BABY STEPS
Make soft, pliable shoes for your favorite toddler. BY EVE OKI SHIRLEY
Photography by Sam Murphy (this page) and Eve Oki Shirley
A good pair of shoes gives us the opportunity
to strike the fine balance between great
design and function — and that goes for
baby shoes, too. Babies’ feet are soft and flexible,
so they can be squeezed into almost any shoe. But
because their bone structure is still taking shape,
it’s not a good idea to force their spongy little
piggies into hard-shelled receptacles.
The shoes I’ve designed here, for babies between
the ages of 6 and 14 months, have just the right
amount of structure to support the feet, but still
allow them a wide range of motion. The leather
supports comfortably and breathes naturally. And
the velcro flaps and big openings make getting
them on and off fuss-free.
Eve Oki Shirley is a shoemaker. Having just moved from Tokyo
to Las Vegas, she looks forward to opening her custom-made
shoe store sometime in the near future. For her latest
creations, check out
www.eviok.com.
