Celine

A girl just simply can’t have enough shoes. Handbags? Yes. Dresses? Probably. Shoes? Never. It is for this reason that I was over-the-moon enthusiastic to try out and review Plattoes shoes. They have, what I think, is a truly unique concept: you pick out the base shoe (wedges or heels) and then you have multiple ribbon options to choose from. Both pairs of base shoes come with metal loops to thread the ribbons through. They have 6 double-sided (reversible) ribbons and 18 standard ribbons. You can buy as few or as many as you’d like and the idea is to mix it up as often as you’d like.

Plattoes Heel Base
($79.99, Plattoes)

Celine & Her Plattoes Heels

The concept is original and fun, it’s quite exciting to be in the driver’s seat, so to speak, during the design of your shoe, and the idea of being able to switch up the color (ribbons) whenever I felt like it was pretty awesome. But does it work? Are the shoes comfortable? Are the ribbons easy to thread and tie? And first and foremost, are they cute? I’m sure you’re all wondering what the answers to those questions are, because I pondered them as well.

The shoes come packaged nicely in your standard shoe box. The ribbons are wrapped in plastic. I urge you to go on to the site and watch the various How to Tie videos, as attempting to tie the ribbons by “instinct” (as I did) turns out to not be so fruitful. Trust me. The shoes will feel loose and uncomfortable. The videos show you how to double tie, make cute bows, etc. Also, a tip from me: put the shoes on your foot first and only then start to tie. If you don’t proceed this way, your ribbons may end up being too tight and you’ll have to try and shove your foot under them… as I… ahem… did. You’ll get a much better, yet still snug fit if you do it this way.

Once on, I have to say, the shoes were pretty darn cute and ended up being moderately comfy after wearing them out shopping for a few hours. I opted for a black & white gingham ribbon, a navy striped ribbon and a red, double-sided, polka dot ribbon. I love the idea of being able to switch the ribbons according to what outfit you’re wearing, but I have to say – the process of tying the ribbons does get to be a bit tedious and to be completely honest, I never got a super comfortable fit – although I think I probably just have to dedicate some extra time to figuring out which ribbon-threading works best for me. In retrospect, I kind of wish I had chosen the wedges, as I think that shape of shoe lends itself much better to this concept.

Bottom Line

All in all, the idea is really fun, the ribbons are incredibly cute, but I think you have to have the patience to thread and re-thread the shoes for this to work best. I would also recommend purchasing the wedges over the heels and definitely watch the videos provided on the site for tips. If you do that, I think you’ll most likely be pretty psyched with your purchase.

PROS:

• There exists a ribbon to match every outfit
• A great price considering how many different looks you get
• Really cute “retro” look

CONS:

• Definite learning curve when it comes to tying the ribbons
• Comfort wise, they never feel quite like normal shoes

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