Carolyn's Blog

Shoes glorious shoes……..

O.k….. here comes a confession!

I love shoes.

Am mad about them in fact.

Shoes of all colours, shapes and styles, but particularly shoes that are quirky, individual and have an air of originality about them.

There is nothing I love more than discovering a new shoe shop somewhere in the world,   walking in with great anticipation of what may be held within its walls and having ones eyes alighting upon a glorious pair of heels like none other.

For there sitting on a shelf awaiting your arrival is a pair of stunning shoes so completely different to anything you have ever seen before that the heart almost skips a beat!

You know you simply have to have them.

The best places for such 'shoe'  pleasures have usually been in the obvious countries like France, Italy and Spain. You know, those little shops you happen upon down a tiny alley in Paris or Barcelona where a new shoe designer has set up shop and an array of beribboned works of art (being the shoes) line some dainty shelves. 

You don't have to go overseas though for there are a few other secret locations to explore right here, maybe under your very nose, if you also love finding something completely different.

Check out:-

Vintage Fairs – Fabulous shoes from 1800's to present time

(maybe rather threadbare- but heavenly)

Ebay -I recently found a beautiful pair of Chanel brogues

(never been worn – divine!)

Village fêtes – You would be surprised what turns up.

 (My Pink sparkly 1920's dancing shoes – no label but soooooo cute.)

Charity shops – Gasp – But wonders never cease!

(Vintage Dior – Only to be looked at and drooled over!)

Yes, some of the shoes I've succumbed to from the above list are more museum pieces than every day wearing…. the courage to actually go out in a pair of bright apple green high heels for example, from the 1950's surpasses even myself, who is on the whole quite game!

So why the topic of shoes today?

Well…..

I have recently had the pleasure of meeting the very effervescent Nicolina from Nicolina shoes.

Working as a team Nicolina and her husband Jeremy Angelis design and create beautiful shoes for women who love luxury footwear.

Made from the finest materials and manufactured in Italy the shoes are beautiful.

I was very impressed with the fact that whilst the shoes are very glamorous and elegant, they are also incredibly wearable with a wonderful heel height…. Meaning high, but not too high.

How many of us buy that gorgeous pair of shoes that feel great in the shop only to discover that they are in actual fact too high and uncomfortable to walk in. They sit languishing sadly in the back of the wardrobe hoping to get out and be shown off but never do as the pain factor is just too intense.

So there is nothing like shoes that look great and can be worn comfortably. And imagine finding a new shoe designer right here in London.

I was thrilled. Gorgeous,elegant,trendy wearable shoes!

To check out Nicolina's website go to

www.nicolinacouture.com

Wimbledon Village.

London

SW19

LOTS OF GLITZ AND GLAMOUR……..

Ooh la la…the sequins shimmied and shone last night at a party I attended in Knightsbridge. I have never seen so many sexy little outfits glittering around a bar as were worn by the girls on Friday night.

Let me tell you all about them.

Gold and Silver sequins were a hit .

Lots of cute little metallic coloured sequin sleeveless tops with plunging necklines worn with sleek black trousers and metallic shoes. The look was superb.

Black sequins – EVERYWHERE.

In boleros, camisole style tops and would you believe sequin skirts! They looked so slinky. And I also noticed black trousers with sequin strips down each leg…really sexy.

Coloured sequins.

One gorgeous woman had a wonderful 1920's style top made from blue sequins. The colour at the top was a sublime aqua and subtly changed to a dark navy blue at the hem line. Talk about gorgeous.

So why were all the sequins out?

Well ladies…my thoughts on the matter are that the weather is so dreary at the moment that literally everyone thought they were going to fight the winter blues with a whole lot of sparkle.

The effect was DIVINE……

And I must add that the sequins had a ball for they swirled their way through some fairly raunchy dance moves and made the most of the down lights for they twinkled their way into the hearts of many an admirer!

Good on you girls….keep the glamour up all winter.

A brilliant Way to Start the Year…….

“Make a list of all your favourite places, activities, people, food, clothes, shoes and things………

…..and make 2010 a year to enjoy them……..”

I read this in an advice column in a paper on New Years day.

So okay,

I forgot about making the list and just took the advice literally and went rummaging about in a number of secondhand book shops in Lewes.

I love bookshops, especially antiquarian ones, for the old tomes give an insight into people from long ago and what they got up to! (often very illuminating…)

Plus antique leather bound books are beautiful. The decorative bindings are in many cases a work of art.

In search of a particular Thomas Hardy I have not read, I happened upon a pretty little set, that was impossible to resist. If one is going to succumb to their favourite things, it may as well be to a whole set!

On opening up 'The Trumpet Major', I could not help but laugh. For the first line of the second paragraph jumped out at me…

“Anne was fair, very fair, in a poetical sense; but in complexion she was of that particular tint between blonde and brunette which is inconveniently left without a name.”

How horrified Anne would have been had she read this about herself. Indeed how horrified would any woman be who was described in such a manner…. Inconveniently unnamed..because it doesn't warrant naming..so boring, unimportant, uninteresting, unexciting, uninspired, dull…the list goes on. I think Anne would have had a thing or two to say to old Thomas Hardy for describing her in such a mundane way.

Going back to the opening paragraph of the book, however, we learn that this was…..

“In the days of high waisted and muslin-gowned women, when the vast amount of soldiering going on in the country was a cause of much trembling to the sex, ….. there lived in a village two ladies of good report….”

So our dear Anne, who was of a particular tint that was so boring it remained unnamed was also ' all a tremble,' due to so many men about. Did she have any luck, is obviously the question to be asked?

Did she need a make over?

Were there such things as make overs in 1880 when this book was first published?

Or did her inward beauty shine through?

( I will let you know when I have read the book)

And so I must ask….

Do women, in 2010, tremble?

( I love that word tremble!)

I think they might!

My friend Ally and I certainly trembled to a certain degree when we happened upon Bill's cafe in the centre of Lewes.

What an amazingly inspirational place. Creativity overload. Whoever cooked up this place oozes originality, inventiveness, imagination, not to mention immense resourcefulness.

The salads looked almost poetical such was their flounce…..

Each main dish a piece de resistance…

The desserts pure artistry…..

And the shop itself looked like a tapestry, woven with the textures of a french market, for flowers, fruit and vegetables flowed out of old wooden packing cases, baskets and buckets.

The place literally buzzed.

So inspired were we from the visual stimulus surrounding us, that we both felt the urge to start working on something creative ourselves right there and then…..

I was thinking about dresses, Ally was discussing puddings.

Isn't it wonderful when another's creativity rubs off on you and gives you the spark that ignites the mind in a million ways! New concepts and ideas suddenly spring to mind.

So watch out…….

Come the summer, there may be a dress than resembles a three tiered gateau covered in wild berries, or maybe it will be a pavlova styled skirt with kiwis and passionfruit !

( But then again maybe not….)

p.s. If you now feel the need to check out Bill's for yourself, be warned, there is a very long queue of patient souls, their mouths watering, waiting to enter food heaven!

http://www.billsproducestore.co.uk