Creative Shoes: 13 of the Wildest Shoe Designs and Brands

While the majority of consumers are content to purchase the newest brand of name brand shoes, in the same color and style they always get, this doesn’t hold true for everyone. In our daily lives we only come across the occasional individual who truly works at expressing their personality via their shoes. Here are 13 groups of the wildest shoes you wouldn’t even see on the most outrageous free spirit:

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Fur coats are common, but fur shoes, not so much. In the Native American tradition of using every part of an animal, some creative shoe designers have taken this philosophy to the next level… creating shoes that appear animalistic to an extreme.

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Designers are always pushing the boundaries between form and function, in the hope of inspiring new lines that can be sold to a wider audience. Some designers add new features, while other try to go so minimalist that they remove entire sections of a shoe to reveal what’s beneath.

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Almost all shoes are designed in the same boring fashion, but there are definitely exceptions. Whether a designer utilizes a smoother, waving form, or manipulates the shape into something that hardly resembles a shoe, they all let their creativity go wild.

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There aren’t any rules when it comes to design, and some creative innovators try to redefine what we consider set in stone. Some of the results are too radical for most people’s taste, but the occasional design will strike a chord with a larger audience (or a wealthy customer), and become a true success.

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When you’re dressing up in costume, it’s important not to forget your feet. You can go for the realistic, disgusting look, or put on a pair of rats that look way too real. Either way, you’ll leave a trail of groaning friends in your wake.

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High heels give a graceful, elegant look, and the height of a model. Just like anything, though, extremes can be ridiculous. Incredibly tall high heels can add an artistic flair to a model walking down the runway, but there is an element of very real danger. A lot of women have twisted their ankles, and taken bad spills.


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Some shoes are made out of alternative materials in order to be more environmentally friendly, or add an interesting twist to a typically mundane clothing item, but this isn’t always the case. Necessity breeds invention, and sadly, this means that some of the poorest people are forced to make shoes out of any materials they can get their hands on.

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Not all mainstream shoe makers are boring. Shoe makers will make special edition shoes that appeal to a niche group of consumers, and advertise the brand as something unique. Form fitting shoes are meant to give better feedback to one’s feet, while still protecting them from the elements, but they look as out of this world as a pair of a dinosaur sneakers, or as ridiculous as a tennis ball shoe.

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While it may not be incredibly functional, shoes can be a fantastic medium for artistic endeavors. There’s something inherently interesting about a common, and typically boring, element from our everyday lives being turned into something creative and unique.

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Quirky and outlandish shoes are a great way to stand out in a crowd and express an artistic spirit. You can search high and low for rare and exotic designs, or add to an already existing model and make it your own. The true DIY fanatic will find a way to make anything unique.

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Like a novelty clown nose, or gigantic foam hands and hats created for sporting events or special occasions, there’s a seemingly endless variety of shoes meant to cause a laugh. The stereotypical clown shoe is just the beginning, as almost any item can be turned into a semblance of a shoe, though it might not be the most comfortable thing to wear.

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Most people who have worn high heels will attest that they’re not the most comfortable clothing item in the world, but some designers express this in an industrial, and blatant way, by adding heavy, painful looking spikes and metals, and turning an elegant item into something intimidating.

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Some of the more oddball shoe designs are hard to categorize… they could have a humorous intent, or be avante gard, or are simply hideous and indecipherable. The importance of shoes that push the limits can’t be stressed enough, as they are the driving force behind innovation and change in an industry that has always tended to remain uncontroversial.