Found - Perfect Brown Shoes (I Hope!)

The last pair of brown shoes I owned that ticked all the boxes were my Eastland loafers  in middle school. Since then I have made several attempts at procuring the perfect pair.

The first was a pair of brown mod style boots by Steve Madden with a squared toe, large heel and platform. I am pretty sure I can count on one hand the number of times I wore them before they were donated to charity as they were even uncomfortable to drive in.  They were also just far too high and resulted in a Frankenstein effect with every pair of trousers I owned.

The next style was a pair of slip-ons from Unlisted. They were not terrible, but they were a bit old for my early-20s self and I only ended up wearing them to work once every blue moon.

I thought I’d finally cracked it with a pair of brown suede clogs from J.Crew. They were the right shade of chocolate brown, had an ankle strap and a wooden platform heel. Classic. Sadly I bought them on sale and in a size 10 shortly before a friend’s wedding to go with a lovely vintage dress I had planned on wearing. They were slightly too big, so worked for the wedding and for any event that involved a lot of sitting and very little walking. I brought them back to Dublin after my first return to the States and wore them twice, receiving many blisters and nearly spraining an ankle for my efforts. 

I’d never stopped looking, toying with the purchase of many heeled, flat, suede, tan, chocolate brown, and every other type or brown shoe imaginable and in the end it was always…mmm…no, sorry, you’re not the pair for me. 

Wandering aimlessly up Grafton Street pre-Christmas I spotted that Clarks was having a sale, so thought I’d pop in, assuming they wouldn’t have anything I liked in my size, which is generally the case. Then I spotted the beauties pictured here – they're low-heeled, not suede and just the right amount of old-fashioned. The remind me a bit of shoes my great-grandma had and while some would consider this a turn-off it made me love them all the more. I’ve worn them twice this week, the leather is a bit stiff so they need breaking in, but they are very promising…