When Alexander McQueen came out with the Armadillo shoes in the Spring 2010 collection I was instantly obsessed. I spent months drooling over these shoes that A) Only 21 pairs were ever made of, B) Ranged in price from $3,900 to $10,000 a pair, and sadly C) Were not even vegan :( So I moped around for over a year, occasionally frustrating myself by watching Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance video or surfing for pictures of my precious…
It wasn’t until last weekend while I was once again drooling over the 12” beautiful monstrosities that it finally came to me. I could just make my own! It’s the only logical way that I will ever be able to get my hands on a pair. Or at least something somewhat similar to a pair. I mean you never know, maybe somewhere down the road some lovely person will make an affordable vegan version, but it’s not like I could even buy them this year! And to be perfectly honest I’m terrible at waiting. I’m the kind of person who will take food out of the microwave after 30 seconds and eat it cold because I’ve gotten tired of waiting. I want things NOW. As such, I set out to fulfill my yearlong dream.
My first stop was Value Village. I figured it would be easiest if I got a pair of heels to act as the base of which I’d construct the shoes. At first I thought I could just but a stripper heel but alas strippers were not in the giving mood to the Langley Value Village last weekend. So I settled on these:
They had all the key features; a steep arch in the heel, a rounded toe, and they didn’t look like someone with foot fungus previously owned them. WIN! It took me awhile to figure out how to add a platform and increase the heel height, but after some creative work with foam, glue, a drill, a metal rod and lots of duct tape I came to this:
After I finished constructing the shape of the shoes I had to figure out some was of holding everything securely in place while also adding to the support and durability (HA! Like these need to be durable. Maybe I’ll start wearing them to work every day…) The obvious solution? DUCT TAPE like you’ve never DUCT TAPED before. On a side note up until 2 years ago I totally thought it was called duck tape. True story. Quack! Quack. So then I came to these, my duct tape armadillo shoes:
As much as I thought the duct tape versions were awesome and almost a playful poke at the couture originals I pushed onwards! I used a vinyl alligator print to cover the boots. I added some overlapping fabric part to the front to add to armadilloness of the shoes.
The shoes were really coming together at this point. But the colour was gross so I used some black gloss to sleek them up. Then added some decorative trim, chains, a blue sole with Swarovski crystals and voila:
They are currently drying and I expect likely will be for the next day or so. But I’m super happy with my creation. Are they exactly like the originals? No. They are the same height though and a real bitch to walk in. So all in all good enough! Plus I actually own these and didn’t skin any animals to make them :)
