~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recent Posts

Wednesday 12 January 2011

FAD FOOTWEAR:Friend or Foe Pas:Continued

CROCS:
Yes, they weigh less than a feather and you can adorn the little holes with cute little badges of ladybugs and smiling sunflowers....if you are 3 years old! Anyone above that: "Step away from the rubber looking wicker baskets... Unless you are Miss Marple". The whole look screams gardening so do just that: put them in your garden,plant Azaleas in them...pop a few garden gnomes beside them and Voila! You have yourself a Philippe Stark garden for a fraction of the price.This whimsical footwear is simply that : cartoonishly whimsical and yet it has taken the world by storm: A fad to stay, I am afraid and my foe.

BIRKENSTOCKS:
I daren't say much about this eponymous label other than it has reached cult status now and has joined the likes of Doc Martens and Citroen 2 CV'S: they are trendy and an acquired taste. If you have never acquired a taste for Marmite you may never acquire a taste for this kind of  footwear. I leave them for the die hard fans and followers out there who are no nonsense people  and would turn their noses up at Louboutin and Prada...Fashion has friends and foes in all the high places, who is to judge? Pass the muesli....  

SJP,SCHOLL AND UGGS:
Back in the heyday of Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica Parker,always the doyenne of fashion and trend , was one of the first to be pictured wearing a special edition Doct Scholl with an elevated heel,Carmen Miranda style. Scholl was lifted out of the doldrums and into the limelight and they were sold everywhere and not just to nurses and beauticians. When winter drew near, SJP was snapped in baby blue coloured Uggs.... I ran out and bought a pair of each. Obviously a Carrie fan....in my eyes and the eyes of thousands SJP could do no wrong.... other than SATC the 2nd movie....why oh why take it out of the Big Apple and into the Baba Ghanoush?! Pfffff.
 Uggs continue to grow and evolve in styles and colours,even Jimmy Choo latched onto the frenzy and gave us a studded rocker version for winter 2010/2011.
So thumbs up for Uggs/Mous...as for my leopard Scholls: they are relegated to the back of the closet.After a lengthy tug of war of "should I wear them and then suffer the pain of blisters" I gave up the ghost and simply love them from afar....as I now do SJP.  

MUKLUKS/MINNETONKA:
 Mukluks I found fun when they first came out and thought they would make a refreshing change on the "apres ski" scene.The pompoms bouncing around when you walk soon became a bore.
 I owned a pair of Minnetonka fringe booties back in my boarding school days in the 80s...didn't wear them much. I think I was way ahead of the trend and not quite ready for the statement they made...well they made me feel like a moose tracker and frankly the fashion world wasn't ready for them back then either. So their revival came at a time when Mukluks and Uggs were de rigueur, so who would look twice at squaw fringed booties. Kate Moss looked great and was pictured many a time wearing the knee high version in black  and the whole hippy chick vibe with Nicole Ritchie rocking the look was fresh and fun.
 Older and fashion savvier,I tried to give them a go a second time around ....with not much result.It took me forever to unlace the bloody boots just to try them on in the shop and got so fed up with the interminable task, that I left them in a bundle on the floor and walked out into the arms of Pinot Grigio .
Ah! The foolish dictates of fashion and its followers.

HUNTER WELLIES:
Love,love, love em! The Jimmy Choo versions,the Glastonbury versions...the long and the short of them.They are practical,fashion forward and look great. I bought a pair of short,  front lace up ones in green  after much deliberation...you would think living on the Riviera I would need nothing more than flip flops...How wrong can one be. It is more like living in Seattle at the moment than the bloody Med.
Fad or foe, comfort or trend ? At the end of the day,whatever tickles your fancy is worth the stares.