I love Shoes.

Let me just put that out there.

Like a lot of women I feel that shoes are the finishing touches to the perfect outfit. As Coco Chanel said ‘A woman with good shoes is never ugly’

I have always liked to compliment my outfits with my shoes; either style or colour. As I think I have mentioned, I do have a bit of an issue with organising my outfits.

I don’t know whether it is a form of OCD or a lack of knowledge or daring, but I cannot seem to wear patterns, colours and accessories that don’t ‘match’ or perfectly compliment.

What I mean by that is if I am wearing a red dress, ALL of my accessories have to complement. Shoes, Bag, Jewellery, Gloves, Hair Accessories would all be the same colour, in this case probably blue or white.

I will get a dress and pick out my accessories to go with colours in the pattern. If it is a plain outfit then I always go with the most logical choice of combinations; brown with cream, black and white, red with maybe blue or white, even black.

In the past couple of years, going to Vintage events, I have seen women on the vintage scene who have the most amazing colours that I couldn’t ever hope to put together. One of the ones that sticks out the most for me was seeing the sublime Sam Swift in the most stunning purple, green and pink combination.

The Stunning and Sublime Sally Swift

I absolutely fell in love with her AND her outfit that day at Twinwood 2017.

Death By Deco

What was I wearing? Navy and Red. From my toes to the tips of my hair.

Always Matching

I just don’t think I have that ‘Bold’ element in me.

So, what exactly is my point in all this?

Well, I have a *lot* of shoes. Over 70 pairs in fact and most of them I simply cannot wear any more.

In previous years I wore heels that crippled me after several hours on my feet.

Looks great. Can’t walk a step!

I wore sandals that gave me blisters. I wore boots that were too tight on my ankles.

Then I found a solution that worked.

Ballerina Flats.

In London

For many years I was lucky enough to find them in patent, leather, material, suede and cotton. I bought them in all the colours to match all of my outfits.

Pink and Blue will do

And they worked a treat.

Green and Yellow

However an injury to my knee over a year ago started to put paid to the jewelled delights that had done me good so far.

Whilst ballerina flats matched everything, they did have a small downside. The thin flat soles.

Ahoy Sailor!

This was mainly what put paid to wearing them; no bounce or shock absorbency which mean every footstep feels every single bump and lump in the road. The tiniest bit of grit causes discomfort when stood upon.

Hawaiian Print

It is basically the same as standing on Lego in your bare feet.

Also when you have knee pain, you need something with a little ‘bounce’ to help absorb each step.

So, the heels went in the closet (or were stolen by my girls) and the ballerina flats were worn with reluctance whilst I found an alternative.

This came in the form of Rocket Originals and Johnsons shoes; Vintage style wedge sandals that still did the trick of matching my outfits perfectly.

My Johnsons

Sadly I started to find these also became uncomfortable with the prolonged knee injury. Initially a torn ACL, a further fall caused rupturing to my Meniscus which has left me in constant pain.

So, this means I need to look at  my shoe options again.

This was when I turned to Hotter.

Exciting!

Now I know of the company as I had purchased a pair of Vivienne patent black leather heels that I wear with some of my vintage evening outfits. There are many great things about Hotter; British made, standard, wide and narrow fittings and even half sizes.

The thing I love the most is the comfort, absorption, bounce and flex that you get from every pair of shoes.

So when I found out there was a sale going on, quite a big one in fact, I had to have a look at the website. I desperately needed a pair of sandals, and there would be no harm looking at formal shoes either.

Flare Sandals

Hotter were advertising up to 70% off and there was also a code for a further 10%. Well, it would be stupid not to take advantage of the opportunity.

I started off with the sandals. The weather is warming up and I don’t have a single pair to my name. I knew I wanted them to be versatile and vintage in style. That way I could wear them with my work trousers or my vintage wardrobe.

Comfortable Shoes

My eyes were immediately drawn to the Flare Sandals. A pretty, embellished vintage style in black and sparkling black, they also had two velcro straps that could be individually altered.

The innovative soles are microfibre, with support and bounce.

Vintage Styling

Just what the doctor ordered!

As previously mentioned, they were already on offer and then a code for a further 10% was available. So, in the basket they went and I trundled off to look at formal heels.

Pretty Sparkles

I recalled many vintage friends highly recommending the Donna heel. An extremely vintage design, with brogue detailing and several colours.

A sensible height heel and again the same cushioned sole and comfort. Donna had proved popular with a lot of friends as it was the perfect shoe for a lot of 1940’s outfits.

Darling Donna

Sounds right up my street!

The hardest decision to make was which pair to buy.

Brogue Styling

There are 13 different colour combinations. Mint, Blush, Sky, Buttermilk, Burgundy Patent, Claret and even Truffle.

Well, I just wanted a plain and simple shoe that would go with majority of my outfits.

1930’s Style?

Jet Black it was then!

I popped my purchases in the basket, added the discount coupon and made a huge saving!

Donna was originally priced at £85, down to just £27.

Jet Black

Flare was originally priced at £65, down to just £35.

With my discounts on top, I had made a saving of £88!

The two pairs arrived within 3 days and I was so glad to get them. The sun had been shining for several weeks and I really didn’t want to keep wearing heavy, cumbersome shoes. Out came the sandals.

Perfect!

I have to say it was like walking on clouds. Lightweight, soft, comfortable and very flexible. I wore them to work for a whole day without even one iota of pain or sign of a blister.

Of course, that was the day that it started to rain…

Vintage Vibes

And it hasn’t stopped since!

I guess you will have to all blame me.

Sorry!

Until next time,

SPSG xxx