A few days ago a bride wrote to me, specifically on March 21, telling me that she was getting married on April 6 and wanted some Starlei espadrilles in champagne color and with feathers that she had seen in a publication last year in Hola Novias magazine. Thursday before Easter.
Coincidentally that week we had placed some orders with feathers but in pink. In the workshop I only had feathers in pink, white and black, and this year I had not released any collection models with feathers because the workshop gets so full that I am cleaning feathers for a week.
Returning to the bride. He told me that he preferably wanted them in champagne and that if he couldn't get the feathers in beige in time, then he should have them made in pink. And how could he not fulfill his wish? This situation reminded me a lot of when I worked at Patricia Rosales making custom shoes with exclusive designs for women. I remember that a client showed me a transparent pen with Swarovski crystals inside and told me: "can you do this in heels and put sand that I save from a beach in Bali?" And I said, yes, not yet knowing how I would do it. I moved heaven and earth, with one of my heel makers we made some methacrylate heels that were hollow inside so we could get the sand in, and we did it. I have many stories like this, it has been many years fulfilling clients' dreams, and right now at Starlei, I am doing exactly the same thing again, but more gratifying, since I have a direct and closer relationship with my clients, without protocols or intermediaries. When I created Starlei, I wanted it to be a luxury brand accessible to anyone. And thank God, that's how it is and it's giving me many, many satisfactions.
And I return to the story of the bride, which I easily get sidetracked :)
How could he not fulfill his wishes? Thursday mid-morning I formalized your order and now the race began in search of beige marabou feathers. I made arrangements and called my usual feather supplier in Seville and he wrote to me in the afternoon that I had to consult with the workshop to see if they could dye them in the color I needed. And Holy Week in Seville!
On Friday I also asked a friend who is a headdress designer, to see if by chance she had some beige marabou feathers, coincidentally she had just become a grandmother for the first time, so imagine, until Tuesday she couldn't answer me and I didn't call her before because I felt like it wasn't the time. The important thing was his daughter and granddaughter. Things were getting complicated.
The same Friday my supplier in Seville responded telling me that he had consulted the workshop and that they could dye them for Tuesday or Wednesday. With Thursday and Friday holidays, it was impossible for the carrier to deliver them to me in Almería on time. The bride was getting married on April 6. So, since my head works better than ever under pressure, I told myself, I'm going to put into practice what I haven't done in years.
Many years ago, when I started in luxury footwear, I took several courses in headdresses, millinery and flowers in Madrid and Paris, to learn how to work with feathers to put them in my shoes, dye them, work them, make compositions, etc. (I have even taken courses on murano glass for jewelry, how cool it looked with the blowtorch and welding glasses. I made some heels with gold leaf and murano glass that were truly wonderful).
Returning to the topic. So what I needed were dyes to bring out the color and I dyed the feathers myself. What memories! I remember that in the factory I had a laboratory-type space where I spent hours and hours experimenting with materials that I bought on my travels, it was a disaster, but there my imagination flew. There were Sundays that I spent alone in the factory just experiencing what my imagination came up with. I'm getting off topic again, ha ha ha.
So I located a supplier of the best dyes that I used and placed the order to receive them on Monday. What nerves! But hey, there was always the second option of making them in pink if it didn't turn out well.
On Monday I received the dyes and I started to dye a small piece of feathers to get the color out, and voilà, the color was perfect, I loved it, so much so that I dyed 2 meters of feathers.
On Tuesday, with the feathers completely dry, I wrote to the bride to let her know that I had the feathers and that finally her espadrilles would be in champagne color with the feathers in beige. Challenge overcome 👏🏻.
Well, I wanted to immortalize this anecdote by making the same model with those feathers but with a platform for the collection.
On Tuesday the order went to its destination and you should be receiving it today. So this bride called Sonia and her story have been the inspiration for the new model that I have called Ballin. Ballin, in tribute to the inventor of the first commercial cruise ship in history, ha ha ha, I love cruise ships, and as you know, the models in Starlei bear the names of great minds, inventors and people who have done something important in life .
And I'm done, wishing Sonia all the best on her wedding on April 6 and in the new stage she begins in her life. ❤️
Patricia