Tuesday Shoesday – and the winner is..! UK Blog Award winners’ favourite shoes

Do me a favour? Have a look in your wardrobe and tell me which pair of shoes are your favourite and why? That’s exactly what I’ve asked my lovely readers to do over the past few months and I’m pleased to report that lots of you were able to tell me! I’ve written about bloggers and readers shoes in March and April (please check them out!) and this month’s Your Shoes article is all about the top shoes of the top bloggers in the UK – yes, it’s the turn of the UK Blog Award winners! I was thrilled to be among the winners when I was lucky enough to be Highly Commended in Retail and Fashion and it was lovely to chat to all the fabulous bloggers from all industries at the event so I made it my mission to get in touch with the winners to find out what their top footwear choices are and to share more about their blogs with you all. It’s been SO interesting to see how different their favourite footwear is and to read the reasons why these shoes have made the top of their list. If you’d like to join in with the discussion and be featured in next month’s ‘Your Shoes’ article, why not send me a pair of your favourite shoes and be featured in a future Tuesday Shoesday article? Email me [email protected] and in the meantime have a read of all these fabulous stories:

I’m beginning this blog post with the gorgeous Alex from Bambella Blog – the worthy winner of the Retail and Fashion category: ‘These beauties are my newest pair of shoes and are currently my absolute favourite! I wore them to the UK Blog Awards as not only are they absolutely amazing (just look at them!), but they go with everything, look a hell of a lot more expensive than they actually were (only £14.99!), and are so comfortable as, although they look deceivingly high, the actual high of the slope is hardly anything thanks to the platform!’ These shoes have appeared on Alex’s blog again in more summer outfit posts, so it’s clear to see that she loves them and will get a lot of use out of them. I think I could do with the extra height so I’m going to invest in a pair of platforms like this!

Top writer and the winner of the Organisation Automotive Award Danny Hewitt from Motoring Insight sent me a his ‘n’ hers photo of his favourite shoes; “On the left are my girlfriend’s suede ankle boots. They look warm and cosy! On the right, are my Hugo Boss shoes which I wear a lot. They’re so comfy and with the soft fabric, they give my feet so much freedom. I love them. They frequently accompany me on my journeys and they’ve even been on stage at the UK Blog Awards!” Danny collected his blog award from Perry McCarthy the original Stig from Top Gear (I was so excited to see The Stig!) and has now has other blogs and writing projects in the pipeline at BalletReview.co.uk so best of luck to him, and watch this space for updates!

Busy journalist and blogger Annie from The OCD Squirrel blog told me that comfort is key and shared photos of her lived-in boots and long-loved trainers; “When it comes to shoes it’s all about comfort for me, so I practically live in boots and converse. I love scrawling through charity shops and fleamarkets, so you can I don’t like spending too much money on things, but to buy a good pair of boots, you need to spend a fair bit. I bought these boots a couple of years ago, and yes they look worn, because they are worn. I love the biker look with metal and buckles and straps, and haven’t found a pair of comfier boots ever. These did cost me a bit but have lasted for so long, which is what I want. And they never go out of style.  Converse are also a fave because they’re so comfy and go with anything, literally anything. I’ve worn them with black jeans, tartan trousers, skirts, dresses and even my pyjamas. You can tell from the two pairs of shoes I like the unpolished look, I’m not exactly girly BUT I do love heels, even if I can’t walk in them!” Writer Annie won the award for Most Innovative Blog and it’s not hard to see why – just check out her work!

Next up is Kate from foodie blog Veggie Desserts, where stunning food photography and yummy recipes are combined. She sent me the cutest hers ‘n’ hers mum and daughter photo: “My beloved black brogues are so battered that they aren’t suitable for a close-up, so here are my leopard heels and my 2 year old daughter’s matching pair. Mini and Mummy – roar!” Kate won the top award for Food and Drink and quite rightly so – who would have thought there were that many ways to use vegetables in recipes?! I’m forever checking back on her blog for dinner ideas and there’s always something to inspire me!

Double-whammy award winner Alice Elliott from Fairy Blog Mother sent me a snap of her favourite heels; “I like them because they are purple, they can be adjusted for swelling feet and ankles because of the bow-tie, and they look nice when they’re on. I last wore them to Ascot where I backed the wrong horse and lost out on £600!” Thankfully this time she won big at the National Blog Awards, scooping the award for best Digital and Technology website and was also highly commended in the PR, Marketing, Media and Communications category. I have sought her jargon-free advice on blogging and expertise with WordPress on more than one occasion so please check out her site for all things blogging-related.

It wouldn’t be right to have a blog post featuring the UK Blog Award winners favourite shoes without a mention of the fabulous women who launched and organised the awards and ceremony, so I was delighted when one of the founding partners of the National Blog Awards Becki Cross agreed to join in with this month’s ‘Your Shoes’ post and sent me a photo of her favourite glamorous high heels; “I am fairly tall (5’8″) but I still adore my heels, particularly these beautiful super high heels by Kurt Geiger.  They were a complete bargain.  I bought them for a friend’s wedding and passed the ultimate test – walking 20 minutes across central London in them between the church and reception venue!”  Check out Becki’s industry blog Events Northern Ltd and the UK Blog Awards website which she runs with fellow founder Gemma Pears.

Fellow Highly Commended Retail and Fashion winner Carly from The Cupid Bow sent me this photo of her favourite Christian Louboutin trainers; “They’re my favourite because a) they’re the most expensive pair of shoes I own (obvs haha!) and b) I treated myself to them last year when I got a really positive appraisal at work and had been saving for a while so decided to splurge!” Her beauty blog is simply gorgeous, full of glamorous tutorials and is a fabulous resource for all things beauty-related. So if you want to know what products do and don’t work, this is the place to try before you buy and I urge you all to check out her blog and join in with all the ‘lipglossiping’!

Lovely blogger and winner of Best Travel Blog Denise from Around the World with a High Chair sent me a photo of a pair of heels that have remained her favourites over the years for sentimental reasons; “My favourite shoes aren’t fancy designer ones, they are the bright pink shoes I wore under my wedding dress when I married Mr ATWWAH.  They gave me much needed height but very sore feet by the end of the day after a night on the dancefloor!” I can certainly see why she chose these hot pink shoes to wear on her wedding day – they are gorgeous!

Event management student Caitlin Kobrak won the Best Event Blog award for her blog I’m a Damn Student, What do I know?  As a past event management student, I find her blog particularly interesting and was delighted when she agreed to join in with this Tuesday Shoesday blog post. She told me that comfy DMs are her favourites (same here!); “Surprisingly, at 5’1, I am not much of a heel wearer and do not own that many pairs of shoes. Which is why for 9 months of the year you will find me in a pair of my trusted Dr Martens! These shoes are ridiculously comfortable, are fantastic for the winter months and go with pretty much anything, plus who doesn’t love some floral print!” I’ve already fallen in love with this boots and I agree they are the perfect summer version of my big stompy DMs – I’d love to have a pair just like this!

And finally, top design blogger Natasha from Graphique Fantastique and winner of the best Young Person’s Blog award sent me a photo of her favourite shoes this morning; “I basically live in my Chelsea boots. I wear them with everything from jeans and skater skirts to girly dresses with my leather jacket to add an edge. Also usually accessorised with ankle socks in an array of colours :)” Such a fabulously versatile pair of boots and again, it seems like comfort is important for us busy bloggers! Natasha is also going for the Cosmopolitan blog awards (like me – see my post here!) so please leave a nomination for her too for Best Careers Blog – she totally deserves it!

Thanks to all the lovely blog award winners who’ve taken the time to send me photos of their favourite shoes and to tell me the stories behind them – especially because I know how busy you all must be after winning your awards! Best of luck to you all with your blogs, writing and business ventures and I’d love to hear more updates from you all and share your achievements on my blog so keep in touch! I hope all my lovely readers have enjoyed this insight into more bloggers’ favourite shoes and I’d love you to get involved too so please send me a photo of your faves along with a sentence or two about why you like them to [email protected] and I’ll be happy to share them in next month’s ‘Your Shoes’ blog post!