I must first say that I need no real trigger to daydream about shoes for hours, whole evenings and/or Saturday afternoons, and in hindsight? for many years. But it’s been marked the last couple days, more than normal. I do talk a lot, and I even buy kind of a lot when it comes to footwear, but what I really excel at is looking at them. I can look for hours– deep into the wee hours of the morning, on dozens of different sites– sometimes with nothing more reputable to go on than a vague description of color or the kinda-sorta remembered name of the designer. Yishikomo? Tomorushi? Kukaburra? No no no. Kishimoto, Eley Kishimoto.
I get obsessed with finding improbably perfect examples of footwear (according to my fickle yet exacting tastes) and SALE is like the biggest word in my shoe vocabulary. Because I love them, LOVE them, but to this day haven’t paid more than about $140 for a single pair. Now, I don’t wear boots, because my hulky calves prefer to not be encased in zip-tied leather coffins (and that might be the only way I could get a damn pair to fit me), but I have some snooty damn taste. If money weren’t an issue? I’d be all over Celines and Donna Karans and Roberto Cavallis, with Sergio Rossis and Robert Clergeries getting overtime as bedroom slippers. I’d have different pairs of shoes in the backseat of my car, just so I could put ‘em on to run into the grocery store to buy unsalted butter or some hot dog buns instead of wearing the more practical shoes I had on at work that day. I’d put special, lucite-encased shelves along every inch of space on the bedroom walls* so as to have my lovelies on permanent display without the hazards of dust encasing their tender, satin ruffles-turned-rosettes or marring the petite beaded accents in the center of that crocheted poppy. But one thing I would not do, no ma’am no sirree, is spend any less time admiring the qualities of Fantastic Footwear. Which, more or less, leads me to the real subject of my post.
*I’m sure Beck, my lovely partner, is like all cool with this. Right, hon?
There’s always a little spring in the air in NC, even in January.
I’ve been thinking a lot about sandals lately. Now I’ve worn a few open-toed pairs this quote-unquote WINTER with tights, and I can surely get behind that look, but I really love showing off the little piggies. Mine are several cries away from uber toe modelling capability, but I can appreciate shoes with wide open spaces pretty comfortably. Especially if I have a freshly touched up double coat of polish. I’ve worn a couple pairs pretty much to death the last few years, a pair of Re-mix Picasso wedgies and a pair of pretty simple Kenneth Cole Reaction rubber-soled ankle-wraps. Both black, both with a nice low wedge, both crazy comfy and both, at long last, in a very worn state. I have other summery shoes of course (of course!) but they don’t have the staying power, or the GO-TO status of these two that, if not the dust, then at least have bitten a slipcover that could use a good shaking out. All this plus the fact that I have already filed my taxes for this year and I’ll be getting a decent chunk of change back; or because I just got paid; or because Venus is conjuncting Jupiter today; means that I’m really pretty ready to take the plunge and buy the next pair. Some of the ones I’m thinking about are totally impractical, and I know I won’t buy ‘em. Some of them have a stronger appeal because I walk about a mile to and from work every day and these look like they should hold up all right. Some of them I’m thinking long and hard about because they’re pretty cheap, others because I’m becoming more and more a slave to trendy fashion! Who knew! So let’s begin:
Perhaps the easiest, if not most logical, point of beginning is to pick up where we left off. I’ve got two pairs of totally dying black sandals, so let’s see what’s out there in open-toed, low-wedged or -heeled, ankle-strapped black sandal world:
Nine West I can sort of deal with. They’re not my favorite quality-wise, and comfort can be real hit or miss, but they do have their copying little fingers on the trendy pulses that beat loudly with the advent of new seasons. I mean, have you seen their newest creations? Marni must’ve done them wrong in a former life.
These are from last year, actually, but I think they’re cute. That might be a smidge too much of a height-booster, though. Three inches is my max, if I include in my range stuff that makes my feet hurt after a full day. And there is that nice platform to offset at least one of those inches, but you’re still up in the air, there. Maybe not the best choice.
Next up on the choppin’ block is a pair of campers. Now, I have a pair from a couple years ago that I totally adore– a pair of red and black sandals that fall oh so perfectly into my checkboard, Stendhal-esque way of dressing myself in the summer, plus they’re okay comfort-wise and the rubber heel is a humongous blessing. But really? They might be a little too orthopedic-looking. Hmm. Next.
Now these! Oh goodness! I can’t go on enough about how Clergerie shoes are practically perfect on my admittedly less-than little feetsies. They’re a little extra wide at the ball which I need, and in the heel too which I don’t but is all right, and the lasts must have my social on them– I mean, the pitch and overall shape is just right. Plus the quality is top-notch, they’re kinda funky-retro but not in any way cheap or hoochy. They’re pretty damn good Me-shoes…ahh, except that they’re like five hundred dollars. And, you know, I just– I just don’t think I can do it. Previous Clergerie purchases were made on the ‘lectronic bay for about 20% of what they cost new. What can I say? I fricking love bargain hunting. This Rosie style is brand new though, and ebay’s always such a shot in the dark, anyway. Better keep looking.
I’m digging the dark silvery color pretty heavily so far, and this might be a neat alternative to neutral black. Reviews say that this is a pretty comfy shoe, even though that heel is up there; the stacked heel puts it neatly into warm-weather territory even if the pewter color makes you think about Autumn leaves and what-not; and it’s on crazy sale right now for like $30. Uhm, we may have to just get this one even if I only wear it on weekends, maybe? Of course, there are other pewter/dark silver/gunmetal/oxidized chrome color shoes out there, and more than one pair might be overdoing it, so maybe not. In comparison, I think I’d much rather have the …
Ooh yes! Mmm delicious! Lovely silvery strappy low-funky-heeled ankle-straped d’orsay GOODNESS! Seriously, I love these. And I love them in silver lame’ more than any other color. I just don’t know how good they’d be for summery shoes, you know? I may get these just ’cause I love them, and not as my must-wear-for-summer-shoes. Of course, I said that about those Espace Mygne heels, too– and now the zappos clearance bin, 6pm.com doesn’t have anything between an 8.5 and a damn 11.
These Faryl Robins I like, though they might not do much for making my legs look sleek; which means I might not wear them much, after all. I do like the retro attitude, and black and the pale natural woven platform ‘n’ heel is a great way to incorporate a more grounded color scheme to the brights we’re seeing all about this season, and again, super sale. Fifty bucks. Which isn’t really all that crazy inexpensive, like twenty bucks, but they’re still like 70% off. So, hrmm.
Where is my candy?
Of course I wouldn’t just wear any of the above just to work; it would maybe only be predominantly to work because, hey: I spend a lot of hours here. But in all this looking at shoes, don’t we need to see some crazy high heels up in here? I thought so.
Aww yeah! Holy cow! I wouldn’t even be able to walk to the bathroom in these, but I want them. Like, reallllly waaaant them; in part because they’ve been for sale at an online consignment place for a while now, and I guess no one else wants them, and the price has been slashed to three canned goods and they’re my size and they’re in mint condition and– and– breathe. Breathe, now. Maybe I’ll cave in this weekend, or maybe I’ll buy something more practical (i.e. something that I would get real-world, out-of-the-house wear from, instead of breaking them out of their dustbags once a month for three minutes while I coo and whisper to them as I lay incapacitated on the bed).
Woo! More pretty green shoes! I’m pretty impressed with Charmone’s offerings, if for no other reason than they’re super high quality and animal-product free. Since I’ve grown into my girly-ass identity, inclusive of the shoes, I’ve been pretty admissive with wearing leather. My standards for quality and appearance are even more unwavering than my hippie vegetarian ways, and while I’d pick the non-leather if I had the choice? You hardly ever have the choice. These beauts not only give you a loophole, but let you straddle the line between 70s glam rock outrageousness and 40s nightclub songstress while you’re being a hippie vegetarian. How cool is that?
These are pretty cutesy, and not in the way I’m always satisfied with. I have some cutesy shoes that I love, but the peeptoe and the bow and the button and the color might put this too squarely on Minnie Mouse for my tastes. But maybe not; it comes in black, too, but I think I like the green better. It’s another one of those they-have-my-size-and-it’s-on-sale-woo! shoes, so it’s pretty unlikely that I’ll buy it. Even if I would wear it about 800% more often than the Vera Wang silk pump up there.
So tell me: what do y’all think?
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