With a clientele including actresses and K-Pop stars, wedding shoe designer Sojin Kim offers brides intricate artisan creations, from elegant ballet flats crafted with French lace to glittering crystal-embellished platform heels. She shares how she creates the perfect footwear for your big day.
1. What is the inspiration behind Bride and You?
My inspiration comes from women. I like observing what shoes they wear when I go out. I can imagine their taste, occupation and personality based on the styles they wear, and the condition of their shoes.
My first source of inspiration for wedding shoes always comes from wedding dresses; I pay close attention to the latest bridal trends – the design, details and fabric of the gowns. My 2015 bridal collection was entirely about bridal fashions: You can see influences from embroidery, silk buttons, laces and crystal sashes.
2. What can brides expect from a pair of Bride and You customised shoes?
We offer a range of heel heights from 2cm to 15cm but the height depends on the shoe design. Another unique service we provide is printing on the insoles- from names, to the wedding date or even with a message as a way for grooms to propose to their brides with.
3. What is the process and how long does it take to create a pair of customised shoes?
We start by asking questions such as the colour and style of the dress and bouquet, before recommending a suitable design. Once the design is confirmed, we get to work creating the shoes, which are polished and inspected before delivery. Excluding holidays, this takes about ten to fourteen days. Overseas deliveries require an additional three to seven days from the date of order to the date of completion.
4. What are the most popular styles that brides love from your collection? The most popular materials, heels and even details?
The current trend is lace wedding shoes, as they look very feminine. We use a multitude of laces, which I also glue to various fabrics to create different designs. Simple pointed-toe styles are the most popular.
5. What advice would you give to brides when they first start looking for their perfect wedding heels?
Brides should take note of details like their dress style, colour and bouquet type. For example, with a mermaid gown, heavily-embellished shoes may get caught in the fabric and cause difficulties in walking, or embellishments may fall off. Colourful wedding shoes are also gaining popularity, but if your bouquet is colourful, our advice would be to keep the shoe colour neutral and vice versa.
6. Have you had any unusual requests for customised shoes?
We offer printing services on our shoes, and there was a groom-to-be who asked to include a long message. We tried persuading him to keep it short and simple, because the longer the message, the smaller the letters and this makes it hard to read, but he was quite persistent. On the day of the proposal, the bride was very happy but she couldn’t read the words.
Bride and You is located at Trinity Gallery, #02-14 Raffles Hotel Shopping Arcade, tel: 6336 5052.
