Time to Bye

For everything there is a season: there is a time to buy new shoes (ie, all the time), and a time to say goodbye. This autumn I sighed over my adored little ballet flats. There was no way around it. I had to face facts. They were trashed, completely and utterly.

And when it comes to trashed shoes, I am utterly ruthless. Though they served me well in their time – so soft and comfy, so ladylike and elegant – and made my feet look quite petite, these Supersoft walking shoes by Diana Ferrari were truly on their last legs.

Early one morning I took them out of the house, and tenderly placed them amongst the autumn leaves shed by the great elm above to capture their last moment of glory.

And then I threw them in the bin.

I already have their replacements, two pairs of suede Mary-Jane flats, one black, one red. Stay tuned. 

Leather Weather

Don’t you love it when you go shopping in your closet and find something totally amazing you’d forgotten about?

Recently I had realised I needed a new tote bag of sorts for this inclement weather. All spring and summer I had been using a cloth bag made for me by a friend, but it was no good on rainy days. I was about to hop online to start searching for a likely candidate when suddenly I remembered a white leather tote bag I had not used for a couple of years.

I love the minimalist white that will go with anything.

By Melbourne accessories designer Elise Caarels, the tote bag is made of soft but sturdy vanilla-coloured leather decorated with piping, and lined in beige cotton printed with an Art Deco style geometric circle print. I love the minimalist white that will go with anything. I purchased it new online many years ago and used it for some time before retiring it. Sadly the label closed down in 2010. I found the tote stored lovingly in its dustbag, sitting in the bottom of my closet.

It is a perfect size, and fits a smaller handbag that I use at lunchtime if I leave the theatre for a spot of shopping, as well as my heels, my lunch, a magazine or book, and a few sundry other items. Even better, it zips entirely closed and is weather-proof. And best of all, it didn’t cost me anything!

Utterly Armless

Celebrating the Roaring Twenties in a Special Series

I think it was late last year that I visited a vintage fair in Melbourne with my friend Rapunzel. Most of the goods for sale were very expensive, and each of us limited ourselves to a pair of vintage 80s sunglasses costing about $35 each.

I had always wanted little round sunglasses. With grey frosted plastic frames and tortoiseshell arms, they were reminiscent of the 1920s and suited my new bob admirably. I wore them often, and they were often admired.

Until recently when I pulled them out of their green leather case … and I discovered an arm was missing. Not the screw, mind you – that was in the case – but the arm. Now whoever heard of losing a sunglasses arm and not the screw? Ridiculous. The missing arm was nowhere to be found, and I was quite cross. And in a case of friendly synchronicity, Rapunzel had already lost hers.

A couple of weeks later I visited my favourite designer sunglass discount shop and found a new pair of round sunglasses that were such clear plastic they look like glass, with reflective shades. They are by label Mink Pink and cost only $25. Win. One of the arms exhorts me to Be Brave & Free.

Free is better than lost for sure. 

Cast Aside

Another pair of shoes I had to be firm about tossing recently was this cute little pair of Oriental-inspired wedges by old label Unique. This was a great little shoe store – you could always count on them to find something unusual.

These wedges – bought long before any other shoe store stocked them – always made me think of glossy Chinese black and red lacquerwork. The two straps feature little bows reminiscent of Chinese knots, but look what tragedy befell them: the soles completely detached!

Of course, I could have had them repaired, but the leather heels were very scuffed and scratched with wear too, and in order to make way for new shoes one must be utterly ruthless. There is no room in my shoe cupboard for sentiment. 

A Tiny Tiny Tale of Tiny Tiny Earrings

Onyx, sterling silver and malachite stud earringsUsually I adore anything that can be described variously as enormous, mad, outré, outrageous, wild, bizarre, eccentric, quirky, whimsical and so on. Often friends, seeing some strange and indescribable item in a vintage store, will say to me, “You could get away with that Princess Tatiana.” (Sometimes they say, ‘your Royal Highness’.) I try to take that as a compliment – as I am quite certain it is meant.

But occasionally I like tiny little things too. Like these tiny, tiny stud earrings. I have collected a few pairs that suit me when I am in a rare wallflower mood. One day, many years ago now, a dish of these tiny little earrings fell into my bottomless laundry basket. I was aghast, for I was unable to find them all again.

It was not until years later, when I finally reached the bottom of the abyss that is the laundry basket (it was a veritable laundering miracle, one of those halcyon days when you have no housework to do) that I found the missing tiny tiny earrings. Joy!

Now I’m just waiting for a minimalist wallflower mood to unaccountably wash over me so I can wear a pair of them again …