Shoes painting, colour styling and… personal philosophy

Have you ever painted your shoes? Made them another colour with any medium?

I did it twice! And quite successfully, so there is nothing impossible if you want to change the colour of your footwear. 

First time was a few years ago. I needed my black shoes to be brown. Back there I had a period of my personal style when I avoided black at all. I created mostly harmonious looks in warm hues, from top to toes. 

It was simple, I just used dark brown shoe cream. I applied it richly several times until shoes got nice brown colour without black gaps. Well, it was very da-a-ark brown, but at the same time it was definitely brown, and nobody would call it black. Shoes worked well for me for a few years. I only used brown shoe cream from time to time.   

This is my recent experiment, and it is much bolder one. I had this pair of red Ecco sneakers, and unfortunately their magnificent colour started to fade on the toes pretty soon after I bought them.  I didn’t want to throw them away, as they were extremely comfy, but didn’t wear them at the same time. Every stylist will tell you to get rid of these shoes and never think about them again. 

When I realised that I needed pair of black sneakers for dance costume, I got this crazy idea to paint faded red into jet black. I used black acrylic paint, applied it in few layers.

I am still testing them, so can’t tell you now for how long this solution will work. But I am very happy with them at the moment.

This red-to-black painting reminded me about my first painted shoes, few years ago. It reminded me that personal style is a journey, not a statement or event. Journey inside yourself, your understanding of your own desires, your personal philosophy. Journey or may be a quest to find ways and means that reflect your inner self outside. The reflection speaks fashion, trends, haircut, makeup etc. 

At that time I avoided black, because I valued my warm colour characteristics and didn’t want to dilute myself in neutrals (like black, white, grey, bronze, beige and some other). I had a very individual style, but not always easy to keep. For example, when dress code  required ‘black trousers and white button-down’, I realised ‘Oh no, I don’t have any of these…’ Later on I came back to black in accessories, and even to white in clothing. Style travels along your self-understanding. 

Stylish tip: try ‘black week’ - wearing only black during the week. Next week try wearing anything but black. This practise helps to shatter your style if it is stuck. Putting on limitations opens plenty of possibilities after challenging you greatly.