One of the biggest headaches after choosing a costume is deciding on footwear;should you go for comfort with the well worn gym sneakers or for the fashionable with boots? Personally I love the look of boots, especially with the glamorous costumes but I also desire comfort and I used to be skeptical about just how comfortable boots are, until I wore a pair of lace up calf high Doc Martens a few years ago and they were SUPER comfortable. Those boots have since been relegated to collecting dust in a closet somewhere and are on the verge of falling apart.
This year was my first foray into custom made boots made by Natalie Purvis of Vamp Clothing Store in Trinidad; her boots were a hit at Island People's band launch last year as she did matching custom made boots for all Diane Hunte's sections. I tracked her down and she made boots for me, which looked cute and I thought they fit well until I realized that I did not measure the bigger foot so one boot was super comfortable with my gel insoles while the other was too small and jammed against my toes. Needless to say I could only wear the boots on Monday and had to revert to my gym sneakers for Tuesday, luckily I wore long pants that covered my shoes so you could not see that those sneakers did not match at all!
For 2008 I am trying boots again, but I am thinking with my costume I will need a small stack heel so I plan on looking for comfortable boots when I go to Miami in October and if all else fails I am going to do like Afro Chic and have plain boots made by one of the craftsmen at Piccadilly and decorate them since her boots looked great and looks easy enough to do myself.
Ladies have been inquiring if there is anywhere to get boots like what the model wore with Silver Mist frontline at TRIBE's launch. I have yet to see boots exactly like those, though someone did post a link yesterday to silver boots with a five inch heel that can be purchased at Amazon, I don't know about thin heeled boots and how practical they are for the road but 5 inch heels seem pretty extreme!!
These funky sequined boots with a 3 inch heel can be found at My Diva's Closet, I am liking these a lot, if only the heel was not so thin!:
For 2008 I am trying boots again, but I am thinking with my costume I will need a small stack heel so I plan on looking for comfortable boots when I go to Miami in October and if all else fails I am going to do like Afro Chic and have plain boots made by one of the craftsmen at Piccadilly and decorate them since her boots looked great and looks easy enough to do myself.
Ladies have been inquiring if there is anywhere to get boots like what the model wore with Silver Mist frontline at TRIBE's launch. I have yet to see boots exactly like those, though someone did post a link yesterday to silver boots with a five inch heel that can be purchased at Amazon, I don't know about thin heeled boots and how practical they are for the road but 5 inch heels seem pretty extreme!!
These funky sequined boots with a 3 inch heel can be found at My Diva's Closet, I am liking these a lot, if only the heel was not so thin!:
These " Go Go" boots can also be found at My Diva's Closet. I spotted several ladies wearing this style of boots on the road this year and wondered how comfortable they could be, when I was informed that both Bagogyul and amprincess wore similar boots and they both vouched for them being comfortable. I like that these boots come in a range of colours that can easily match several sections including Black Magic, Silver Mist, Butterfly Bliss, Sun Goddess, Titania, Almathea and Autumn Sprite. They also come in basic black, white, silver and gold.
Many ladies will never fathom playing mas in boots and are quite content to wear comfortable sneakers. That does not mean however that you are stuck wearing plain white sneakers or even an old pair that you spray paint silver or gold each year. There are many options out there for sneakers in a range of colours and styles that can match costumes easily.
Nike even has an option to customize your own sneakers where you choose the colour combination down to the colour of the laces so you can get an exact match for any costume; these are two that I played around with:
Nike even has an option to customize your own sneakers where you choose the colour combination down to the colour of the laces so you can get an exact match for any costume; these are two that I played around with:
Goddess of the Chase
Silver Mist
Zappos is my favourite place online to look for shoes that match since they have a large inventory and you can search according to colour and style. Here are a few picks I came upon just from doing a cursory search (click on the costume name to be taken to the Zappos page for the matching footwear):
Pixie Dust
Titania
Water Nymph
Regardless of what type of footwear you choose make sure it is comfortable first and foremost; with boots you can get a half size bigger and wear the gel insoles for added comfort.I also got a good tip to tape the toes as well when wearing boots to prevent too much friction.
Though footwear might seem an afterthought to some , after all no one really pays attention to your feet right? Think about how much thought and effort goes into picking the best costume for you, how you will wear you hair or even what type of makeup you will get to accentuate the costume, why stop there and give the feet a last minute consideration? To me it really completes the costume when the entire package is well coordinated from head to toe. And if you are playing frontline, remember nothing but H.O. footwear is acceptable!
Though footwear might seem an afterthought to some , after all no one really pays attention to your feet right? Think about how much thought and effort goes into picking the best costume for you, how you will wear you hair or even what type of makeup you will get to accentuate the costume, why stop there and give the feet a last minute consideration? To me it really completes the costume when the entire package is well coordinated from head to toe. And if you are playing frontline, remember nothing but H.O. footwear is acceptable!
24 comments:
Yes my gold boots were great. I was even spotted by one of our bloggers because of my boots. LOL!
I'm looking at those sequin ones...but lawd fadder it's a higher instep and a pointy toe. I doh know if i could do that all day.
Then again it's only 3"'s! I was born in heels.
I swear by Payless (http://www.payless.com/) for mas sneakers because they are cheap and chances are, they have one of the colors in your costume. But if I get the costume I want this year, I will have make a foray into boots...hopefully with no heel. Is there a place in the US that sells those boots---like the ones Afrochic used? I am going to keep searching.
Those sequined ones are fab eh? but high heels.. I don't think so :S
i remember this year raining on south key and my friend had on her puma which was suede!! Damn she was so pissed!!! I personally love to wear my sneakers!
HQ if you find them let me know, I may try the Village.
Thanks for the big up Saucy! LOL.
I can personally vouch for the comfort of the mas boots. Even though mine were last minute, I went by Jomo, got a generic size 8 and it was TRES comfy with my Nike Shox insoles.
And I will be doing another pair for myself this year. :D
For those who not able to do it themselves though...HOLLA!!! LOL.
I think I'll stick with my sneakers, maybe in a few years I'll have the confidence to rock some boots! But I managed to get a sexy pair of Pumas to match my costume for C2K7- I hate to see ppl not making an effort at all to coordinate their footwear! Takes away from the costume I find.
I really think i'm gonna cop those sequin ones. Try them out at a fete!
Afro Chic,
I been real studying your do it ya self boots since last year, so I am determined to get me some boots.
HQ - gyal... ya aint never lie. 2 years ago, I was on my way to the airport to carnival and realized I did not pack my sneakers. I stopped at a Payless near the airport and grabbed some cheap Champion sneakers. Those cheap sneakers were real comfy for two days on the road. Big ups to cheap ass payless. LOL.
Tru, I will definitely keep folks posted if I find something.
i wore boots this yr for crop over and they were way more comfortable than sneaker. I am now a boot diva and can never go back to sneakers lol
Believe it or not I got my gogo boots already. But I'm going to cut the heel a bit.
bajangal can we see a pic of your boots?
Shandy what colour did you get ?
np saucy i will send u a pic when i get home
Saucy girl you are amazing!! Great finds on the sneaks for the different costumes :)
On seeing how amazingly complete and fabulous costumes look with boots duing 2k6 carnival, i'm definitely looking at them for this carnival...but them have of be flat, I can barely take a high heel for a few hours in a club far less for two days straight! Does anyone have recommendations on who to check out for the custom made ones that you can decorate?? And given the comments so far I'm assuming everyone wears them with some sort of insole, be it the gel Dr. Schols or from an old sneaker etc?
And Saucy what exactly do you mean by "...tape the toes as well when wearing boots to prevent too much friction"?? I used to do ballet and taping toes then mean wrapping the problematic ones (baby toe, and first 2) with some sort of cotton or wool...
analisef you can check natalie at Vamp clothing store on Mucurapo Rd, she is opposite Puff and Stuff. If you want plain boots there is a guy in Woodbrook as well as the craft stores downtown on Piccadilly street. If you go back im my archives or do a blog search for boots you will find all the info you need.
You can tape the toes exactly like that, but use some elastoplast to hold the cotton in place.
I got silver!!
Well...I think everyone was looking at my sneakers on the road..because they were so in tune with my costume...i was TOTALLY pleased...thank goodness for online shopping and shipping in 3 days!
Yess 2 HQ every year 4 Labor day u will catch me in payless buying da cheapest of cheap sneakers dat match my costume 2 a tee!!! But I wanna be differnt dis year for Trini Carni 2k8 and do bootz!!
Saucy, you and I on the same wavelength, only last night I was scouring the internet looking for boots to wear with my costume for 2K8...I think it really finishes the outfit.. there's nothing less appealing than a drop dead costume with ol' white sneakers...
I have my plan all set, I'm going to go to payless and get a nice simple pair of dyeable boots, get it dyed in deh color of meh choice, take to Trini, find deh person meh friends use, give him deh money and have him hook meh boots up fuh meh, insert meh dr. scholl's massaging insoles, and i hitting deh road!!!
where do you get deh mas boots? cause I was thinking of jsut going to payless and get me a pair of simple boots, take it to get them dyed or spray paint them and decorate dah hell outta them!
careful, may not want to match too perfectly
divia you get the plain mas boots at Piccadilly street.
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