Irregular Choice Alice: Teapot Heels

This week I have another of my Irregular Choice Alice In Wonderland purchases. This time, I'm ticking two off the list, with both the teacup shoes and boots. You can find the floral Flowers Can't Talk here if you missed them last time and next week, I'll have yet another pair to show you. It would've been criminal to ignore the obvious tea party theme for these two, but I've kept the backgrounds different for all the other styles, so there's even more for you to see!  Like I said originally, I found it really difficult to choose between these two pairs, despite them having the same heel. I'll admit I loved the boot more, but still maintain they are different enough to warrant owning both. I'll begin with the shoe, One Lump Or Two?, which I felt were the R2D2 of the collection. Do you know what I mean by that?  The title shoe or poster shoe of the collection if you will. They are everything I would expect (and more) from an Alice themed shoe whilst remaining true to the brand.

The uppers are mainly a turquoise floral fabric. It's a lovely pattern, not dissimilar to this Can't Touch This pair, kind of Cath Kidston vintage type blooms. We're onto a good thing already! The heel of the shoe picks up on themes we saw last winter, with blue metallic sections embroidered with quotes from the film and red hearts. On one shoe it says "You're my cup of tea" and the other, "We're all mad here". This has a scalloped edge, mirrored in glitter too (mainly in shades of green). I'd have every hem and edge on everything scalloped given half the chance, so another winner!  Sticking out and upwards (with the top one tickling your ankle) are mini, embroidered playing cards. Could they be any more adorable? I think not.  They are even lined in the floral fabric, though I have to check they don't get tucked in when putting the shoe on.
Moving to the front of the shoe, which has a softly pointed toe there's a rosette in holographic material and layers of blue and pink ruffled, polka dots. In the centre is a red heart with, quite probably, the cutest silver fork and spoon you'll ever see. There's a 'cake' platform complete with dripping icing. It's unusual for IC to feature a 'floating' platform like this (it measures around an inch), I can't think of any similar styles off the top of my head.  The rosette definitely has a tendency to get caught up in your foot when putting them on, so I found myself desperately trying to pick it back out of the shoe the first time!    
I was really excited about these heels in the preview, which feature a flowery teapot atop a blue cup. I recall IC asking years ago what we'd like to see next in a character heel and a few people replying teacups or teapots and I thought that sounded great. Who doesn't love a cup of tea? That's rhetorical and you will answer yes anyway.  They were less chunky in person than I'd envisioned, so more practical than I first thought. The spout of the teapot doesn't stick out the back too much and though they are wider than the shoe, it's not by much, so I don't foresee any issues of them clashing together. Be warned though, they are very heavy. Definitely one of the heaviest in character heels, if not the heaviest! I was worried if I bought the size up, they'd slip off my heel because the heel was so heavy, but the shoe looked so curved I convinced myself I'd struggle with my usual size. So I did size up and was glad of that, as they are very tight across the widest part of your foot.  Even in the bigger size, they dig in there, but it's thankfully enough to keep my foot from slipping out.
The insoles are the same for the whole collection and I spoke about them more in my Flowers Can't Talk post.  However the outer soles differ. The sole of the shoe is the same print as the inners, but the platform base features the Mad Hatter on one shoe and the dormouse in the teapot on the other (so cute).  The shoe is trimmed in metallic blue with a white scalloped edge (yay, again)!   
The cutlery and cards are really sweet touches and keep the shoe on theme, while the rest of the shoe feels very Irregular Choice, with their "more is more" mentality. I'm a sucker for embroidered sayings, so that's another aspect I really adore.  They really are works of art and just slotted into the tea party table as if they weren't shoes!  
The All Mad Here boots were my favourite of the whole collection (pre-release). I've mentioned before that I'm besotted with fancy boots (like, really bad) and it's rare we see anything higher up the leg than a shoe-boot in concept heels, so that added to the excitement. These boots most definitely put the 'irregular' in Irregular Choice and were probably the 'wildest' of the whole Alice collection.
The heels, insoles and soles were exactly the same as One Lump Or Two?, as was the cake platform, so I didn't really photograph them again. This however is where the similarities end.
They are pull-on ankle boots, with blue elastic sections on both inner and outer sides. These were the only pair I misjudged the sizing on. I hadn't tried any of the previous IC ankle boots with elastic before, but figured they might be quite tricky to get on if the elastic wasn't particularly stretchy (and I've struggled before with getting my heel beyond the ankle of slim fitting boots). I usually have to size up in IC boots anyway, so I did here and they were huge! Inside, there was a lot of extra width and length and slipping them on or off was no problem whatsoever, so I knew I could size down. I've since managed to secure a pair in the smaller size (these are the originals photographed here) and they feel so much better. I still have some room inside and again getting them on and off is easy peasy. I'm not sure if I would've found the true 'size down' too small, they perhaps run a half size large, but if you're between sizes, definitely take the lower one.  The uppers are leather and extremely soft at that and they aren't designed to be particularly close fitting on the ankle anyway.  
The main boot is patent floral, but a much darker pattern (in mood, rather than colour) than the shoe version. It's dark teal over white and I'm really fond of it, it's lovely. The edges (where it meets the elastic) are scalloped and trimmed with further curved holographic material. It's so pretty when it catches the light, flashing different colours.  The toe shape is the same as the shoe, softly pointed and covered in the same green glitter that was used at the back of the shoe. That same section that was tight in the shoe isn't at all in the boot.
You know I love my bows and these boots have two large blue polka dot ones on each boot. One at the back, just above the heel and the other at the top on the front. I absolutely love unnecessary additional trims like this.  It's part of what makes me buy from IC, because they rarely scrimp on those details.  I mean the heels are already statement pieces, but they put a massive, sticky-out bow on there too, just so you won't miss it!
Down the front of each boot is the bit that made me really giddy, a large still from the film of the Mad Hatter and the dormouse in fabric. They are the same images used on the soles and I love that the dormouse boot has the Mad Hatter sole and vice versa.  I could play 'match my boot and sole' by tipping up the opposite foot then reversing, all day long!   
I'll admit that the only part I was a little unsure of before buying (otherwise the boot was positively perfect) was the elastic section (which I realise have practical reasons for existing), but they don't bother me in person. Phew!  There's too many other fabulous, whimsical details to distract me. These boots are truly one of the most beautiful, quirky creations I've ever seen. I feel extremely grateful that Dan Sullivan made these and that they are mine!  I could spend hours just staring at them.  
What do you think, can you pick a favourite between the two or were the floral pair more up your street? You can see me wearing the glitter Tea With Alice here and One Lump Or Two? here on The Shoe Girl Diaries and I'll have another pair for Shoesday Tuesday next week.