I HEART Coach.
For shoes once described as "not exactly good looking, and not you one bit," these Coach flats have been kicking it in my wardrobe for over a decade now, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say they were probably a good investment. They are a result from a Macy's shopping spree made at a New Year's sale, oh so long ago, whose purpose was to separate me from the Doc Marten brigade at the cafe that I was working at the time. I was sick of looking like every other slightly pierced and tatted downtown chicita, who stomped around in some variation of a thrifted black concert Tee, all wearing what seemed to be the same baggy pair of Levis lashed up with studded belts and grounded by the ubiquitous pair of black Doc Marten boots.
Our non-conformity was getting to be a little too matchy-matchy for my taste, so all of a sudden I took up this persona of a prepster from the 1970's. Meaning a penchant for browns, greens and orange corduroys, flattering novelty T-shirts from the era, tweed and/or gingham, and
an intense admiration for anything with elbow patches. Oh yeah, and lots of brown and tanned leather. These shoes stuck out like a sore thumb at the cafe, and pretty much every where else. They look like an upscale version of a bicyclist's shoe, and weren't particularly hip or pretty, but for some reason I really liked them. Perhaps its the yummy butterscotch-y leather, which I seem to have a weakness for. Possibly it was because I knew everyone would hate them. The ugliness seemed to have constantly been remarked upon. But, for the record, over time, they seem remarkably photogenic. Case in point can be seen HERE.
They've recently be downgraded to "walking shoes." Meaning they are slipped on whenever I plan to do any sort of ambulation that'll take me farther than a mile. I love strolling around Ballard, Phinney Ridge and Greenlake, my stomping grounds. I like how you can really get to know your 'hood, when traveling by hoof, and these classic Coach kicks are a great way to do it in style.
