Clarks are one brand that's been consistent throughout my whole life, as a teen my mum shopped in our local store for her shoes when we had each of our sons it was Clarks we headed too. We still have their 'first shoes' photos which Clarks seem to take for all first customers with the purchase and fitting of baby shoes and our sons even know the staff members now in Glenrothes as they're really friendly and welcoming (and we're in there like every other month). Even now we head there for their gym shoes and school shoes mostly due to the superior quality and durability and also because our eldest son has skinny ankles and a wider front foot so getting conventional shoes is a nightmare. On hubster and I's first date thirteen years ago he was wearing the iconic Clarks Wallabees (which he wants another pair of). See Clarks has been one of a few constant brands in my life, I can't say the same for many other brands, unfortunately.
The funny thing is I don't mind dropping £100 to £200 on footwear for my sons but always seem to find excuses as to why I shouldn't pick up a pair for myself from Clarks. I always use the excuse 'I can get them cheaper elsewhere' or 'what if they hurt my feet' - I use the term 'excuses' because I've since been proven wrong. To change up my shoe wardrobe I recently purchased a pair of stilettos from Next, a pair of Nike trainers from the sports shop, some booties from Primark, some tassel flats from H&M and some flats from New Look - they were all low cost (with the exception of the trainers) and looked fantastic in store.
The thing is after wearing them for a day or so my-feet-hurt-like-hell! I've since tried to find excuses for 'not' wearing because I hate to waste money and I hate hubster knowing that I've basically wasted money on shoes or clothing even more so. I finally had to swallow my pride and tell him the truth about having no viable footwear especially since my flats weren't practical due to the wet weather, the stilettos caused scabs (not nice I know) and the Primark booties are torturous weapons!
After finally admitting to being a cheapskate and with hubsters recommendation I decided to take care of my poor tootsies.
Elsa Milly booties @£59.99 | Hotel Image cream brogues @ £65 | Busby Jazz monk shoes @ £69.99 | Carousel Trick flats @ £39.99 | Ciera Pier heeled brogues @ £59.99 | Material Art tan boots @£69.99
My local store is quite small so they don't stock every style from the website. What they did stock was good enough and so much so I had no idea which to try first. I saw loads of awesome brogues, boots, monk shoes and similar androgeny styles but I had to put on the sensible cap to really narrow it down. I figured I had to be able to walk for a good amount of time - that knocked out the sky scraper brogues *sigh* - I didn't want to look too mumsy - so that knocked out some of the plainer styled boots - I had to be able to wear them when the ground was wet - that knocked out the cut out monk shoes, which finally left me with these beauts....
Tan boots from their new ankle boots collection, shiny flat lace-up brogues and some faux crocodile wedge booties. I felt so bad asking the Clarks boy to try them all on but I vary between a size 3, 3.5 and 4 and wanted to really check I wasn't going to waste my money on shoes that would hurt, cause me to bleed or wince in pain like I'd done so many times before.
The tan boots - oh I loved these - the issue I had was that the size 4 was far too big and the size 3 was a bit too close for comfort. I loved the small kitten heel on these and the very slight cowboy feel they had, I would have purchased these had the size fit because these would go with everything from denim, dresses, trousers - well absolutely everything really. They would also be ideal in all weather and I could absolutely walk in these for hours.
I then tried on the shiny brogues, honestly, I couldn't even picture these because I really felt like mutton dressed as lamb. See maybe small and from the back get mistaken for a young girl but I really do not look teenage-young anymore and I felt as though I was trying to look younger, be younger or simply look like a hipster. I love shiny anything so I did have some weird magpie attraction to them and I still love these shoes but on me - bleurghghghg!
Finally came the booties...
Ahhhhhhhhhh *angels sing*
These are everything. I didn't think I would love these as much as I do because I normally veer away from faux anything and especially crocodile prints but when I tried them on they completely changed, they went from being quite plain and almost ageing to being so awesome. To me, these look grown up, put together and stylish without overdoing it.
The cut on the ankle is slimming and while these have a heel the wedge takes away any pressure on the foot which makes these easy to walk in and, they're as comfortable as wearing flats. The best bit, and this is what I didn't realise comes as standard in most of Clarks shoes is that the heel bit (the bit that normally hurts or rubs away the skin at the Achilles) is padded! There's absolutely no sharp edges or seams that could cause you any aches or pain and I just feel so much calmer when out and about now because I know I don't need to pack my plasters or worry about having sore soles. Especially when I'm working all day.
Maybe I'm professing my love for these too much but after having years of cheap but fashionable shoes I'm a convert through and through and Clark's style is so-up-to-date now that I'll have no problem only buying my footwear from here. I've since started scoping out Wallabies for hubster so we can truly be a Clarks family - happy feet - a happy family I say. You can check out their ankle boot collection here (link) if you fancy it guys.
Tip: If you're going into your local store if you ask about the email sign up they'll give you a little card to fill in with your details and email which then gets you 20% off! I got my Elsa Milly booties for £48 *hoo-rah*
Elyse
Statement: PR Sample
i haven't actually been to clarks since i was a child (which child didn't go there to buy school shoes haha) but i must go back as they do seem to have some awesome shoes! thanks for sharing :) x
ReplyDelete| Life as a Petite || Fashion, Crafts & Lifestyle Blog |
love the tan boots! never buy clarks shoes for myself but always buy my little boy shoes from there.
ReplyDeleteSophie
xx
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