Three creative ways to personalise your footwear, from an artist

Trinkets, charms and beads.

In a world where the fashion trend cycle moves at lightning speed, thinking outside the box is more important than ever. This year, we’ve embraced the ‘Jane Birkin effect’, or, the concept of accessorising your accessories with artful clutter like beads, ribbons, key chains, badges and pins. 

The woman behind the iconic Hermès Birkin bag, Jane was known for her haphazardly chic style, and her famously well-loved, charm-covered handbags filled with notebooks, flowers, newspapers – whatever the day called for.

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Customising your wardrobe is the antithesis of quiet luxury – it’s all about embracing clutter, colour and charm. And for Melbourne-based artist and illustrator Aki Yaguchi, it’s not just about tying ribbons onto handbags. She lets her personality shine through, even in the most simple wardrobe staples. Her art spans multiple mediums: painting, drawing, digital works, large-scale murals and most recently, three pairs of Dr. Martens shoes. 

Armed with supplies from a bead shop and a pair of high-quality jewellery pliers, we challenged Aki to customise three pairs of Dr. Martens’ new-season shoes: the Buzz, the Elphie and the Mattison.

Dr. Martens’ high-quality leather is made to stand the test of time, which means with a little care, you can keep them forever – just add charms, beads or chains for a DIY seasonal update. Here, Aki shows us three creative ways to customise your Dr. Martens.

Layer up your laces

Aki wears the Dr. Martens Buzz.

“I wanted to keep the theme really playful with these shoes because they have so much personality! I decided I wanted to hand-make all my charms for this project, so I went straight to The Bead Centre in Collingwood. I chose cool-toned gems and glass beads. 

I love how heavy the stones and glass beads are, they make such a satisfying sound as I walk. I used a lot of silver chains and clasps to assemble everything, and I’m so chuffed with the outcome.”

DIY trinkets

Aki wears the Dr. Martens Elphie.

“The Elphie is my favourite silhouette of the three I personalised, so I didn’t want to go too overboard. With all the shoes, I wanted to make sure I made charms that were removable, to ensure versatility and wearability for years to come. I hand-crafted these shoelace charms from polymer clay and resin. The stars were incredibly time-consuming as I bedazzled them, gem by gem.”

Chains ‘n’ charms

Aki wears the Dr. Martens Mattison.

“These are such a comfortable statement shoe, so I wanted to keep the customisation subtle and classy. I chose silver elements and made all the jewellery to match my outfit! These charms just require chains and trinkets to attach (make sure you have a good set of jewellery pliers). I made the anklets as an extension of the shoe. I envisioned them to be like a necklace and the shoe being an outfit. One of the anklets even has a locket on it.”

Explore styles to customise yourself here.