Hello beautiful readers ..
Let's talk about something beautiful in this Entry ~ A pair of beautiful shoe made for yourself to fit in your beautiful feet which complements your appearance.
Who can resist from wearing a beautiful shoe? Not me, definitely, I love beautiful shoe. A pair of beautiful shoe always boost my confident level .. walk with style with a pair of beautiful shoe!!
I recently had an opportunity to attend XALF Exclusive Tea Party Workshop at Empire Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor to learn how a pair of bespoke shoe is made. Well, a pair of bespoke shoe, made for yourself is expensive!! Yes it is .. but considering the whole process of making a pair of bespoke shoes - the time, effort and tedious the work is .. I later understand why it is expensive.
A pair of beautiful shoe started with a design. I was given an opportunity to design my own dream shoe ~ a sexy 3.5" heel with beads and glittering stone. It must be simple, sexy, glamour and of course make me look prettier!!
Secondly, we need a measurement. Lets measure Misz-ella's feet. Well .. I am not too big or too small. I am 'so-so' only or to be exact .. I can just grab those shoe on the display rack!! They usually displayed size 5, right .. that's my size!! However, we are talking about a bespoke shoes, a pair of shoe made specially for you. Measuring process is important and must be done in a precise manner including the curves of our feet.
Pattern making & drafting - In order to define the pattern, the pattern template is hollowed out to obtain the individual pieces needed for the framework. Sections of the upper is drafted on the material. Other parts of the shoe such as the insole, midsole and outsole are also obtained in the same way, just like a jigsaw puzzle which will be combine and assemble at a later stage.
Next stage is fitting - At this stage, raw material is selected based on customer's preference .. i.e. leather, suede, pattern leather or calfskin. However, XALF only uses real leather. This is to ensure the shoe made for the customer has a longer lifespan, better quality and are comfort. Most shoes which were mass produced are made of artificial leather known as PVC which has a shorter lifespan.
Cutting - Well, this is very interesting as I had the opportunity to cut the material on my own. Using a special scissors, cutting the material was not an easy task for me. We need an expert and experienced craftmen to do this as maintaining the precision of the raw material is very important in customizing a bespoke shoe. It plays a big role in retaining the integrity of the raw material. In short, every detail matters. XALF Design has an expert with 40 years experience in cutting a raw leather.
Sewing - What make a shoe look elegant is its upper part. They define the interaction of aesthetics within the shoe.
Stock Fitting - How well the composite of the sole (from outsole, midsole and the padded insole) is constructed will determine how sturdy or flimsy the shoe is. Here the Craftmen play a very important role. He need to know and feel how cosmopolitan women move in their footwear in order to craft a perfect, comfort shoe.
Cutting - Well, this is very interesting as I had the opportunity to cut the material on my own. Using a special scissors, cutting the material was not an easy task for me. We need an expert and experienced craftmen to do this as maintaining the precision of the raw material is very important in customizing a bespoke shoe. It plays a big role in retaining the integrity of the raw material. In short, every detail matters. XALF Design has an expert with 40 years experience in cutting a raw leather.
Sewing - What make a shoe look elegant is its upper part. They define the interaction of aesthetics within the shoe.
Lasting - In order to attach the upper to the sole, a last is moulded to a customized shape of the wearer. With this, the upper and sole are sandwiched with clear parameters to showcase the shape of the shoe. This is done manually and cannot be accomplished by machine.
Heeling - The heel is where the stark beauty of its wearer is conveyed. The heel is the combination of physics and ergonomics whereby it lifts one's posture that portrays sophistication and elegant with a hint of sexiness to the wearer.
Some of XALF's shoe collection
And ... tadaaaaa .. my favourite!
Overall, I had a great time learning step-by-step process in shoe making. It was an eye-opening workshop. There are so much effort to complete a pair of bespoke shoe - details, time and hard work before it finally presented to the wearer. Thank you XALF for the workshop. More details about XALF, kindly visit XALF website or their Facebook.
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