The Blue-Footed Booby

Picture this!  Last Friday evening, seated in a pretty courtyard garden with the warm setting sun shining on the family, I was treated to a demonstration of the peculiar mating dance of the Blue-Footed Booby bird.  

This was made somehow even more hilarious by the fact that both demonstrators (two of my sister-in-laws, one recently returned from the Galapagos Islands, the other simply well Attenborough'd), both encouraged by gin and tonic, were wearing blue footwear.  

This spontaneous bit of home entertainment plus Kevin, my colleague, having spent the past week re-categorising all our footwear on the website so that you can now search by colour (a brand new feature and a long time coming)  has had me thinking about colour and, in particular, the colour blue and it's allure when it comes to footwear.  Elvis sang about not stepping on his blue suedes, so if cladding our feet in shades of blue inspires cool creatives to write songs about them and nature has gifted birds with blue feet to make them more attractive to the opposite sex, we should take note!



I read somewhere that before Victorian times, pale blue was the colour mostly associated with girls and pink for boys.  Thankfully, we are moving into a time when most people think less of defining gender by colour.  

There's no denying that blue as a colour is loved by many, perhaps the so called, psychology of colour has something to do with our fondness.  Apparently, light blue is associated with health, healing, tranquility, understanding, and softness and dark blue represents knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness.  So I wonder, if you wear a shade between light and dark, a cobalt or royal, you could be perceived to project and attract all of these qualities.

Finally, a bonus for those of us pretending to be on a diet most of the time, blue is supposed to suppress appetite.  So not a good colour for dining rooms, brilliant for fridge doors though and, if I needed an excuse for buying another pair of blue shoes, to be able to say to my partner in life, "they are an essential diet aid!", would be utterly marvellous!

Have a great week and get those blue shoes on, who knows where they could lead you!

Danielle


Just for fun, a Blue footed Booby film -

Ballerina shoes are not just for Ballerinas!

I am a ballerina shoe fan through and through and have never quite experienced the same thrill since trying on my first pair of satin point shoes. So I hate to see a sloppy ballerina shoe on the foot, and there are quite a few out there.  All traditional brands of dance ballet shoes offer width options so my high arches and need for a wide fit did not exclude me from trying to emulate a dying swan.

It was whilst pondering upon why I see so many poorly fitted specimens of the high street’s version of this dance shoe that I realised there really is no need and, almost without exception, there is a ballerina pump for every foot type. 

I personally think a pair of ballet pumps are a wardrobe essential and there are literally thousands to choose from but you do get what you pay for, it's worth investing a little more to get something that doesn't harm your feet.  We all know how excruciating a high-heeled shoe can be at the end of a party, a quality pair of ballerina pumps are a great rescue remedy and easy to slip in a handbag.  Particularly, if like me, your preferred bag is akin to a small suitcase.

If you too have a wide foot, look out for a style that wraps the foot quite high at the sides.  This gives the illusion of a more slender foot and helps to avoid gaping at the sides of the shoe as you walk.  I discovered the Kennel and Schmenger pumps are great for this. I chose the brown/black code 82 style and have had lots of positive comments about them. They are also incredibly comfortable. 

Look out for those styles made from supple leather or soft suede and even those with a little bit of elastic around the rim to achieve a glove like fit.

For everyday wear, and I do mean everyday, I wear Sabrinas pumps. They are a great price so I can afford to invest in more than one pretty colour and the sole is super soft and flexible. 

I've found generous medium width fitting options from Arche, the Laius and the Ninolo ballerinas come in colourful nubucks, with real rubber sole units (very springy under foot) and, if you want something for a more formal occasion, Hogl has a more refined and structured shoe.

For a more narrow width fitting the traditional ballerina styling from Paoliballerina and Riva are perfect.

If you generally find a flat ballerina uncomfortable, choose a style with a substantial sole unit and arch support.  If you need to insert your own orthotics, there are styles with a removable footbed, perfect for this.   Wolky have produced a ballerina pump that is uber comfortable and supports the foot really well. Great for people needing to walk a great deal or stand for long hours and it has a removable footbed.  This particular style comes up high on the sides of the feet so it hugs the foot beautifully.

And guess what?  As the summer heats up, there’s even a ventilated option!

If you haven’t worn a well fitted ballerina pump, you’re definitely missing out on a style essential – they are ageless, timeless and elegant.  Audrey Hepburn, the most stylish woman of her time, certainly thought so!

To see a full selection of all ballerinas on the Macsamillion website - click here!

Next week I shall be blogging about another wardrobe essential and style classic - The Loafer 

(and I don't mean the one that puts his feet up in front of the telly every evening).

Danielle

The fine art of Shoe Shining

"It's all in the thumbs!" says Richard, Macsamillion's finest shoe shine expert.

Richard has worked with Macsamillion for 19 years and what he doesn't know about fine shoes isn't worth knowing.  He's also got a real passion for men's quality shoes and so, when he was set the challenge of learning the artisanal skill of refurbishing well loved shoes using shoe shining techniques, he leapt at the idea.

Richard is the first of our team to spend time under the expert instruction of Steven D R Skippen of Shoeshine UK fame.  Steven is based in London and shines many fine shoes for fine city folk. Macsamillion's founder experienced Steven's exceptional skill at rejuvenating tired shoes during a day trip to London. He took his favourite shoes along and after seeing for himself Steven's wizardry,

he was struck by the idea that our customers would love to get a similar treatment in our stores.

I asked Richard to talk me through the process -

How long does the service take?
15 minutes or thereabouts, obviously this depends on the state of the footwear.

What does it cost?
Again, dependent on the state of the shoes, we start at £5 but can go up to £15 for boots or very needy leather.

Talk me through the process
First of all we brush down the shoes and run a blackened brush around the welt of the shoes to bring their colour back and sharpen the look.  Next we brush all over the shoe to get a base coat of cream polish.  Next we apply a coloured wax and using fingers and thumbs, mostly thumbs, we massage this into the leather.  The warmth from your hands works the wax deep into the leather and uses far less product than a brush or cloth would do. We work in this way twice around the shoe to be sure it's worked in well and then we apply a neutral top coat.  Once thoroughly polished with a soft cotton cloth (60 denier tights work brilliantly for this) you should end up with a great shine and a depth of colour to the leather that you may not have seen since the shoes were new. Obviously, if you prefer less shine, simply polish off a little less.




The examples seen here illustrate just how much depth of colour you can get from Richard's magical thumps. Starting with the tired leather, seen above, he's worked new life and lustre into the leather and achieved a richer tan colour, top right





He has then worked further to achieve the customer's prefered darker, richer, shade with a burnished effect around the toe area as seen here, lower right.




What plans to you have to develop the shoe shine service?
At the moment, the majority of customers drop their shoes off and return to collect them the same day or at their convenience. We can usually work on their shoes straight away and pretty soon we hope to have a shoe shine station where customers can sit in comfort and have a read of the papers whilst we shine their shoes on their feet. It's a great opportunity for us to get to know our customers and they in turn get a chance to take 15 minutes out of their busy days to chill out in our happy shop.


I tested Richard's skills earlier this week with a pair of my husband's Calpierre tan leather loafers. Although Jamie polishes his work shoes weekly, he's less diligent with his weekend casual shoes. They came back with a renewed lustre to the leather and I am pleased to say my weekend trips out with my other half are going to have a much greater appeal. There's nothing nicer than a man with clean, shiney shoes!

Have a great week,

Danielle

Suitcase essentials

For the girls!

If you were lucky enough to take a holiday during this last school break, you may have experienced a dilemma I often have.  

Which shoes do I pack to cover all eventualities?

Whether you are jetting off to sunny climbs, with luggage weight limit restrictions, or pondering the many weather prospects here in the U.K., you will know only too well how tricky this can be and that a poor choice of footwear can ruin your well earned break.

I’ve learnt to narrow down my choice of favourite footwear to include something I know I can wear all day long and there’s real joy in discovering a sandal for hot climates that can take me through the day and into the evening.  The pretty colours seen in this years Birkenstock and Fit Flop collections do exactly that and Gabor’sLanzarote sandal can look great with a pair of loose fitting palladium trousers or a maxi dress on a Summer’s evening. 

With flying and luggage weight limits in mind, I like to wear the heaviest/bulkiest footwear on the journey out so they also have to cope with swelling feet if it’s a long flight and, given that I am a keen walker, are most likely to be trainer or pump.  The Mephisto All-rounder is a great walking shoe, supportive, lightweight and ventilated they can be worn for hours even without socks and easily adjust to a little high altitude feet swelling.  If I am unlikely to be doing any hiking, my second choice would be a soft ballerina pump like those in our Sabrinas collection or one of Kennel and Schmenger’s.

I have to have a party shoe along on any holiday, there might be a posh restaurant moment or a unexpected event that requires a little more dressing up. So, a flat and pretty sling-back is a must in my suitcase, something I can wear with capri trousers or a summer skirt  - my absolute favourites this summer are PeterKaiser’s Carsta or the Lola Bruni Susi.  Dress them up or down, they are simply lovely! 

So, given that I am surrounded by an immense choice here in the Macsamillion HQ, I think I could narrow my holiday shoes down to three.  Not bad eh?

Oh no! I forgot my Vidoretta espadrilles. My husband’s favourite shirt will have to be omitted from the suitcase to fit them in.  How fortunate for other holiday makers!

For the boys!

Easy! A pair of Birkenstocks or Mephisto Alligator sandals, a pair of boat shoes from Timberland or Sebago or beautiful loafers from Calpierre. 

That’s them sorted! 

Next time, I am going to introduce you to Richard, our Shoe Shine expert.

Bye for now

Danielle