Jimmy Choo

Jimmy Choo with ShoesieQ

A Shoefie (or should that be Choofie?!)

As you may know ShoesieQ likes to consider herself as something of an aspiring Shoe Siren. Well last night it would appear that her calls were answered, and then some, as she was lucky enough to be invited to attend an audience with Shoe Royalty, namely the extremely wonderful Professor Jimmy Choo at Jesus College, Cambridge.

Even better, Jimmy was being interviewed by a good friend, the equally wonderful Nicky Shepard, founder of Cambridge Style Week.

Nicky Shepard interviewing Professor Choo

In case you’re wondering what the great man had to say for himself, amongst many other facts Nicky managed to glean from Prof Choo were……

• The first shoes her ever made were for his mum (Awww!).
• Prof Choo’s view on success is if you have a name and make your parents, college and country proud it doesn’t really matter if you makes much money (Awww again!).
• Looking at new developments in the Shoeniverse, Prof Choo explained that 3-d printing is already used in China to manufacture some of the component parts of footwear, but humans still put the final product together. Although this will doubtless change, Prof C is old fashioned and will always want many parts of the shoe making process to be by human rather than computer. He also mentioned a machine has been invented that can accurately can scan feet – but he would personally still want to fit shoes by hand.
• His favourite pair were the last ones he made for Princess Diana. Sadly she died before could give them to her,so still has them to this day.
• His favourite designer is Giorgio Armani! Prof Choo rates him so highly as they share the same ethos, are both down to earth, his designs are simple, classic and very stylish, plus Mr A provides a lot of employment  for his native country Italy
• As you might imagine Jimmy has many pairs of shoes – not least because he’s often given them as gifts. However he passes most on to his friends after couple of months! But in his view everyone needs at least 4 or 5 pairs min as feet sweat, and shoes need to air. Which is also why he recommends you should always go for leather lined shoes as they breathe and mould to the foot better!

 

And in  case you’re wondering ShoesieQ managed to ask a question too! She had been warned that there would be a Q&A session at the end, so asked around for a killer question. There were loads of brilliant suggestions, but the one ShoesieQ plumped for was the brainchild of Alice Toby-Brant (aka Cambridge blogger The Middle Sister), namely:

“Would you design a truly decadent high heel specifically for a man and if so, which man would it be?”

This got a good laugh from the audience, not to mention Jimmy, which was an excellent start (thanks Alice!). His reply was that some men already wear his heels, especially in places like Hong Kong – but it’s almost always in the evening, say at a bar or nightclub. But he added that they needed to practice to wear stilettos – though tbh most of the audience knew that already………. 😉

 

FYI and last, but certainly not least: if this has whetted your appetite, Jimmy Choo has an exhibition on in town, Gems of the Silk Road. The show opened on February 2nd at new Cambridge International Art gallery on Jesus Lane and runs for a month.

 

Shoe Maths Part II

And following on from last week’s post, isn’t this THE best birthday card to send to a Shoe person?!!

Btw if you happen to know Emma, please send her to ShoesieQ’s shoe shop asap…… 😉

Shoe Maths!

OK, OK, ShoesieQ admits that whilst this is not perhaps an Oxymoron, the words “Shoes” and “Maths” are not often found in the same sentence. Especially a 2 word one!

Mind you, now she thinks about it ShoesieQ isn’t even sure that Shoe Maths is even a true sentence. Isn’t there supposed to be a verb lurking around somewhere?  Hmmmmm, ShoesieQ is now starting to wonder if she dare show her face in her Cambridge shop ever again at this rate, as she has some seriously bright customers and is starting to feel seriously dense!

Anyway, we digress. Getting back on topic, ShoesieQ has a question of a vaguely equatiastical bent (and yes, she’s fully aware that to make matters even more random she’s starting to make words up).

So, my dearest and most patient reader, the question ShoesieQ is finally about to ask, is what do you get if you complete the following sum?

+

Well, dear shoeslover, in this particular case the answer is the most wonderful new range of boots by a new brand to Modish by Bueno that ShoesieQ stumbled across during her last but one trip to Milan. Tbh this rather rubbishy photo doesn’t really do these gorgeous boots justice. The colours are brighter for starters – plus you probably can’t tell just how soft the leather is, or indeed how comfy they are on! And you’ll definitely not have worked out is that the range starts at just £99.99 for the Chelsea boots, and tops out at a very reasonable £155 for the mid calf ones 🙂

What will probably come as less of a surprise is that these boots are proving rather popular, so if you fancy a fair we suggest you hot foot it down to Cambridge or Saffron Walden pronto!

Qu: What does a Shoe Siren wear to her wedding?

Answer:

 

These babies by Hogl!

Though for the avoidance of doubt, ShoesieQ reckons she’ll also stretch to a frock. Although with just a week to go until the BIG DAY, sadly it’s looking like the frock will need to stretch to her 😦

Btw, and in case anyone else has fallen in love with these utterly gorgeous courts, they’re by Hogl, cost £135 and can be found in ShoesieQ’s Cambridge shop right now 🙂

Have you discovered the Joy of Tidying Part II (Part Shoes?!)

Is there such a thing as too many shoes…….?

Well, dear reader, if you’ve spotted ShoesieQ’s last post you’ll see that she’s had a go at getting her life in order. Well, her wardrobe at least. But with one major omission. Namely her (frankly) vast shoe collection.

Now shoes have pretty much been ShoesieQ’s thing since she was a small child, many many moons ago. And as such you may not be too shocked to hear that her collection at one point reached about 140 pairs. Though in her defence she was living in Italy at the time, and whilst this is undoubtedly a very wonderful country in many many respects, Italy has to be the last place in the world that is safe for a shoe-obsessive such as herself.

Anyway since that, ermmmm “peak” 13 years ago ShoesieQ has been quietly whittling down her collection. So much so that she’s managed to get it down to a (relatively) impressive 65 pairs by the end of 2016. But she’d been putting off applying the K’O (Kondo). Not entirely sure why – cos although 65 is a relatively small number for her – it’s still over 3 times the average for British women. Plus and perhaps more importantly, 65 pairs is still far to many to fit into ShoesieQ’s 2 wardrobes – making it impossible to really appreciate what she has. Meaning that, like so many other women, ShoesieQ just ended up wearing the same 3 pairs pretty much all the time. And for someone who owns a couple of shoe shops that HAD to change!

So one morning ShoesieQ made herself a large, strong cup of coffee, pulled on her big girls pants (yes, one pair did survive the previous Kondo cull!) and got to work, piling all 65 pairs onto the landing. She then thought she’d take a photo for posterity, but really struggled to get them all in shot – which perhaps sums up the problem! Anyway ShoesieQ then womanfully picked up each pair in turn, looked lovingly upon its countenance and repeated the Kondo mantra – namely “Do you spark joy?”

Now down to 37 pairs – even the cat looks impressed!

And you know – for one reason or another – 28 pairs did not. Which means that for the first time since she was a student ShoesieQ owns less than 40 pairs of shoes. Which for her is almost the same as going barefoot 😉

 

Have you discovered the Joy of……..Tidying?!

4 November 2015; Marie Kondo, on the Society Stage during Day 2 of the 2015 Web Summit in the RDS, Dublin, Ireland. Picture credit: Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE / Web Summit

Up until very recently, ShoesieQ reckoned there were just 3 types of people in the world. Those who are good at maths, and those who aren’t………….

But it seems that there is now a new way of dividing the sheep from the lambs. Just ask your friends if they’ve come across Marie Kondo? You’ll either get:

•  A very quizzical look, possibly accompanied by a question along the lines of “Isn’t she the latest big Shoe Designer/Supermodel/Member of the Sugababes?”

Or

• He or she (though it’s usually the latter) will instantly develop a rather maniacal look in eyes, and start to babble on  the Magic of Tidying, Sparks of Joy and the absolute bliss of having a neatly folded drawer of knickers!

Those of you who know ShoesieQ at least a little bit would have put her very firmly in the quizzical-looking brigade (!). Well, they would have done until recently. For, dear reader, since then she has been well and truly K’O(ndo)’d!

Up until that point ShoesieQ was pretty much the opposite of a tidy person. And she’d been reading reports of this book that promised to transform people’s lives with the (so-called) “Art” of tidying with eyebrows raised so high that they could have disrupted the flightpath to Stansted airport. But then a friend with a similarly  lax attitude to all things domestic told  ShoesieQ that she really should give this little book a go. So she did. And my word, that really was one of her better decisions, it really was.

It boils down to a few simple principles. Go through everything you own, item by item, and just keep things that make you happy sums up a lot of it. Then find a place for the stuff you’re going to keep, somewhere easy to see, easy to access, and easy to put away again. She’s really keen on folding things and storing them vertically, so they rest against rather than on top each other: making drawers work like a filing cabinet! And it might sound odd,but that works ridiculously well. Here’s ShoesieQ’s trouser drawer just so you can see what she means!

And it has to be said that Ms Kondo is as mad as a box of frogs. For instance every day Marie thanks her handbag for the hard work of carrying her purse and lipstick about and her home for keeping her dry and warm. She also believes that her possessions have feelings of their own. Bonkers, yes. But even such madness isn’t completely without merit. Just re-frame it slightly as a desire to value your possessions and being grateful for them, and that’s really not such a bad lesson eh? And what better time of year to start?

Anyway, as a result of said tidy ShoesieQ chucked out at least 6 bin bags of clothes that did anything but “Inspire Joy”, when she’d thought about it (possibly because at good 50% of them were at least a size too small for her these days). And it really did feel good! Mind you ShoesieQ has not tackled her shoe collection yet………. 😉

 

 

 

Quite Great? More like Blimmin’ Marvellous!

Today ShoesieQ brings glad tidings: her shop Modish has been chosen to be featured as part of Quite Great’s Guide for tourists and shoppers coming to Cambridge – Cambridge Unwrapped!

The lovely people at Quite Great have taken it upon themselves to give visitors to our beautiful city a few inside tips on THE best places in Cambridge for a bit of shopping or a bite to eat. Pete Bassett, the boss of Quite Great, very kindly explained that all the shops and outlets chosen are examples of must go to Cambridge retailers who truly understand both the heartbeat of the city and the way to give shoppers a great experience.

The very slight downside is that this guide is via the medium of You Tube, and if you are indeed ShoesieQ that makes it a teensey weensey bit excruciating to watch.

But she has bitten the bullet (!) and added a link so you can see for yourself. In fact it’s such a great idea here’s the link to the whole thing!

Cambridge Unwrapped: Modish

Cambridge Unwrapped: All

 

Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you The Sliced Loaf!

If you are, in the immortal words of Ray Davies,  a dedicated follower of fashion, you won’t fail to have noticed a slightly surprising new trend that the likes of Alexa et al have been sporting over the last few weeks, namely the “Sliced Loaf”.

Now in case you were wondering about the sanity of said fashionistas, ShoesieQ needs to point out that women are NOT rushing down to Lidl (or even Waitrose) en masse, grabbing a large Mothers Pride White Toaster Loaf and strapping two slices onto their tootsies.

What they are doing instead is popping down to their local shoe shop and walking out with a pair of backless loafers. Now obviously “backless loafers” doesn’t sound anywhere fashion-y enough for the style cognoscenti , so some wag decided to sex things up by coming up with an alternative moniker for said shoes. But sadly they coined the frankly ludicrous Sliced Loaf. And even more sadly a load of credulous fashion journalists have adopted this ridiculous name!

Which is a pity as the shoe itself can actually be rather great. Obviously not the furry version that makes it look as though, with every step, you’re massacring a small family of chipmunks. The less said about those, the better! But hey, at least the women wearing them aren’t torturing themselves with every step, which makes a pleasant change from most fashion footwear eh? And worn with trousers of just about any length they look pretty cool.

What’s more, said shoes make ShoesieQ feel remarkably smug, as her shop Modish is somewhat (unusually!) ahead of the game as it has sold backless loafers by Geox for the past few years now. And indeed has them in stock as she types in case you wanted to give them a go 🙂

 

New shoes (and boots!) for Autumn

Well, as ShoesieQ writes, it seems that the summer is still hanging on. Which bearing in mind that its now pretty much the end of September (!) means just one thing: Strictly Come Dancing is back! Plus, perhaps more pertinently (at least as far as this blog is concerned) it’s time to think about buying some new shoes or, even better, BOOTS!

So, on the off chance that you, dear shoelover, are wondering what you need to look out for in the shops this season, here’s ShoesieQ’s Top 5 trends for AW16:

 

 1) Toes are having a bit of what fashionistas like to term a “moment” – so you’ll continue to see a few pointy shoes and boots, such as these gorgeous suede courts by Hogl and K&S. But if you look hard you may also spot there’s also a sub-trend of  squared off toes, particularly on biker boots.

2) Chelsea boots. Yes we know, not exactly high fashion, but as always oh so useful, so definitely worth a mention. As you can see from these fin examples by Fly London and Vagabond, this season’s Chelseas they’re a bit more grungy, with a platform and or a bit of a heel rather than the ladylike version we saw so much of last year.

 

3) Loafers and Lace Ups. These fab shoes by Vagabond, Tamaris and Lilimill respectively are proof, if proof were needed, that Androgeny rules!And as you can see from these pics the most fashionable Oxfords, brogues and lace ups are on a bit of a platform. Which leads us nicely on to……

4) Platforms. Elegant wedges have all but disappeared to be replaced by the resurgence of the Platforms of all depths and sizes, from barely there to full-on 1970s in your face (though there are still plenty of wedge platforms about too – phew!). FYI these utterly gorgeous boots are by Fly London

and then last, but very much NOT least…………

 

5) Pewter. This is the main trend you’ll see everywhere! Hip Hip Hooray – pewter is very much a Modish favourite! Mainly because it incorporate two things we love more than anything – a bit of subtle shiny-shiny, along with the chameleon-like ability to go with just about any colour under the sun. What’s not to love! NB It’s only fair ro warn you that the Black and Pewter boots above by Fly London are selling like hotcakes, so if you fancy a pair you’ll need to get your skates on!

So, ladies and gentlemen, the great news about Autumn 2016, at least in terms of what we’ll be wearing on our feet, is that there’s something for pretty much everyone. And as doubtless this lovely warm weather will be buggering off shortly, ShoesieQ suggests that you head off and treat yourself to a lovely new pair of shoes or boots ASAP!

Geox Nebula sneakers: So what’s the biggie?!

You’ll have to be blind to have missed the publicity surrounding Geox’s latest shoe launch: for the Nebula sneaker. But ShoesieQ must admit to some trepidation when she first heard about them. After all trainers are everywhere these days. Just what could Geox do that’s so special?

Well once ShoesieQ tried on some of the early samples about 6 months ago she thought she’d give them a go at her shop Modish, as they really are fabulous.

Incredibly lightweight, flexible, ultra-cushioned and supportive and fully breathable, plus, crucially, they look really neat on the feet. ShoesieQ has had shoe shops for over 8 years now and she’s never come across anything quite like it. Sure other brands can come up trumps with one of two of these benefits: but she’s never come across anything that does all of them!

Geox describe it like walking on clouds, and they’re not far wrong.

In fact she was so impressed she bought them in 6 colours! Which bearing in mind she’s only ever stock 3 colours in any one shoe max shows how good they are!

If you’re sceptical (and ShoesieQ can understand if you are, she was too!), just pop into Modish and try a pair to see for yourself! Or if you’d rather just take a look online here’s a pic of one not moving around at, followed by a link to all the colours we’re selling at Modish

http://www.modishonline.co.uk/?searchStr=nebula&x=0&y=0