The potential dress #1.
The potential after-party dress.
The potential dress #2.
The potential shoe.
While diligently searching for my sister's "perfect" wedding shoe, I was surprised to find out that we were doing quite the opposite. Her dress actually only allows her to wear a shoe no less than two inches, and no more than two and a half inches high. Meaning that two and three quarter inches in height was just unacceptable. Being five foot two and wearing nothing less than five inch heels, with no less than a one inch front platform, I was, for the first time in my life, nearly stumped.
With her Mac Book in my face and my fingers frantically typing away in the search bar, I pulled up nearly every designer's site and every shoe website that I could pull up in my mental bookmark page. "Well, I know this site that has incredible vintage shoes you could check out", I suggested. "Ali, I want my own wedding shoe, not one that was already worn." Ouch. One who does not understand the wealth of a vintage shoe and it's structure, really bruised my fashion ego. "Ok then. Let's jump on Bloomingdales.com."
While I realize that my area of fashion expertise influence and excite probably nine percent of the world's population, I like to think that I am the see all, know all when it comes to fashion. You want an eggplant formal ball gown for a gala you have to attend this weekend? Give me twenty four hours, and you got it. And those Balenciaga platform sandals that are three times the amount you are willing to spend are a must have for your wardrobe? I'll find them at a reasonable knock-off price, if not at a sample sale, in no time. This was a tough one. A two-two and a half inch wedding shoe in ivory that isn't a slingback, posessed some kind of embellishment and isn't $498 was surely a challenge, but one I wasn't willing to pass up. It's on. Set me on a fashion mission, dim the lights, pour me a glass of wine, and you're shoe will soon be yours.
Truth be told, I have a knack for this kind of stuff. I can see a top or a dress or a bracelet or a pair of shoes in Vogue, and in two hours flat, it can be mine, whether I find it for full price, or as a knock-off. Even if the credits in small print read: Price Upon Request. Leave it to me to find you're dream whatever. Trust me. I do this for my own living.
Exactly six website visits later, I found her shoe. "Is it available?" "Yes." "Is it available in ivory?" "Yes." "Is it available in ivory in a size ten?" "Yes." "Add to cart. I want it." SOLD!!!
Something stirred in me that I should maybe do this for a living. For a split second, it seemed like a good idea. Then I realized that I'd be shopping for a living. For other people. Dangerous. I enjoy shopping for myself way too much. I don't want to buzz kill that adrenaline rush.
The Badgley Mischka look-a-like was the winner. Perfection, with a two and a half in heel, cut out inner side, peep toe with rouching and crystal embellishment at the top of the foot was the winner. All for a measley $80. Why do I only find these incredible deals for other people? Why must all of my purchases be $100 or more? Actually, that's not true. I can not complain with my $29 vintage lace dress steal, or my $19 suede wrapped sandals, or even my $14 vintage wayfarer sunglass deal that I managed to dig up in the heart of Williamsburg, New York on a friday afternoon, all in one day. Now that, my friends, is a real fashionista's findings. I'd like to believe that it's just my hipster blood, seeking out the best fashion at a poor man's price. That, after all, is the best, no?
During the journey of finding the "perfect wedding shoe", I found about one hundred pairs that I would rightfully own myself. "Thank God I don't have a lot of money", I stated humbly, "or I would be buying a bigger house with an even bigger closet right now?" I said aloud. She thought I was kidding. I, as a matter of factly, found my wedding dress, complete with shoes and and after party dress in the process.
One day, I will be a Badgley Mischka bride. (NOTE: This will change approximately twelve times before my actual wedding.)
Current Listen: Too Young To Fight It - Young Love
