Baroque released their first line of shoes recently for a fairly reasonable price, and I decided to hop on the opportunity when they offered custom colors through their Facebook page. I purchased a gold and silver pair. Overall, they are a nice shoe, but they are not the best shoe.
Ordering: Fairly simple and straight-forward. I e-mailed to the order e-mail provided my order along with my request for my custom color. Invoicing and payment was completed within an hour of the initial e-mail. No issues here.
Process/Shipping: I was originally told end of August, and that turned into beginning of September (not a big deal, I was not in a rush). I eventually received them September 12th, 2013 (about a month after I e-mailed my order). I think that is reasonable for a reservation and waiting time for it to be produced.
Packaging: The shoes were bubble wrapped in a small pink box. I am going to be nitpicky - even with Bodyline, I get a shoe box for each pair of shoes. I like keeping the original shoe boxes, especially if I want to resell the shoes - so I was slightly disappointed that I did not get a shoe box per shoe I ordered. Not a big deal, and I am sure for most people this is not even an issue. The shoe ribbons that were detachable were in a small separate packaging.
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Condition: Considering I got a custom color (silver), I was wondering to see how they came out. Both colors were matte, and done well. I did not see any direct defects with the shoes when I initially opened them up.
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Fit: This is probably where I am going to complain the most. I got the 25.5 size, and they were tight. I am not sure if after a couple of wears the material will relax a bit and be more flexible. To show the difference, these are my Bodyline shoes that I have worn twice (that are very comfortable), in comparison to my gold shoes that I have now worn once - both are supposed to be the same size. I understand that different companies have slightly different shoe sizing, but the difference here seems to be quite large. You will see a huge difference in the width of the shoe overall, from the toe through the foot to the heel.
The other major problem with the fit is that the straps were way too short. I could barely get the straps over my feet. My remedy for this is probably going to be adding some more material so I can extend the shoe straps further.
The ankle strap was pretty much impossible (which I expected - I have larger ankles than most), so I was attempted to remove the ankle strap, but the loop at the back of the ankle was too small to allow the metal hook to go through and let me properly remove it. This resulted in me having to awkwardly tuck the ankle straps into the shoe (and making the shoe far more uncomfortable to wear). I am mostly annoyed by this because with other shoes (the tea parties are coming to mind), I can remove the ankle strap easily without issue. I will probably extend the ankle strap as well since I cannot take them off.
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The snaps were also a new thing to me - I have not seen a shoe snap quite like this one before and was not really sure how to get everything hooked on. I eventually winged it, and while the snap held throughout the day, when I wanted to take these shoes off, it was a pain in the butt. I would much prefer the snaps like on the Alice and the Pirates and Bodyline shoes shown above in the size comparison photo.
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So my overall score, from a 1 to 10 range where 10 is the best shoes would be a 7. The shoes themselves are beautiful, well constructed, and the detachable bows allow for lots of different options. The fit will make these shoes a once in a blue moon type of shoe to go on my feet (probably when I need a metallic shoe and I have no other options), and I will mostly likely have to adjust the shoe straps a bit to help the fit work better. My recommendation would be if you have petite feet, these shoes will probably fit you great! Larger footed Lolitas beware though!
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| From their Facebook Page |
Ordering: Fairly simple and straight-forward. I e-mailed to the order e-mail provided my order along with my request for my custom color. Invoicing and payment was completed within an hour of the initial e-mail. No issues here.
Process/Shipping: I was originally told end of August, and that turned into beginning of September (not a big deal, I was not in a rush). I eventually received them September 12th, 2013 (about a month after I e-mailed my order). I think that is reasonable for a reservation and waiting time for it to be produced.
Packaging: The shoes were bubble wrapped in a small pink box. I am going to be nitpicky - even with Bodyline, I get a shoe box for each pair of shoes. I like keeping the original shoe boxes, especially if I want to resell the shoes - so I was slightly disappointed that I did not get a shoe box per shoe I ordered. Not a big deal, and I am sure for most people this is not even an issue. The shoe ribbons that were detachable were in a small separate packaging.
Condition: Considering I got a custom color (silver), I was wondering to see how they came out. Both colors were matte, and done well. I did not see any direct defects with the shoes when I initially opened them up.
Fit: This is probably where I am going to complain the most. I got the 25.5 size, and they were tight. I am not sure if after a couple of wears the material will relax a bit and be more flexible. To show the difference, these are my Bodyline shoes that I have worn twice (that are very comfortable), in comparison to my gold shoes that I have now worn once - both are supposed to be the same size. I understand that different companies have slightly different shoe sizing, but the difference here seems to be quite large. You will see a huge difference in the width of the shoe overall, from the toe through the foot to the heel.
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| Bodyline on the left, Alice and the Pirates in the center, Baroque on the right |
The ankle strap was pretty much impossible (which I expected - I have larger ankles than most), so I was attempted to remove the ankle strap, but the loop at the back of the ankle was too small to allow the metal hook to go through and let me properly remove it. This resulted in me having to awkwardly tuck the ankle straps into the shoe (and making the shoe far more uncomfortable to wear). I am mostly annoyed by this because with other shoes (the tea parties are coming to mind), I can remove the ankle strap easily without issue. I will probably extend the ankle strap as well since I cannot take them off.
The snaps were also a new thing to me - I have not seen a shoe snap quite like this one before and was not really sure how to get everything hooked on. I eventually winged it, and while the snap held throughout the day, when I wanted to take these shoes off, it was a pain in the butt. I would much prefer the snaps like on the Alice and the Pirates and Bodyline shoes shown above in the size comparison photo.
So my overall score, from a 1 to 10 range where 10 is the best shoes would be a 7. The shoes themselves are beautiful, well constructed, and the detachable bows allow for lots of different options. The fit will make these shoes a once in a blue moon type of shoe to go on my feet (probably when I need a metallic shoe and I have no other options), and I will mostly likely have to adjust the shoe straps a bit to help the fit work better. My recommendation would be if you have petite feet, these shoes will probably fit you great! Larger footed Lolitas beware though!
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| Natural light, no flash |