Vegan Shoe Addict

There is often a shortage of shoes that are comfortable yet stylish and these chunky mary janes from Rocket Dog seem to provide a fine answer to this problem. The cushioned sole makes them bouncy and fun to walk in and the design is girlie without being too girlie and unusual with the little stitch detail and retro-patterened lining. They have a reasonably wide fitting, which is rare among the usual crop of mary jane and ballerina pumps and while not quite as dainty as some, they’re definitely cute and fashionable enough to go with a pair of tights and a skirt or a dress.

In fact, these shoes are the sort that would go well with just about anything so would make a good pair of “default shoes” to have and wear constantly with every imaginable outfit. They’re pretty cheap, too.

These are available from Schuh. They’re called “hard copy”, for some reason. They also come in brown.

Recently, I wrote about a neat little pair of vegan white trimmed black mary janes. I just found a similar pair on the M&S website.
The M&S ones are slightly less modern-looking and have a cute retro button detail. They also have a chunkier square heel which is friendlier for the heel-shy.
They cost 25 pounds, which is pretty damn cheap, I’m sure you’ll agree.
They look like they have plastic soles, so combined with the low, comfortable heel, I’m guessing they’d be quite comfortable to dance in, though will probably not have particularly good grip (hence why I’m guessing they’d be good for dancing in – think of all those spins and turns!).

Like all of the Marks’ shoes I’ve seen, they’re not exactly fashion week scoop material, so don’t expect them to make your outfit in one fell swoop. You know the score: choose a good outfit that could benefit from  black and white retro shoe action and they’d contribute finely.  I’m kinda thinking along the lines of bold coloured tights and an understated but well cut dress.

These vegan mary janes are available from the Marks and Spencer site.

In keeping with this week’s apparent trend of cheap and useful vegan shoes you can use to put the finishing touches on a fine looking outfit, here are some black square toed mary jane heels. The square toe is apparently very in nowadays and here is a good example of reasonably priced, square toed vegan heels.

If these shoes were a person, they probably wouldn’t be your best friend or the love of your life, but they’d always be there for you when you needed them. You know, the sort of friend who’s not the most exciting person in the world, but you can spend an entirely pleasant evening with them every once in a while or work together on a successful project at the office.

If you’re not good with high heels, though, they could be the slightly grating friend who’s always there for you, but you sometimes wish you were hanging out with a better friend instead.

You can get these at Dorothy Perkins.

Cheap, cheerful and perfectly suited to unassumingly but stylishly accompany your party outfit, here are some truly useful shoes. These spikey-heeled mary janes from Dorothy Perkins won’t reinvent the wheel of high fashion, but would work well with most outfits.

They seem like decent enough shoes with classic lines and the spikey heel makes them look a tiny bit kinky. My only concern is that they may well look somewhat cheap on close inspection (they are cheap, at 30 UK pounds).

If your dress or other combination is eye-catching enough, though, these would stay quietly in the background and add favourably to the overall impression without appearing out of place. They may not steal the show, but they’ll add nice enough backing vocals, which is exactly what you need sometimes.

Available from Dorothy Perkins.

If you’re feeling low and need a little pick-me-up, then how does an extra 5″ sound? No, not that kind of inches, you perverts! These huge huge goth mary jane platform heels by T.U.K.

These are probably the highest you can get this side of full-on stripper heels. They are called “bondage”, perhaps because of the multitude of straps.

“Maybe”, I hear some of you say, “because the heels are so high, you’d feel like you were tied up when trying to walk”. But no, my uninitiated ones, the chunky heel and platform should actually make these a relative breeze to walk (and dance) in.
In their own way, these are actually pretty sensible shoes. The flared heel means they stop short of being your standard fetish shoes (too comfortable, you see).

Not quite your office shoes either (unless your office is pretty damn cool), these are nonetheless pretty versatile when it comes to a range of alternative looks. T.U.K make the bread and butter shoes of many an alternative scene, offering a look that stands out from the uninitiated, “normal” crowds, but still follows all the fashion rules that make up the non-conformist uniform.

You could spike up an otherwise sweet retro ensemble, go for full psychobilly, dark rock chick or goth or just use these as an aid to reach high shelves or look down on people.

T.U.K shoes are generally stable and comfortable (I own a few pairs), though they do sometimes tend to scuff and mark easily. Luckily, they’re pretty cheap.

These vegan platform heels are available from Schuh.

These cute little black and white mary jane heels are simple but effective. The heel isn’t too high, so they appear to be pretty comfortable even if heels are not your thing (although the pointy heel can take a bit of getting used to if you can’t walk in heels at all).

They are still very girlie and chic, though, and don’t look too “sensible”. They would certainly dress up any outfit and the black/white combination means they would go with most things.

While not quite retro in design, the colour combination certainly is, so they could fit a whole range of looks from modern to vintage, as long as you’re not too precious about being 100% authentic in your vintage look. Great as work shoes or party shoes and not too expensive, at less than £30.

Available from Next Directory.