I made another shoe design for Enchanted Dolls. They are a hybrid of a classical pencil heel Stiletto and an iconic Mary Jane with an arch strap. I shall call them The Elegance! They are now available for pre-order in sterling silver at $395 CAD. But let me tell you a little bit more about my process first.
I've never attempted this high-rise, low-cut shoe design before, because my dolls' feet do not bend at the toes and can not conform to the contorted nature of pumps. Although I do have an alternate, bent-at-the-toes pair of feet, I don't like them much and choose to work with natural, flat feet instead. This demands that I design all my shoes, including high heels, for absolutely flat feet. This can be tricky, as I have to 'hide' the unbent toes somewhere to create the optical illusion that they are bent.
In the past I used tall platform shoes to create this illusion, which tended to limit my shoe designs somewhat, because low-cut shoes like these pencil stilettos have no platform to 'hide' or 'drop' the toes in to give the illusion of a bent foot. But no more! I decided to embrace the straight toes and incorporate them into all my shoe designs from now on. No more hiding them!
Now, I understand this is a little bit unorthodox and can seem awkward at first, but no more awkward in my opinion, than the regular pumps that contort our feet into brutally uncomfortable positions for the sake of sex appeal.
So, once I let go of the standard notion that toes have to be bent or hidden to fit into shoes, it liberated me to create something this dainty and low cut to expose as much of the lovely porcelain foot as I can.
The colourful arch strap meanwhile, is a personal favourite of mine and a staple feature of all Enchanted Doll shoes. I think it adds a certain warmth and coyness of Mary Janes to the cold beauty of precious metals.
And now that I've divorced myself from the idea of hiding my dolls' toes, I wonder what shoe I'm gonna make next. The possibilities are exciting.
What do you guys thin of the straight down, exposed toe style? Like it? Hate it? Tell me.