Ballerina Sophisticaion.....

Some days you just don't wanna wear a pair of heels. It's just that time of the month when all you desire is comfort and convenience.

However if you are venturing into work, that smart dress sense still has to be adhered to. As anything less will only attract attention and a possible slap on the wrists.

Therefore an essential piece of foot wear is the classic little ballerina pump. The right flat always has the sophistication tag attached to it, is always acceptable and can be teamed with pencil skirts, dresses and even a trouser suit. I love to collect as many of these pumps as possible in all different shapes and sizes, sometimes you can slip a pair on and they are as comfortable as slippers. However if you just pick up a cheap pair, after a while you begin to feel as if there is nothing protecting your foot from the pavement.

The reason we are on ballet pumps today?

These little gems,

From a far they look like just a plain pair of pumps, however when you take a closer look,

they have beautiful little black diamonties stuck all over the toe which glisten beautifully in the sun light. I had to add them to my flat collection. it would of been a sin to let them go to waste in that Sue Ryder shop window.

Now I will not have any worries as I have the perfect little dress that these shoes can be teamed with on the days in which I prefer to take a more comfortable approach and give my feet a day of from those towering heels.

Retro Style...

High tops seem to have made a comeback just recently and are now all the rage especially among young street kids, who will go to the Nike store and pay a silly amount of money for them.

I did a bit of a google search to find out the history of these shoes, as mum had told me they were also popular in her day,

"High tops first became available in the 1917 when Converse tried to capture the basket ball market. However the trend was never that popular until Chuck Taylor, a famous basket ball player in his day, took to wearing them as his every day shoe."

Wikipedia.

I never realised that this shoe had been around that long and so I'm not really that surprised to see them in charity shops anymore as they are normally quite a common feature in there.

In fact only the other day I saw these high tops for sale in the British Heart Foundation in Camden,

I didn't buy them as I don't think I could carry that look of properly but the assistant in the shop was happy enough to let me take a picture of them.

These days it isn't the basket balls players that wear them, as mentioned before the proper Nike high tops are fashionable among the street kids. These converse versions are regularly seen on the feet of kids interested in indie music, that enjoy the laid back life with not a lot of hassle.

When I see these shoes the image I get is a girl in tight skinny jeans, an over sized hoodie, big earphones and carrying a back-pack. I could be wrong, but that's jut my picture. So i don't think i will be racing out to add a pair of these to my shoe collection anytime soon.

Howdy Cowgirl ....

I love old western films. The way everyone gets to ride and like mad men on horses and you can carry a gun holster on your jeans. If you had a problem with anyone you just had a fight to settle it and the Indians always had the coolest headbands around.

So when stumbled across these boots the other week in the Bosnia Community Action shop in Hackney I had to give them a quick try.

Well, when I say try we both know that it turns into the word buy! Although they are a size to big I'm sure a pair of thick socks will sort that problem out. Isn't the detail on them just fantastic though? And they weren't too expensive, because I fell in love with them that much i was prepared to pay a little bit extra for them. They even look as if they haven't been worn that often as they are in such good condition, so £17 was a reasonable enough offer for them.

Now i can go out and star in my very own western. With a pair of skinny jeans tucked into them these will be the perfect shoes for a trip around town.

It's Raining It's pouring......

England. Renowned for it's rainy weather. When the weather is bad, it doesn't just rain, it pours!

Therefore when the summer festivals come around it is always wise to pack a pair of wellies in the bag with you, because if you are unlucky, and it does rain bad in the middle or just before a festival, you can bet your bottom dollar that those fields are going to be filled with mud instead of grass, and wearing any other type of shoe will just let you sink into the earth beyond the point of return!

The wellie trend seemed to have started a couple of years ago at festivals such as Reading and Leeds, and it never really went away after that. The girls team fashionable wellies with little denim skirts and long socks creating a lovely summer style. Some girls even go as a far as buying expensive wellies such as "Hunters" which provide different colour wellington boots so that they can match their outfits.

So when my sister rang the other day telling me what she had just acquired for her Leeds festival trip i was insanely jealous, here's why,

Yes she had managed to pick u a pair of Hunters in the local charity shop back home. Could only happen to her. She always find the best stuff no matter how hard I look. Although they seemed to have encountered a hell of a lot of mud with their previous owner, (after an hours washing this was the cleanest she could get them) my sister can now be accepted into the cool Hunter gang when she arrives in Leeds later in the summer.

I no for a fact that my feet will be able to squeeze into these lovely wellies, if nothing else I will make them fit. Then when I arrive at the "V" festival I can be part of the cool girl gang to. No one leaves me in the corner!

Diverse Opinions .....

Ever tried asking the question, "What do you think of charity shops?"

Well you should, jut to see the reaction you get, they can be quite amusing! The opinions on charity shops are completely split in half. The general consensus is the same as you would get when asking about Marmite, people either "love them or hate them."

I recently walked the length of Hollow Way Road conducting a simple survey with one question only, "Do you like charity shops?" This is what the result looked like

67% answered "No" they didn't like charity shops and only 33% replied "Yes" they did.

For all the help that charity shops give us they still seem to get a bad rep.

Th general views for the "no" seemed to be that those people didn't like the thought of buying someone elses previously owned, old and dirty clothing. They preferred to go the high street shops such as River Island and Topshop to buy the latest trends brand new of the shelf. However if you think about it are those clothes really brand new? Just think how many other girls in London take a size 10. Are you really the first ever girl to go try that top on in the changing room? Doubt it!

Those that responded "Yes" seemed to have a much quirkier fashion sense. They enjoyed finding a good bargain and something that can go by the label "vintage" instead of "High-street". One girl explained that when you look at a crowd of girls it is normally so obvious as to who shops where. For example, the girl that is very neat and tidy normally picks the trends up from the high-street stores. Where as the girl that seems to be a bit ruffled round the edges and has something on that screams "a little bit out there" will definitely belong in the local charity shops rummaging around for the best buys.

At the end of the day I think that by shopping in charity shops you can gain a unique style all of your own and pick up some exclusive pieces that cant be copied by every other girl out there.

I no I get a little thrill when after rummaging for a while, you walk away with an extraordinary item at a fantastic price!

Sun, Sea and SandALS...

Ive got summer on the brain. Ever since the girls and I started to talk about a week away somewhere hot I couldn't help but to begin to make a mental list of the bear essentials that would need to be packed into my suitcase.

For your feet, the main ingredients are pretty sandals and lots of them. So when I was walking home, past the Marie Curie charity shop, I couldn't help but stop and take a second look at these pretty sandals in the window,

My excuse.. White sandals go with everything, what a great colour to base a wardrobe around, you aren't limited to any hue schemes then are you?

After inspecting the sandals inside the shop it was clear that they had never even been worn,

double whammy, sold, done deal, game over.

I mean just look at the detail on the straps,

Little seashells and gems. It's as if you have walked along the beach already and the remnants lying on the shore-side have stuck to the straps.

How can you buy and then not even wear these shoes? Madness! I don't understand some people.

What I do understand though is that I want to go on holiday asap and show these little treasures of, better not get to ahead of the game though, otherwise, I shall have the suitcase packed before the holiday has even been booked.

Wedge Appeal...

The thing I love about wedges is the fact that you can dress them up and down. If they start the day as a work shoe, they can easily be carried over and accepted as an evening piece. There is no line drawn for the wedge. They should definitley appear in every girls wardrobe.

So at the start of every spring I do like to try and keep my eye out in case any new wedges do appear, no matter how many pairs I have at home, if I find a pair in a new colour, well, it just gives me more outfit options doesn't it!

On a trip home to Hale, Cheshire the previous weekend I had a spare couple of hours free on Saturday afternoon, before it was time to start getting ready for the evening entertainment in the local bars. I got in the car and headed down the road towards Oxfam in Alderley Edge. Well my luck was in, I just could not believe my eyes, neither will you,

Are they a good find or what?

The sales assistant explained that one of their regular donaters had left a big bag of earlier that morning, mostly designer gear.

The donater explained that she had not bought these wedges long ago, but on their second outing had accidentally tripped over a stair, lost her footing a little, and scuffed the side of the wedges as she tryed to regain her balance. Therefore the shoes were marked and she couldn't wear them again.

I'm more than okay with owning a pair of shoes from Jigsaw at half price, with tiny scuff marks. I didn't even give it a second thought, my card was in the payment machine before I could even say "Ill take them".

You cant miss a once in a life time opportunity like that though, can you?

Oh I am looking forward to the summer beer-garden lunches and evening barbecues with these little beauties on!