Sunday, May 10, 2009

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem...

Anyone who knows me knows that I have an addiction to cute shoes. I'd like to say it's only a minor addiction, but if I'm honest, I have to admit that I know that's not true - it's a serious shoe addiction. I love having shoes that perfectly match an outfit, and I just love cute shoes. I've recently found the perfect shoes, because they go with everything!

Now, I hope you've all clicked on the link and checked out the site for yourselves, but since I know not everyone will do that, I'll explain. Basically, there's this wonderful woman, Annie Mohaupt, who lives in Chicago, and she hand-makes shoes using environmentally friendly materials (sustainably-sourced wood and recycled rubber), which is, in and of itself, pretty neat. But the best part is that each pair of Mohop shoes is potentially hundreds of "pairs" of shoes, because you can lace them in a bunch of different ways using ribbons and string and whatever else suits your fancy. There are a bunch of base styles from which you can choose (wedge or bent plywood, various heel heights, different toe styles, etc.), and each pair of shoe bases comes with a set of 5 ribbons for you to start lacing. Or, you can do what I've done, and go hit up a craft store for a bunch of ribbons and doo-dads and create a whole bunch of awesome designs.

For those of you who are more at the forefront of fashion than I am, you may have read about these shoes in Lucky or US Weekly last year. I first heard about them from one of the Darden Student Bloggers (Mandy), and I happened to do so right after the consulting-firm-that-shall-not-be-named paid me my very much appreciated, hard-earned bonus. So, I broke down and spent far more on these shoes than I have ever spent on a pair of shoes before (if shoes are to me like nicotine is to smokers, shoes-on-sale are like crack*). BUT, I think it is totally worth it....because these are really like dozens of pairs of shoes, right? So, really, I actually probably spent LESS on these shoes than I have on any others, didn't I? AND, I'm helping support sustainability, American small businesses, and woman-owned enterprises. During a recession, no less. Ha! Take that! (Yes, I know rationalizing my addiction isn't helping matters).

Anywho...the shoes came yesterday, and I already wore them out for Mother's Day brunch today. They came with these ribbons already laced (I don't know if this is normal or was part of the sorry-these-are-late extra ribbons and such that Annie very kindly included for me. Also, I swear my feet don't usually look this weird...I think trying to take pictures of your own feet is just bound to turn out kinda poorly. Really, I swear I don't have cankles. I think the depth perspective is just really off given the angles). Regardless, the shoes looked like this when I got 'em:


And I laced up these cute ones (using new grosgrain ribbon from AC Moore at $.99 a roll...) to wear with a green top and white skirt to brunch:



So much fun!! I am really looking forward to wearing these all summer...and into the fall, since Charlottesville is warm much longer than Boston!
*Note that I am not trying to belittle those who are addicted to nicotine or crack. I think smoking is gross, but I recognize that cigarettes are addictive, and I largely fault the marketing tactics used to sell cigarettes more than the young people who start smoking and get hooked. And I'm certainly not trying to undermine the real problems faced by those addicted to stronger drugs. There are all sorts of socioeconomic issues there. Plus other mental health debates related to "addictions." But I think those are issues for another day...I just wanted to make a disclaimer in the event that I've managed to inadvertently offend someone.

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