Tag Archives: shoes

Steve Madden opens in Canal Walk – shoe lovers (guys & girls) check this out

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Last night I attended the opening of the first Steve Madden store in Cape Town which has found its home in Canal Walk.

You’ll find it upstairs, close to the food court.  I think there used to be a San Marina shoe store there before.  Anyhoo, Mr Madden is considered one of the most successful shoe designers in the US and has been designing shoes for the Steve Madden label for two decades already.  He gets his inspriation from street style he observes in places like NY and London and his target market is young fashion forward guys and girls who aren’t scared to show off a bit of flair.  I like the sound of that…

We were welcomed by seriously some of the best food & drinks I’ve had at a launch in quite some time.  The canapes were soooo yummy, especially these red wine super soft fillet steak sosaties… Mmmmmm.

Oh and then they had all kinds of candy everywhere!  Pyramids of everything your heart could possibly desire… Chocolate covered marshmallows, donuts with sprinkles, cake pops (that’s a lollipop with soft, fluffy cake inside!), heart shaped candy canes, you name it… they totally stuffed up my summer body plans… I guess that will start next week now: ;)

Ooooh and then cocktail wise they had Turkish delight flavoured cosmopolitans!  Doesn’t that sound amazing???  That’s cause it was.  Even the men were braving to drink some pink drinks because it was just that good…

Now let’s get down to the business of the store and the main attraction, the shoes of course.  You’ll be happy to know that the shoes you’ll find very closely matches that of which you’ll see overseas right now, with the only difference really being the very seasonal stuff.  As the US is going into winter now, they’ll obviously have lots of boots to pick from, but for us summer sandals make more sense right now.  Also the store interior apparently matches their NY store as well.

Now I’m going to kick off with the mens shoes because I know I lose the boys once I start going on about heels, sexy sandals, oversized cluthes and stuff. :)   These are some of the cool mens shoes you’ll find:

Top left – two tone shoe R999; Top right – black snakeskin R999, Middle – boots (these were my favourites) R899; Bottom left – casual loafers R599; Bottom right – brown smart shoe R899

For the ladies: this season think bright neon sandals, sky high wedges and any kind of “bling” detail like studds, glitter, snakeskin, animal print, etc.

Main – studded heels R1499; Clockwise from top right – snakeskin R1199; glitter heels R799; Blue wedges R1199; diamante heels R1299; summer wedges R799 – I’ve just got to own that snakeskin pair!

Top left – sorry, didn’t get price on these, but loved them too much not to show them to you; Top right – boots R1799; Bottom – neon sandals R499

Of course what’s a good pair of heels without a fabulous bag, right? Don’t worry, Steve’s got you covered girls:

Top left – bright clutches R499; Top right – quilted black bag R999; Fringe bag – R699; Middle – animal print clutch R699; Bottom – neon bag R799

There’s quite a few things on my wish list already.  I’m just battling a head cold at the moment, so my brain wasn’t in shopping mode last night.  I think I’ll go back over the weekend and take my time to look through everything again.  I mean shoes are an investment purchase, you can’t just rush into it, especially when you’re not thinking straight. ;)

xxx

My online shopping addiction makes it’s way to the UK

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A few weeks ago I decided to try a purchase from UK based store, New Look.  Their clothing’s a not really great, it looks quite cheap & ill-fitting BUT they have really nice shoes & bags.  Two of my favourite things in the world! :)

One really awesome perk is that they do FREE delivery worldwide for orders over £55.  Sweeeeeet.  I decided to test the waters with a small purchase, so I got two easy priced bags & some pretty undies.  According to their website my order was suppose to arrive within 5 – 7 working days, which seemed pretty good as my orders from Forever21.com in the US usually take about the same amount of time to arrive.  But then to my surprise, my order status changed to “dispatched” practically overnight… this got me very excited…

Sadly that excitement faded as each day passed… and eventually the days turned into weeks… and then by last week I had kinda prepared myself for my order never ever arriving.  I decided to email them to find out whether they could tell me where my parcel was as the tracking feature on the website wasn’t working with my tracking number.  This is when they told me that they actually can’t track international orders.  Interesting news as they certainly don’t explain that part on their Delivery & Returns help pages.  They told me that if my order hadn’t arrived by 20 Apr, I could proceed to officially log a request for them to find out what happened to it.  At that point I thought to myself… “Gawd, it’s been almost 4 weeks, I bet you someone from the SA postal service is already wearing my damn underwear!!!” ;)

Then on “D-day” I finally got a notice from the post office about an international parcel ready for collection.  Talk about cutting it fine.  I rushed over there and had to pay R15 to have the parcel released, but I wasn’t asked to pay any custom duties.  I couldn’t believe my luck as one would normally expect to be nailed with about 45% import tax (and that’s certainly what I had prepared myself for), but seems I was a very very lucky girl.  I’m not sure if they just decided to let the first order slide, or maybe the way it was packaged made sure it didn’t raise any eyebrows…  I mean, it did arrive in a bloody black bag! haha.  Check it out:

This parcel screams "this person has no money!"

I was a bit worried about what state my things would be in, but everything was cool.   Here’s my zig zag weave oversized clutch which I got for £12.99:

And then my black & white colour block satchel with a mock crock feel (£19.99):

And lastly my cute undies which were between £4.99 and £5.99 each:

Size wise, the UK is the same as SA. So if you're a size 8 here, you'll be a size 8 there. Easy peasy.

The undies aren’t the worlds best quality – I would say they’re kinda on par with Mr Price’s underwear.  So I wouldn’t say they were the best deal (pound to rand exchange rate sits at about 12.66 at the moment).  But I LOVE my two bags.

Oh and boys, they have a mens section as well.  I did a quick browse through their mens shoes & accessories section and they have some really nice things there.  Items which caught my eye included these funky Gola sneakers for £34.99:

And these fold over shoes which are on sale for only £15!

Perfect for winter guys...

Oh and my absolute favourite, check out this awesome moustache print wallet for £6.99:

Seriously, how cool is that?

So will I order from New Look again?  Yeah, it’s likely.  It loses big points on the instant gratification scale, but at least next time I’ll be prepared for the long wait.

I’m a bit sad that we’re now pretty much right into cold, miserable winter weather… cause I’ve kinda fallen in love with these babies:

Colour block strappy sandals - £19.99

But I guess it’s totally acceptable to be really prepared for next summer waaaaay ahead of time, right?

xxx

Mixed feelings about my first online purchase from Zando

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Over the past 3 months I’ve become totally addicted to online clothing shopping.  It’s just soooooo much easier than missioning for parking, schlepping around a busy shopping centre and standing in painful “kill-me-now” queues.  The small risk of getting the size or fit wrong has been 100% worth it for me personally.

So far I’ve made quite a few successful purchases from US website Forever21.com (I told you guys about it here and here).  But recently I decided I would give some local sites a bash too.

The first was relatively new venture, Zando.  I was lucky enough to be the proud new owner of a R100 Zando voucher, thanks to a lucky draw on total sweetheart, Saturday Girl SA‘s blog.  So it just made sense that I should give their online shopping experience a little test drive.

I had my heart set on a pair of simple Zoom pumps for only R229.  You see I’ve been on a mission to refresh my wardrobe basics, and a good pair of pumps that matches everything is a winter must have in my book.  But to use my R100 voucher, I had to spend a minimum of R300.  So to make up the difference I also added a pair of drop earrings and a pair of gym secret socks (yes yes I know… super boring… but mine’s forever going missing OK).

Things I liked about the site:

  • The product categories are well organised.
  • The site search option works like a charm.
  • You can filter by brand, shoe size, colour and price.
  • They have multiple images for each item so you can see it from every angle and then you can also zoom in to make sure you are happy with the quality.
  • The cart, checkout and payment process is quick & simple.
  • FREE delivery & FREE returns (only for exchanges/replacements) within SA for orders over R150.  Just read all the terms & conditions.

Things I did not like:

  • Once an item is in your cart, you can’t see what size you had selected.  This irritated me as I like checking, double checking & triple checking before I click on confirm.
  • The order confirmation email also doesn’t state your selected size.  Again, more worrying about whether you got it right…
  • The clothing section is a bit of a snooze fest.

I placed my order just after 7pm on Tue, 27 Mar.  By the next day, I got a call asking whether they could deliver between 2pm and 4pm.  I was really surprised & impressed, I mean that was less than 24hrs.  That’s pretty damn good for online purchases of any kind.

The box arrived looking like so:

The problem was that the box only contained my shoes.  There was no sign of the earrings & gym socks. Hmmmm…

I called their call centre.  The guy who assisted me promised that he would find out what happened and call me back immediately.  The aftenoon passed, but nobody got back to me.   So I decided to also email them that evening, explaining the problem.

The next day (Wed), someone got back to me via email.  The lady stated that the socks were actually out of stock and that they would be giving me a R50 voucher to make up for it.  The earrings were apparently due to arrive that afternoon.  I told her that I did not want yet another voucher, because then you’re just locked into making another purchase you don’t actually need or want.  So she said she would therefore submit a request to refund me for the socks.  I also informed them that the shoes actually seemed to be a very small fit and that I’d need to swap the size 5′s I ordered for a size 6.

Wed passed without receiving the earrings and I also did not get any further feedback on the refund.  On Thu though, they did come to collect my size 5 shoes.

On Fri morning I sent off another email to follow up.  Nobody got back to me.  But then later on that day reception called and said that there was another Zando package for me.  This time the box contained the size 6 shoes, the earrings and the socks.  Finally we had everything sorted.

My goodies - the earrings turned out to be much bigger than I anticipated. But I've done a DIY job on them, taking off 3 of the pieces on each and now it works.

In the end I didn’t need the refund and everything was finally sorted, but I must admit that the multiple deliveries were really annoying.  Especially because the delivery guy would just rock up without giving you a heads up.  That first shoe delivery was the only one where they actually called me beforehand.  Also I though the swapping of the shoes could have been done in one step – ie. pick up & give me the other pair at the same time. Seems pretty simple to me…

Obviously the free delivery & returns helped a lot.  If I was footing the bill for it, I would have been seriously p’d off.  But if their deliveries come through in drips & drabs in general, I’m sure they are losing money.

Will I buy from them again?  Well also in my box was yet another R100 voucher (on a minimum R300 spend), so I might be tempted again…  But I’m hoping that they are working on fine-tuning their processes, otherwise I’ll just avoid multiple item purchases. ;)

xxx

The two new men in my life: Charles & Keith!

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There is a new major player in town when it comes to fabulous shoes & bags – Charles & Keith.

The Charles & Keith brand originated in Singapore back in 1996 and has since taken the fashion world by storm. It’s been brought to our South African shores by the Foschini Group, which means you can use your Foschini group store card here ladies!

The first store in Cape Town was opened last week on the 25th of Aug in the Canal Walk shopping centre.  Actually, I’m not sure if this is the first store in the country?  I couldn’t find much info on it on the web…  Anyhoo…

Yes... come on in ladies, and bring those credit cards!

It’s a truly beautiful store.  Great lighting, great displays… all conducive to total shoe & bag indulgence.

Oooooh, look at all the pretty things...

I especially loved the super sexy in-store campaign posters:

How gorgeous is that?

I was so lucky, because while cleaning out my “every day” handbag – which had turned into a scary abyss where things go to die or disappear forever – I discovered R550 in Foschini Group vouchers!  I think I got them for my bday last year and had totally forgotten about them.  Score!

This meant I could go crazy without really worrying about the price tag. Woohoo!  Turns out thought that I really didn’t have to worry about the price tag, these shoes & bags are really well priced.  I would say Charles & Keith would be competing in the Zoom Footwear category…  Ooooh, some competition there guys…

I walked outta there with 2 new pairs of shoes – a pair of black gladiator style sandals (R349) and a sexy pair of dark purple heels (R449):

I just can't wait to show these babies off...

With my awesome vouchers, that meant I only had to pay in R248!   Just plain faaaaabulous…

I got so excited about all of the shoes, that I didn’t really pay enough attention to the bags.  So I’m gonna have to go back for a follow up visit… soon!   You guys better get your asses over there before I clean shop. ;)

xxx

My serious shoe fetish…

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One of my favourite things on this entire planet is… SHOES!!!   Actually, if I had to make a top 10 list of all the things I seriously love, it would look like this:

1. Mini Coopers (especially my own baby…)
2. SHOES
3. Travelling
4. Monkeys
5. Chocolate
6. Fashion
7. Cupcakes
8. Taking a loooong, hot, relaxing bath
9. Sleeping in
10. Ryk Neethling  (just can’t get enought of that Afrikaans swimming hottie!)

Side note: A sincere apology to all my ex-boyfriends… I probably told you at the time that you were in my top 10 (top 5 or top 3 even).  But that was a BIG FAT LIE.  Come on though, did you really want to know that you got trumped by monkeys???  I didn’t think so… :)

OK, back to the shoes… So because they’re like my nr 2 thing in the world, you’ll totally understand how devastated I was when I came back from a 4 week stint in Italy recently without any new shoes! (well, there was one pair of cute floral pumps – but if it hasn’t got heels, it doesn’t really count)  Why so empty handed then?  Well the problem was two-fold:

  1. The Italians like a lot of “bling” on their shoes.  I’m not really a “hey, there’s a disco ball on my shoe!” kind of person.
  2. Peep toe was a HUGE trend.  Because of my long, scary, Nik Nak like toes – peep toe aint my friend people!  My second toe is waaaaaay longer than my big toe and with a peep toe shoe, that toe is just dying to hang around outside, kissing the pavement.  Not a good look.  For all the guys out there who are going “wtf is peep toe!?!”  Let me show you:

It kinda scrunches your toes together and then there just a tiny gap in the front for your toes to "peep" out.

OK, so… I came back to Cape Town with a big void in my heart.  I needed to fill it like immediately!  Now usually I have a “triple threat shoe strategy” – it includes: Nine West, Aldo & Zoom.  (I can’t afford to shop at Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton and such – if I could, this picture would obviously be way different)

My first stop was Aldo.  There I almost burst into tears as I stood in front of a wall covered with bloody peep toe shoes!!!  All new arrivals, just in time for the spring/summer season.  Seriously!?!  I had to leave.  My next stop was Nine West.  Here I fell in love with a beautiful pair of suede heels.  I flirted with them for a while, dancing around in the shop, hugging them, etc.  But luckily my common sense prevailed – you see I bought a pair of suede shoes just two months ago and they are a total bitch to keep in good shape.  Especially during a Cape Town winter.  I just couldn’t do it again… this love affair was doomed, so I said a sad farewell.

Lastly I popped into Zoom and finally… SUCCESS!  Just look at these babies I snatched up:

BAM!!! These heels are on fire bitches...

I can’t wait for winter to come to an end now so I can start wearing them!  Yay!  The really nice thing was that they didn’t cost me the earth either, Zoom’s prices are always very reasonable (well compared to the other shops in the V&A Waterfront at least).

As I was paying, I looked at my friend Nix and told another big fat lie: “This is my summer shoe collection like totally sorted now…”  She looked back at me and said: “Oh please, you’ll probably be back buying more shoes next weekend!”   She was right, I have a serious problem.  But I look at it as giving these poor little shoes a kind & loving home.  That counts as a good deed right?

OK OK, maybe not… but it does make me pretty damn happy. :)

See you at the shops. xxx