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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Mash it Up!

 Some of the most stylish wedge sneaks were found at Yonge Eglinton Ctr.

As long as I love shoes, I will never grow tired of shoe shopping for Carnival.  
I've happily noticed there are more styles this year to consider for the road, with sneaker wedges being the top consideration, as they can be found everywhere.
(Unless you ordered your boots online by last month, you can't find boots as easily locally as shoes. So in this post, I'm featuring shoes.)   

 
The stores on Orfus Rd. rarely disappoint, and for a mere 5 bucks, these are a steal!
  


These were the perfect colour match for my costume, but Suzi had only one pair, and not in my size. sad blinking emoticon
But turns out it was just as well, because I found much better footwear for my costume on Orfus Rd. the same day! true love smiley 


Also $5, and a perfect canvas if you're into decorating.

Winners and Marshalls have colourful and embellished styles that look like Keds or Toms. 




All of these were spotted at Forever 21.



Every year I see masqueraders in sandals or flip flops. I can't help but think it must be your first time, you didn't know, no one told you, so you thought sandals would be alright. But by the end of the day, you realize your mistake. It was your first and last time wearing shoes with 0 support on the Lakeshore.
If you are a newbie, please, take my advice, no open toe shoes. You may start your day off fine in them, but the route isn't on a beach. Think of the amount of people who will step on your feet, so by 6:00, you'll be mashed up and limping back to your car or the TTC. I always see broken sandals or parts of shoes ditched along the side of the road.
If you haven't found footwear yet, don't panic, get shopping! Your favourite stores are bound to have something.
So what are you going with people - boots, sneakers, flats? Where did you get them? If you want to post a brag picture here, email it to me at:  karabana01@yahoo.ca


Regular blog reader Shaquilla sent these great pics of her gloriously gemified shoes
She explains: I love the look of the sneaker wedge but I will admit that I'm not a fan of them for myself personally only because I find they hurt my toes. However, every year I manage to find an old pairs of shoes in the back of my closet that I bedazzle according to my costume. This year I'm playing in Saldenah's Vortex Reflections section, which is mainly white, silver, and turquoise. I will say that I went a little extravagant with the gems and beads but I think they fit with my costume well. I'm a little bit of a crazy crafter so the shoes are always a fun project for me every year.
Check out her instagram theshurkfiles - scroll far enough you'll see all the old shoes she's re-purposed over the years.

 
   Shaquilla, will you take orders next year? These are incredible!  thumbs up emoticon

by Carnival Exclusives
Kiwana sent this explaining this version is their Frontline foot wear. It comes with feathers and jewels of course at a cost. But for those of us who don't mind splurging a bit its a great way to turn old boots into something spectacular.
Great looking job, there is lots of talent out there!!


Kryssy sais "this year I'm playing as one of the section leaders of the Bliss section from Tribal Carnival. It's a gorgeous costume so I felt like the footwear needed to be decorated accordingly.
I bought some black boots at a discount shoe store for $20 and got spray adhesive, glitter, diamond trim, and silver spray paint at WalMart. A few coats of glitter and paint later, I have these blinged-out boots. I'm pretty sure that I don't want to see glitter again for a LONGGGGGGG time! :)"



Holy glitter Kryssy, wow, these will work wonderfully with the costume.

Thanks for the pictures, keep them coming... nice to see such carnival creativity extending to footwear. 


Ms Carter found these bad boys down at Orfus Rd for just $10 at Sirens.. talk about such a good deal. I for one wasn't with spending a lot money on shoes for Caribana, so when I found these down at Orfus for $10 I could NOT and I repeat I could NOT pass them up. I brought my glitter and gems from the dollar store for $2.. I completed the shoes last night and it wasn't as messy as I thought it would be. In my eyes they look a little simple so I might add on more glitter during the week (a little bit more red) Excited to be jumping with Saldenah - Arawak Princess this year! Saw you're playing in my section! I hope I can spot you in the crowd.. lol
 
Nice deal for sure. I'll be looking for your boots! 

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Awesome post. I usually do my own but this year decided to splurge a little and get them done by a professional. A friend told me about Carnival Exclusives, they revamp old boots and turn them into to something out of this world. And oh yess...the work they do is #Epic. Kara I seend you a sneak peak photo but not ready to reveal the entire boot till bana day. :) #cantwait

Unknown said...

Thank you! Over the years I've always been asked whether I'll be taking orders or not, but I always laughed it off as joke and a nice compliment. But maybe I just might next year!

Kryssy said...

Shaquilla those really are gorgeous. The time you devoted to laying each stone was well worth it for sure.
Kiwana I like your boots a lot also. Those feathers are EVERYTHING!!
I think next year I'll do more jewels & less glitter. For sure. LOL

Andrea said...

Hi KB,
I've got a question for you, although I realize you might not have time to answer at this late stage...
I've been reading your site for a couple of years, thinking that one day I would play mas. Suddenly, I got an offer to join in on Saturday to walk with a corporate float affiliated with my job (actually, this is a government org.). So I said yes! I've now been told to wear 'a plain shirt and black or khaki pants' for Saturday. Can you suggest how I could enliven such a super-bland outfit with only two days lead time before the Grand Parade? Have you ever seen corporate group members who were able to bring some fun to the basic t-shirt outfit?
Thanks so much...
-Andrea

Trini-in-Toronto said...

Andrea, That doesn't sound like much fun. Are you allowed to attack your shirt with scissors? I've seen people cut slits in a t-shirt to make a design and provide ventilation. I've seen people make holes in the back of a t-shirt and run a long shoe lace through the holes like you were lacing up a shoe... kind of a corset effect which made it more form fitting. Does your organization have a conservative image and maybe they don't want you to show too much skin? We generally never get down their early enough to see the "guest bands" or corporate floats, so, I don't have too much first hand knowledge.

Unknown said...

Thanks Kryssy!!! And I loveeeee your boots!!! I think that was my last pair of old shoes but I have plenty of old boots I might consider for next year because of you!

Karabana said...

Hi Andrea, Yeah, what Trini-in-Toronto said. :) Not having seen them (just pics), I don't know if guest bands glamorize their t-shirts. If you are able to, then I would cut it up making a different style or tank, & even add some gems to it.
Enjoy!

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