Miami

June 26, 2017

Miami - Ashbury Skies Collaboration.

Welcome to the second instalment from the US themed Ashbury Skies collaboration for Irregular Choice. Earlier in the week we talked about Las Vegas - which you can read all about: HERE but today we are going to talk about the pair inspired by Miami Beach.

When I first heard about the collection I was confident I would be going for Vegas and San Francisco as they hold a special kind of place in my heart. I have never been to Miami so I stupidly assumed that would rule that pair out saving me a couple of pennies.

That was until I saw them! The giant oversized sparkling flamingo and the blooming outrageous but fantastic palm tree making clever use of the t-bar at the front. These had my name written all over them so I couldn't just leave them.

The colour scheme on these is easily my favourite of the whole collections, its bright, summery and full of glitter and sparkle which is exactly what I love. They instantly stand out on my shelves as they are a little more pastel than the rest of my collection and that's not a bad thing at all.

The setting of the shoe is just as the name indicates, Miami and when you think of Miami you automatically think of the beach. So it makes sense that the whole base of the shoe is designed to look like a beautiful sandy beach overlooking a bright blue sky with only one lonely palm tree for company. I must admit I do love the palm tree idea so much. It consists of five different branches in two different materials, one matt and one with beads to add a little contrast to the design.

Its been a really difficult one to photograph as when standing normally the weight of the leaves are quite a bit heavier than the stem which means it flops over. The second the shoes are on your feet it all straightens out and looks just how it was designed to. Standing tall at the front of the shoe.

As mentioned before the thing that won me over, even from the preview was the flamingo. Like many of us out there I have a little love for flamingos and this one is no exception. Creeping up from the heel of the shoe the flamingo it watching wisely over the beach and really becoming the more obvious feature of the shoe. It was an instant winner for me and beautifully executed in real life.

I have mentioned in a previous blog that I'm not all that good with open toed shoes as while these are not as bad as most I would still struggle to wear these all evening without wanting to cut off a couple of toes. I remember a lovely lady last time giving me a great tip on home to stop my feet pushing all the way down to the bottom, but I can't for the lift of me remember what it was. So any tips appreciated as I know most people don't have the same problem with open toes.

The heel on this pair is alot narrower than we are used to from Irregular Choice. I knew I had seen this style heel before but couldn't pinpoint where. It wasn't until I was looking through old photographs that it clocked my Halston Poetic License shoes from 2016 have exactly the same shaped heel. With now wearing alot of Irregular Choice I thought I was going to struggle with a narrower heel. In reality you don't even notice the difference.

I ordered my usual size in these which is a UK 6.5 (EU40) and these fit like a glove. No need to size up or down in my opinion and they do feel alot more comfortable than I was expecting. With the small heel and open toe I was expecting instant pain which is not the case at all. The heel height on these is around 10.5 cm with a very slight platform of around 1-1.5 cm means they are a little higher than the norm but not actually as high as they look from the photographs.

These are one of the few pair I own with ankle straps. With having a high arch and quite chunky legs some pairs are really not suitable for me. I found these easy to get on with. There is plenty of room on the strap without having to make more holes so I don't think these will be a problem for anyone. The strap is also great to stop the shoes slipping off which makes them a lot easier to wear all night.

I hope you have enjoyed reading and fear not, these will be back in stock for most of the independent stockists between now and September so if you have missed out you will get another opportunity to try again.