The Shoes Have ARRIVED!

Yay! I ordered these a few weeks ago and they got delivered last week! These are exactly what I needed for my Toralei cosplay. Shoes are one aspect of a cosplay that I can't make from scratch and that usually leaves me with two options. 1. Meticulously search for a fairly inexpensive option that can be modified by me (and that won't break my feet). 2. Make spats or shoe coverings. 

Option 1 was the only one for this project. The thing about Monster High that makes the characters even more awesome is that they have GLORIOUS PLATFORM SHOES!! This means the stacked platform was non-negotiable :) Below are images of Toralei's shoes, the first is a screencap from one of the cartoon episodes, the second is a photo of the shoes on the doll (still unofficially released in North America). They look nearly the same to me aside from the cartoon version having silver studs along the platform top and red studs along the doll version.

After much searching I finally found shoes online that were as close and I think I was going to find and ordered them. I did take photos of these myself but they are too dark to show the shoe detailing so these are the images from the website I bought them from:

Although the laces don't go all the way down the front of the shoe, I think these are a great real-life version that will work with some modifications. I'll be tracking my progress while I work on these and have photos to post once I have some to show! I plan on  painting over the satin fabric on the platform or I may even be able to remove the fabric and just paint the base. Then it is really just a case of finding something for the studs (or making them out of something like fimo) and adhering them so they are secure. Because the topline of my bootie is lower than on Toralei, I think I am going to make an anklet for the studs on top that sits separate from the shoe. I'll know better once I start experimenting.