It's in the Detail

They can be stylish, casual, or even both. 

Ankle boots are one of my favourite styles to design and make. I made this pair for my sister Lara, who is a creative and stylish little pocket rocket. This lead me in the direction of designing a pair of simple yet classic boots, that have a hint of something different - something that makes you look twice.

Mock Up

Any designer or shoe maker will agree - make a mock up before the real thing! This allows you to test out the design, style and fit of the shoe, as well as make any changes if needed. The mock ups below are not injured and bandaged, however they have their heel stiffener and toe puff on the outside of the shoe as there is no lining for prototypes. This allows you to try it on without collapsing at the heel and toe once the mock up is removed from the last. I made two types of mock ups before I selected which design I would like to go ahead with. I found the style I chose to be more of a stylish design, rather than casual, which was the look I was going for.

Testing Textures

I selected a classic black for the leather, but wanted to add a different texture to the boot for originality.  Black suede worked really well this design, so I swapped parts of the shoe to suede - heel block and quarter piece.

The lasting process was quite a challenge with the leather I chose, as it was a really tough skin and didn't stretch a lot. So I used a conditioner, which does a very similar process to our hair! The conditioner is applied to the inside of the leather with a sponge, breaking down to the fibres and softening the leather to become easier to last.