I was flicking through the November issue of Australian Vogue when I espied these shoes (cost $610). Hmm, I might be able to do something similar.

One pair of $23 Dunlop Volleys later, and I have some Missoni-style painted shoes, which look nothing like the ones above! I approached this project with a certain joie de vivre, but that didn’t last long. This was a much tougher gig than I had anticipated. I used some fabric paint from Spotlight, which meant that I had to bake the shoes in the oven.

I had to seek help from Mark as I was never good at colouring in, but we learned a lot, if I ever do this again, like not using black paint and waiting for each stripe to dry before starting the next. Having said that, they are fine for wearing around at home.

I bought my usual size which were a tad tight, but a few days with my Victorian shoe stretchers sorted them out. This is the first time I’ve used these archaic looking implements but they work an absolute treat and such a clever design as they can be made much larger (but I note no smaller – I have childlike feet)

Reviewing these photos I can see that I need to do some touching up of those white specks and they do look a tad amateurish, but hey, it was worth a try. I think as they get dirty they might improve.

<Later Note> I touched up all the white specks and more seemed to appear. I am officially giving up on being able to wear these in public, but they will be fantastic for camping!