I’ve mentioned Melissa’s ‘Talking’ pumps before here, and while I’ve so far managed to restrict my obsession with this brand – and plastic shoes in general – to the Lady Dragon range, I must admit, I’m still regularly tempted by “Talking”, which I think would be a good solution to those rainy days when you don’t want to ruin your pretty shoes, but still want to WEAR pretty shoes. Which, let’s face it, is EVERY rainy day, really.
The shoes shown above are “Talking II”, and they come in a different range of colours, and with a couple of new toe embellishments. I (predictably) like the bow, but the chain version is rather cute too, and while I can’t imagine wearing these every day, when viewed as stylish rain shoes, I’m sure I could find some space for them on the shelves.
If you could too, these are $115, and you can click here to buy them from Karmaloop.
Now that my obsession with Melissa/Vivienne Westwood’s Lady Dragon shoes has been firmly established, I’ve started to flirt with the idea of trying out some of the other styles from the Melissa line. Because once you let those plastic shoes into your life, readers, things are never the same again. I know it sounds unlikely, but it’s true. (Just ask Roisin: I know she’ll back me up on this…)
I’m most interested in the Skyscraper Westwood pumps shown above, which are also part of the Vivienne Westwood collaboration. They’re red. They’re high. They’re still plastic, yes, but the uppers are flocked, so they don’t necessarily look like plastic (and honestly, it’s probably the most practical thing you can wear on your feet in a country where rain is a common feature, anyway.), and the shape is very “Vivienne”, don’t you think? It’s a little bit stylised, and a little bit like a toy shoe: but in a good way. (Yes, there is a good way for a shoe to look like a toy.)
I’m also rather taken with these:
This style is called ‘Talking‘, and it also has that red, flocked upper, although this time with a pointed toe, and a little, twisted bow. I actually first noticed these in cream:
I think these are adorable: they have such a sophisticated look for a jelly shoe, and, well, that little bow just does it for me. I also think these would be a much more stylish option than wellies on those days when it won’t stop raining and you have to walk to work. That would be one way to justify them, anyway.
What do you think of them? All three styles are available at Spartoo, and you can click here to buy them.
If you’d told me a couple of years ago that a time would come when I’d be obsessed with Melissa shoes and their plastic creations, I’d probably have laughed out load. I mean, plastic shoes? Really?
Now that I own two pairs of my own (from the Vivienne Westwood Anglomania collaboration), however, I’ve done a complete 180 on Melissa shoes, and I now firmly believe that bubblegum-scented plastic to be one of the sweetest scents in the world, so I was excited to hear that Jason Wu is the next designer to collaborate with the brand.
Wu has created two limited edition versions of Melissa classics: the Lady Dragon shoes shown above, which add a silver bow to the familiar slingback shape, and the Melissa Ultragirl flats:
Now, this presumably wasn’t the toughest design job ever for a designer of Wu’s caliber – the basic shapes were already there, so all he had to do was add the establishment to the toes, but I still think these are pretty sweet.
These will go on sale on July 19th at the Melissa flagship store in Brazil – look out for them hitting other retail venues sometime after that.
Ever since I bought my Lady Dragon shoes (so for about a week, then) I’ve been a complete convert to the Melissa line – or at least to that part of it designed by Vivienne Westwood’s Anglomania label. Trust me, this is as much of a surprise to me as it probably is to you. I mean, plastic shoes! That smell like bubblegum! The HELL?
Even so, I love them. Enough to have found myself, late last week, trawling the Internet looking for a pale blue pair, even although I totally can’t afford them. The blue version with the red hearts is sold out everywhere. I did however, find these ‘Cherries’ shoes, and while this design is not new, looking at them through the eyes of a new rubber-shoe convert, I was smitten. A shoe with a cherry on top: so cute!
If you agree, you’ll find these at Shudoo, where they’re £110.
Sorry for the lack of posts this week, everyone: after the server crash on what’s become known around here as Black Friday, followed by Terry and I being stranded on the motorway the following Sunday, things have been pretty hairy, and I just haven’t been able to get back into a proper posting schedule yet. Things are slowly getting back to normal, though, and I hope to be totally back to normal by next week. In the meantime, here, have a picture of the four new colours of Vivienne Westwood’s Lady Dragon shoes for Melissa. I want them all. If you do, too, they’re available at Epaulet, for $149 each.
If I hadn’t found these sandals in the Louisa Via Roma shoe department, I’m not sure I’d have even recognised them AS shoes. That’s rarely a good sign for me, but let’s see if another angle does them any favours:
Well, OK. They’re looking more like shoes, certainly, but still a lot like a stylised ornament or… plant holder. Yeah, I’m definitely seeing “plant holder” here. I know not why. And expensive plant holders, too: these are £202 at Louisa Via Roma.
So, I ordered the Vivienne Westwood Lady Dragon shoes.
And the very next day, I sent them right back. I know, I still can’t quite believe it either. But quite apart from the fact that after my last little shopping excursion I’d vowed to buy no more shoes for the foreseeable future:
a) They were too big for me. (The size down was out of stock, and I could tell it would’ve been too small, anyway. Woe!)
b) In real life, the “peach” colour, which I’d hoped would be not too far off “nude”, was a lot more orangey than I was expecting it to be: it hasn’t really shown up properly in my photos either, but it was much more lurid than it looks here, and it made my feet look a really odd colour next to it.
Now, I could have exchanged them for a different colour (I really like the baby blue, for instance), but for once in my life I decided to do the sensible thing and just send them back. One thing I will say, though: I ordered the shoes from My-Wardrobe and was really impressed with the service. I placed my order on Friday morning and the shoes were with me early on Monday, having been trackable all the way. When I had to return them, they were also collected from my door free of charge, so there was no trip to the post office – always a bonus. (I hate the post office with a fiery passion).
There are a couple more photos under the jump: I’m still gutted these didn’t work out – I still love the shape of them, and although I wasn’t sold on the plastic (it stunk to high heaven, and Shoeperman thought it looked very cheap and a bit cartoonish), if Anglomania were to ever make a version of these in leather, say, I’d be ALL OVER THEM…
Sorry for the lack of posts this week, everyone: after 
So, I ordered the Vivienne Westwood Lady Dragon shoes.