Last week, I bought an item I never thought I would. Now, now, nothing risque; this is not that kind of blog. What did I buy?
Brogues. There, I said it. I bought a pair of Brogues.
Eh?
Yes, you heard me correctly. A pair of BROGUES!
So why the confession? I mean buying a pair of brogues is hardly radical, I'll grant you. Allow me to explain.
Prior to last week, brogues = school shoes = run to the hills. I wore a pair for school gazillion of years ago as a teen. When I left school, I just never EVER wanted to wear them again. To be fair, I felt the same about green too. My sixth form school uniform was green. Took me years before I could comfortably wear green again, but that's another story.
I liked brogues on other people. I just had no desire to revisit them myself. But last week a shift happened; a small, internal, tectonic plate shift. I'm walking to the bus stop, having taught a lunchtime Pilates class and there's a branch of Jones the Bootmaker pretty much slap bang next to the stop. I sometimes press my nose up against the window, sometimes I mooch inside and on that day I mooched inside, not least because BIG RED SALE SIGNS were plastered all over the window.
I saw these brogues and ting - SCHOOL - popped into my head. But the more I looked at them, the more the colour intrigued me. I saw they were a size 3, reduced from £79 to £39. I thought, nothing ventured, nothing gained, I'll pop 'em on.
And didn't they just fit rather well, thank you madam.
I wiggled my toes, as you do.
I walked up and down, as you do.
I posed with my feet in different positions, as you do.
I wiggled my toes a little bit more, as you do.
I started to think about what I would wear with them, as you do.
I started to think about when and where I would wear them... as you do.
'Oh no.' said small voice of reason. 'Purchase alert everyone, we're on a purchase alert.'
'You do realise they're brogues, don't you?' said small voice of reason.
'I know', I answered, as I wiggled my toes even more.
By now the toes were wishing I'd stop wiggling them. They were beginning to suffer wiggle fatigue.
I remembered seeing a few bloggers wearing some very cool and decidedly un-school like brogues and thought um... maybe I could be part of the beautiful brogues party. Here's Anna, of Anna's Island Style, very elegant in her rose coloured brogues and printed trousers.
And Samantha, of Fake Fabulous, rocking silver and white brogues.
And Catherine, of Not Dressed As Lamb, looking effortlessly laid back in a chambray shirt and coral brogues, no less.
All 3 ladies looking very stylish indeed. I was brought out of my fellow bloggers reverie by the assistant asking the eternal question they always ask; 'how do they feel?'. Definitely time to make a decision. They feel surprisingly comfortable for new shoes; the uppers are soft leather and the insoles are padded. But the tipping point was the unusual colour. It's light enough to wear in Spring and Summer but not so light that they'd look like I was trying too hard in Autumn and Winter. The box said Taupe - a vague colour term if ever there was one. According to that font of all wisdom, wiki-pedia:
Taupe is a word that is used to denote any of a variety of colors. The colors it denotes fall into a range from dark tan to grayish brown or brownish gray. The word derives from the French noun taupe, which in turn is from the Latin talpa, both meaning "mole" (the mammal).
So there you go. I purchased mole coloured shoes! The fact that the colour is hard to pigeon-hole is right up my street. They're neither grayish brown or brownish gray. They're a grayish-greenish-pewtery-I'm-too-cool-to-be-pinned-down-to-an-actual-colour, colour!
If you've been reticent in the past about giving brogues a whirl, why not take a leaf out of my book and dip your toe into a pair. Two major high street chains both have brogues in colours that work with so many outfits from jeans to tea dresses.
These autumnal brown ones are currently on offer, reduced from £25 to £20.
And these ones in a classic navy are a little more expensive at £59 but are leather and come in ½ sizes.
If you're looking for more than basic colours, then these burgundy ones, colour wise, are right on the money this season.
And their purple combi brogue is perfect for Autumn/Winter and available in all sizes at the moment. £60
Now I've confessed, I'm looking forward to styling my brogues. I've a feeling they'll be seen alot on the blog over the next few months! Thanks to Anna, Samantha and Catherine for kindly letting me use their photographs for my post.
Are you a brogue gal?
Linking with / Confident Twosday / Turning Heads Tuesday / Garay Treasures / /
