I sort of have a problem with wedges. They’re kind of…clompy. Not all of them of course, but some of them and it’s hard for me to be my naturally graceful, gazelle-like self when I’m stomping around like a Clydesdale. My mission this summer is to give wedges a chance. The way I figure it is if Miuccia Prada can force herself to do an entire (brilliant) lace collection for Fall because she hates lace, I can get over myself long enough to give those clompy bastards sturdier shoes a chance.
These woven leather creatures from Isabella Lorusso are just perverse enough for me to like them. I think it’s the black flowers. I mean, they shouldn’t work, but somehow I think they would. It would be one of those shoes where you’d leave the house and go “Yeah, I’m wearing giant red patent leather wedges with sod-all black flowers on them and I look fantastic. Do you have a problem with that?” I feel like they’d want a black dress and shortie gloves and a cherry-stained cigarette for maximum effect. They’re $109 at YOOX. Why not give ’em a try and report back to your pal Plummy?
A bit of background: I am the worst thing in the whole, wide, world: a woman with cankles. Yes, I know, I should probably be locked away in an asylum somewhere, or perhaps even better and more mercifully, my parents should have left me exposed in the hills outside of Oakland when I was three days old, but instead they kept me and I now walk the earth, believing myself entitled to take up space, wear pretty things, and eat an ice cream now and then. A bit like Grendel, only worse.
So all this is by way of saying that I actually like wedges *because* they are clompy. Nothing gazelle-like about me, I fear. More….Clydesdale. But I do think wedges look pretty good on me, cankles and all. Nothing looks great, but given that I have chubby arm and cankles, if I tried to hide everything I thought I looked bad, I’d be wearing a burkha.
These are very cute in their way, but I can’t do that ankle strap, dangit.
Comment by Chaser — June 25, 2008 @ 11:18 am
I’m rather past the age to do justice to these particular shoes — or for them, perhaps, to do justice to me — but I do like a good ankle-strap wedge. They’re a nice way to split the difference between super-casual and dressed up, and a way for us short girls to get a meaningful height boost when a stiletto would be out of place — or if, like myself, you aren’t willing to put up with the pain and lack of stability of a pointy little heel.
I used to wear a four-inch-plus pair of Cherokee ankle-strap wedges (remember those?) everywhere and loved them to pieces. They were flattering to my pudgy legs with nicely turned ankles, and they got me into a less silly juxtaposition with the 6’5″ fellow I was dating in those days. I wouldn’t wear them that high now, but I’d buy a nice, somewhat-lower-heeled, grownup-looking wedge any time.
Comment by Bridey — June 25, 2008 @ 12:37 pm
True dat, Bridey–wedges are great for occasions where a pointy heel is going to be poking into the dirt or lawn–such as garden receptions and the like.
Comment by Chaser — June 25, 2008 @ 12:47 pm
I love these because they’re just a little bit out of the ordinary – they remind me of something Penelope Cruz might wear in Volver – you have never seen someone dressed so well trying to stuff a corpse in a freezer in incredible shoes.
Comment by Anne (in Reno) — June 25, 2008 @ 3:44 pm
I admit it; I am a lover of the wedges. I spend all day getting up and down from my desk and running around an office and a warehouse, and while I am also a lover of the pointy heel they realy don’t work as well when you’re trying to outrun a forklift (nevermind that, try as I might, anything other than Aerosoles cause me excruciating pain after about four hours). Wedges make my 5’8″ self 6′ and intimidating to even the most obnoxious freight handler, and they’re comfy. I can sashay in them like nobody’s business so they’re not the least bit clompy. As with any other shoe, you just need to find the right cut of an upper to be slimming and lengthening. My favorite summer pair is an espadrille with a grosgrain ribbon that wraps around the ankle two or three times (it’s long enough you can bring it up the leg if you want) and ties in a bow; I bought in black, navy, red and white. ComFYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!
Comment by Whitney — June 25, 2008 @ 8:05 pm
I just brought home a 5 inch wedge heeled sandal with an espadrille detailed wedge and a burnished copper coloured leather upper and ankle strap. When I put them on I am taller than god. I am so tall in them I think I shocked my husband when he first saw me in them. And they’re comfortable–a five inch heel is something I can’t even think about without pain, but the inch or so platform of this sandal somehow makes the heel height easy. I’m not at the stage where I can outrun anything in them yet, but they certainly don’t feel like high heels on. They just feel good.
Comment by thesearentchachaheels — June 26, 2008 @ 8:43 am
Aha! A fellow wedge hater. Yuck yuck yuck. There is nothing that chaps me more than scouring through the shoe section of Nordstrom Rack, pulling out a fab shoe (from the front) and pulling it out only to discover it’s a *insert rude word here* wedge. I haaaaaate them. The only wedge that made me think twice were some adorably retro polka dot ones that said “40s pinup girl”. Luckily they were a 10 (and thus too small), so I did not give into it. ;b
Comment by Alyssa — June 26, 2008 @ 11:26 am
I’m clompy regardless of what I wear on my feet! And nice wide clompy wedges are so comfortable. I used to live in them back when I had to do more walking around. But the wedges that have come back in style in the past couple years are much sleeker than the clompy wedges of my teenage years, so you might want to give them a try.
Comment by Becky — June 26, 2008 @ 11:29 am
I should add, I love wedge sandles, but I hate hate hate wedge pumps. I think they look so stupid.
Comment by Becky — June 26, 2008 @ 11:32 am
I can’t wear a wedge, ever – I just fall off them. Something about the way my ankles turn when I walk. Heels are more stable. Anyone else in this camp?
Comment by Hulk — June 27, 2008 @ 12:35 pm