These shoes are my favorites. I have several that I consider to be prettier but these have great karma. I promised to post the shoe story after the opera story so now I shall.
It all began with my best friend's wedding. She had really planned out quite an event: elegant, dramatic, full of jewel tones and Autumn flowers. Not wanting any color that one day would make the wedding pictures dated, she picked black for the bridesmaid dresses. My initial fears of the color (or lack thereof) were overcome when I saw how beautiful my dress was. It was a sheath silhouette with tiered layers of silk charmeuse that flowed beautifully into a short train. The only thing I needed to do was buy a pair of shoes that fit her instructions of closed toed. She was not going to have any toes in her wedding pictures if she could help it.
The task seemed easy. I had it in my head that with such an ethereal gown leather just would not do. I needed soft fabric shoes, possibly satin to match the opulence of the silk charmeuse. I was living in Ithaca at the time and knew that buying nice shoes was out of the question there so I went to NYC for a weekend. I started at my shoe staple, Nine West. They always have at least a couple pairs of shoes that I like, and for relatively affordable prices. But no black satin shoes were to be had. After several hours of looking I quickly discovered that there were no satin shoes anywhere. Near my wit's end, I even trudged to a store carrying a huge selection of those Nina shoes that are made for formal occasions. The saleslady clucked at me and told me that no store would be stocking fabric shoes for another few weeks because they were "holiday" shoes.
As I was leaving in defeat I decided to try another Nine West store. Lo and behold there was one pair of zexy black satin shoes. Too zexy in fact. They had a back zipper and rhinestone buckles on the ankle straps. Oh yeah, to add to the dilemma, I should mention that I have extremely high arches in my feet, and coupled with little ankles, it makes wearing pumps nearly impossible unless I have the aid of an ankle strap. These pumps had that, and they didn't have sides so my arches wouldn't rise over the side of the shoe as they normally do. I debated the extra sexy vs ankle straps, low sides, satin for a while and decided to go with the shoes. It was a great decision because the dress was long enough to only show the matching fabric of the shoes under the dress so no one saw what a tart I was. And the shoes were amazingly comfortable.
The second occasion that I wore the shoes was also a formal wedding. I had on another floor length dress. Again, the shoes amazed me by how comfortable they were. This time, however, someone did see what a tart I was. When we got to our hotel room (in Hotel Mela, which was by far the most wonderful and romantic hotel room I have experienced in NYC) I proceeded to take off the dress and carefully hang it up. As I was standing in my underwear with the shoes on SB took notice. Ooolala. And that is all I have to say about that.
The third wearing of the shoes was for the opera we attended. I figure they were worth every penny I paid despite only three wearings because I have the fondest memories from my times in those shoes.
It all began with my best friend's wedding. She had really planned out quite an event: elegant, dramatic, full of jewel tones and Autumn flowers. Not wanting any color that one day would make the wedding pictures dated, she picked black for the bridesmaid dresses. My initial fears of the color (or lack thereof) were overcome when I saw how beautiful my dress was. It was a sheath silhouette with tiered layers of silk charmeuse that flowed beautifully into a short train. The only thing I needed to do was buy a pair of shoes that fit her instructions of closed toed. She was not going to have any toes in her wedding pictures if she could help it.
The task seemed easy. I had it in my head that with such an ethereal gown leather just would not do. I needed soft fabric shoes, possibly satin to match the opulence of the silk charmeuse. I was living in Ithaca at the time and knew that buying nice shoes was out of the question there so I went to NYC for a weekend. I started at my shoe staple, Nine West. They always have at least a couple pairs of shoes that I like, and for relatively affordable prices. But no black satin shoes were to be had. After several hours of looking I quickly discovered that there were no satin shoes anywhere. Near my wit's end, I even trudged to a store carrying a huge selection of those Nina shoes that are made for formal occasions. The saleslady clucked at me and told me that no store would be stocking fabric shoes for another few weeks because they were "holiday" shoes.
As I was leaving in defeat I decided to try another Nine West store. Lo and behold there was one pair of zexy black satin shoes. Too zexy in fact. They had a back zipper and rhinestone buckles on the ankle straps. Oh yeah, to add to the dilemma, I should mention that I have extremely high arches in my feet, and coupled with little ankles, it makes wearing pumps nearly impossible unless I have the aid of an ankle strap. These pumps had that, and they didn't have sides so my arches wouldn't rise over the side of the shoe as they normally do. I debated the extra sexy vs ankle straps, low sides, satin for a while and decided to go with the shoes. It was a great decision because the dress was long enough to only show the matching fabric of the shoes under the dress so no one saw what a tart I was. And the shoes were amazingly comfortable.
The second occasion that I wore the shoes was also a formal wedding. I had on another floor length dress. Again, the shoes amazed me by how comfortable they were. This time, however, someone did see what a tart I was. When we got to our hotel room (in Hotel Mela, which was by far the most wonderful and romantic hotel room I have experienced in NYC) I proceeded to take off the dress and carefully hang it up. As I was standing in my underwear with the shoes on SB took notice. Ooolala. And that is all I have to say about that.
The third wearing of the shoes was for the opera we attended. I figure they were worth every penny I paid despite only three wearings because I have the fondest memories from my times in those shoes.
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