What Mary Did Next.

A few weeks ago I clicked onto one of my all time favourite blogs - The Sartorialist - and was faced with a bit of a 'mind reading' moment. "If You're Thinking About .... Metallic Shoes" was the posts title and what followed was a collage of achingly cool folk in an array of metallic kicks, all looking superb. And the best thing was that yes, I had been thinking about metallic shoes. Brogues to be precise.

The Sartorialist

Now that Spring appears to be making (dare I say it?) early noises about its impending presence, thoughts have turned to my shoe wardrobe and much excitement has been had over the soon to be shedding of autumnal shades and welcoming back of some of my favourite, brighter pairs. However, over winter I have had one pair of shoes that I have dragged out time and time again - a pair of studded, black leather brogues from Zara. And while it pains me to say it I have had to come to terms with the fact that they are very seasonal and are best put away now we are coming into the brighter months - wearing them means running the risk of people assuming my feet are in mourning while my torso is enjoying the fresher air in a light sun dress.

So to tackle this I have come up with a great plan - metallic brogues! And after not too much searching I think I have found them.

The La Promenade metallic brogues by my guru Mary Portas for Clarks. You can guarantee they're good quality and will last for a long time to come. I love the snake skin effect on the leather and the tiny studs keep them trend driven but without being so obvious that, when fashions change, they are rendered unwearable. There's nothing worse than finding a great pair of shoes, loving them so much you buy them no matter the cost and then, next season, being unable to actually pair them with anything as they're in a time warp. These don't carry that risk - good quality leather and great flat shoes never go out of style. I'm almost too excited to style them with printed trousers and silk shirts for work but alas, until my next paycheck arrives I will simply have to wait it out.

This is most likely how I'll style mine.

Available here they also come in other colours and while you're there why not look at the rest of the collection? I appear to have become quite smitten with the La Lumiere heels. And, with so many summer weddings on the horizon for me, justifiable. No?