Upper Street is one of my favourite areas in London... I find myself cycling up (or down) the long street on Saturday mornings and nearly causing myself a serious accident because I can't stop looking at all the pretty shops, pretty cafes and pretty people going by...
And now I'm happy to confirm after visiting them at their studio (which confusingly is not actually on Upper Street)
Upper Street is now also one of my favourite shoe brands!
I've heard a lot about the brand since they first launched, mainly from fellow bloggers who raved about their personal service and designer appeal, but up until this week had never got around to road testing the service for myself.
In case you haven't yet heard about them I'll fill you in quickly... it was set up by two shoeaholics, Julia Grinham and Katy Chandler who quite simply got sick of never being able to find their perfect pair of shoes, and so came up with the genius idea of allowing people tp design their own! Yes you heard me correctly, you can design
your own shoes!
As I'm such a shoeaholic this is a dream come true, and I'm sure the dream of many others... who hasn't uttered the words
'if only I could just design my own' while on a shopping trip? Whether it be about clothes, shoes or bags, the idea of being able to turn that imaginary picture of perfection you have in your head into a reality is just too damn exciting!
Upper Street has been successfully making women's dreams come true for over two years now and the good reviews just keep on coming, having expanded their repetoire to also include ballet flats as well as a range of different heel shapes, means there really is something to suit every shoeaholic out there!
The finished articles don't come cheap, with even the simplest of styles coming in at around £300, but when you think about the fact that you are designing every part of them from start to finish, with made to measure sizing and top quality materials, then you can't really argue with the designer price tag, as even the designer labels can't boast this type of service.
Last week the Upper Street team invited me over to their studio to see the shoes, try some styles on and most importantly have a go at designing a pair myself and I couldn't wait!
The best part about Upper Street is that the whole experience is completely personal from start to finish. My feet were measured for the first time since I was about six years old and in Clarks getting my school shoes for the year. Care and attention was spent working out which style of shoe fitted my foot best, whether I'd need padding in the front of one to even them up (It was finally confirmed that I have one foot bigger then the other, something I've always suspected), whether they would need to be made wider or narrower at the front and whether my choice of materials might affect the look and feel of the finished shoe.
I of course was like a kid in a sweet shop with far too many new and exotic sweets to take my fancy and being ridiculously indecisive about which one to go for, but the team were extremely patient and helpful, staying later than planned to go through everything with me and let me find a style I really fell in love with.
After you have provisionally chosen the style you want to design (I say provisionally as guaranteed as soon as you begin the process you will change your mind about five more times) it is time to pick your fabrics. I have to say that this was my favourite part, having been a designer in my student days fabric shops are still one of my guilty pleasures and when the box of material samples was brought out there was just too much to choose from.
A pair of light grey suede courts had taken my fancy while I was at the trying on stage so I decided to start with the suede - immediately the grey, black and navy were out of the box and into my design pile and as I'm such a magpie it was the metallics that really got me excited. I fell in love with a blue metallic snakeskin and decided to have a go at designing a two tone style shoe with a metallic heel or toe.
The most difficult part of the design process is containing yourself - there are so many options and additions that you could end up getting a bit designer crazy, throwing a bit of everything on and actually ending up with a rather garish shoe. (which is exactly what I did on my first attempt) Realising that perhaps it might be a better idea to keep it simple and classy and create something you will be able to wear and keep for a long time I started over and came up with a few options which were altogether more appealing.
The problem is then choosing just one design. You could spend hours (and after I came home that night I did believe me) designing. I was at the studio for nearly two hours and really only touched upon one or two styles and fabric options. I hadn't even looked at the ballet flats, nor had I sampled the animal fabric or the bright colours.
It's such a fun experience that it makes walking into a shop and buying a pair of shoes suddenly seem incredibly boring. For any sort of occassion where you need shoes in an exact colour or style this is the easiest and most satisfactory way I can think of to do it.
I'm not sure my bank balance can cope with the hit this month, but I have now narrowed my choices down to five Betty originals and will definitely be coming back to Upper Street to design many more in the future. The idea of owning a pair of completely unique shoes that I have designed myself is just far too compelling to miss out on!
These two I designed while at the studio after falling for the blue metallic, although once I got home I thought perhaps they might be too dark and wintery - after all Summer is on its way...
So sticking with the suede I designed these two options - the light greay suede is gorgous and mixed with red looks quite chic don't you think?
The snakeskin was also a favourite so this style keeps it simple with just a touch of burgundy metallic snakeskin on the heel.
Please do leave a comment and let me know which pair you think I should go for and if you have designed for Upper Street I'd love to see your choices too!
A massive thank you to Upper Street for being so accomodating and allowing me to play designer for the evening, it really was so much fun!
BB
xxx
