Bench-made Leather Fetish Shoes: London's best-kept secret.

Fabulously Fetish are a fascinating team. If you have never been to a place where shoes are hand made on a bench, it's a pretty exciting experience for a shoe perve like myself. There's all kinds of leather around and amazing big boxes of heels, strange blocks and machinery. But ultimately there's just one skilled craftsmen sitting at a bench producing perfect shoes time and time again. black leather red soled high heelsIt's rather a humbling experience.

I met Cos K (Short for Costas Kyriacou and his son Nick) a few years ago and didn't need to see the workshop at first, to recognise the quality of the shoes they were producing. It was in the shoe. As a teenager I had worked for Church's and Jones the Bootmaker. They had made me pretty picky about shoes after that stint. And these were some much more serious shoes. Up close, the reality of this thick, shiny leather hits you and the immaculate perfection of a handmade shoe,  translated into fetish, was pretty dizzying.

I remember seeing these incredible, gravity defying brown snakeskin shoes with red leather soles  in the display area. Cos K pointed at them.  He said, "Those took a week to make by hand." I nearly mugged him on the spot. Some ridiculous sense of inner goodness stopped me from banging him over the head with a lamp and running off with those shoes. But I have lived to regret that.

Those shoes weren't even my size, but I could hear my conscience trying to reason out resorting to chinese foot binding just to fit the shoes whilst still under some spell, in my own deranged, shoe-intoxicated mind.

I then thought, had anyone really taken the time to examine the real beauty of the construction of this shoe?

The answer is yes; before "Fabulously Fetish" existed, Cos K was making shoes for the likes of Vivienne Westwood and Prince (The Artist)Purple Leather Patent Fetish Boots. Film, television and theatrical outfitters were all beating a path to their door. The mean b%^$rds! Not telling us where to get those Rock Star shoes, that's so mean! But now, for a finite amount of time, we have their attention.

If you were one of the Mistresses at The O.W.K. or Pandora's Box in New York, I think this would be the sort of place you would demand your slave took you to to have a bespoke pair of shoes made for you. How long we have the pleasure of the company of Fabulously Fetish is really down to you..but it's probably minimal, because they keep getting dragged off by other shoe-hungry fashionistas.

This exquisite collection is a celebration of a talented craftsman ‘Cos K’ who has spent over 30 years in the fetish industry and was one of the early pioneers of the 6” stiletto heel. Having grown up in a shoe making family, Cos K learned his trade working in the family business ‘The City Cobbler’ making bespoke footwear for the city workers. The business then branched out to Shepherds Bush, where he worked with many celebrities who frequented the BBC and also worked with the costume department of many theatre companies including the Royal Shakespeare Co.

It was here that Cos K was approached by the wardrobe department of Prince (The Artist) to make his shoes, which he did for many years throughout his most successful period. He has also worked with top fashion designers including Betty Jackson, Elizabeth Emmanuelle, Clements Robeiro, Catherine Hamnett , Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and Mac cosmetics, to name but a few, producing  the shoes for their catwalk shows.Shiny Boots of Leather

Cos K’s passion for high heels began when he was approached by Roger & Sarah Adams to produce a range of 6” stilettos and pointed-toe ladies footwear.  It was this collaboration that began a 30 year career in the fetish shoe industry, becoming one of the most copied fetish shoe designers, the Fabulously Fetish brand is the result of all the expertise Cos K has gained over the years.

So yes, (sigh) Fabulously Fetish will be back with us for a little while from December 11th. If you are of a sadistic persuasion and want to watch some real torture, just put me near all their shoes.