Le smoking slippers

Hello

This post is written by two pairs of smoking style slipper loafers owned by Valerie, which have been in Valerie's shoe closet for about 17 years. Here is a photo of us.....





From left to right - a tan mini woven style with red/green ribbon trim and a gold bar, a navy leather with a checked navy/white bow edged in a gold tabs. The tan ones have sheepskin inners as I bought then 1 size too big - they were on sale....We are both an Italian brand called Donzella - which tends to sell on the north shore in Sydney.



We have been in our boxes and looked after. The last time we were out to play was approximately late 1990s. We weren't sure we would ever see the light of day, but this year, we have.




We also have another sister, in a dark chocolate brown with a suede bow with gold tips at the ends - but Valerie cant find their box ATM - she is in the middle of re-organising her shoe closet you see.




It appears that these types of loafers are huge now, especially for winter, hence our return to the real world. They have been done by high end labels like Christian Louboutin and Ralph Lauren Collection all the way down to the high street like Zara and Topshop.





There are many styles - velvet, suede, leather, pony skin, leopard, zebra, cheetah....the list goes on....




Antonio Stefanelli - look at the trim and the finish of these - very good quality....




Velvet by Ralph Lauren Collection - the uber top line of womens Ralph Lauren




Leopard by Christian Louboutin....




If Kate wears them, we gotta be in good sartorial company!





& these are my FAVE - I LOVE the metal chain on the metal toe cap.



In case you dont know, le smoking slippers are the epitome of luxe-casual footwear - they used to be the department of well-to-do men. Halfway between ballet flats and man-style loafers, the preppy silhouette works perfectly with cropped pants or jeans.



The moral of this post is that SOME things come back. Assuming you have the space, so that storing the old stuff doesnt compromise your ability to find the new stuff, by all means store away


But in all likelihood, all those years down the track, you are going to have to style the item in a different way - otherwise you'll look too retro.