Upper Street Bespoke Shoe Design

Since I started working from home, my boyfriend has taken to calling me in his lunch break to check that I am a) out of bed and b) doing work and not buying things on the internet. Usually I indignantly tell him that I’ve been up for hours and covered off more than half of my to-do list already, thank you very much. Today, when he called I was half way through designing my tenth pair of shoes on Upperstreet.com.

Upperstreet.com is like the grown up version of those dolls you had when you were little, with clothes you could colour in and stick on. In essence, it lets you design your own pair of shoes, choosing everything from the shape, colour and material to embellishments such as studs, crystals or bows. Half of you reading this are probably giving up on me and heading off to make a sandwich right now. The other half is madly bashing ‘Upper Street’ into Google with one hand while scrabbling under your bed for your credit card with the other.

For shoe nuts like me, this site is absolute paradise. The selection is huge, the colours bang on trend and the little extras are all accounted for. You can even choose the colour of the little buckle that does up the strap. But the icing on the cake? You can register on the site and save your designs into your own collection – with names! Mine are named after film stars, but take your pick. Just call me Jemima Choo.

The minor catch, as you’ve probably guessed, is that making your designs a reality doesn’t come cheap. With pricing starting from £180, it’s never going to be an everyday purchase, but for a special occasion, or as an ‘investment’ piece tailor-made for you, this site is an absolute dream. Or you can just while away a happy hour playing designer, without paying a penny. A word of warning though, it’s more than a little addictive.

My phone rang again at 5.30pm. ‘You’re doing that shoe thing again aren’t you?’ he asked as soon as I picked up. ‘No’ I lied, clicking ‘save’ on the leopard-print Angelinas I had just created and glaring at the pigeon that was staring disapprovingly at me through the window. I’ve created an entire collection, it would be rude not to buy one pair, right? In the distance, I can hear my bank manager crying.

www.upperstreet.com