Shoe Shopping With Shoeperwoman: Primark, Zara, Louboutin and Miu Miu


As my Facebook followers already know, I was in Glasgow on Monday, and while I was there, I figured I may as well do a bit of shoe (window) shopping. Well, someone has to sift through all those shoes and work out which are worth saving and which aren’t, and it may as well be me!

Take a look under the jump to see the shoes!

Primark, £18

I started off in Primark, where I have to admit, I was a little bit underwhelmed by the selection. Don’t get me wrong, I love Primark, and have a couple of pairs of their shoes myself, but the current selection struck me as what Cher from Clueless would call “a Monet”. In other words, the shoes looked great from a distance, but up close… not so much.  The only pair to really tempt me were these, which were also available in navy:

Primark, £18

(Apologies for the photos, by the way: I was using my phone, and the lighting inside stores doesn’t really lend itself to decent photography…)

These were only £18, and are a true sign that my Shoe Challenge has actually started to do some good, because I didn’t buy them. A couple of years ago, I would have bought these without even thinking about it. All I’d have thought would’ve been that they were green, they were dotty, and they were £18. In fact, I’d probably have bought them in navy, too.

Now, however, the thought of the 13 or so pairs of summer shoes which will have to be “saved” within the next few weeks, plus the knowledge that it’s probably going to be raining for the rest of the “summer” anyway, made me think twice. Oh, I’m not saying I wasn’t tempted, and that I didn’t walk around with them in my hands for quite some time while I browsed the rest of the store, but ultimately I realised that I don’t actually need another pair of canvas summer shoes, and that the £18 would be better spent on something that wouldn’t just gather dust for the next year, so I put them back. The Challenge is working, people! Or, actually, maybe not, because…

Zara

It’s those green suede Zara peep toes. And you know, I really don’t need these either. But I want them. And while I didn’t actually buy them on this trip, I can’t help but feel that the time is coming when I will crack, and I will go to the Zara website intent on buying them. And, of course, me being me, that will happen on the same day the shoes sell out in my size. In fact, Zara will probably wait until they have sold out in my size, and then put them on sale. They know I’m currently playing “chicken” with these shoes: waiting for them to go on sale, and hoping they’ll still be available in my size when they do. They’ll wait. They’ll defeat me. And somehow the logic and restraint I managed to display in Primark will not apply to these shoes, because that’s the way it works, Shoepers.

Zara

I’ve also been admiring these for a while. I really like the tan patent straps, and the studded bow, which I think makes them look more expensive than they are. They’re actually only £39.99, but I know I wouldn’t wear them by the end of the summer, so I left them behind too.


I couldn’t get the colours of these shoes to show up properly on my phone at all, so you’re probably best looking here if you want to see what they really look like. This has actually confused me, because the Zara website describes them as “jelly shoes”, but I was totally unaware of their “jelly” status when I was trying them on, and just assumed they were leather.  They’re the kind of shoes I’d probably have disregarded if I’d only seen them online. In real life, however, I was rather smitten with them: I think they’d look great with jeans.

Finally, I headed across the street to House of Fraser. And I really wished I hadn’t.

Christian Louboutin Daffodil platforms

First of all, I tried on the Louboutin Daffodils, out of pure curiosity. The display shoe was way too big for me, but it still gives you a rough idea of them. I actually liked them more in real life than I have any photos I’ve seen of them, and they didn’t seem like they’d be too hard to walk in, either, despite the massive heel . Oddly, these were Shoeperman’s favourites of all of the shoes I tried on: I had expected him to hate them!

Miu Miu

Miu Miu toe-cap glitter pumps. I’d have bought these in a heartbeat if I’d had the money!

More Louboutins. I loved the way these were displayed, like the works of art they are.

Then, across the crowded shoe hall, I saw them:


It was the Christian Louboutin Feticha pumps, in red. My dream shoes. The shoes I have wanted more than any other shoe. The shoes that represent everything that is perfect about footwear. For me, the red Fetichas are the Platonic ideal: if I owned them, I would never need to buy another pair of shoes as long as I lived.

Well, I raced across the room, and I snatched them up.

They were on sale.

They were a UK size 8.

Damn.

I left empty-handed. I guess it was a good thing, in a way, because if they’d had my size, I don’t think I would’ve been able to resist…

18 Comments

  • Not being from the UK, how do you pronounce Primark? Is it Pree-mark? Prim-ark? Prim-erk?

    Um, also, how do you pronounce Louboutin?

    • There is actually some dispute about this… I say Prye-mark, but some people say Pree-mark: I don’t think it’s ever been totally resolved!

      Louboutin = Lu-bu-TAHN. Or that’s how I say it, anyway – I hear lots of variations on that one too, but that seems to be closest to how he says it himself 🙂

      • I say Pree-mark, but that’s how we say it in Ireland! I think most English people pronounce it the way Amber has suggested, probably Scottish and Welsh folk do too!

          • Yea, it’s Pennys here in Ireland. I’ve seen those green Zara heels, they’re beautiful and I want them! Sadly they are too high for me : (

  • Amazing shoes!!! I don’t know how you resisted buying some of them! I love the Zara ones. I am searching for the green ones cause I haven’t seen them in my local store yet. But I really like the nude ones with the bows too.
    Oh and those Louboutins, look amazing!!! At first I didn’t like the Daffodils, but now I LOVE them! They look so nice worn. You’re so lucky to at least tried them on. Really weird though that Shoeperman liked those more than the others. I thought that all men would hate those.

  • I loved the Zara ones, don’t resist, please! They really look amazing!
    The Primark ones are also sweet – the polka dot ones. And looking at your picture, they really look lovely – you could buy them as a prospect holiday treat… you know, waiting to be worn during your next holidays!
    Don’t tell me you wouldn’t buy shoes anymore after the Louboutins!? It was a joke, right? But I can understand, because they are simply gorgoeus… sad they only had size 8…
    Believe it or not, my favorite ones were the Miu Mius! I would love to have them NOW and would wear them in every possible opportunity – they are really beautiful!

    • I would have to get rid of them under the rules of the Shoe Challenge if I bought them and waited for my next holiday to wear them, though: I don’t think I’ll be going on holiday again until after the challenge is over!

  • I love that you posted about shopping. I have been doing so much more shopping without buying these days, due in part to the shoe challenge, and to the fact that restraint is so good for the budget. 🙂 I think it is just as fun to see what we are trying on, as it is to see what we are wearing. Thanks!

  • This may sound odd as I can only see the back of it, but I love the jacket/mac/trench coaty thing you are wearing in the first picture! Being approximately 5′ tall, I can’t seem to find one that doesn’t come to my knees, and that looks like it might be the perfect length….please tell me you got it recently and it still exists to buy!

  • Would it make you feel better if I told you that most wearers find the Feticha unbearably uncomfortable? The arch is curved in an uncomfortable way and the toebox squeezes toes from the sides like nobody’s business.

    I bought an amazing python pair a while ago. Wore them for ten minutes around the house and the balls of my feet were in excruciating pain. I don’t have wide feet, just normal width. I am not unused to high heels; I can walk miles in a shoe with a 4 inch pitch. But Feticha was horrible.

    Some say that they break in somewhat after a number of wears. Others are OK from the start. Yet others, like me, can’t even wear them long enough to break them in. My pair was half a size too large so size was not the issue.

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