Search for a T-strap

Being the shoe fiend that I am and given the extensive length of time since the purchase of my last pair (I got some brown pumps my first week of work last September), oh plus the fact that I have worn out the soles on two pairs of work shoes yet again and need to get them repaired yet again, I decided to buy a new pair of shoes to wear to work.

Anyways, so yesterday at lunch I decided my time would be well spent looking at shoes on the Top Shop website, where I was forced to realize that all of my shoes are completely out of style. The hip pumps these days have an ankle strap, if not two, or straps in other places, like across the toes. You can imagine my despair! After work I hiked down to High St Ken and popped into Dune, as it's basically the closest shoe store to the road I walk down to get there. They had a lot of slightly quirky yet not so appealing shoes, but I mentally book-marked a few and then went over to the shoe lounge at Top Shop. After getting past the 8" heal pole dancing shoes, I found some I liked. There were bright red, slightly orange-y t-straps with about a 2" heal. I tried one on and found it remarkable comfortable. However, I was like, this shoe is quite the statement in color, how often could I actually wear these to work? The 'last chance' shelf indicated that the shoe had once been available in black, but they were down to their final pair in a tiny size. Oh, and there was also a cream option. But that just had 'I'm going to look dirty and scuffed within 20 minutes' written all over it. Plus a girl had picked that one up and was carrying it around like a baby.

This morning I tried questioning Mark on what he thought I should regarding this shoe situation. There really aren't that many Top Shops in London, the High St Ken one being probably the main second fiddle to the massive flagship on Oxford Street. Given my work's plucky location, I could hop on the Central Line and conceivably be at the flagship in about 15 minutes. So I asked Mark if I should go back to the local one and get the red ones, or try my luck at the big one. He got confused. So I decided at lunch to hit Oxford Street. I figured it would be much safer and scarier than going tomorrow when even more people would be roaming the streets.

Once I had fought through the crowds to gain entrance to massive Top Shop, I went down to two floors (yes, it's that massive) to the shoe area, where they had the t-strap shoe in bright pink and seemingly nothing else. I did some further looking about and came across a few more on the last chance shelf, in yellow but not my size, turquoise but not my size, and finally, taupe and my size. So I asked to try on a pink pair in addition to the taupe pair, as the pink still seemed like a better option than the orangey red. But they only had the pink in one size smaller than I wanted, and while they fit it wasn't what I would term 'comfy'. So I bought the taupe shoes. Oh, I must also add that one of the further advantages of getting shoes from Top Shop is that they offer a 10% student discount and my student ID card doesn't expire until July.

So what are my fashion intention for my new t-straps? Good question. As they are t-straps and don't have an abrupt top edge ripe for cutting into feet, I foresee them being quite comfortable and thus being able to wear them regularly. To be hip and fashionable, I intend to wear them with black tights. By watching people on the tube I have learned that this is what people do these days, but so far have not been able to bring myself to do it. I think that given the muted nature of the taupe I will be able to carry it out a little easier. And as they are somewhat brownish, I feel I will also be able to where them with khaki and brown ensembles. This taupe thing is seemingly quite the shoe solution. Plus I'm pleased to have shoes with straps so I can be cool. And now I have something to wear while the rest of my shoes are getting fixed again...