The 90s are defnitely back! Remember all those cute little canvas and velvet chinese mary janes we all used to wear? Well, you don’t have to remember, cause here they are back in circulation!
Here’s a very sweet example of embroidered raffia mary janes. They’re super girlie and pretty comfortable to wear (these shoes were always sold next to the “manly” version which is the kong fu shoe), though the 90s version had very thin soles that meant you felt every little stone in your path. I’m not sure, but these modern ones look a bit further removed from the ground (if only by a tiny bit).
If the raffia version is a little bit too much for you, you’ll be happy to know that they come in a whole load of other colours and patterns, from the simple solids to the striped, flowered, laced and dotted.
You can get them from Office.
I’ve written about the Babycham Rockabilly Flash shoes before, but now Babycham have come up with a new design – the Rockabilly Flash Plaid! They’re totally neat, understated yet really quite funky. I love the plaid and denim combination, plus they also have a star-shaped upper eyelet, which is a pretty neat touch.
Once more, Babycham have managed to create shoes that are very “now” but are also pretty retro at the same time.
They look like comfortable shoes you could wear when you want to look funky and somewhat different but don’t want to go for a heel. The red, white and blue combination (especially with the hinted star) has a sort of all-American feel, too. Almost country & Western in a way, but without being too overtly American.
All in all, these are pretty damn funky.
You can get these from Schuh.
Here’s a nice pair of Crocs from the Cloggs sale. As you can see, they are somewhat more refined than their usual clog-like variety. They’re still made out of the same squidy, comfy material, but you could actually blend these with an every day outfit without your Crocs being blatantly out of place. I like the little bit of bling they’ve added to the strap, too.
Let’s face it, these aren’t the most stylish shoes, but they are the most stylish Crocs I’ve seen so far. I think most people wouldn’t even know they were Crocs if it weren’t for the blatant logo on the front (yeah, what’s with that?).
I’d say, if you find Crocs very comfortable and would want to wear them with everything but are not so keen on actually having the Croc-wearing unisex look, then go for these. They look 10 times better than the usual ones, you could wear them with anything and they’re actually pretty cheap.
They come in a range of colours (I counted 4 on the site – black, red, gold and brown).The black is the one most likely to pass as a normal shoe, though I do quite like the red.
You can now get 5% off the price of these (or any other shoes on there) if you buy these off the Cloggs site and use the voucher code: JAN36T before January 26.
These faux suede boots from Vegetarian Shoes look like great every day casual to smart casual boots. They’re simple and comfortable-looking with a low heel and you could obviously wear them with just about anything. I like the pointy toe. I guess that’s why they call them “Pixie boots”.
You could dress them up or down, for work or play and they’d be fine. If you’re the sort of person who fixates on one pair of shoes and wears them all the time till they die, then fixate on these – they’ll work out just fine.
They are simple, but most likely much better made than the cheap knock offs you’re likely to get in the usual faux suede department.
Oddly enough, it’s sometimes very easy to find weird and wonderful vegan shoes, but not so much your simple but stylish every day shoe. Vegetarian Shoes are good at producing good every day, functional footwear and every once in a while they have something that’s really very cool. These boots are a fine example of that.
You can get them from the Vegetarian Shoes website.
