I have admired the range of shoes from Irregular Choice for quite some time, so it was very exciting to find their booth at Celebration Anaheim back in April, advertising an upcoming Star Wars collection! It was hard waiting so long, but now I finally have a pair of light up lightsaber heels! While convention attendees could pre-order pairs at Celebration, I had such a hard time trying to narrow down my favourites, so I decided to wait until I could order on-line. I knew the collection was going to be popular, but certain styles/sizes sold out within 15 minutes of the launch! One of my purchases was the Skywalker heels, which have just arrived direct from Irregular Choice – and I couldn’t contain my excitement opening the boxes.
The shoes came in a special Irregular Choice x Star Wars cardboard box, with a clear window to show the mint colour printed tissue paper inside. Each shoe was carefully and securely wrapped in white tissue paper. Inside the shoes were the standard ‘sticks’ to hold out the heel, again with tissue paper in the toe of the shoes. This design looked rather brown in the preview images, a colour I’m not usually drawn to – so it was really interesting to see these shoes in person – they’re so iridescent they’re not really brown at all.
The Skywalker shoes are made from a bronze snake effect leather, which really shimmers when seen in person – makes me think of butterfly wings. The front of each shoe features two gold eyelets tied together with gold rope-style cord – each end of the cord has a tassel made from the same leather as the shoe. As with any cord, care should be taken to avoid damaging the gold fibre ‘wrap’ and exposing the cord underneath – though this will happen a little with general use. When I first saw this design, I wasn’t sure if I liked the cord detail – but it has definitely grown on me. Unexpected and unique details are what Irregular Choice is all about, and I wouldn’t want their Star Wars shoes to be any different. It feels like a long time coming to finally have licensed Star Wars women’s shoes that didn’t look like they were designed for men, so I really appreciate the details of this design that set it apart from previous footwear options. Irregular Choice are known for their amazing sculpted heels, so as a fan of the brand it was exciting to see this design feature in the Star Wars collection. As a big fan of jedi and lightsaber themed fashion, these were definitely on my wish list – and they light up!
There were two light-up heel styles in the collection – these Skywalker heels, and the Tatooine boots. The heels are sculpted in the shape of Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber (technically, the one that Anakin made and Obi-Wan gave to Luke) – as the style is called Skywalker you can decide if these are Anakin or Luke themed. The blade of the lightsaber is translucent blue, and lights up with flashes when the sole of the shoe (not the heel itself) impacts on the ground when you walk. The right shoe also features sound – with a small but effective speaker in the outer sole. There are three different sequences of lightsaber, starfighter and blaster sounds, which are triggered by a small switch inside – with care, you can press on the correct spot on the outside when wearing the shoes, to show off this amazing feature. You can check out my video at the end of this review to see the lights and sounds. The shoes came charged up, ready to go – which was great when you’re excited about your new purchase and want to try them out as soon as they arrive! This style should not be allowed to get wet, as this can damage the electronics. They are rechargeable via a micro USB connector (not included), it takes a few hours for a full charge.
I can find the flap and connector easily in the right shoe (the one with sound), but it is not in the left shoe – either I have a faulty pair (which would be odd, to miss out that entire cable/flap), or the lights are actually not rechargeable, and the cable is only for recharging the sounds? The advertising does mention that the lights are rechargeable, so I’m not sure what to make of the fact there is no recharging port in one of my shoes. I know that LED lights don’t draw much power when only flashing and not left on continuously, so perhaps there is enough battery power to last a very long time? I guess time will tell.
The back outer heel of the shoes features the Star Wars logo embroidered in gold – ‘Star’ on the left, ‘Wars’ on the right, so the words join together when wearing the shoes. The European shoe size is printed inside, and the hologram insole features fully embroidered Star Wars and Irregular Choice logos – a lovely detail. While most of the range featured printed Star Wars imagery on the soles, this style does not. The sole has a chunky black tread instead, so they don’t need protecting like the printed soles – but be aware they can leave black marks on some surfaces, as black soles tend to do. There is a 4cm platform, with a heel height of 13cm (just over 5″) – the chunkiness of the sole helps offset the heel height, so the angle of your foot isn’t as steep.
While not as classically ‘pretty’ as the R2-D2 shoes, I really do love the unique style of these Skywalker shoes – perfect for my jedi themed outfits. I’m so happy to see how successful this footwear collection has been – I really hope to see another Irregular Choice x Star Wars collection available in the future!
Here’s a short video of my shoes, showing the sounds and lights –
