21 January - Stylish wanderings

The trusty slimline trainers I bought in Rio in 2003 have finally fallen apart. They were never meant to last and I’d taken them on at least 2 previous trips thinking of chucking them at the end, but then gave them a reprieve because I was totally attached to them. They walked their infant days in the staggeringly surprising botanical gardens of Rio. Full of orchids in every colour and then there was the forest. And my escort for the day was the young Italian with the velvet eyes and long lashes and the lame ‘r’ that made him so sexy. This time they have tears on the uppers and the soles are coming unglued etc. The reason I’ve kept them this long is also to find their twins. They have no laces so you slip them on easily. They’re white and slightly pointed and v. v. light. But I‘ve looked and looked and they’re a no brand so can’t order them on the net or anything and I have no chance to go to Rio for now. So now they’ve gone. I took them off outside the Hanoi Metropole hotel (a girl can’t go for chocolate fountain afternoons in shoddy shoes) and changed into heels and I put them in a bin from which a hawker quickly retrieved them. Wonder if she’s fix them, add some ribbons, colour them blue and they’ll have a new life.

But I refuse to walk in other trainers so once in HK I buy for £30 a pair of ballerina style Rockports which promise to have the same sole technology as a pair of Nike. Yes, for the first 2 hours they’re ok. No, for a whole day walking they’re not. They’re just not light/bendy enough. So I spend another 30 quid (sales time folks) on another pair of much softer black flat shoes with bendy sole, another American brand, oh how this pains me. But why would you match a black shoe with a brown rubber sole? Why??? Why not make them the same colour, easier on the eye?

They have them in all colours and am tempted by white, red, pistachio green but you know, am not rich yet so I can’t buy the same style in all colours (I once knew a man who did that with his cashmere tops… how I envied him, he ended up giving me a lemon yellow V neck that wasn’t that manly, not even an Italian man would wear it. They wear salmon pink though, it always surprises me. Anyway, these softer shoes are cut in such a way that the edge rubs on my bunions (the only thing I have I common with Posh). Most annoying. This means I still don’t have the perfect pair of walking shoes (yes there are flip flops but only Kate Moss looks good in them and you’re an idiot if you wear them in town.

Having said that, I insist on changing shoes every time there’s a photo opportunity and I carry a spare pair wherever I go on my tourist outing. In fact two this trip as the white corked high heels didn’t go with the blue with orange piping dress for example and so on. Yes folks, this is excessive vanity you may think but… ‘photos are forever’ I keep saying and I will not have a bad holiday snap testament left on computers around the world. It was with some satisfaction that upon seeing all the photos from BF’s previous holidays, that I noticed the ex GF looked pretty ropey in most of hers. ‘She scrubs up’ well he said in her defence when I made a catty comment. And that is true, in a few she’s fine, especially if she’s bothered not to take the same clothes on more than 5 holidays. That seems lazy packing to me. But my motto is not to look good ‘when I scrub up’, but … always… so there. Short heels, nothing too fancy, something that goes with everything, pretty black pointy Kurt Geiger mules and voila’ , instant longer leg and better silhouette. I’m not aiming for fashion shoot, oh, no, though I’ve considered one of those white reflective backdrops, there must be some that can be folded up in my bag. Honestly the amount of good photos ruined by too strong a flash on the face to counteract the fading light or against the sun exposure… A simple screen would fix that, but Toph tells me the GF before the last was obsessive about having her photo taken everywhere and I never ask, he offers, but I don’t want to have him make some unwelcome links between us. Ps. I will also not have a photo taken w/o first applying lipgloss, it’s lovely how it catches the light and illuminates your face in all weather conditions. Oh and a bit of white line inside your lower eye rim. Magic.