Studded converse-like shoes

 
 Wandering through the shops of chinatown, I've found these supper sweet and sooo cheap red converse-like shoes that were begging me to get them and to make good use of them. In another shop I've seen some studs that seemed interesting enough, so I thought I'd give it a try.
 I have to say that I'm not a big fan of intellectual property theft, especially of something as iconic as these shoes are (that's right, for me they are shoes, not sneakers), so I had to think twice. It was, wearing "fake" converse (they don't have a brand tag, but the design is totally stolen), or spending 40 euros (yes, that's the price in Italy) for the original pair. Normally I would opt for the original solution, but since we're talking the 2 seasons trend (the studs), I went for the cheap one!

What you'll need:
- 60 cone studs
- a pair of shoes
- a pair of scissors (or a screwdriver) to press stud closures

Place your studs randomly, I started from the bottom of the shoe

 The whole thing was very easy to make, you just puts studs randomly and you're done. The only part that was a bit tricky was a counter part of the shoe because of the foxing. It was so hard that I literally crashed a couple of studs... but fortunately persistence pays off!

Happy Monday!

Milanese Chinatown

 Chinatown in Milan isn't big. To be precise, just one street represents Chinatown, but here it is more about the state of mind than about the area,  it's borders, limits or magnitude. I like to go there for a walk, a shopping spree or just to relax. There are lots of small shops selling absolutely everything, international stores and Chinese food. Nothing special or that can't be found in any other place you would say, but no, here it is different, the time gets another shape. Not that it stops, in a Spanish way, it simply loses its relevance. At first it might be annoying because we are used to want everything now, immediately, but if it gets to you, you are saved, no stress.

 

 I got into a shoe store asking if I could try on a pair of shoes, and the shop assistant told me that they have my size in the warehouse and to come back tomorrow to try them on.

 When I wanted to try a T-shirt in another store they told me it is not allowed to try the clothes on.

 I would like to know who buys there under these circumstances, and how these shops survive. The prices there are a bit lower than in the shops in the other parts of the town and the shops are usually run by a family whose members work and help to keep the business going, so there are no high labor costs. But they have to live out of something, pay for the rent (I doubt that all of them own the retail spaces), pay for the taxes.
How they manage to keep the business running remains a mystery to me.