Irregular Choice: Waikiki Review

Firstly I'd really like to apologise for the tardiness of this review. I actually took these photos at the beginning of May, not long after the shoes were released, but haven't had time to write the post until now. I'd hoped to get it out before going to London (for the Toy Story launch), but that well and truly didn't happen!  Anyway hopefully this is a little sunshine to brighten up a dreich Autumn day. You know how I posted my Top 12 Irregular Choice shoes of 2017 the other day? I'm calling it now, that these will be in my 2018 favourites, I just love them. I'd unfortunately had to bypass all the new releases at the start of 2018 as I had no money. Then the announcement came of hula girl heels and it was one I knew I couldn't miss. I also got Hono Lulu in blue, which were my favourite until I saw the Waikiki shortly before their release at 12pm. This style was an Ashbury Skies exclusive, so only available through their website and Irregular Choice themselves.

The style is a little different from usual. It's an open sided sandal, with small platform, open toe and interesting ankle detail. I'll start with the front section which like the rest of the shoe, is made up of several different materials; mainly orange snakeskin with metallic and non-metallic leaf shapes on top. The cut-out leaves are really interesting, though I mentioned in my shoe-fit review that is the only bit I found that needed 'untucked', as the leaves tend to get caught under when you're putting them on. On top of this, you'll find a slice of orange and large wedge of watermelon alongside yellow and pink artificial flowers. These bright and bold details appear to be the trims that catch attention and then I always feel obliged to tell everyone about the amazing heel! Let's just say they caused a bit of a stir at 9am on a Thursday morning at my local train station when we went to London!
The back of the shoe is a muted green snakeskin with applique and embroidered hibiscus flowers in various colours. It's not a material I've seen IC use before (nor the orange snakeskin on the front), so it's rather refreshing.  Large tropical leaves envelop the ankle, tying at the front with rope laces, finished with beads and yellow tassels made from grass skirt material. The cohesiveness and thought that's gone into the minutest of details in this shoe astounds me.  As much as I love looking at this shoe, it's even more amazing when being worn.  I think the ankle detail really makes it.  
The lining in this shoe is different to the rest of the collection because of them being an Ashbury Skies exclusive. The insole is one metallic piece, with both brand names printed.
The soles. Oh crumbs, the soles! They are a similar style to the Ashbury Skies USA Road Trip collection last year, which also got a mention in my favourites post and yet again these soles are stunning. I could spend as long looking at them as the actual shoes and there was nearly tears when my pretty shoes and soles had to visit the spectacularly gross toilet on the train. Ugh, I still shudder at the thought. Anyway, they are glossy, beautiful bright colours with a tropical, Hawaiian beach scene. There's a large pink hibiscus, palm trees and "Aloha from" written on one shoe with a yellow flower and "Hawaii" written like a vintage postcard on the other. On the right shoe you can see men in boats on the instep and on the left, a girl sitting under a palm tree wearing a floral print sarong and flower headdress. They are so beautiful and set against the similarly coloured and themed shoe, it's just perfect.
Then we have the finishing touch, the hula girl heel. This style of heel was introduced in the Mickey & Friends collection, where the character is set against an existing heel, rather than being the entire heel. On this pair, the heel is dusky green, fine glitter.
The girl faces out the back, pretty much in line with the shoe. She has black, flowing hair, with a grass crown which you can just see against the heel.  She wears a pink lei around her neck, deep red anklets and is holding a ukulele up to her chest. She stands barefoot on a mound of painted and carved grass, which provides a nice, steady rounded base for the heel.
The cutest thing though is the real grass skirt around her waist. There were a few different colours (across the different shoe styles and colours), this pair has red, which I happened to like most. There's not much movement to the skirt when wearing them, obviously a little more on a windy day.  It would've been mega cute if it moved when you walked. Like her hips could tilt like those kitsch hula dolls. I'm not sure how you would implement that though, so that's probably why they don't have that feature!
I have to say not many people noticed the heels when I've worn these, but then I was in the wheelchair, so the initial thing you see is the flower and fruit front and that's what got the reaction. When I went to the dreaded toilet on the train, Mum did say that the woman sitting next to me started chatting about my hula heels as she noticed them when I got up and walked. There's also a random guy with photos of these, as he'd never seen anything like them and as we were trying to get into a taxi on Regent Street after the Toy Story launch, he asked if he could take a photo.  I expected him to pull out his phone, but this camera with honestly, the longest lens I've ever seen appeared!  It was funny.  Anyway, there's no sticky out bits really to be mindful of when wearing these heels, which I like. 
I didn't take any spare shoes to London, so wore these travelling and for the entire 2 days.  The only time I had to untie the laces was on the way home.  Our train was severely delayed, extremely hot and bursting at the seams with people and my feet did (understandably) swell after several hours.  There was no rubbing though.  I also got the matching bag, Do The Hula, which I'll review for you separately.  I didn't take it to London as it's quite heavy and we had enough to carry, so needed something smaller.  It's obviously a perfect match for the Hono Lulu in red hearts, but it looks fab with any of the styles.  
Like I say, definitely one of my favourites already and it was instant love when I saw them online, then even more so when I saw them in the flesh.  Check out my Shoesday Tuesday post if you missed it, as I really think they look even more amazing being worn and I have more information about the heel and platform heights there.  I'll admit to not having even started editing the bag or Hono Lulu photos, so goodness knows when those posts will be ready.  I want to get stuck into the fairy toadstool heels, as I have already photographed them and of course my carousel heels too.  It's non-stop!  Did you buy any of the hula heels, do you like these?