Irregular Choice Birdcage: Maya Boots

To say it's been an expensive start to AW17 at Irregular Choice would be an understatement. There's been tonnes of releases so far that are right up my street. Gorgeous mainline stuff, my beloved perspex heels restyled, brand new heel concepts and of course the Disney Muppets collection launching on Friday!! The angel winged Eros were a surprise hit for me, then I thought the macaron heeled boots were the best concept heel we'd see this season, then came the adorable cut-outs which sent me bankrupt (Kir Royal in mint are one of the most beautiful pairs of shoes I've ever worn) and then these.  A modification of the perspex, music box heel into a birdcage. Needless to say, I was sold! It was quite a big launch with 3 colours of the oriental inspired mary-jane, Ava's Aviary (red, blue and black). The Ornate Agador courts came in deep plum or mint/green and there was a matching birdcage bag for the plum pair. Finally, a boot called Maya in black and red or blue and pink. You had me at "boot". I was love hearts in the eyes, open mouth drooling, emoji face over these. They are beautiful!

The blue/pink appealed to me most as the colour combination was quite unusual. Despite the 3 different styles, all of them take on the same basic shape and it is that of the ballerina (see my Glissade) or Cinderella (see my Call Me Cinders). That bulbous toe, overall chunky feel and platform wedge detail. These are a mid-calf length boot and fasten with a full length zip on the inner side. You might find though that you need to rearrange the laces the first time to get the best fit. The laces are wide velvet ribbon, unusually double sided and they are a little tricky to pull through the eyelets and fix in place. I was exhausted just doing it the once (and I feel they aren't quite perfect yet), so I'm glad the zip is there. The ribbon is super long, I found the ends left to tie into a bow were ample and that was me widening the boot a bit further down from how they came. I'm not sure if I'll cut the excess or leave it...I think I'd like them better a bit shorter. One thing I hadn't noticed from the stock photos were the rainbow eyelets. Such a lovely finishing touch.
The uppers are made from the same type of metallic floral material on my Secret Squirrel and I really love this stuff! It has this amazing reflective finish when held to the light, without being brassy. It can really change colour depending what it's next to and it has this lovely, soft, slightly fuzzy feel. It doesn't have a pile, but it's quite suede-like, but smoother. It's a silvery-grey colour, but can lean quite green or blue in some lights, which I've tried to capture.
The outer side of the boot is dominated by an elaborate floral applique. I loved this detail on the Rows Garden ankle boots, so of course I love it here. This time the flowers are cooler toned pink with shimmering gold centres and light aqua leaves. It has a wonderful textural, dimensional quality to it with the ends of some of the leaves sticking out; draping over the heel or protruding upwards from the boot onto the leg for example. The petals of the flowers are layered too. All these aspects make for a really striking boot already and that's before I even get to the heel!
The platform and framework of the heel around the birdcage is covered in the most amazing shade of glitter. A really beautiful lilac-purple, which in the photos is shifting to blue, but I'm looking at them here (under artificial light) and they are flitting between purple and pink. It's such a pretty hue.
The birdcage aspect is exactly the same as the perspex idea, with most of the heel cut-out and the cage slotted in. I was just saying the other day how I still have a bit of fear regarding wearing my perspex ones and how robust they are (honestly it's more the worry of other people accidentally kicking or knocking them, than me), so I still haven't worn them. The birdcage feels much more sturdy to me. It's not just the perspex but the actual ballerina seemed a lot more fragile than the trims used here. So, I'm totally going to wear these without worry I reckon! I have to add, the fact I rarely leave the house also hampers my shoe-wearing. In the three years I've had the ballerinas, I've been pretty much housebound, so it's not totally the shoes at fault! Anyway, back to these and there's lots of artificial flowers sitting in the base, then a beaded swing dangling from the upper sole with a large feathered bird sitting on it. Both birds face the same way and in this case are lilac and yellow. Both the bird and swing are fixed, so don't swing as you walk.  I love that the underside of the upper sole is still covered in glitter, so it's pretty to look at when peeking into the birdcage. The cage curves ever so slightly outwards from the back of the boot, but it doesn't feel particularly cumbersome.
Like I say, I really hope to wear these lots. I think I will! I love that something that looks so elaborate can still be wearable, as I do buy my shoes to wear rather than display, though IC's double as both most of the time! Certainly trying them on for my Shoesday post, they didn't scare me. I wasn't worrying I'd scratch them or break them. I'll speak about the fit more in that post, so head over there for that and you'll see the length on the leg better. What do you think, do you like these? Are Irregular Choice killing it this season or are they killing it this season?!