Frankenstein

For quite awhile I had my eye on these Jeffrey Campbell shoes:

But then I saw these...

aaaand finally these....

Hey, it's not like you didn't already know I was a shoe fiend.

Now, early on I ruled out the Potion sandals (the top pair), for a few reasons. For one thing, open-toed shoes are tough for me, and I figured that with all those straps there'd be plenty of opportunities for pain. And then, I'm not super comfortable with a solid wedge that's that high -- I think they look great on other people but I have a thing about my feet looking like Frankenstein's, which I fear they might in those. And finally, everybody seemed to own that pair, and I didn't want to be like everybody.

When I saw the Clinic wedges (the second pair), I was really in love. They solved the problem of Frankenstein feet because the metal siding makes it look like the wedge isn't such a massive hunk o' shoe, and they obviously solved the problem of the open toes. But by then they were sold out everywhere, and there was just no tracking down a pair in my size. So I used Solestruck's nifty feature of an automatic email notification if/when my size became available again, and kept looking.

At last I found the X-Ray boots, the third pair, the one that wasn't too hot or too cold but juuuust right. Bless you, Jeffrey Campbell, for making so many variations on this style (there's also a tall boot version, a clog, and a mary jane!). With these there are no Frankenstein block-feet and no skin-scraping open toes. As an added bonus, you can tuck jeans into them. Though they were also sold out at the online shoe retailers, I found a brand new pair in my size on eBay without any trouble, and a happy ending was made.

I wore my towering wedges to work last week and achieved a full 6'1" height, causing multiple coworkers to do double-takes and one of my employees to cower in fear when I stood up from my desk (I'm pretty sure he was only half joking). Because these shoes have the potential to look a bit over-the-top, I wore them with jeans (tucked in, of course!) and a relaxed menswear blazer/tie combo.

These shoes are, believe it or not, remarkably comfortable. Though the angle looks steep, they don't really feel any taller than a regular heel. There was one interesting drawback though, and that was driving my car. Though my legs grew by 5 inches, my arms certainly didn't, so while I could slide the seat back to a comfortable position for the pedals, I had to stretch my arms to their fullest extent to reach the steering wheel. Next time I'm definitely driving in flats and changing when I get there.

In the end I loved these shoes so very much that when I eventually got a notification from Solestruck letting me know that the Clinics were back in stock, I snapped them up too. The Clinics are going to be a little more challenging to wear because they're a bit more daring than the X-Rays, but nevertheless I'm pretty excited about the possibilities for bad-assing up my bare-legged summer outfits.

Blazer: Nanette Lepore (thrifted)
Tie: thrifted
Shirt: Max Studio
Jeans: Acne
Boots: Jeffrey Campbell