A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Making of Sarah Franklin’s Bedazzled Shoes
Learn how these sparkly platform wedges came to be.
Written by Chris Duarte
At TrailheaDX this year, there were exciting new products revealed (blockchain!), surprise announcements for existing products (Lightning Web Components now open sourced!), and even announcements for new learning content on Trailhead (responsible creation of AI!). But amidst these exciting developments, there was another shiny, sparkling reveal that happened at this year’s TrailheaDX.
That’s right. Sarah Franklin’s shoes.
On the main stage, Sarah Franklin (EVP Salesforce Platform, Trailhead, and Developer Relations) wore a pair of Swarovski-encrusted platform wedges that I personally designed and created just for her. I covered the shoes in over 5,000 rhinestones, painstakingly applying each rhinestone by hand in a process that took over 40 hours to complete.
I’d like to take you through the process of how I created these shoes for Sarah.
The Idea
I’ve been bedazzling fun shoes (and other stuff) for a few years now.
I enjoy putting rhinestones on things. So when it came time to plan for TrailheaDX, I wanted to do something special for Sarah, who has done so much for Trailhead, our trailblazer community, and for my career.
So I thought, why not bedazzle Sarah some shoes? Now, I’m known for bedazzling sneakers. That’s what I like to make for myself. But Sarah, well, she’s known for wearing sky high platforms, wedges, and heels. So I knew that I was going to have to branch out from my sneaker comfort zone.
The Plan
I chose a wedge style platform sandal, and then came up with 3 concepts for the shoe designs: Bring the Rainbow, Make Trailhead Your North Star, and Champagne Confetti. I put my ideas into Quip Slides, and met with Sarah, Kris Lande, and Leah McGowen-Hare to take Sarah through her options.
I bought a pair of sample wedges and did some prototyping. I found that bedazzling on a wedge is really easy! It’s actually a lot easier than a sneaker, because it’s nice and flat. Also, the flat wide surface gave me a lot of options for designs. Make Trailhead Your North Star was born from experimentation on the available space of the platform wedge, and as it turns out, that concept was Sarah’s favorite and the one she chose for the shoes.
I put together a project plan with handoff dates, and sent Sarah off to buy her shoes. A week later, I had the shoes in hand, and the process began! I had 3 weeks to get the shoes done, working on weeknights and over the weekends.
The Design
Once we nailed down the theme, I ordered the rhinestones (shoutout to Nicole at https://www.rhinestonesupply.com/ the best online source for Swarovski rhinestones) and got to work.
Every element I included in the design had special meaning and significance. For example:
- Codey the Bear: TrailheaDX is our developer conference, so I added Codey, our developer mascot
- Flogo: We just announced our updated Trailhead flogo (flogo = fun logo), so I included the flogo
- Lightning: I knew that open sourcing Lightning Web Components would be a big announcement at TrailheaDX, so I put the lightning bolt on the side, too
Some of the designs weren’t planned; they just revealed themselves to me as I worked. For example, I knew all along I wanted to put a golden moon on the shoes. But that meant I needed other golden icons to balance out that splash of gold color. So I added a golden Saturn and a gold and silver shooting star.
I also added constellation designs to the shoes. Each constellation I chose had special meaning.
- Scorpio, which looks like an “S,” as in “S” for Sarah and “S” for Salesforce
- Cassiopeia, which looks like a “W” and evokes the Wonder Woman logo
- Ursa Major AKA the big dipper, which is also known as the bear, evoking Codey the bear
- Orion, which is visible in the fall in the northern hemisphere; which is when and where we host Dreamforce, our annual user conference
The Surprise
Every designer knows, you can make a solid plan, but there will always be surprises. The trick is to embrace the surprises when they come! So if you make a mistake or run out of some essential supply, you just figure it out, or as Tim Gunn would say, you “make it work.”
When Sarah bought her shoes, she bought taller platforms than my prototypes, which meant my calculations were off on the rhinestones needed to cover the wedges. I went through all my reserve stock on the dark blue rhinestones — and ran out before I could finish covering the back. I was out of time to order more rhinestones. What to do?
Add a stripe! This razor-thin, gold-and-silver racing stripe was meant to evoke a stiletto heel. It also added a sexy + sporty vibe to the shoes. It was an unexpected, serendipitous finishing touch to these fun and sparkly shoes.
The Reveal
I was sending Sarah photos and updates throughout the creation process and she was so excited. We thought about having her show the shoes beforehand, but ultimately decided it would be better to have them revealed on the main keynote stage at TrailheaDX.
When she took to the stage, not only did she deliver an amazing and impactful section of the keynote, she sparkled with every step.
Want to try your hand at bedazzling? Check out my blog!
Thanks for reading.
