Saturday, April 19, 2008

A Love Story

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I first fell in love with these Balenciaga boots when I saw the A/W 2007 slide show on style.com the day after they were shown in Paris. I fell harder when Vogue used them in an editorial referring to Stevie Nicks' style for their annual Fashion Rocks supplement.
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I was prepared to add them to my list of unrequited loves when I found out how much they cost, but then I came across a photo of Erin Wasson in the closed-toe boot, admitting they were not the real deal.
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(from style.com: Her shoes attract some compliments, but she's not trying to fool anybody. "I got these on the street for like $50," she says. "This ain't no Balenciaga shit.")
I googled and stalked the boots until I found them: Jeffrey Campbell, and a boutique in Atlanta, Georgia still had them in stock for under $200! I was briefly disenchanted by a horrible Bebe knockoff; more so when paparazzi photos surfaced of Hilary Duff picking up coffee wearing the Balenciagas.
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Everything changed when yesterday I realized I hadn't wandered over to the Steve Madden website for a while. I'd like to be a fashion purist and lash out against "designers" who leech off other designers' creativity and hard work, but alas, my salary won't permit it. I am a big fan of affordable luxury, and my overactive imagination (activated as a young, only child) allows me to fool myself into thinking that the look translates. Despite my footwear design instructors at FIT railing against the construction and anatomical-correctness of Steve Madden shoes, I've amassed a bit of a collection: the red leather, wooden-wedge, t-strap maryjanes a la Chloe, the purple leather, platform, multi ankle strap/buckle boots in the manner of Miu Miu..
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..and very soon, the black, open-toe, open-heeled, lace-up, double-buckle Balenciaga-style boots!
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And we'll live happily ever after. The End!

photos: style.com, bebe.com, stevemadden.com

3 comments:

Unknown said...

hello Kelly!
you have a cool blog here! i started a blog also yesterday, this is so freaking fun ;D
anyway keep up with the good work!!

Caroline said...

my friend just ordered some from urbanog.com. hope that helps!

FASHION CHALET said...

Great blog!
I ♥ Wasson and those shoes!!