“Their iconic model has been selling the same way for 11 years. Girls wear out one pair and buy a second one, often the exact same,” wrote Magda Kacalak for Wysokie Obcasy a year ago.
This model has been our (and your!) favorite for years. And not without reason. The Opera was born from a need to create shoes that are minimalist, simple, and classic in design, yet crafted with the utmost respect for craftsmanship. While there is no shortage of universal models on the market, we were always looking for something more. This is important to us: the founding of the brand and the prototyping of our products stemmed from our real, personal need.
We sewed the first prototype ourselves on a machine. Then, we discussed it with Mr. Andrzej – the shoemaker who was the first to believe in Balagan and with whom we still work today. In the beginning, the Opera came in only three colors: black (still top of the top best selling pieces), nude, and natural. Over time, the palette began to grow. We’ve always wanted to stick to the classics but season them with what trends bring. You can flirt with them – even boldly – as long as the foundation remains high-quality raw materials, reliable work, and timeless design. Over the years, the colors of the Opera shoes have come, stayed for good, or left, only to return in great style after some time.
Local production, reliable craftsmanship, and comfort you forget the moment you put your shoes on.
All models are crafted from natural full-grain leather or suede, with a soft leather lining and foam under the insole. This is a shoe we suggest choosing so that it fits like a sock – it quickly adapts to the shape of your foot. It’s an invisible comfort zone that you forget about all day until you take your shoes off after returning home. They are everyday, minimalist, and perfect for both dresses and trousers. Thanks to the deep-cut "vamp," they also work wherever the protocol requires elegance and open toes are not an option.
Magda Kacalak was right: girls wear out one pair and buy another, often identical. We do the same! Our team (which until recently consisted only of women) knows perfectly well which of us has three black pairs, who goes for Opera in brown every year, and who fell so in love with beige suede a few years ago that she still keeps an unworn pair in her closet, waiting for the previous ones to wear out.
11 years, tens of thousands of pairs, and thousands of steps taken together – from everyday strolls to the most festive, grand outings.
Another year has passed, and we’ve welcomed spring with a new collection in which our Opera appears in new iterations. This year, in stores and online (and soon on the city streets), we will see, among others, the long-awaited brown alligator-embossed variant and a summer-perfect model in marzipan with openwork details. We also can't wait for the light blue and cream ones.
