A Goodbye Post… for my shoes

As you may have noticed from my pictures for the last few days, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to my shoe collection lately. The fact is, it’s gotten a little out of hand, so I’m saying goodbye to some of them. I’m working on a video montage of all of my shoes (which rocks, but it’s not done yet, so you don’t get to see it yet), but in the meantime, a quick walk down memory lane with some of the ones that are leaving us.

At one point, I had these Nine West shoes both in forest green (as pictured here) and a buttery mustard. The yellow ones went first, and now it’s this pair’s turn. To be honest, I forgot I had these. They were in the hall closet, where I otherwise only keep my sneakers, and it was only when I pulled all of those out for the video project that I found these again. They’re something like 4 inch mules, and the inner sole is twisted way out of shape. But man! Did I feel tall in these!

I still love these shoes, but they no longer love me. I think they were the first gift I ever received from my sister-in-law Bonnie — whether she sent them herself or convinced Doyce to give them to me doesn’t matter. They’re Ryka mary jane sneakers, and honestly, if I did an archive search on this very blog, I could probably find the post where I first saw them and blogged them as a shopping suggestion. Alas, the velcro on the strap is completely shot, and the shoes no longer stay closed.

I have several pairs of summer sandals with almost this exact same styling, but for some reason, these black Anne Klein shoes never got comfortable. The band always felt stiff, and each summer as I would try to break them in again, I’d get blisters on the side of both feet. So, out they go!

Bought at the Orva on East 86th street in NYC, I wore these Sacha Too dress sandals once, to my ex-best friend’s wedding, and I walked out of that barefoot, in agony from a night of dancing in these. Don’t know why I held onto the shoes longer than the friendship, but there you go.

Now, these Bass Bucs are a blast from the past. They’re not the same pair I wore in high school, but they’re the same style, replaced maybe 10 years ago? Maybe less. They were a tie to my preppy past that’s, let’s admit it, long gone. Doyce thought they were bowling shoes when I showed them to him the other day, and though I asked Chris, and you can, in fact, turn regular shoes into bowling shoes, I’m not going to bother. Besides, I like my star-studded bowling shoes. A find from the Bass outlet store in New Jersey.

I love the look of these spectator pumps from Enzo Angiolini, but I never really managed to find the right corporate outfit to wear with them. And now that I’m no longer working on Park Avenue, there’s just not really a place for them in my life anymore. (Although, in searching for the correct spelling on “Enzo Angiolini”, I found these, and they may be a more wearable replacement. Alas, not available in my size.)

Perfect for feeling like a princess, but less useful for, oh, I don’t know, anything else, these Banana Republic light pink kitten heels shoes got dirty the very first time I wore them, and aside from a perfect Spring week in April once upon a time, it never felt like the right time to wear them. Or, to be honest, to walk in them. And I’m keeping my other pair of pink kitten-heeled shoes from Banana Republic, so I feel ok letting these ones go.

And these… well, I’m still debating myself on these. For a long time, these Circa Joan & David peep-toe pumps were my go-to black heels. Now I find myself passing them up in favor of other black shoes — either my new dead swexy Nine West platform heels, lower patent leather slingbacks, or, let’s be honest, flats. Maybe I’ll keep them around for just a leeeeetle bit longer. After all, I am being generous in giving away so many of my beauties!

Although actually where they’re going away has yet to be decided. Will they be found & sufficiently loved by someone at Goodwill? Should I eBay them? I don’t think I’m ready to open them up to the world at large (i.e., Twitter). I don’t really want to hear from someone walking around in my old shoes, old Native American sayings to the contrary. Probably Goodwill, then.

Anyone else bit by a Spring Cleaning bug?