I turned a leaf a few years ago where I basically don’t shop unless I need something. I don’t shop without a purpose and only head to stores if I have to purchase something SPECIFIC, like a shoe for a wedding, for example; and then I only buy that thing I headed out for and don’t allow myself to even be in a position to be struck by something I wasn’t looking for because I’m in a singular mindset.
I still browse and appreciate what I see but I’m not out looking for love, nawimean?
BUT shopping while on trips has always been different & the exception; because 1. ) it’s so enjoyable and part of the experience of visiting a city that’s not home, to wander through a boutique unique to that city and let inspiration strike you 2.) it’s the opportunity to find and buy things unavailable to you in your home city (especially when the non-home city is New York) and 3.) whatever you may find and fall in love with is such a fond, meaningful, tangible reminder of that trip.
Which brings me to – NEON.
YELLOW.
WOVEN.
MESH.
STELLA MCCARTNEY.
ESPADRILLES.
WITH THE YELLOW LEATHER PIPING (faux, because it’s Stella obvs).
BIATTTTTCH.
You just don’t know you need and can’t live without a pair of neon yellow leather woven mesh espadrilles until you see them in a shoebox-sized NYC consignment store that’s having a sale and they’re in YOUR SIZE (of all sizes) and they’re on sale from 85 to 45 dollars and they’re Stella McCartney. You know what I’m saying? You just don’t.
And they fit. like a god damned glove. Like Cinderella’s fucking slipper.
You COULDN’T know they’re ever something that could fit so seamlessly into your life, to the point where you’re not sure how you LIVED a life without neon yellow mesh espadrilles with the yellow leather piping. You know?
Your life had been incomplete without them and yet you didn’t even know. They just fit right in. You see them and you you feel this fond wonderment – that they’re so unique and so CRAY, and you know how TRULY and authentically they fit into your life. With EVERYTHING. Black ripped jeans, WHITE RIPPED JEANS for that matter, cute little nautical dresses, cut-offs, BATHING SUITS, UNDERWEAR. PONCHOS. YOUR WEDDING DRESS (just kidding). EVERYTHING.
You guys.
These shoes.
They are SO. well-designed. They couldn’t fit better or look better on the foot. THAT is the thing that you get with a designer like Stella McCartney. Chick knows how to design. Every angle, every stitch, every microscopic detail is CRAFT. No espadrille on earth has ever looked cuter on the human foot. She just. knows. what. she. is. doing. It’s WIZARDRY. To conceive of and design a shoe so magnificent. YOU HAVE NO IDEA.
I SEE PHOTOS AND I LAUGH OUT LOUD, IN LEGITIMATE EMBARRASSMENT AT HOW LITTLE THEY DO TO TRULY CONVEY WHAT THE SHOE LOOKS LIKE IN PERSON. YOU COULDN’T KNOW. You CANNOT know.
I’ve read so many motherhood essays, about how when your child is born they’re like the puzzle piece that you didn’t know was missing and how you couldn’t have imagined feeling more complete and more whole except until this thing came into your life and now you do, and you’re overcome with pride and excitement for the future. That’s how I feel.
I never knew I needed them. I didn’t. If I had seen them online, I would not have batted an eyelash.
But in person.
My GOD.
Thunderstruck.
This is the online, like profesh stock photo from e-commerce:
THEY’RE SO GOOD YOU GUYS.
This is about how I feel about ‘em:
Have fun in your Toms.
