Once again I found myself wrapped deep Hypnos’ ethereal blankie and forgot to post a daily kick before I went to bed. Shame! SHAME! Bad Plumcake.
I don’t own many plain black shoes. I’ve got my funeral shoes –staid Armani– a pair of shiny Delman mary janes that need fixing, some sequined Anne Kleins I’ve never worn, a pair of Valentinos I nearly destroyed and my suede Pedro Garcia emjays which are the only pair I wear regularly because they’re interesting enough to make up for their color.
On the other hand, I get a TON of wear out of my black-and-blue shoes, since they look great with pretty much everything but browns with a ton of red in them. I especially love them with black when I want a pop of color but I’ve got too much going on with the rest of my outfit to wear a statement shoe.
My experience with Manufacture D’essai has been good. It’s an Italian company and thus provides succor for those who are Substantial of Foot (I swear French women walk around on banana feet all day) and their heels generally err on the side of substantial and well-balanced.
I especially dig the sfumato treatment on these, andfor $89, they’re a honking good deal. The heel is a hair under 3″. The toe runs narrow, so if you’ve got especially wide feet they’d need stretching, which is dead easy.