Shoes are usually designed to do one job, but designers have spent decades finding increasingly strange ways to give footwear a second purpose. Some ideas are genuinely functional; others sit somewhere between fashion experiment, novelty object, and visual joke.
This collection brings together some of the most unusual examples we’ve encountered, from heels with bottle openers and sandals with hidden flasks to shoes that sweep floors, illuminate the ground, hold a phone, or even become part of an outfit. Some designs even stretch the definition of footwear, including edible shoes and high-heel-shaped furniture.
The results aren’t always practical, but they reveal how far designers are willing to push a familiar object. And for anyone who thinks a shoe should do more than simply be a shoe, there are even heels designed around a smartphone.
👠 Jump to a Shoe:
- 1. Bottle-Opener Heels
- 2. Reef’s Hidden-Flask Sandals
- 3. High Heel as a Drinking Glass
- 4. Secret-Compartment Wedges
- 5. Fish-Tank Platform Shoes
- 6. Pleaser Tip-Jar Heels
- 7. Chanel Gun Heels
- 8. Candy-Covered Pumps
- 9. High-Heel Flower Pots
- 10. SWIMS Map-Sole Shoe Covers
- 11. Broom-and-Dustpan Slippers
- 12. Abacus High Heels
- 13. iPhone 3D-Printed Shoes
- 14. High-Heel Swim Flippers
- 15. Edible Bread Shoes
- 16. Chanel Light-Up Shoes
- 17. Shoes That Become Pants
- 18. Cleaning-Supply High Heels
- 19. High-Heel Shoe Chairs
1. Bottle-Opener Heels: Stilettos With a Party Trick
Bottle openers have appeared in some unexpected places, including footwear. Reef incorporated one into the sole of its bottle-opener sandals, while these novelty high heels took a different approach by building the opener directly into the heel.
A bottle opener built into the heel gives this platform sandal an unexpected second function
Ellie Shoes incorporates a bottle opener into the stiletto heel of a metallic silver platform sandal
A miniature silver high heel doubles as a novelty bottle opener
2. Reef’s Hidden-Flask Sandals: A Drink Concealed in Your Shoes
Reef’s “Dram” sandals took functional footwear in another direction, concealing a small canteen with a screw cap inside the heel. The compartment could hold up to three ounces of liquid, turning an otherwise conventional-looking sandal into a wearable container.
Reef’s Dram sandal conceals a small canteen within the footwear
3. Drinking From a High Heel: Rihanna Takes It Literally
A high heel doesn’t need a built-in flask to become a drinking vessel. Rihanna demonstrated the considerably less practical alternative when she drank from a red-bottomed stiletto pump.
4. Secret-Compartment Wedges: Hidden Storage in Your Heels
The substantial structure of a wedge creates space that conventional heels don’t have. Double Agent Shoes by Bellona Fashions used that space as a concealed compartment for small belongings such as cash, cards, and keys.
A hollow wedge heel provides a hidden storage compartment inside this white platform sandal
5. Fish-Tank Platform Shoes: The Aquarium-Heel Illusion
Clear platforms have been used for decades to create visual effects that wouldn’t be possible with an ordinary sole. The enduring story that live fish once swam inside disco-era platform shoes is difficult to substantiate, but the idea has become part of footwear folklore.
What is real are novelty platforms designed to recreate the aquarium effect with decorative fish. They are an especially literal example of how designers can use the extra volume created by a platform sole. For more on the construction itself, see our guide to platform heels and how their raised soles change height and pitch.
See more examples of fish-inspired shoes.
A transparent platform filled with decorative fish recreates the novelty fish-tank shoe look
6. Pleaser Tip-Jar Heels: Platforms Made to Hold Cash
Taylor Momsen gave this functional novelty shoe a memorable stage moment when she performed in Pleaser platform heels with built-in tip slots. The transparent platform doubles as a compartment where bills can be inserted and remain visible.
Taylor Momsen performs with The Pretty Reckless in Pleaser “Tip Jar” platform heels during the Vans Warped Tour at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in Palm Beach, Florida, on July 24, 2010 (Credit: Jeff Daly / Rachel Worth / DADADA studios / Adriana M. Barraza / WENN)
7. Chanel Gun Heels and the Literal Danger of Stilettos
The phrase “killer heels” has sometimes been interpreted literally. Fashion designers have incorporated weapon imagery into footwear, including Chanel’s gun-shaped heels, while real-world criminal cases have demonstrated that a conventional stiletto can also cause serious injury.
Madonna wears Chanel platform sandals with gun-shaped heels at a Filth and Wisdom screening at the Landmark Sunshine Theater in New York City on October 13, 2008
8. Candy-Covered Pumps: When Sweets Become Shoe Decorations
Not every functional-looking shoe actually needs to perform a useful task. Candy-covered pumps take the idea in the opposite direction, turning something edible into surface decoration and making the shoes part of a larger confectionery-themed look.
La Coacha pairs candy-covered pumps with a matching confectionery-inspired outfit at Perez Hilton’s 32nd birthday party at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles on March 27, 2010
9. High-Heel Flower Pots: Giving Old Pumps a Second Life
A worn-out pair of pumps doesn’t necessarily have to end up in the trash. Pointed-toe heels can be repurposed as small planters, giving footwear a second life that’s entirely removed from its original purpose.
Pink pointed-toe pumps find a second life as planters filled with succulents (Photo: Kerry Michaels)
10. SWIMS City Slippers: Shoe Covers With Maps on the Soles
Swims’ “City Slipper” shoe protectors combined two practical ideas. The waterproof covers were designed to protect footwear from rain, dirt, and scuffs, while maps of cities including New York, Paris, and Yokohama were molded into their soles.
The navigation feature has an obvious limitation: reading directions from the bottom of your own foot isn’t particularly convenient. Still, the map transforms an otherwise utilitarian shoe cover into a more memorable design object.
Waterproof high-heel covers protect dress shoes from wet surfaces while preserving the shape of the footwear underneath
Swims’ City Slipper puts a street map directly onto the sole of the protective footwear
11. Broom-and-Dustpan Slippers: Housework Meets Footwear
These broom-and-dustpan slippers turn an ordinary household chore into something you can theoretically do while walking. The footwear is paired with miniature cleaning tools, turning a familiar slipper shape into a visual joke about housework.
Green novelty slippers are paired with miniature broom-and-dustpan accessories for a footwear take on household cleaning
12. Abacus High Heels: Counting Beads Become the Heel
These novelty heels replace an ordinary heel structure with an abacus-inspired design. Rows of brightly colored beads turn the support beneath the shoe into the visual focus.
A miniature abacus filled with colorful counting beads forms the heel of this unconventional platform sandal (Photo: Weird Existence)
A child plays with the movable beads built into an abacus-inspired clear platform heel (Photo: Yahoo! Shine)
13. iPhone Mashup Shoes: 3D-Printed Heels With a Phone Holder
Designer Alan Nguyen’s “iPhone Mashup Shoes” approached wearable technology in a deliberately literal way. The 3D-printed design incorporated a space for an iPhone directly into the footwear.
For more ideas aimed at people whose interest in footwear extends beyond what they wear, see our shoe-lover gift guide.
Alan Nguyen’s red “iPhone Mashup Shoe” incorporates a smartphone holder directly into its 3D-printed structure
14. High-Heel Swim Flippers: Stilettos Meet Swim Fins
Flippers are designed to make movement through water easier; high heels are not. Combining the two produces a deliberately impractical hybrid that looks familiar from either end but makes considerably less sense as a single piece of footwear.
Colorful high-heel flippers combine the elongated shape of swim fins with slender stiletto heels
15. Edible Bread Shoes: Loaves Reimagined as Slippers
Lithuanian design firm R&E Praspaliauskas took the idea of functional footwear somewhere entirely different by making shoes from bread. The project reimagined familiar footwear silhouettes as baguette brogues, cob clogs, and bloomer boots.
The result sits closer to conceptual design than everyday footwear, but the joke is unusually direct: these are shoes that can actually be eaten.
Sesame-topped loaves are hollowed and shaped into a pair of edible bread slippers
Lithuanian design firm R&E Praspaliauskas turns dark loaves into another variation on its edible bread shoes
16. Chanel Light-Up Shoes: Flashlights and Light-Bulb Heels
Chanel has experimented with illumination in more than one footwear collection. Some designs used lights at the front of the shoe to create a flashlight-like effect, while pre-fall 2008 platform sandals incorporated light-bulb forms into the heels.
They show how an ordinary component can become a shoe’s defining feature. For readers exploring the house beyond these archival designs, our Chanel shoe guide covers the brand’s footwear, sizing, manufacturing, and authentication details.
Illuminated Chanel shoes cast pools of light across the runway during a fashion presentation in Paris
Glowing light bulbs replace conventional heels on these black Chanel platform sandals
A closer look at Chanel’s sculptural platform sandals and their distinctive light-bulb-shaped heel components
17. Shoes That Become Pants: From Sneaker Pants to Legging Boots
The boundary between footwear and clothing becomes especially blurry when a shoe continues all the way up the leg. Willow Smith demonstrated the idea in Daryl van Wouw’s Converse Extension 1 Project Sneaker Pants, while Tamara Mellon’s “Sweet Revenge” design combined leather leggings and boots into a single continuous silhouette.
Willow Smith wears Daryl van Wouw’s Converse Extension 1 Project, extending the familiar pink sneaker silhouette all the way up her legs, at Nickelodeon’s 23rd Annual Kids’ Choice Awards in Los Angeles on March 27, 2010
Tamara Mellon’s “Sweet Revenge” leather legging boots create an uninterrupted line from the waist to the high heels
18. Cleaning-Supply High Heels: Spray Bottles and Scrub Brushes Become Shoes
“The Cleaning Lady” heels turn everyday household materials into decorative footwear. Sponges, fabrics, beads, acrylic, and rhinestones are assembled into a pair of sculptural high heels, making the cleaning supplies the design rather than hiding their origins.
“The Cleaning Lady” heels transform spray bottles, scrub brushes, sponges, beads, and rhinestones into novelty footwear
19. High-Heel Shoe Chairs: When Footwear Becomes Furniture
The final examples reverse the premise of the list. Instead of making footwear perform another job, these designs take the familiar high-heel silhouette and turn it into furniture.
Shoe-shaped chairs exaggerate the curves of pumps and stilettos until they’re large enough to sit in, showing how recognizable the high-heel form remains even when it is removed from the foot entirely.
High-heel-shaped chairs turn the silhouette of a platform pump into statement furniture, shown here in zebra print, red, black, and script-pattern upholstery
Love Strange Shoes? Explore More of Fashion’s Weirdest Footwear
Functional footwear is only one way designers have challenged the conventional shape of a shoe. Sculptural heels can replace ordinary supports with animals, everyday objects, architectural forms, and other unexpected structures.
For more examples, explore our collection of 34 weird and unusual sculptural shoes, which ranges from Loewe’s cracked-egg heels and Irregular Choice character shoes to gravity-defying platforms and Kobi Levi’s object-inspired designs.