The “At-Home” Diaries: What Lies Beneath

Last week I delved deep into the dark recesses of my wardrobe and found what I consider to be some of the best shoes of all time; my time anyway. I had forgotten about these sparklers parked underneath my newer must-haves. It’s obvious I am prone to a shoe or ten – shoes have always been my thing – because I believe a great shoe is ageless and can dress up the classic all-black in a nanosecond.

Like a good Bordeaux wine, they have aged well.

Some of these beauties date back for more than twenty years; I call that a sturdy investment. The wonderful news, I will wear them now they have resurfaced. I believe more and more we will be re-purposing our fashion heroes so what we choose in the future will become even more important. When we do revert back to dressing I know I will be focussing on pieces to last.

During these isolation days, my dressing has been interesting. It goes all of two ways and that is I gravitate between the sweats and the best dresses. The pieces I want to wear when I get out of the comfortable gear are what, in the past, I saved for “best”. The in-between fashion has now been forgotten, which is interesting to me as my “what to wear” behaviour changes course. I don’t know if I will return to my old ways as I choose to follow the less is more and investment dressing approach to fashion.

As for the shoes; it’s all about sneakers and trainers.

Tottering around in the Manolo’s would look fine, just not with the sweats, but whom am I kidding. There is no way I’m wearing heels for my own appraisal; it’s comfort all the way. So while the body may be waving to high fashion, the feet are placed firmly on the ground.

I do alternate my footwear – between trainers, sneakers and the in-between models – and that’s about it. Like tees, there are never too many. They are the one item in my shoe cupboard really doing the miles and where once I thought I had too many pairs; now I’m wondering what colour the next might be. xv