Well Made Shoes

In all my years of RL modeling, I have come up with a personal motto regarding shoes: "If it isn't made well, it isn't worth spending money on." In RL that's easy enough to quantify. If it falls apart for any reason, it isn't made well. My original Fleuvogs are still with me. Well worn for more the 10 years and still with me, possible for life. Clearly those don't go with everything, as I tend to wear a lot of business suits, therefore I have a collection of classic pumps in my wardrobe that just won't leave me alone. While the trendy styles of fashion come and go, I still am always on the hunt for new classic pumps and have yet to find a close contender to Stuart Weizman and Prada. What makes them great? Well, they don't fall apart, they don't look like they're going to fall apart, they are classic styles and comfort that can take me just about anywhere, and they fit.

In Second Life we have some serious issues with shoes too… only maybe not quite the same. In SL our shoes don't actually wear out, they just don't go with everything. They don't always copy and sometimes they just plain get lost in the shuffle, and I have yet to find the perfect match for me but I've come close.

Park West makes pretty a classic pump. This is a designer who doesn't get enough publicity. I bought this "Cosmopolitan Pump" in black and found out just how scripted they are. They click! While great fun for shopping and power-strutting, we just can't have that on the runway. I love the heel, love the style, love the polished kidskin look, and the shoe base is actually named "[PW] Park West - Cosmopolitan Pumps Base." Yes! The shoe base is no copy, though, so I have to go searching through and inventory of over 70,000 items to find it if I want to wear them.These sculpty shoes from Tesla are fabulous. They fit well, they look amazing and they give my legs a nice, sexy shape. They look so real, too! The shoe base is appropriately named and both shoes and base are no copy/no mod, which makes them inconvenient to wear with every suit I own, but at least they both share the same permissions so I don't confused and have to go looking. I'll buy more, that's ok.I just couldn't help myself at Armani. Even though you can buy Armani pretty much everywhere, in just about every shopping mall in RL, I couldn't help but hope for the best in SL when he made his handsome, toothy splash here recently. Of the 16 items in his store, I splurged and bought the shoes… had to, HAD to, and, here they are in all their glory! They came in a folder named "Object." They are copy and mod, just no transfer so I can't share them with anyone. Sorry gals, you'll have to buy your own, or just look at mine.
I found these shoes literally in a fashion emergency. With a fabulous dress to model and no appropriate shoes, I was in a bit of a panic. They are sculpty, they are scripted to change colors, they are copy (even the shoe base), and they will change to any color I want! If the color I want is not in the menu, I can add the exact color by typing in the HTML color code and Voila! There is even an option for a snakeskin pattern in several different colors. Just when I thought life couldn't get any better…Thank you, Tekilah Elytis for thinking of the models this time.Minx makes the pumps I first fell in love with. The heel is just high enough, no platform and they have a classy rise. The texture looks like a soft, sculpted suede, which is fine, and they are versatile. Another detail that I look for is the way they shape my legs. These shoes give my legs a nice, smooth line all the way up. No swollen ankles, no piano-leg shins, no sharp edges. It's a detail that shoe designers too often leave out. What I wish for with these is that the buckle would have a silver option (I would buy both, actually) I also wish that the shoe base had copy permissions, and be named "MINX Adina Shoe Base" instead of "shoe base." I've already lost the shoe base for all colors but one and while the pumps are copy (thank you) the "shoe base" is not.
While I'm still searching for the perfect pair of shoes, I'm also hoping that this will help you in your search, and if you find the perfect pair, will you please let me know?