It’s wedding season here in India. Every year between late September and January – to avoid the monsoon rains and the summer heat – about 10,000 marriages take place across the country. In the equity world, the wedding season has always been a big factor in the price of gold. It’s traditional for an Indian bride to be draped in gold jewelry, while family and friends give gold coins and bars as gifts to the newlyweds. (Therefore, dear shoe lovers, if you are planning on investing in bullion or bling, avoid doing so between August and October: over the past decade the price of gold stocks in this trading period has risen by an average of 7.2%.)
Even if you are not getting hitched or showered in the yellow stuff, in India it is your duty to add to the communal shine. New clothes, obviously, and (happy sigh) new shoes. And what shoes! Silken Swarovski-crystal-encrusted heels are de riguer, the more sparkly and colourful the better. The branch of Metro shoe chain on Colaba Causeway had a sale recently – one of those crazy ones where piles of slippers, mules, sandals and stilettos are heaped up on trestles causing a footwear feeding frenzy. As you can see from these pix, I made out like a 6-year-old Barbie-loving bandit. 
I got these delicate strappy sandals (above and below) in two almost identical colours because I just couldn’t choose between them. The aqua-er ones are a perfect match for “Toronto” from Herôme’s World Inspired Colours collection – the nail varnish I am obsessed with this year – while the bluer ones are a perfect match for, um, my eyes.
