You know, despite loving a lot of their work (and, er, hating a lot of it, too), I don’t actually own a pair of shoes by Irregular Choice. I feel like that’s something I should rectify, and while I don’t think these ‘Pep In Your Step’ shoes are going to be The Ones (they’re a little too chunky for my taste, although that’s part of the appeal with this style), I do like to look at them. That over-sized rosette on the toe is the main attraction for me, but I’m also keen on the polka dots, and the fact that they come in two of my favourite colours, red and navy.
It’s been a while since Moda in Pelle managed to catch my attention with one of their shoes, so I was particularly pleased to stumble across these ‘Darla’ peep toes , which help feed my current obsession with all things navy! I especially like the colour combination of the bow on the navy shoes: the brown version isn’t quite doing it for me, but they’re still very cute, and I suspect that if I came across them on the sale rack, they’d probably be coming home with me!
If you can’t wait for the sale, these are £80 at Moda in Pelle.
So, earlier this year, I won a competition (I know!) and the prize was a Karen Millen gift card. Which I still haven’t used, because, in keeping with the premise behind my Shoe Challenge, and also a similar kind of wardrobe challenge I’ve been doing for the past few months, I thought the sensible thing to do would be to resist the lure of the beautiful eveningwear currently available on the website, and wait until something came along that I’d actually get the chance to wear.
This dress was hard to resist. It was very, very hard. I may even have wept, a little. But, “Shoeper,” I told myself, “Be strong! Resist the lure of the dress, because you know perfectly well that unless your life changes dramatically at some point in the next few months, and you suddenly become the kind of person who goes to glamorous parties every night of the week, you will never, ever wear it. And even although it wouldn’t actually cost you anything, it would still be a waste. Also: as soon as you spend the credit on a dress you’ll never wear, you just KNOW a dress you WOULD wear will come along, and you won’t be able to afford it because you used up your gift card. So step away from the screen, and leave the poor thing alone.”
So I did. And then, two days later? Along came the matching shoes. Oh, THE SHOES! So pretty! So sparkly! So totally the kind of thing I love! But… navy. And also: dressy. So very, very dressy. Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE navy. For day wear, I’m obsessed with navy. I’d be obsessed with it for evening wear too, except I never buy evening wear any more, on account of the whole “never wearing it” scenario outlined above. And as gorgeous as they are, the dressy nature of these shoes would make them really difficult for me to incorporate into the challenge, sadly, which means one of you guys will have to step up to the plate and buy them, just so I can enjoy them vicariously through you. Any volunteers?
Well, I think my internet connection is working again, but then, I thought that yesterday, too, only for it to drop out just as I was about to publish a post here. And then when I came back to that post today? The shoes I was going to show you were sold out. Gah. Blame Virgin Media, folks: I certainly am!
Anyway, rather than write lots and lots of words only to lose them again, I’m going to let you fill in the blanks yourself about these rope mules from River Island. You know the drill by now: “Blah, blah, nautical, blah blah, peep toe, blah blah, want them, etc.” All I’ll add to this is that although I know a lot of people find high heeled mules difficult to walk in, I personally really like them, and consider them to be a bit of a summer staple. If you do, too, these ones are £39.99 from River Island, and come in red and navy.
The “love this” comment attached to these shoes was actually added by River Island, not by me, but I’m not about to disagree with it, because I? Love these.
They actually appeared on the River Island website a few weeks ago, and didn’t really manage to catch my attention, but I saw them in person while I was out shoe shopping this weekend, and it was lust at first sight. I’ve already admitting to loving the nautical trend a little more than is really rational, so these, with their navy and white mix, plus the little bit of red trim you can just see in the picture, were probably always going to appeal to me. It took a huge amount of self-control for me to not just buy them instantly, but if you see no reason to control yourself, they’re £59.99 and you can buy them here.
The “love this” comment attached to these shoes was actually added by 