Worn by Judy Garland during the first 10 days of filming while under the direction of Richard Thorpe, the bugle bead shoes have a similar but plainer appearance compared to the slippers seen in the final film. The same shape base shoes were used, but instead of sequins, the slippers were covered in red glass tube beads and did not have bows. These slippers were heavy and difficult to dance in, so when production was shut down to replace Richard Thorpe, Adrian redesigned the slippers to be covered in the much lighter sequined version. The sequin version was initially designed without bows as well, and tested on Halloween of 1938. By the time filming resumed a few days later, Art Deco jeweled bows had been added to the design.

The replica bugle bead slippers shown on this page were made with a previous base shoe design, and covered in 14,000 2mm bugle beads. Future pairs will be made on updated base shoes,  using 4mm bugles.