Well I, for one, am prepared to hold myself out as one such sucker because I really like (some of) them - although I'm not quite sure how it has happened. I'm always a fan of a comfortable shoe and somehow, the gentle exposure to them, the systematic de-sensitisation of ugly shoes in the same way that it is used as therapy to combat someone's fear of spiders, has worked.
Dresses that I previously though I was going to part with are now taking on a new lease of life (in my head at least) with the addition of a pair of sandals such as these. A tan and pedicure are mandatory I think to pull these off. Non hairy legs would help too. Urrgh. Now I'm coming back to thoughts of hairy spiders. Yuk. So a quick whizz through what is out there reveals these beauties...
The topshop humidity sandal (£26) is a relatively inexpensive option for anyone first dipping their (perfectly pedicured) toe into this style of sandal.
The Holly velcro sandal Whistles (£140) is not an inexpensive option but I think that I may try them for research purposes only...
The New Look embellished ankle strap sandal (£15.99) comes in three different colours and is heading towards a flat form sandal - a style that has been trying for several years to take off in a major way but which hasn't quite managed yet. A bit like tofu really.
Whilst the top three styles are different to this silver Birkenstock (£44.95) these are really where it all began. Right now I've run out of things to say. It happens sometimes - not often - but these have left me speechless.
Good old Clarks have jumped on the comfy, ugly shoe, bandwagon with the Clarks moon sandal (£50) - which sounds like it should be worn around a camp fire whilst wearing cheese cloth - not that I'm dissing that. Sounds like fun to me, especially if marshmallows are involved.
The Clarks slider (£52) are slightly more fashion forward - really they are the Clarks take on the Birkenstock.
In all honesty I'm not sure where that leaves me. What do you all think? I like to be open minded because otherwise we get stuck in that big old fashion rut of "I can't, I won't, I did it before so I can't do it again, I'm too old, it's just not me" etc and before we know it we wear the same things year after year. On the other hand not every trend should be followed slavishly. Then again, comfortable shoes should never be sniffed at. So on balance I'm coming down in favour of the first three styles. As to the last three - maybe not. Until I go and buy some tomorrow of course....
