Shoes, glorious shoes
So, here’s the truth: I like shoes. A lot. I think it’s hereditary, since my mom used to have a pin in the kitchen bulletin board that said “you can be too thin, but you can never have too many shoes.” Truer words were never spoken. Recently, with my change of job requiring more professional clothing, I’ve decided to ignore the challenging and poorly paved streets of Santiago and the fact that I’m already about 2 feet taller than every other woman and embrace my love of heels – after all, what’s another 4 inches?
In Chile, however, I can’t entirely fill my footwear desires. I actually usually like Chilean shoes more than Chilean clothes, but they’re relatively expensive for what seems to me to be only average quality. Plus I have to get lucky in order to even find anything in my (giant, humongous) size: 9.5. Add to that the fact that over the past few months I’ve gotten more and more interested in fashion – and the gorgeous shoes that go along with it – and it’s fair to say that I was almost literally salivating over the chance to hit up the San Francisco Barney’s and try on some of these styles I’ve been seeing all over the internet.
If you can’t bring yourself to care about shoes, look away now. But if you like me find yourself dreaming of Louboutin, YSL (Trib Too, sigh) and Manolo, enjoy this brief summary of my Wednesday afternoon!
Left to right: Givency bootie, YSL cage bootie, Christian Louboutin d’orsay, Manolo Blahnik heeled gladiator, Chanel cap toed heel, Pierre Hardy neoprene weird scuba shoe (I only grabbed it to show Kyle)
The Givency I’ve seen on Sea of Shoes and her mom, but on me I felt like it made my toes look weird.
The YSL cage bootie is really cool in real life, but I never even for a moment thought that it would be something I could fit into my every day life!
The Louboutin was a little too high for me to actually walk in. But standing still, it did look quite fabulous.
The Manolo I really liked. I think the gladiator style is still “in”, and regardless, I just like it! But although all of these shoes were on the sale rack at Barney’s and had a 40% discount, I still couldn’t quite swing a $300+ heeled sandal. No picture because it was the first one I tried on, and Rodolfo wasn’t in photographer mode yet. Yes, I did make my boyfriend sit in the women’s shoe department taking sneaky photos of my feet. Then he had a nap.
There is no picture of the Pierre Hardy thing because it was weird. And ran small, just fyi.
This Chanel shoe is adorable, but it wasn’t all that comfortable. The heel was almost cool enough to make up for it, though. And sneaking in on my left foot is my new Tory Burch flat (bought for a steal on Gilt Groupe – if you’re not there and want to be, e-mail me for an invitation!). It’s super comfortable, and I now see what all the fuss is about.
This Maison Martin Margiela sandal was comfortable and interesting, but I’m not really interested in paying designer prices for a glorified Birkenstock.
I tried on this Jil Sander shoe in large part because I’d seen it on an Olsen (can’t remember if it was Ashley or Mary Kate). I was surprised how comfortable it was!
Another Louboutin I didn’t particularly love. I think many of his heels are just that bit too high for me to really function in.
I also tried on the YSL Trib Too black pump. I am nothing short of in love with this shoe, but unfortunately shoe love is no different from human love – sometimes it’s just not enough to make the relationship work. Love can’t teach me to walk in the 5 inch stiletto, nor can it make a 5 inch stiletto appropriate for my office! I didn’t take a picture because this one I actually tried on at the YSL boutique, and I was a bit too embarassed to bust out the camera in the nicest store I’d ever been in. But here, enjoy this gorgeous picture of the pumps and the Mary Janes in action (courtesy of Jak and Jil, one of my favorite fashion sites).
In the end, I did end up with a fabulous designer shoe of my own. It may not be quite as unique as some of these (hello, cage made out of patent leather), but I love it, I can walk in it, and I know I’ll wear it. In fact, I already did wear it! See it in action in my next post – with a very
special famous athlete guest star.
That was one very fulfilling post! Thanks girl! Those shoes looked absolutely gorgeous!! I never dare to even walk inthe very hind end shops here (Channel, Louboutin..) because I'm pretty sure you need to have perfectly pedicured feet to even ask to try on a pair!! lol. I specially liked the Jill Sanders pair.
I too have a very unhealthy love for high heels, I just feel they make any outfit look so glam. Can't wait to see pics of the pair you ended up getting!!
Fned.
P.S. The Pierre Hardy shop is on my way to our central offices and everytime I walk by I have to a double take at their front window to make sure they are indeed selling shoes!!
Oooh, thanks for the lovely overdose of fashion–I needed it! Any bf that would take pics of you modeling shoes is a total keeper!!!
haha, those Pierre Hardy's are awesome slash completely INSANE!!!!
AHHH, I love the YSL cage booties on you, they look SO good…and I can only see your feet! can you imagine the looks you would get if you wore those in real life? Love the Jil Sander heels too…and not just because you mentioned they'd been seen on an Olsen
great post, shoe porn, gotta love it!
While I hate to spend the money on Birkenstocks shoes and sandals, I no longer have foot doctor bills. I get two to three years of wear per pair, so initially it is a big investment, but is actually cheaper than buying cheap pairs of shoes and throwing them out cause they hurt my feet. This is the last pair I bought Birkenstock Alabama – Black Leather
I love your shoe shopping adventure! I've only been back in Brazil 3 weeks and I already want to go shopping in the US again.
I enjoy the shoes in Brazil better than the clothes and occasionally I do come across a pair that is well made for a great price. Unfortunately, though, it is often Payless quality for about $40 a pair. No way I'd go there. If I wanted Payless quality I'd just it get at home for $12.99. Ha!