Jeffrey Campbell Lita in Butterfly

I've been toying with the idea of buying a vintage kimono to wear as a shrug or light Summer cardigan and I found the perfect shoes to wear with it. My prayers were answered by the one and only Jeffrey Campbell making a pair of Litas in a beautiful butterfly print with a royal blue background. I love them do death and have been searching for the perfect pair of Litas to buy and I'm so glad I mindlessly scrolled around on Solestruck.com in a vain attempt to try and find some other shoes by the American label.

The structure has been recreated in so many different patterns and colours I've sort of been saving myself to find the perfect pair and I'm so glad I did- butterflies are a special motif to me. You have to be patient for them to come towards you and in Greek mythology they represent the soul and Psyche, the lover of Cupid. When I was a child and my Uncle died, I drew a picture of butterflies for his widow to cheer her up and I still have the thank you note after all these years. Butterflies are just these amazing impossible creatures of beauty and they're one of my favourite exhibits to visit at the zoo when I go.

I would love to wear them with a long and colourful kimono to really channel the oriental appeal of the prints but both items cost over one hundred dollars and without having participated as a referee in the big basketball tournament, I can't quite buy them without being able to know for certain I'll earn the money back yet. Still, they're in my size and I can pay via Paypal (one of the greatest inventions since online shopping) so I'm perfectly content for the moment. I can't wait to have a pair of heeled shoes I can wear with confidence! The butterfly ankle Litas are one of my favourite variations on what might possibly be one of Jeffrey Campbell's most famous shoes.

Gram Shoes

Gram is all about making sophisticated sneakers. We create shoes that fill the gap between sneakers and traditional shoes.

Our roots lie in the Scandinavian design aesthetic; design with clean lines and attention to details. Each model being unique in its own simplicity.

Our goal is to design and produce a range of unique shoes, that reflect the present, yet rely on the past.

The brand is centered around the concept of weight, with each shoe being named after its weight in grams.

Gram was founded in Stockholm in 2005 by Alexis Holm and Anna Stenvi. As head designer Alexis is still an active part of Gram, but currently lives and works in Hong Kong. The rest of the Gram crew are based in Stockholm, Sweden.

 

It was the bright coral red and mixing of primary colours clashing on the floral print on these casual shoes that attracted me to do a little bit of a dig and research about this Swedish brand- the thin decorative laces as well as the cute round toe and rubber soles remind me a bit of the Opening Ceremony desert boots but there's a splash of colour as well. In their other designs you'll see high-topped sneaker designs recreated in luxurious buffalo leather and the mingling of canvas materials in bright colours as well as leather. While these particular shoes would be very hard to style with for those who are all-out, bombastic and layer clothes in the drapery and eclectic style I can see these particular shoes going to very good use. I could easily see fashion blogger Susie Bubble (Susanna Lau) of Style Bubble wearing these shoes and having them peak out under masses of layered clothes and a long pleated skirt.

 

While shoes of this particular design are usually more suited towards those of us of the male persuasion, I can't help but feel jealous of the guys for getting to wear such lovely leather shoes with a pair of jeans. They could be worn by a girl too- to make the outfit more feminine I would personally suggest black tights as well as a short and flirty skirt that looks vintage maybe with a floral motif or little boys as well as a long and loose comfortable jumper. The shiny leather in the harsh professional photographer lights shows off the great contrast between that rusty shade of brown leather, the black as well as the laces which combine the two colours together and really pulls the shoes together.

Using only carefully selected premium materials and genuine hand crafting during the production process, every 380g is hand lasted by skilled artisans and matched pair by pair, for the ultimate dressed up comfort experience.
The 380G shoe embodies the essence of classic footwear with its simple derby cut paired with a sneaker like, light weight, dura-lite out- sole and rubber heel for unrivalled comfort.
Upper: Navy Blue Linen

Lining: Leather

Welt: Leather

Insole: Anatomic Rubber Sponge

Outsole: Hi-Density Rubber Sponge

Heel: Heavy Duty Natural Rubber
Laces: Round Waxed Cotton
Shank: Tempered Steel

 

The combination of a fine light brown tartan as well as leather and thick rust coloured shoe laces remind me a lot of my childhood in which I'd potter about the garden with my father helping him with odd jobs. Worn with skinny jeans or riding pants these boots would really add a nice vintage chic touch worn with say- a large woolen cape? I love receiving emails from American Apparel about their California select range which includes dead stock vintage items and the clashing season, I keep seeing snugly knits and ponchos for Winter while I'm enjoying the sunshine in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

The metal clasps keeping in place each turn in the shoelaces is very reminiscent of old school hiking boots but the structure and rounded toes in the black and dusty leather material is closer to tennis shoes. I haven't seen the two elements combined together in a shoe before so I must really tip my cap to Gram for being able to bring something new to the world of casual shoes.

The last two shoes aren't available on the Good as Gold online store which is based in New Zealand which I had used as the basis of this post but I couldn't resist including the two leather boots with linen material inserts of cameo and a jungle sort of print. These two boots may not be suitable for hiking in the mountains but walking around the zoo with a safari hat, bulky khaki vest and binoculars around your neck would make for quite the interesting photo shoot.

I Dream of Rubi

My contract as a Christmas casual will be up in January so that means I only have a few days to decide what I'd like to get using my staff discount while I can use it... I am hopeful to be kept on but there are ten other Christmas casuals at my store alone and while two of them are hopeless I don't know whether I will be able to stay there. It has been a while since I had a look through the Rubi shoes online store and I was delighted with the range of shoes and accessories in a suede tone, for example the wine colour on these gorgeous ankle boots and there's also a matching envelope clutch to match it as well. The boots remind me of my child hood in which I'd stop around our garden helping my father out with odd jobs for a little bit of pocket money and the slick suede colour would look good with say, a leopard print cardigan, a black dress or something in pure white. 

They'd just be a nice touch for colour blocking especially with the matching clutch... although being super insecure it'd be wonderful if I could add on a gold chain to sling across my body. The stitching as well as the colour of this clutch is simply fantastic, and the metal clasp around the bottom lip of the envelope made it even more attractive. It's on my Boxing Day Sale hit list, I really do want to stock up on some fantastic things from Rubi while it's still cheap to me.

Another thing I've been searching for is plain black slippers to replace a lot of dead ballet flats and I can get away with wearing some minimalist and simple for say, job interviews and other functions where I must impress a crowd. Another reason I've been lusting after something like these is to try and add spikes and studs to them in a vague attempt to recreate loafers studded by brands such as Jeffrey Campbell or shoes by Christian Louboutin. Also there's the Charlotte Olympia ballet flats as worn by Alexa Chung with cat details that I've been really wanting to buy, but should I go cheap and get a few pairs of these instead? Oh, I only have so much money and have to come to some tough decisions lately.

Red shoes are often some of the more difficult to style with and can either be a great hit or a miss- red was my favourite colour all throughout Primary school and I do still have a soft spot for it but do I risk getting shoes that may not even be suited to a lot of outfits I want to create in the year? Even so, after I finish reffing all my basketball games it'd be nice to be able to change into a shoe like this and allow my feet to breathe for a bit, even if they do just soak up some unwanted sweat. A lot of the foot is exposed for these shoes so while they may not be suited to working it'd be nice to build up a little bit of a tan again and keep it while looking good. I may just get a whole heap of these suede loafer shoes in red, black and blue with the reasoning that I will not need to search for flats for a while and I will be able to relax and take it easy as far as shoe hunting is concerned.

The suede ankle boots have a pixie toe finish at the top and match the gorgeous wine coloured envelope clutch I now have my heart set on. The problem with the 21st century is that even without going to the shops and outside I know what I want to buy... no where is safe these days and my wallet will be sure to hurt within the next few days.

Stolen Girlfriends Club X Jeffrey Campbell

I had seen this image some weeks ago on the micro-blogging site Tumblr and held onto the photograph for a while, hoping one day to identify the brand of clothing and shoes. Those pieces of information came clear to me late last night when scrolling through my dashboard for blogspot when I spotted a post by Brisbane store Violent Green.

Now Violent Green first came to my attention in December 2008 when I did a Google search for Stolen Girlfriends Club, whose jewellery range had appeared in the Australian edition of Vogue of that month.
Ever since I stumbled across Violent Green's blogspot my life changed; the event affected my style and made it more alternative, less mainstream and a little bit darker and it was that site that inspired me to begin my own blog.

It seems only fitting that I learn the mysterious identity of the shoes I had a mild obsession with for about a week's length; and it's a collaboration of two of my favourite brands.

Stolen Girlfriends Club are of New Zealand origins and they create clothing as well as thick silver jewellery, whereas Jeffrey Campbell hail from the heart of Los Angeles and have been in the footwear trade for about a decade. The collaboration of the two brands has produced the magnificent Emma ankle boot.

What I liked about the photograph in which the model wore the shoes was the dreamy palette of colours of the shirt and the suede detail of the denim shorts. It was those two pieces that then drew my attention to the pattern detail of the shoes, a shape I should have easily recognised as a Jeffrey Campbell trademark and the beautiful two tones of tan leather. For a boot of this design and Western cowboy flavour the colours of the leather and the wooden heel were very important to fully deliver the design of the shoes and I love the colours used for the Emma ankle boot and as demonstrated they can be worn with a cute pair of denim shorts and a shirt. They add height and magnitude but they seem fancy and cute at the same time.

It feels good to have finally uncovered the mystery of the nameless Tumblr photograph, and I'm delighted with the outcome of the collaboration between Stolen Girlfriends Club and Jeffrey Campbell. The golden zippers and the delicious tones of leather make it on the top of my Christmas wish list to Santa this silly season, as long as I keep wearing my high-heeled wedges and get used to walking with height- I may just become crazy enough to get a pair of these beautiful ankle boots and call them my cowboy boots. With leather of that colour, wooden heels and sculpted so perfectly in the Jeffrey Campbell's design, who could resist? Certainly not me.