From her monochrome boots that won #ShoesDayTuesday on 19th March to her own design peep toe brights with snakeskin, our #ShoesDayTuesday winner Sarah has shared her love of shoes with Upper Street. Read on to find out the inspiration behind her own design shoes.

Tell us a little about yourself
I’m Sarah Woodgate, 39 from sunny Worthing on the south coast of England. I’m a biomedical scientist working in a hospital Haematology lab, so not exactly a glamorous job, or one where I can showcase my fabulous fashion statements! I’ve always loved all things vintage, from my teenage years in jumble sale queues on a Saturday morning to my current shopping sprees in Brighton’s North Laines.

Unfortunately for my poor family, I’m also unable to throw anything away, so my wardrobes are bulging and my loft is in endanger of collapsing. My biggest obsession though is undoubtedly with shoes. I have a separate shoe wardrobe and totally believe that shoes make your outfit. Choosing though can be an utter nightmare and usually results with Sunday mornings being spent putting all the Saturday night rejected shoes back in their proper places!

Tell us about the shoes you wore for #ShoesDayTuesday

The shoes that I won the competition with were my monochrome pointed toe boots, which I bought on holiday in Italy. They were only from a high street store and weren’t designer labels. I saw them as soon as I walked in to the shop and actually thought they were really ugly. By the time I’d looked around and come back to them, I was completely in love! Have to say I’m not usually a fan of Italian fashion but these were an exception.

Now talking about your Upper Street shoes – what inspired your shoe design?
I love bright colours, yellow, reds, oranges and can never find the colour combinations that I would choose myself in the high street. I’ve often thought that I’d love to decide what colours and patterns should be put together, so was super excited at the chance to do just that.

I actually realised that its harder than it looks to come up with a perfect shoe. My first instinct was to throw together as many crazy, pinks, reds and oranges together, just because I could, but I soon saw that there was a very good reason why I hadn’t been able to find those instore! So I tamed it down a bit and just went for 3 colours and some animal print. This was still a tough choice as Id managed to create about 15 different shoes on the Upper Street Shoe Designer app. The app is totally amazing fun and I’ve been recommending it to all my friends. Even my 2 year old daughter loves it.

What did you think of your shoes when you received them?
The shoes arrived in gorgeous packaging, with some perfect little extras. Opening them was the best feeling, waiting to see what my personalised shoes would look like….well, they were utterly fab and I was so impressed with the quality. They are stylish, original and fill a gap in my shoe collection, in terms of colours and design. I am really over the moon with them.

Have you worn your shoes yet? What did your friends think?
They’ve been in my possession for 5 days and I’ve only worn to a friends house so far, they haven’t actually touched the outside world! I’m scared as think they are too perfect for pavements and English weather… But I will take the plunge next weekend as I’m on a hen do and there’s an orange theme so they will complement my dress perfectly.

Thanks soooo much Upperstreet, you’ve made a little shoe obsessor very very happy!!

Our pleasure Sarah and thank you for taking part in #ShoesDayTuesday and sharing your fabulous boots with us.

If you want to use colour in your Upper Street shoe design but are unsure where to start, our colour blocking design guide offers great tips and advice.

Win your own design shoes with #ShoesDayTuesday

All you need to do is wear a fun or unique pair of shoes every Tuesday (they don’t have to be Upper Street shoes!) and post a photo of you wearing your shoes to your Twitter and/or Instagram accounts using the hashtag #ShoesDayTuesday and tagging @UpperStreetShoe

find out more

Upper Street – the made-to-order luxury shoe label where you can design your own shoes and have them delivered right to your door.

All Upper Street shoes come in a huge range of sizes from the petite shoe size UK 1.5 (33) to a generous shoe size UK 10 (43) with 4 width fittings. We also offer free alterations to fit and we’re so confident that you’ll love your final design that we’ll refund you if you don’t!

Tuesday 29th April is a special #ShoesDayTuesday as we reach double-digits and turn 10. It’s also the last week Lauren Smith from Glamour will be taking part and we wanted to do something special to celebrate.

So we’re handing the judging over to YOU to vote for the #ShoesDayTuesday winner!

How it will work

Tweet or Instragram a photo of you wearing your shoes to @UpperStreetShoe #ShoesDayTuesday as normal on Tuesday 29th April – remember you’ve until midnight to enter.

On Wednesday 30th Upper Street and Lauren from Glamour will pick eight shoes which will be shortlisted. These will be uploaded onto the Upper Street Facebook wall and YOU vote for the shoe you like the most by clicking “Like”.

The shoe with the most ‘Likes’ by midday on Thursday 1st May will be declared the winner and will win a pair of their own design Upper Street shoes (sizes 33 – 43).

So get your shoes and your friends ready to celebrate #ShoesDayTuesday’s 10th Birthday.

Upper Street - the made-to-order luxury shoe label where you can design your own individual shoes and have them delivered right to your door.

Nia won #ShoesDayTuesday at the end of March with her fabulous polka dot shoes which made us all think of Spring. But when it came to designing her own shoes, Nia took a different approach and looked at what key shoe was missing from her shoe wardrobe. We’ll hand over to Nia to tell her shoe story…

Tell us a little about yourself
My name is Nia and I work as a Welsh translator in Cardiff. I also have a blog – fashfoodista.blogspot.co.uk - which I love to do in my spare time. I wouldn’t say I have a ridiculous obsession with shoes but a friend of mine once called me Carrie Bradshaw, so perhaps I’m wrong!

Tell us about the shoes you wore for #ShoesDayTuesday

The shoes were from Dotty P’s and they cost me [drumroll please] £6.30. I kid you not. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to have them. I loved the fact that they would inject a bit of fun to any outfit whilst also being very sophisticated. When I took the picture I was off to a christening and they actually overshadowed the Burberry trench I wore with them! Quite a feat. I had plenty of compliments about them so I knew I’d done the right thing buying them and winning this comp turned them into a very savvy buy!

Now talking about your Upper Street shoe – what inspired your shoe design?

I already had the Shoe Designer app on my iPad so I didn’t waste any time getting started. I knew what I wanted from the beginning. A simple, classic black pump which I could wear with smart office attire or dressed down with jeans. I chose the black snakeskin for added luxury plus it is the year of the snake! The difficult part was choosing the pointed or round toe court.

In the end I opted for the round toe court shoe because it offered a 3″ mid-heel which would allow me to wear them to work and be comfortable all day. I could have gone crazy and created a very flamboyant design but I decided to go for the minimalist, less is more approach.

What did you think of your shoes when you received them?
They were delivered to work so I had to muster all my willpower to wait until I got home before unwrapping them. I was very impressed with the packaging. The pink bow and handwritten note were such a lovely touch. It did feel like Christmas. I was so happy with them. The quality is obvious and they fit perfectly. I loved the smell of the brand new shoes too. That’s not weird is it?!?! They’re definitely going to be a wardrobe staple.

Have you worn your shoes yet? What did your friends think?

I’m wearing them for the first time in the picture. This was for work but not in the office so my colleagues haven’t seen them yet. I did feature them on my blog though and had a great response. Thank you for choosing me as a winner. I love my new shoes x

Thank you Nia for taking part in #ShoesDayTuesday and sharing your gorgeous shoes with us.

Win your own design shoes with #ShoesDayTuesday

All you need to do is wear a fun or unique pair of shoes every Tuesday (they don’t have to be Upper Street shoes!) and post a photo of you wearing your shoes to your Twitter and/or Instagram accounts using the hashtag #ShoesDayTuesday and tagging @UpperStreetShoe

find out more

Upper Street – the made-to-order luxury shoe label where you can design your own shoes and have them delivered right to your door.

All Upper Street shoes come in a huge range of sizes from the petite shoe size UK 1.5 (33) to a generous shoe size UK 10 (43) with 4 width fittings. We also offer free alterations to fit and we’re so confident that you’ll love your final design that we’ll refund you if you don’t!

Nicki Rawson was one of our #ShoesDayTuesday 3rd Birthday winners and her fabulous yellow shoes really stood out with judge Sairey, Cosmopolitan’s Fashion Editor, saying her photo and shoes “show real inventiveness, a love of colour and a quirky style.”

So we couldn’t wait to see what Nicki would design, especially when she sent us this message “I’m delighted I’m a winner. I am attending a wedding in April so hope to have the shoes by then – the dress I’m wearing is a difficult colour to match so I’m over the moon I’ll be able to design my own shoes and show them off.

We’ll hand over to Nicki to talk about the shoes she wore for #ShoesDayTuesday and the shoes she designed with Upper Street.

Tell us a little about yourself

I’m Nicki Rawson and I’m a physiotherapist from Manchester. I usually spend the working day in trainers as my job is quite active, so it’s nice to wear a pair of heels. I love shoes that are talking points and people sometimes tend to look more at my shoes than they do at my face in conversation! I never wear ugly shoes. Life’s too short.

Tell us about the shoes you wore for #ShoesDayTuesday

My winning #ShoesDayTuesday shoes were purchased in San Francisco, but are ironically made in Brighton, just down the road! I had a meeting at work that day and wanted a statement pair, and something to give me more height. It was a rare gloriously sunny March day and I wanted to capture this with yellow tights and mustard shoes to really feel as though Spring had arrived.

Now talking about your Upper Street shoes – what inspired your shoe design?

A Vivienne Westwood dress and the TV series ‘Mad Men’ inspired my Upper Street design. I bought a fantastic salon print vintage-style dress for a wedding in April and couldn’t find shoes to match anywhere. Winning #ShoesDayTuesday was an absolute dream for me as I’d already been on the website and tried my hand at creating my own shoes. I had a very definite idea of a pointed court to achieve a Betty Draper-type shoe which would pick out the muted gold and pale blue accents in the dress.

I wanted the shoes to be classic and styled on those in a wedding picture of my Aunt in the 1960s. My Aunt had exquisite taste so I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve and was able to tick all the boxes with the Shoe Designer. I designed my shoes quickly and saved them before playing around for hours with other styles, as I was seduced by the choice available on the website! I added an ankle strap of Swarovski diamantee to give the shoes a subtle hint of sparkle, but not detract from the detailed dress.

What did you think of your shoes when you received them?

I was really nervous when I received my shoes as I really hoped they were as beautiful in reality as they were on screen! The packaging was truly amazing and I loved the velvet shoe bag, hand-written note and Upper Street keyring. Everything was so pretty I didn’t want to open it! I was overjoyed when I looked at the shoes for the first time. I loved them straight away. This was in the car park of the parcel depot as I couldn’t wait to get home to see them! I tried them on at home and they fitted perfectly.

I was really overwhelmed with the generosity of Upper Street’s #ShoesDayTuesday, and with the whole designing and ordering process. Communications were super-friendly and I felt reassured that I would get a beautiful shoe and have alterations if required. Upper Street kindly sent me a longer pair of straps as I have wide ankles. I can honestly say that I don’t own a more beautiful pair of unique shoes.

Have you worn your shoes yet? What did your friends think?

I wore my shoes to the wedding reception and did a lot of dancing! They were really comfortable and whilst most of the other guests were abandoning their shoes, mine stayed on – there was no way I was going to part with these beauties after the compliments I’d had! Bring on the next wedding!

Thank you very much for sharing your story with us Nicki and we hope you’ve another wedding or special occasion soon to wear your fabulous dress and shoes.

Win your own design shoes with #ShoesDayTuesday

All you need to do is wear a fun or unique pair of shoes every Tuesday (they don’t have to be Upper Street shoes!) and post a photo of you wearing your shoes to your Twitter and/or Instagram accounts using the hashtag #ShoesDayTuesday and tagging @UpperStreetShoe

find out more

Upper Street – the made-to-order luxury shoe label where you can design your own shoes and have them delivered right to your door.

All Upper Street shoes come in a huge range of sizes from the petite shoe size UK 1.5 (33) to a generous shoe size UK 10 (43) with 4 width fittings. We also offer free alterations to fit and we’re so confident that you’ll love your final design that we’ll refund you if you don’t!