Monday, April 9, 2012

Poor little shoes - a tale of pain & suffering


Do you know that when most people meet you, the first thing they look at is your feet?

They they look at your face, then they fill the gaps in-between.


Keep that in mind, as you read my post.

On the bus on Saturday, heading into the city, I saw a woman, probably around 40, in a black & white spot dress (non designer), a small Dior fabric brown toned bag & well applied face. Her (non designer) tortoiseshell sunglasses completed her look.



She looked deliberate in her efforts to look good (I am big on being deliberate - see my previous post).


I didnt notice any of the above however.....until I spotted her shoes.
Then I had to look at the rest of her.


Here are the snaps of her shoes....






They were a bronze heel with an ankle strap and diamantes at the toe strap and the ankle strap.

The bronze was picking up the Dior bag quite well.


But what killed me was the condition of the shoes.
These babies had been abused.
They were crying out for DOCFS (Department of Community Services for Shoes).






The leather on the back above the heels was scraped.

The bronze leather heels were scraped.

The cap on the heel was almost chewed off.

The bronze leather strip along the side of the shoe was worn and marked.

The bronze leather toe strap was marked.


Now take another look at the leather right on the front toe tips - it looks white. No, that isnt a camera flash trick. It isnt your monitor. Its the actual shoes. Their bronze tips were literally scraped away by wear so the underside if the leather was exposed - looking furry white.

I felt so bad about these babies. I really did.




I doubt that that these were her travelling shoes & when she got to the venue she would slip into something better.


If only she had started looking after these about a million years ago, they never would have reached this condition.


The rest of her looked nice & deliberate but she had totally forgotten to be deliberate about her shoes.

Dont let this be you.

So what could she have done?


1. Re-capped the heels

2. Re-soled the soles (eg: Topey sole)

3. Neutral cream all over the bronze leather and the inner leather to soften and make it more supple.

4. Used Scotchgard

5. Boot polish in a pewter/bronze to lift the colour back & remove the scrapes.

6. A bootmaker could unglue & re-line the front toe area - but that would be expensive - probably around $30-$40.





Even I wouldnt have been able to resurrect these babies. But if she has cared for them all along, they never would have reached this condition.

Please be nice to your shoes.

3 comments:

  1. I am so with you! Unkempt shoes annoy the bejesus out of me, it is though the shoes are just an afterthought when they were heading out the door! I know I verge on the side of anal with my shoes (always cleaned afer wear and wrapped in cloth before being put back in their boxes) but sometimes I wish people would just look down....

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    1. hey soul mate - they DO look down, trust me Fashionista. They DO. I am sure your girlfriends notice your shoes too. I keep mine in boxes too...as much as displaying them can look cool ala Carrie Bradshaw, I wont expose them to light & dust....Val

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