This month in shoes

What are we wearing on our feet?

Great shoes are hard to find aren’t they? I don’t know about you, but once I find a good pair, all the other ‘kind of good’ ones get shunned to the back. I find you either fall in love with a shoe, or begrudgingly accept their practicality. Why? Because the crossover between fun and comfortable is like an urban legend.

If you follow me on TikTok you’ll know about the ‘fun shoe shelf’ - the top of my wardrobe where all the wildly impractical, but insanely fun heels reside in their boxes. They are lucky to see the light of day once a year but I love them like my own child - I guess I can say that now and it actually means something…

To me, shoes so clearly fall into 1 of 3 genres - trend led and fun (the ones on the fun shoe shelf), classic or practical. It’s hard to get a cross over but I need a cross over. Sometimes I want a trendy practical shoe - like a ballet flat that isn’t so flat my arches hurt, or a sandal that doesn’t leave my pinky toe wanting to walk itself on the pavement, but they are SO hard to find. So many shoes from so many brands just look the same to me.

I used to always just buy the trend led or fun shoes in black so that at least they could be more versatile with outfits but that kind of killed the overall outfit so now I try and buy the colour when I can, especially in summer when I can’t rely on layering contrasting prints to up the ante of an entire look. A contrasting shoe often just makes a summer dress look more interesting. 

Last summer I loved the Vibi Venezia espadrilles from Matches Fashion (RIP but you can buy other colourways here). A follower recently commented on a new outfit with how great these shoes would look with it, I now of course can’t find the comment but they were so right. They are a memorable shoe that made everything better and although not the MOST comfortable (they are a little flat for my flat feet that like to march everywhere) but they still aren’t terrible if you do.

The red shoe edit 

Over the winter, I swapped the green gingham espadrilles for a pair of red Gazelles (more on this shortly). Although I hate the word ‘trend’, a red shoe is definitely ‘trending’ but I’m less offended by red having a moment, I guess because it’s red and, well, to me that’s like telling a Vogue editor who always wears black that black is ‘in’ - it’s red - it never went anywhere. 

I’m on the hunt for another pair of red summer shoes so if you are too, see below 

Click the link below to shop the edit - obviously the Manolo's are here for 'fun shoe shelf' representation purposes.

My most worn shoes

If we really get down to the nitty gritty reality of my capsule wardrobe shoe section, there are 3 pairs of shoes I couldn’t actually live without. 

Only 1 pair, I wish were more ‘fun’ but the other 3 fall into the genres (or at least have some crossover) between being on trend and are still practical and/or classical, or so I think. 

The Chanel ballet flat

I bought myself these for my 30th birthday. I actually went into the store to buy a bag but when push came to shove I just could not spend £8,000 on one colour for a bag. I love the idea of only using one handbag but the reality is, I love options more and think you need to be able to swap and change day to day, even if that is practically really annoying. 

Coco Chanel allegedly designed the classic two tone slingback to be skin tone at the heel with a black toe cap because she thought she had short legs and big feet (same babes). The skin tone portion of the shoe creates the illusion of length, with the black cap creating a visual end point making the illusion even more realistic and shortening the appearance of the foot itself. Genius right? Makes me love them even more. It was, however, Karl Lagerfeld who turned this idea from a ballet flat to a slingback but I love the evolution of a good idea. 

Epic historical design details aside, they are made of lambskin so I had little hopes for their longevity, but they are now in their third year. I’ve only had to resole them once (when I first got them - more on this below). They are due for another re-sole but I’ve had a baby etc etc and the upper leather honestly still looks really new. Although spending £800 on shoes is still insane, I’d buy them again given I anticipate they’ve got at least another 3 years left in them and I wear them a couple of times a month. 

On the left in their first year, on the right in their second. If you’re looking for something similar but not up for the investment just yet - these look almost identical.*

Birkenstock Boston clogs

I sometimes wish I didn’t own these, they are the same colour as my skin and sometimes I used to think they gave me mum vibes, long before I had the right to give off mum vibes. Yet, I wear them in winter with socks and in summer without, they somehow go with everything and can make borderline dressy dresses look less twee. They dress things down when you need them to and are the only shoe I’ve ever left at the door. To me this is the highest accolade for a shoe, they have enough street cred that they don’t ruin the aesthetic of the hallway and are practical enough I can bare wearing them on the regular. I feel like they had their real moment on social 2 summers ago and I think my most viral video is of me complaining about the weird toe scrunch they make you do when you haven’t worn them for a while. I’m still wearing them all the time though and 1.3 million people seemed to think it was worth pushing through. I saw they now come in an olive*, now I want the olive too. 

My Birkenstock Arizonas I’ve had since 2011 but I like them less because they expose your toes and then you need a pedi so another Boston Clog summer it is. 

In peak heatwave I have even worn them in the office and no one battered an eyelid.

Adidas Gazelles

I’ve already mentioned these but they were more comfortable than I expected, and so I have worn and worn and worn them. They have a tiny arch support so don’t give you flat feet like Vans or Converse do. I can stomp around London in them rain or shine (even though they are suede) and ever since Rishi wore the Samba, Gazelles are my Adidas shoe of choice. 

We’ve already briefly touched upon ‘unexpected red theory’ - the social trend where adding a touch of red makes everything better that I believe is the cause of making red ‘on trend’. I’m just glad everyone else is also vibing it as a neutral. I have red Gazelles which to me means they get to be fun, classical and practical as a shoe - the royal trifecta.  

Annoyingly nearly always out of stock in all sizes but 100% sign up for the stock alerts. They do come back I promise! Do it here*.

Maintain

Buy once, buy well. Well if I can, this is my shopping mantra. If I buy things I need them to survive the rain and shine and be worth looking after and repairing. I look at my belongings as something I pay rent for. I also have to love them to warrant such sacrifice. 

I always always waterproof my shoes/leather goods before wearing. I once had someone argue in a TikTok comment section that they thought it was incredibly bad for the environment. I don’t have the answer to this but regularly buying new shoes because you didn’t look after them seems also bad? We can’t win, if you know of a more environmentally friendly option please say so in the comment section. I have always been loyal to Scotchguard* but I think this one is more common in Australia and the US so please - widen my/our horizons! 

Repair

I always resole any new shoes, unless they come with a rubber sole already - luxury shoes never do, they always have a leather sole. Never wear a leather sole outside, unless you have money to burn in my opinion. They last a matter of days before your actual feet are on the pavement. I take mine to the Timpsons on King’s Road. Why? Because rich people are fussy people and honestly finding a good shoe person seems to be a dying art. I figure the richer the area the higher the overall quality of a chain and I assume the good people of Chelsea look after their expensive goods. It’s the best I’ve found in London so far and I guess if you are reading this not in London, you can apply the same logic. 

Just always check that they have the same colour rubber as your sole of shoe. Eg: if the leather on the bottom is tan, make sure they add tan rubber etc etc. 

Ok time to go back to baby land. What category should I do next?

Miss you love you. Always up for a chat in the comments xxx

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