Well, it’s 2018… (technically it’s been 2018 for like 50 some days already…I’m just slow at getting anything done…) so I feel like it’s time to try something new! I kind of hate to play into stereotypes… but I love shoes. I’m sort of embarrassed to admit it, but then again to quote the awesome granny from Moana “once you know what you like, well there you are.” So, I like shoes… especially a good pair of fuck me pumps. Sexy shoes are the best kind of shoes! Although, I don’t own many quality pairs of shoes… because I am forced to spend money on things like ‘food’ and ‘rent’ …. BAH!
A few months ago I was at Bondesque in Minneapolis and I found myself in a bit of an impulse buy situation. It all started with a dress… I fell in love with this shiny black PVC dress that I simply had to have. Suddenly a dress turned into a pair of matching PVC gloves as well… which of course turned into a pair of shoes to match the entire outfit. I need to learn to say no… but it is a pretty badass bondage outfit… I just need to find the right occasion to wear it to (it’s too complicated to get into to just wear in the bedroom… if I’m going to squirm, shimmy and wiggle my way into that thing, I need a whole room full of people to see me in it)!
I love the dress, I love the gloves, but I am on the fence about the shoes. At the time, Bondesque only had a few pairs of black shoes that matched my outfit and of those pairs there were only two styles that they even had in my size (I wear anywhere between a 7 1/2 to 9 depending on the brand, I have short but wide feet). So I ended up going with a pair of Pleaser Amuse 19. At the time of purchase, I thought I liked these shoes. But once I got them home and had a good look at them in the light and a good look at them on my feet… I’m just not so sure they are my thing.
The Pleaser Amuse 19 are a pair of black patent leather slingback sandals with sculpted cutouts, a 5 inch heel and 3/8 inch hidden platform. Whew, that was a mouthful! So many words for a single pair of shoes! But trust me, it all makes much more sense when you look at the shoes. Except for the slingback part… I’m still struggling with that one…but I’ll get to that later.
The main color of the Pleaser Amuse 19 is black (which I believe is the only color this particular style comes in) along with a tan colored inner part and sole. The color of the Pleaser Amuse 19 is nice, it’s shiny, it’s black, it’s like a soulless dark void, only in shoe form. I’m also a fan of black shoes because they are timeless, classy, and go with just about any outfit you can imagine.
Material-wise, the Amuse 19 is made from a high-gloss (its so shiny!) patent leather. If patent leather isn’t exactly your thing, but you are still digging the style of the Amuse 19, Pleaser also carries this particular shoe in a black suede (which I think looks equally as lovely as the patent leather). I have worn these shoes to a couple of big events and I’m always kind of surprised when I make it to the end of the night and there are no scuffs or rips in the patent leather. I have another pair of patent leather heels that did not survive long before looking like I got into some kind of serious shoe fight.
Slingbacks, if you aren’t already shoe savvy, (as I know them at least) are characterized by a strap that crosses behind the heel or ankle and are usually the sort of shoe you can slip in and out of without having to undo an buckles or other fasteners. Where an ankle strap shoe is just as it sounds, it has a strap that encircles the ankle. Now, I don’t claim to be a shoe expert but when I look at the Amuse 19 I see the cuff (I call it a cuff, because it is way to thick to really be a strap) that fastens around the ankle, which to me seems at odds with the shoes description which calls it a slingback… can someone explain to me what makes this a slingback? WHAT AM I MISSING?! I have been pondering this for days! I’ve even been googling shoe styles trying to find an explanation… but so far, google seems to agree with what I know about slingbacks vs ankle straps! I suppose it is possible that Bondesque has the description wrong in the store? This will haunt me for the rest of my life.
While we are on the subject of the ankle cuff, while I really like the idea of the thick bondage-esque cuff and it’s my favorite part of this shoe, but because it is so thick and it hides my entire ankle my legs end up looking kind of stubby. Not a sexy look for me… especially since I’m not all that blessed in the long, lean, lanky leg department as it is…I don’t need any extra help looking stubby! Shoes with an ankle strap draw the eye to the ankle, which is usually the thinnest part of the leg, thus making your legs look longer. But that doesn’t seem to work for me in these shoes, I look disproportionate in these and they are not at all flattering to my feet or legs. The ankle cuff is fastened via velcro, so there is a small amount of adjustability with them, but if you have really thick ankles, I’m not so sure these would fit. I have what I guess I would call ‘average ankles’ and these just barely make it all the way around and fasten closed.
But man, the Pleaser Amuse 19 do give me all kinds of dominatrix feels when I look at them. These are definitely the sort of heels I could see wearing while crushing balls or trampling men (not that I regularly engage in either of those activities, but I have an active and kinky imagination). But, like I said above… I’m not really sure I’m into these shoes any more. Once I got them out into the light of day and really had a good look at them on my feet I found some things that I’m just not a fan of. First of all… there is a part of me that simply can not handle seeing the spaces in between my toes… like… 4 little toe cleavage bumps… it looks weird to me. I either want to see no toe cleavage or see more of my toes… but having just the tops peek out looks weird to me. Now… this is totally a personal aesthetic issue… but if you understand what I’m talking about… and hate when that happens too… avoid these shoes. Second, I’m not a fan of shoes with pointed toes. They make my feel look weird and enormous. I also find that shoes with pointed toes become uncomfortable much quicker than a toe with an open or rounded toe. I’m thinking this must be due to the way the pointed toe kind of squeezes all my toes together.
Size-wise I had to purchase a fairly large size as my feet are quite wide, but they did fit comfortably. I ended up going with a size 9, which does end up feeling too long for me, but I could tell going a size smaller was going to end up being uncomfortable for the balls of my feet if worn for any length of time. So, this to I think may contribute to them not looking super sexy on me… it’s like dominatrix clown shoes (which should totally be a thing if it isn’t already…). But, they are easy to walk in and I love the hidden platform, it adds a little extra highlight to the shoe without it all being in the heel, thus making them a taller yet more comfortable shoe!
Quality-wise I have no complaints about the Amuse 19, they are well built and look very polished. Pleasers does make a good shoe, during my high school goth and cyber-punk phase I wore many a pleaser boot and never had any complaints (other than why did they enable me to make such questionable fashion choices that I kind of regret now). So I can definitely recommend them if this is a style you are in to. Aesthetically I’m not so sure I’m all that fond of them, they just don’t look great on my feet and I’ve never been a big fan of the pointed shoe (with a very small number of exceptions). This particular shoe just does not look super flattering on me which is pretty disappointing and I wish I had spent more time really looking at them while I was in the store, because $50.00 is a lot for me to spend on a pair of shoes that I won’t be wearing daily.
Interested in bringing home a pair of Pleaser Amuse 19 shoes home for yourself? Check out Bondesque (either in person or online) they are pretty awesome (and host some killer parties)!
The Pleaser Amuse 19 were purchased by Kitten Boheme with her own personal funds.