Thursday, February 21, 2008

FUNNY/WEIRD/SUPERNORMAL BOOTS...


Even though I'm not buying anything at the moment, I bought something. The ubiquitous peep toe ankle boot (which looks like it's not going away) finally sucked me into its evil toe soaking (that's soaking in the rain, not toe sucking) orbit. What I wanted was: A pair of inexpensive black or grey peep toe ankle boots, with laces or without, with a cone heel of no more than two inches, preferably less, to wear with skirts and dresses. And tights/socks of course.

I knew I could find some cheap high streety ones so off I went.
The problem is, they're all so high - or rather, more accurately, "They're soooo hiiiiggghh," in a whiny voice. Like these from Topshop:

Even a well practised transvestite would have trouble maneuvering in these. Actually this picture makes them look less scary than they are in real life. For proportion's sake, they need a fairly high heel to balance them, and I don't do high heels since I broke my foot last year. Also, these would make me about 6"3.

So - onto some gorgeous grey suede All Saints peep toe lace ups with a sort of little heel on top of a wedge heel. Oh, they were so beautiful but they're not on the website yet. They didn't look that high but when I stood up in them I knew they'd stay in the wardrobe with the rest of my heels. I needed daytime clomping around shoes. I've done oxfords, I've done slightly heeled oxfords; I didn't want to get those flat pull on ankle boots everyone's got - again from TS. I had started thinking about desert boots but came to the conclusion that I might look like a middle aged geography teacher (not that there's anything wrong with that). So I just wanted some flat ankle boots that weren't what everyone else was wearing.

Then I stumbled upon these funny boots.


I was so not sure, since there's something possibly Riverdance about them. They're sort of dorky but the thing I like is that, well, I like them. But I haven't seen one other person in London wearing anything like them. Reception has ranged from, "They remind me of the boots women wore in the wild west, you know with those petticoats" to, "When are you putting the calipers back on?"

I'm getting too old to confidently go forth with the "you'll all be wearing them in six months so I don't care" attitude and I wasn't aware of being inspired by anything until I remembered seeing these - and these.

Of course, the internet. I do find it strange that there's me - on the internet all the time, clicking away being inspired by what I see, rather than the old fashioned way of being inspired by people on the street, which limits you to the place where you live. It does lead to you getting sort of out of sync - there are so many little internet fads: fuelled by etsy shop updates that vanish within half a second, by something going round all the blogs - but those don't generally happen at the same time as they hit the general mass. Actually I keep seeing things in High Street shops that are heavily *inspired* by things I'd seen in various good etsy shops a few months before; so their designers must be online just as much as I am. It's good and bad I suppose - everyone in London thinks my (now rolled away as I'm bored of it) For Like Ever poster is really original.

10 comments:

Abi B said...

I really like those boots. I bought a similar dark brown pair from a vintage shop in Amsterdam about 5 years ago and i find the shape is perfect. Not to clumpy- not too girly.. Of course, at the time no one liked them!.

Anonymous said...

Where are they from - are they vintage? I've been looking for boots like these for ages...

Claire said...

They're not vintage but I can't remember the name of the shop! It was in Neal Street (Cov G) - almost opposite Tabio but maybe a bit further down towards the end. I was going in every shop at that point. Really cheap anyway!

Anonymous said...

good boots
very house on the prairie - which IS a good thing when worn ironically! - definately not to be worn with gypsy skirts and bonnets!

Anonymous said...

Dig the Mary Poppins vibe!

charlotte said...

I LOVE them. I was wondering if they were from the natural shoe store - right street, wrong shop!

j. vorwaller said...

it's funny.. i've fallen in love with some ankle boots that i never would have thought would be "me" until i tried them on. kind of has me wondering what other things i should try..

yours are great.

indigo16 said...

The boots are great I bought a similar pair from a great shop in Oxford by Wolky, a dutch company. I posted about them here http://indigoalison.blogspot.com/2007/12/something-old-something-new.html
Everyone laughs at them because they remind them of Victorian school children. But I love them.

Unknown said...

Guess who has the same poster? I haven't put it out yet because I was a little bored with it, even when I ordered it. But I knew no one would have it in Paris. xx, Elisabeth

Claire said...

Exactly! I'm hanging onto it though, I think I've just seen too much of it. That poster is the equivalent of the Marc Jacobs mouse shoe circa 1998...