and like a signature of GlamRockChic. I just wanted to do a heart shape on the shoe as i like cut outs and was inspired by Alexander Mcqueen's pumps with heart shaped peep toe opening. My friend said she didn't like the shoe at all. 'Tacky' was the word she used right to my face. Yes, u gotta love friends right? So forthright rip-my-heart-out-and-spit-on-it. Stomp stomp. But it's all good because her disliking it seemed to make other girls love it. Perhaps she should say tacky to all my shoes. The more she dislikes, the better they sell. *pray*

I think the big heart on the feet is quirky and ideal for the most romantic day of your life that makes it a fav. Plus it's a break from the traditional white, satin pump with a bow that you usually would find for wedding shoes or the glittery diamante encrusted strappy sandals that's terribly stiff and chafes the feet.

My factory hates to make this shoe, by the way. Because they had initially struggled to get the heart shape right when making the paper pattern, so it was a constant revision until i finally feel that they have done an okay job on the shape. Making it wasn't easy and fitting it wasn't also the greatest as different feet fit differently in the shoe, so, it means that on feet A, the heart looks nice, on feet B, the heart may not look so much like a heart. Dah, i could go on forever on this. But it's more or less decent now.

Kim wrote to me and asked if I could change the Heart & Soul to the material she wants. Like leopard print and do away with the red heel, replace with gold. I was a bit apprehensive at first as knowing that my factory hates making this shoe, hates taking 1 off orders/customization and hates me for bothering them during their peak season before  X'Mas and Chinese New Year.  I knew it was going to be tough. But I also knew that they were working on repeat production of my Heart & Soul and so it shouldn't be so hard to slot in 1 extra for Kim with her leopard print and gold heel, rite?

Luckily, because Chinese people don't like to disappoint brides, they agreed to do this one off. But it took a heck of a long time as Kim wrote to me in Nov and we finally were able to deliver the shoes to her at the tail end of March. After CNY, there was a shortage of manpower and things dragged. Many nail biting episodes and constant chasing and pleading on my part later, the shoes were delivered to me. Just in time.

Kim, am sorry I didn't wish you again on your wedding day but if u are reading this, thank you for your support and kind understanding. I don't know if u wore it on your wedding day eventually or went with another shoe, but thank u for even considering and waiting so long for it. Sorry I couldn't allow you to do more with it as it would have been too costly for you, so I hope you are happy at the end.

xoxo,

Quote of the day

I finally got to see this designer's shoes whom I have been coveting for a long time. I like each design, they are actually very simple but when balanced on 6 inch of heels and with carefully orchestrated studs here and there as well as a fantastic shaped last, they look modern and tough. Yes, there's nothing really feminine about these shoes but it's just that I love the overall look.

So when I was in Beijing, I just had to look up the store that carried this label. And I was pretty surprised that a made in Italy shoe had glue stains, certain parts of the leather had 'melted' due well, many reasons, let's not scare you. And overall, the workmanship was not as refined as I imagined it to be and the shoe was hard as brick, despite the leather being sourced in Italy. To me, that's ouch waiting to happen. I have so many blisters in my past life, i don't look forward to squeezing into hard leather.

I love patent leather and the glossy look of it. It's very trendy but every time I think of using it, I think of it being too hard on the feet and I would scrap the idea. I still sometimes have to remind myself why I came to design high heels myself and not get carried away by the design aspect of wanting to use pretty materials which may not be the most comfortable when worn. But it can get pretty frustrating because softer the material is, the more expensive and when you get stuck using it too many times, people label you as boring, not creative.

End of the story : I put down the shoe and I walked out of the boutique feeling happy. Happy knowing that even made in Italy shoes have faults. They are not flawless. They are handmade, just like mine. And they looked pretty much like mine except that my shoes are softer. That for sure I can vouch. And they do not cost you a month's (or 2) salary.