The driver of the Piccadilly Line service from Heathrow had an announcement. "The temperature in London today is 27 degrees," he told us. "That's hotter than the Bahamas!" My fellow Tube passengers gave a little cheer – what nicer start to an October weekend than a surprise heatwave? Gleefully throwing off scarf and gloves, your Shoeblogger grabbed a favourite pair of J&M Davidson beaded flops and hotfooted it to Cheveux 2000 on the Uxbridge Road (top spot in London for bonding, braiding and acrylic nails), for an emergency mani-pedi (Orly Blue Suede, below) to kick off the weekend.
Autumn in London is usually the Season of the Black Opaque Tight. On this occasion, however, it was bare legs a-go-go. A mini trend on Portobello Road on Friday afternoon was to wear your clompiest boots with something cute and girlish. For instance, these scuffed-and-studded Doc Martens (below) with frilled anklets.
Ditto the hefty black brothel creepers below, teamed with dinky beribboned ankle socks.
I liked this couple with the his 'n' hers desert boots, hers prettified with a big red bow.
Strolling up Portobello Road to Notting Hill it's always fun to check out the legendary Notting Hill Exchange shops. These are a chain of second-hand stores selling everything from music (vinyl and CDs) to fashion and furniture. Retro Woman, one of the branches on Pembridge Road, had a couple of pairs of great gold and pink Prada and MiuMiu pumps in the window (below).
Over on Sloane Street the Prada boutique had this display of burgundy loveliness (below) – much more low-key than the banana-heels that have been in the headlines this season, but very wearable and want-able.
On Bond Street there was one sighting of the seasonal Black Opaques phenomenon, but teamed with these lovely summery Tory Burch gold ballerinas (below).
Ballet flats and understated but expensive chic were, as one might expect in Mayfair, the order of the day, with lots of shine and a bit of snakeskin thrown in.
Just off Bond Street is Maddox Street, home to the Charlotte Olympia boutique – "To Die For", as their window so accurately proclaims (below).
Directly opposite, at 45 Maddox Street, is The Box (below), another level of shoe heaven.
The Box was opened in March this year by a couple of Russian sisters, Yulia and Elena Pashevkina (more evidence of the burgeoning Russian shoe scene). The sisters studied at Central Saint Martins and decorated the boutique themselves in a style Vogue UK describes as "opulent neon-Baroque". They stock labels like Beatrix Ong, Bionda Castana, and Chrissie Morris. I fell for a pair of Iris van Herpen for United Nude ankle boots (below) though at £750 you can see why they are being modelled here by Kim Kardashian rather than your Shoeblogger.
(Image thanks to awomanandhershoes.com)
In fact the shoes I did invest in this weekend are, in their own small way, almost as bling as the above. They are a pair of gold stiletto-heeled pumps (below) – a wee bit Prada, a wee bit Kardashian – from vintage store Marshmallow Mountain in Carnaby Street (note the matching plastic bag they came in). And they set me back the princely sum of a tenner. That's real London style.
