What comes between me and my Calvins*

It’s the fag-end of April – or as TS Eliot used to call it, the cruellest month. Here in the Shoe Closet we share Tom’s seasonal ennui. We are sick to death of woolly tights and boots, but every time we unveil so much as a fingetip we risk losing it to frostbite. 

In London on Saturday, the sun peeped out long enough for your Shoeblogger to throw caution to the (still biting) wind and make a run for Cheveux 2000 on the Uxbridge Road, and the first pedicure of the season. Mind, I am not so deluded as to the forecast to go for one of s/s2013’s trendy neons. For the moment I am rocking an old favourite, “Iron Butterfly” by Orly (the last bottle I bought in Moscow. Can’t find it in western Europe.)

If anything is an excuse for new shoes, the first pedicure of spring has gotta be it. So here I am rocking it with a pair of particularly gorgeous Calvin Klein nude high-heel sandals. They have an underslung platform and 4-inch semi-conical heel covered in chocolate leather (scuff alert!) The T-strap has these cool shell-pink transparent pendants, a vague nod to Gatsby-fever.

They make me very happy. I am determined to wear them outside my bedroom some day. (Some day when it gets, you know, warm.)

*Nothing, apart from sub-zero temperatures...

Shine on

After the Wettest Drought On Record™ the UK is suddenly experiencing the summer of our dreams. There hasn’t been a cloud in the sky for three days, which means it’s open season on open-toes. So on Saturday afternoon your Shoeblogger strolled over to Portobello Road to see what’s hot on the fashionable feet of west London. 

Metallic strappy sandals and embellished ’flops are current favourites. The beaded jellies at top are from Next (“they come in lots of different colours,” according to my foot model.) The stylish nude sandals, above, with spikes and diamante skull-and-crossbones are from “a Sunday market.”

Love these ’70s-style geometric two-tone sandals (“last season’s Marks & Spencer.”) Their owner, tall and willowy, was wearing a fabulous full-length striped dress with ruched bodice, her bronze pedicure perfectly complementing pale skin and beautiful red hair.

Another great pedicure, above: classic red with gold straps for a 1950s screen goddess effect. Her gold strappy sandals were brand new (“from Dune, yesterday!”) 

Havaianas are almost as popular on the streets of west London as on the beaches of Brazil, and gold is definitely the colour of the moment. It’s always fun to see friends mirroring each others’ styles, and I really like these two (above) with their variations on metal flats and pretty pale toes.

Two examples of turquoise tootsies: above, glowing in shiny plaited flats (from la bella Primark, I believe). Below, in River island cork-soled wedges, the nude straps popped with a gold band across the instep. As I was shooting her feet and admiring her outfit, I discovered that the cool girl rocking this look is style blogger Kirsty Fong. Kirsty is also a fashion stylist (and a biology grad), who writes with passion, and dresses (herself and others) with imagination and flair. Her blog looks great and is full of fab ideas, be sure to check it out: kirstandthefashioncrowd.blogspot.co.uk