I’ve got a very exciting topic for today’s blog post, and one near and dear to many a vintage lady’s heart: Shoes!
I’ve long been a fan of American Duchess, a historical reproduction footwear company run by Lauren, who you might know from her blog of the same name. Unfortunately, I couldn’t come up with any really good excuses to buy reproduction French court shoes, but I always followed along anyway and oohed and aaahed over new styles, limited-run exclusives, and beautiful promotional photos. So you can imagine my excitement when Lauren announced the launch of a sister-store, Royal Vintage Shoes. For now, she stocks vintage-appropriate shoes from a variety of brands as well as some of the more “modern” shoes from her American Duchess line, but plans for a line of Royal Vintage original reproductions are in the works and I could not be more thrilled. I’ve signed on as a Brand Ambassador for Royal Vintage Shoes, so there will be a slight improvement in shoe quality around here as I purchase shoes to review, but honestly I’m really genuinely excited about what Lauren is doing (Ladies doing cool things! Small business! Shoes!) and happy to share that with all of you here.
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| My ankles aren’t wrinkly, I’m wearing heavy cotton stockings |
I’m super pumped (pun mostly not intended) to be sharing the Miss L Fire Gabrielles today. Miss L Fire is definitely at the top of my price range, but the quality is so worth it. I have grand plans to wear these next Saturday to an opera scenes gala (as an audience member, not a performer), so to start breaking them in I decided to wear them to church on Sunday. Church musician life is mostly standing and sitting with very little walking, so it’s a great way to get a new pair of shoes warmed up without risking any serious blisters.
Shoe nitty gritty: I wear a US 9 shoe and have some pretty serious hereditary bunions, and after discussing sizing with the Royal Vintage team, I decided to opt for the 39 as the style runs large. For me, they’re a perfect if snug fit, which will be even better once they’re properly broken in and the leather has a chance to stretch and conform to my foot. A wider-footed size 9 friend couldn’t squeeze her foot into them, though, so the size down is probably best attempted by people on the small end of a shoe size.
There was a bit of a snafu with me getting these shoes, and in a way I’m glad because Royal Vintage Shoes has absolutely awesome customer service. I’ve ordered some shoe care products from American Duchess so I could already attest to the super informative shipping emails, careful packaging, and inexplicable but charming presence of a lollipop in every box… but in situations where things don’t quite go right they’re absolutely great about getting in touch and finding a solution. Stellar customer service is definitely makes me feel safe spending some of my hard-earned pennies on a risky online purchase, like shoes.
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By the way, taking selfies outside, in public, with a real camera and a tripod… is super awkward. I didn’t get as many pictures as I might have liked for today’s post because there were a fair number of people out and about, but I do want to share my favorite comment with you! As I was going to check my tripod, two older gentlemen walked by, and one of them paused to call out to me, “Excuse me, miss, I don’t know how you’ll take this… but… you’re dressed just like my mother!” I assured him it was a compliment.
