There is a recession on apparently. I have ceased to pay attention to the panic mongering about Ireland going broke and we are soon to be put under martial law by the International Monetary Fund. I find it gives me a stabbing pain in my arm and chest that is quite distressing.
However, I am trying to be more sensible with my salary which is usually blown on trash mags, diet cokes, mojitos, hangover takeaways and over expensive M&S fruit salads. Approximately 8 days after payday. In keeping with this frugality, I have decided to re-cycle my recent bridesmaid dress for use at my up-coming formal graduation and also to borrow a dress for a wedding I will be attending. I do not, however, have appropriate shoes for the beautiful black and gold number I shall be donning to the wedding.
I justified the purchase of new shoes, as like Jennies’ tail of woe below, I have recently had to retire two pairs of shoes due to scratching, skinned heels and worn-away soles. I have of course spent many hours on the Office, Faith and Topshop websites trying to find something fierce* that will work with the dress, but to no avail.
I then stumbled onto mywardrobe.com (loves it!) and there lies several black and gold options that would suit the frock and could be worn again with many of my other outfits. But this was where the battle of the recessionista and fashionista started. I allowed myself a budget of €100 euros for the new shoes. I calculated this by weighing up the fact that I wanted a pair that would be comfortable for the day (so nothing too cheap) but I won’t be wearing them that much (so not too expensive).
But then I saw these - Zandra Rhodes for Strutt Couture – Shoes of such great beauty that I could already see myself strutting through the Bar with No Name while downing mojitos (I realise I am also trying to cut back on these). However at €192 they are way over my budget.
I also found these Steve Madden platforms - very cute and definitely wearable but lacking the wow factor of the Zandra Rhodes. However they are much closer to my budget at €108
So its decision time. My heart is saying Zandra Rhodes and my head is saying Steve Madden. I can’t decide. Can you?
* Said borrowed dress, a gold brocade D&G with black piped lining, simply demands fierce shoes to accompany it
