As you may remember, I’ve written a series of Tuesday Shoesday blog posts about other peoples’ shoes in March and April, as well as a special post on the favourite shoes of the National Blog Award winners! Today’s post is all about the favourite shoes of my fellow happy campers that I met at Blogstock 2014 and I asked them the same question that I’ve asked all my other contributors: What are your favourite shoes and why?
ReeRee Rockette of award-winning brand Rockalily ran a session on ‘The Power of Niche’ at Blogstock and kicked butt during the end-of-festival debate. We bonded over a cocktail-making session and I was delighted when she agreed to join in with this Tuesday Shoesday post. ReeRee sent me a photo of her trainers and told me all about why they are her favourites; “My favourite shoes are pretty shabby, but my Nike Air Maxs are definitely my favourite footwear. I have a chronic back problem, and wear heels very rarely, but for many years swore off trainers. Nikes no longer suited the person I wanted to be, but actually I’ve come to realise I’m still a Nike girl, and can happily mix and match styles; whatever makes me happy! I’m pretty thrifty, and I found these shoes, almost brand new in a charity shop for £4.50, which makes them even better! I’m a little sad I’ve let them get so sad looking, but perhaps it just means I’m due an upgrade!”
I met some lovely new pals at Blogstock and after sheltering from the rain and dancing the night away with Laura from Cherishing the Cherry Blossoms blog I knew we had become firm friends. She told me the story of how she came to own her favourite shoes after a trip to Eastern Asia; “Definitely my most whimsical pair of shoes, I bought these in Korea following months of deliberation, wondering whether they would be accepted outside of their Korean context. Lots of girls love them over there, particularly the hidden heel! I let my heart decide and made the purchase in an underground market in Busan (Korea’s second biggest city). It seems they’re pretty big over here too although my sister Lindsay reckons they’re ‘chavvy’. Despite this, and feeling a little bit like they should have ruled my wardrobe 10 years ago, I absolutely don’t regret the investment and wear them with pride.”
Kirstine and I shared some Lonely Planet photobooth fun at Blogstock (and those photos will never be seen!) so I knew she’d be game for taking part in my Tuesday Shoesday blog post. Her new blog is Travel Before It’s Too Late and it’s already looking fantastic! Kirstine chose favourite Vivienne Westwood shoes and shared her reasons for choosing them;
“These are my current faves based on the following:
– they are bright yellow and perfect for wearing in the summer sunshine
– they are my first Vivienne Westwoods and made of rubber/ Jelly
– they look fab dressed down with skinny jeans or up with my favourite 50s style dress
– they are wedges therefore add those all important inches to my 5ft 2in self but are super comfy
– did I mention they are yellow…?”
Top travel writer Neil from Backpacks and Bunkbeds sent me photos of his custom-made shoes and told me the story of how he came to own them: “I’m not normally a shoe guy, more of a trainers person, but earlier this year I was lucky enough to venture out to Vietnam with my better half, and she pretty much insisted that I have some new shoes made. I was skeptical about how they would come out, but like everything else I ordered in Hoi An (1 suit and 3 shirts), the finished shoes were near enough spot on. Smart enough for work, but much more comfy than my usual footwear purchases from the high street, at £30 I consider my Vietnamese shoes a bargain and love them for it.”
After watching some of her YouTube videos, I was totally in awe of pro vlogger Ceara McEvoy who ran a session entitled ‘Join the Vlogosphere’ at Blogstock. I made sure that I joined the crush of bloggers packed into the tipi for her workshop and I learnt a lot during that hour. I’ve even tried out make my first video this week – only for family viewing so far – but at least I’m getting used to the editing software..! Ceara sent me a photo of her favourite Topshop shoes and the reasons why they are just right for her:
‘Every girl needs a comfortable pair of high-heel shoes,’ bleats my Mother, your girlfriends, the lady in the woman’s footwear department, your aunt with the shoe fetish. Although a commonly known and hard lived by phrase, I have to admit this concept was as foreign to me as a bear in a tea shop until I moved to London. You see where I’m from, the seaside shores of Cape Town, we drive everywhere! Without the need to walk from pillar to post, the concept of having a ‘comfortable pair of high heels’ is unnecessary. From skyscraper wedges to the latest Lady Gaga Jellyfish platforms – everything goes. But as soon as I moved to London I had to ditch my towering heels for something more sensible. A pair of shoes that could get me from Hackney central all the way to Baker street and then some without breaking an ankle. I was on the hunt for the ultimate pair of heels that ticked the boxes in terms of comfort, style, originality and let’s not forget.. elevation! Now look, I ain’t no girly girl either, so don’t give me floral and bows. But after some scouting about, I found my match! And here they are. The perfect ‘Ceara’ heel – the Spice Girl inspired platforms. These babies were found in Topshop and are created by the oh so trendy Vagabond. I believe you can also purchase them online. They are a bit of a splurge at 90 quid a pop, but for me they tick the three boxes, so the last can go out the window. I’ve never looked back…
After dancing the ‘running man’ with Naomi from personal travel blog Todd’s Travels at Blogstock, I decided to get in touch to see what her favourite shoes would be. Quite appropriately Naomi also chose a pair of Nikes as her top trainers; “Despite always loving high heels, my considerable lack of coordination hinders any chance of wearing them so my Nike Air Maxs have to be my favourite shoes: they make me look a lot more fashionable than I actually am (to be honest, I’m probably not cool enough for them!), they go with the majority of my wardrobe and they make me feel like I am walking on cushions, they are that comfortable. What more could you want?”
Thanks for sending in your contributions guys! I’ve learnt that comfort is important to these fabulous Blogstock-ers and I’ve never been more jealous of someone else’s footwear than I am of Neil’s hand-made leather shoes! If you too would like to tell me about your favourite ever pair of shoes please get in touch via email [email protected] with a snap of your shoes and sentence or two about why you like them and you’ll appear in next month’s ‘Your Shoes’ feature! 🙂
I still cant believe that Cassiefairy.com has made it onto the Cosmo Blog Awards 2014 shortlist for Best Lifestyle Blog! It would mean the world to me if you would vote for my blog before voting closes this week (EEK!) on 29th August – thank you SO much!
2 responses
woohoo, I wasn’t alone in picking Nikes!