Applied rhinestones, the Alma en Pena signature
On these shoes the crystal is not a detail added at the end: it is how the upper is built. The narrow bands crossing the instep are covered in rhinestones set side by side, the wider panels of the flat models carry them fixed edge to edge, and on the evening styles the whole surface turns reflective. There is one practical consequence: these shoes are not washed. You run a soft dry brush between one crystal and the next, and you keep them away from creams and solvents, which dissolve the fixing.
Under the decoration there are three materials and they behave differently. Smooth and metallic leather wipe clean with a barely damp cloth and come back as they were; suede, the material Italian labels call camoscio, has to be brushed dry and protected with a water-repellent spray before it is first worn; faux leather absorbs nothing, which is why it copes well with sand and salt, but it does not stretch with wear and has to be taken in the exact size.
There are few shapes on the page and they are easy to tell apart. The flat sandal, with bands that leave the top of the foot open, is the one for daytime and the one that puts up with sand. The slingback is closed at the toe and open at the heel, held by a strap behind: it covers the toes and lets the rest breathe, and it is the shape that goes from the office into the evening without changing register. The fringed boot belongs to the autumn part of the assortment and has a soft shaft that rests against the calf instead of gripping it.
Heel height covers the whole range, from the one-centimetre flat to the ten-centimetre rope wedge, by way of the five-centimetre mid heel of the slingback. The footbed is almost always padded and leather-lined, and that is what makes a high style wearable for a whole evening: the cushion under the forefoot absorbs the push the heel sends forward. To compare the full seasonal choice there is the women's sandals page.
