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" For\u00A0years, men have had it all their own way, with personal shoe &#145;lasts&#146;, or moulds, stored at posh bespoke cobblers and handmade suits so well-made they&#146;re inherited as heirlooms.\u00A0Now\u00A0womenswear is catching up, with London tailors vying for custom from professional women looking for a bespoke cut that will shave off pounds and years. If a trouser suit designed to flatter your body to perfection feels like the ultimate boardroom weapon, imagine what a pair of shoes that look like Louboutin but feel like Scholl could do for your career. These shoes are made for stomping. Bespoke footwear as created by Silvia Campbell\u00A0is a serious investment; you can expect to pay from \u00A32500 and wait up to six months for your finished product. But her clients are women who know what they want and are too busy to take up residency in Selfridges&#146; Shoe Galleries in search of it. Embark on this journey with Silvia and the first thing she&#146;ll do is book an hour with you to measure your feet in meticulous detail, a process that includes taking an impression of them in squidgy foam so she can see where your weight sits. Back ache, bunions and all sorts of other horrors are thus avoided. As your chosen design takes shape, Silvia checks and rechecks for comfort and fit (often coming to a client&amp;#039;s office) until a wooden &#145;last&#146; can be constructed which will supply the structure for the shoe. Meanwhile crucial decisions about style, colour, material (choose from lamb or calf leather, ostrich, snake, stingray and even eel), heel height, top line and shape of toe have to be made, via the exchange of many inspirational pictures of Jimmy Choo and LK Bennett. I wanted to end up with a classic pair of black suede, single-sole, elegantly pointy court shoes, with sexy toe cleavage, an elongated toe to lengthen the leg and a heel height that did not give me pissed-on-the-last-train-home TOWIE topple. Oh, and they had to not become unbearably uncomfortable after five minutes. And that, as you can see from the picture, is exactly what I got. Silvia&#146;s shoes are little gems of artisanal craftsmanship, beautifully constructed by British craftsmen under her direction. Almost as satisfying are the wooden lasts which sit inside them (meaning I could have the same shoes replaced, or made in another colour, whenever I wished). And it is a revelation to put on a pair of shoes that actually fit my poor dumb feet, who&#146;ve uncomplainingly transported me in standard size, factory-made footwear (how vulgar!) for so many years. Thank you Silvia for my Cinderella moment &#150; this season I will be able to go to the ball (and not need a sit-down after an hour of wearing high heels that kill). Visit SilviaCampbell.com to find out more GO TO: MY FIRST BESPOKE SUIT, BY LAURA TENNANT "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/fashion/what-to-wear/news/a21442/bespoke-footwear-by-laura-tennant/>