Wednesday, April 20, 2011

DIY: The Puppy Slippers

I had been alerted of the existence of heavily, heavily discounted Stubbs and Wootton slippers---the Marc Jacobs “Stinky Rat” collaboration ones---and though I knew I was hardly keen on the design, I quickly sped off to the West Village boutique to purchase a pair. I spent the rainy walk to the store brainstorming ideas on how to DIY the shoes, and bought them knowing for sure that I didn’t have to wear them in the state they came in.

Stubbs and Wootton x Marc Jacobs “Stinky Rat” canvas slippers

I had always wanted one of those whimsically embroidered Stubbs slippers, as I’ve previously blogged before, and as seen on the hilariously stylish Man Repeller; but I’ve never had the chance to fork up a forkful of cash for a pair. And then I remembered my mother having a tiny collection of iron-on patches from the 70s, and how they could be the perfect cover-up to the rat embroidery. So I headed to the garment district to find some iron-on embroidered patches.

I wasn’t too fond of the rat and logo embroidery, but I knew iron-on patches would be a great quick fix.

Because the patches I chose weren't large enough to cover the existing embroidery, I painted over the embroidery with regular black acrylic paint, using a small brush to carefully blacken each blue character rather than just carelessly slathering black all over the top of the shoe.

painting halfway done

the unwanted embroidery almost completely obfuscated

In the spirit of Fauxvenchy, I wanted to go for a canine touch as a harkening back to the Rottweilers predominant in Givenchy Fall 2011. Alas, patches of vicious large dogs were not available, but puppies were at an abundance. Not that I'm complaining!

I had originally intended to plant this precious little golden retriever puppy on the left shoe, but I decided to swap him for a more charmingly sinister overgrown puppy, which you shall see in the subsequent photographs...

megapuppy mocked up on the left shoe

I ironed over the patches until they adhered to the shoes.

And here they are, my DIYed Stubbs and Wootton x Marc Jacobs "Stinky Rat" puppy slippers:





Upon taking the "after" photos in the daylight, I'd noticed that some of the previous embroidery is still in need of some paintbrush touch-ups here and there. Not to worry, I've now the perfect excuse to play with my puppies tonight.

13 comments:

Matthew Spade said...

gee willikers! now this is different. it's certainly a talking point

David Toms said...

I am going to have to start wearing slippers!

Michele said...

Hahah this is wonderful! Love them waaay more like this!

Anonymous said...

You could of picked out the stitching

Isabel said...

Izzy you're the man.

Izzy said...

Anonymous: I originally intended to, but was afraid that in the process, I'd also mess up the weave of the canvas.

Andrew said...

woof! too fucking cute

ME BUDDHA BANANA said...

Iz, this is just beyond genius and adorably cute too.

Anonymous said...

These are so cute and I love your blog! Do you know if have any pairs left at the store? How big a discount is it?

Izzy said...

$60. Thanks. You can call the West Village store and ask if they're still available.

Hapsical said...

these are SO much better after, i love the kitschy dog motifs

Paolo said...

Do you think it would work if I just painted on the embroidery myself without adding any patch? I was thinking of getting that bargain pair but got turned off by the ugly rat logo.

Man Front said...

http://man-front.blogspot.com/search/label/Stubbs%20and%20Wootton

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