Rocking Horse Shoes - The Hunt!

I searched for these rocking horse shoes for ages after seeing them for the 1st time on a man, Michael Simpson, Pete Burns's partner. They can be ordered at the Vivienne Westwood store on Conduit St for around £300 pounds, however, this was a bit too expensive for me. As much as I love them, I just can't afford to spend that amount on shoes. They come in the tie around style

As well as the "golf" style

I had my heart set on the "golf" style, in black and white. After much online research, I found that there are a variety of online stores that sell replica versions, some much better than others.

FOAM-HEELED

Similar but far from replica, you can have alook at the shoes on the eBay store "Refuse to be Usual"

http://stores.ebay.com/REFUSE-TO-BE-USUAL_VIVIENNE-WESTWOOD-PLATFORM_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ12QQftidZ2QQtZkm

These are generally a little easier on the feet, obviously as the sole is softer than the wooden ones and wider because the toe is round. They have some interesting styles, so look through all of them. Be careful when it comes to the sizes as the sizing works differently for men and women. Also be aware that the rocking horse shoes worn by the models in some of the pictures are the genuine Vivienne Westwood one's and not the one's that are sold.

WOODEN

"Double Decker" has 2 for $50 special. Buy two pairs of their shoes and get each shoe for $50 each. Shipping is $35, so shipping for two pairs of shoes would come to $70

http://www.d-decker.jp/en_pc/category/W_01.php

Shipping instructions are on this page http://www.d-decker02.com/oversea/english.html

This is where things get a bit more complicated. If you are wanting to get almost exact replicas for a fraction of the cost of the real one's, you have three options.

1. Add someone called Lola on MSN Messenger. Her address is lolita_lola@tom.com
She is online most of the day, so say hello and let her know which style you are after and in what size. She has the following styles and in the following colours.

She'll let you know what she has in stock and estimated delivery times. Shoes and delivery come to around £50. She doesn't speak very good english, but it seems good enough to process a transaction. She does accept PayPal, and has very positive feedback.

2. "Mitwitch" stock the same shoes as "Lola" does and I think Miwith keep more stock of the Golf (Also called fringe/shin shoe on the website) shoes. It will probably be easier to follow the link to the website and follow the instructions from there

http://sgcafe.com/showthread.php?t=25837&highlight=rocking+shoes

3. "69^th Department" also stock the shoes, and the golf version is referred to as "Shinichi" Rocking Horse Shoes. If they have them in stock you can order them right away, otherwise request your size and color through email to get them when they restock. Again follow the link to the website for instructions. The shoes and postage to the U.K. costs around £50.

http://xx69thxx.exblog.jp/

The last three options are obviously quite unconventional routes, but I have looked into them quite thoroughly and they all seem to be pretty legitimate. The sellers have received positive feedback on numerous forums, so I take that to be a good sign. They also all sell almost identical replicas to the originals at 1/6 of the price, which will save quite a bit of money.

I hope that these links were useful, I searched for hours and hours over a period of three weeks, desperate to find the best and most reasonably priced I could!

Shoes.... I Wish!

First off, I love shoes. A good pair of shoes can make even the simplest of outfits work and stand out. To me, shoes are art. Some people collect paintings, some collect antique furniture; budget permitting, I would collect shoes. Men's shoes, womens shoes, whatever. Unfortunately, when it comes to shoes, what you pay is what you get. If shoes are cheap they're not going to last, and they're probably going to be pretty standard design-wise. Shoes that don't appeal to the mass-market are not going to be available on the high street, and so they're going to cost that much more. And so generally I just look. And I wish.

These are currently top (FOR NOW!) on my wish list

1. Alexander McQueen - Black Riding Boots which are £475 at Selfridges

I don't seem to be able to find a picture of them anywhere, and they aren't available on his US Online store.

2. YSL - Jonny Boots which are $795 (£398) from www.ysl.com

No need to explain this one, now is there?! YSL have done the boots for quite a while now, but I've only just decided that I want them. Beautiful aren't they? Heels are SO the way forward for men. :D Isn't this all so exciting?!

3. Slightly more affordable are the Canvas Zip Boots from All Saints which are £150 on their website.

www.allsaintsshop.co.uk

What draws me to them is that they're a "new", updated version of the standard rugged military boot (which All Saints also have, exact same style as the zip boots, but lace up) which has been around for the last few seasons. And for that price i really don't think you'll find anything else quite like it.

4. Vivienne Westwood - Pirate Boots, available to order for about £300 from her Conduit St store, they take around 6 weeks

Whoever doesn't have them, wants them. Kate Moss picked up a pair in a vintage store a few years back, and suddenly everyone wanted them. Westwood started producing them again, and they're still selling! An absolute British classic from Westwood's Pirate Collection (A/W 1981-2) which are instantly recognizable - I'd love them in black!

5. Vivienne Westwood - "Rocking horse" shoes, available to order for around £300 from her Conduit St store

I want the above "golf" version in black and white. The soles are made of actual wood, and apparently take some getting used to to walk in. I first spotted them on a man on Pete Burns's partner, Michael Simpson, when he wore them to their Civil Ceremony. I have actually ordered a pair, but I'll post more about it later. Also another British design classic, these shoes are more assosciated with punks and Japanese Gothic Lolita, a sub-culture of teenagers that draws much of its inspiration from Victorian style and Edwardian fashion.

6. Dior Homme - Black Patent Derby - £120 (Yes, only £120!!) on www.diorhomme.com

Nothing special, just standard patent leather dress shoes, slightly pointed but with a rounded toe. But, instead of buying similar one's from Office, empy your penny jar and hey presto!, you've got Dior Homme shoes!

7. Jeffrey West - Rochester Rossmore which is £250 on www.jeffrey-west.co.uk

I love pointy shoes, for what reason I still don't know. They're supposed to make legs look longer, although I've honestly never really noticed a difference. Better still are patent leather pointy shoes! And to top it off, they are Jeffrey West and so have a slighty higher heel. These also have the scarlet/red "inferno" sole, so they're as close as us guys will get to matching up to our Christian Louboutin wearing girl friends

Marjan Pejoski

I went to Kokon to Zai on Greek St today, just to have a look. They stock Marjan Pejoski's clothing which is absolutely GORGEOUS. His clothing screams romantic (if you haven't seen any of his clothing or heard of him, have a look at his website www.marjanpejoski.com) and his menswear collections are truly groundbreaking. One collection in particular that I love is his menswear Autumn/Winter 2007/08, which caused huge controversy when he created what became known as "Meels", which, as you can probably guess.......... are heels for men! These are my favourite looks from the collection. I love the simplistic androgyny, and how, just as the collection could quite easily pass for wemenswear, so the model could appear to be, at first glance, a woman.



FABULOUS!!! This guy is absolute genius! I'm SOOOO in shoe heaven. I love love love heels, and now, I have justification for wearing them - they're mens shoes, so why not?!




Well, anyway, I bought the heels with the bow from the A/W 2007/08 collection a month or so ago, on sale for £90! Down from £240 or something! How could I resist? And today, just my luck, on sale were the lace up heels from his next collection, S/S 2008, on sale for £78!


Last pair, lucky or what? I prefer the bow heels, but I think the lace up one's will grow on me with time.

Kokon to Zai is the main stockist of Marjan Pojeski's clothing, and they have loads of his previous collection clothing at really quite affordable prices. His clothing is both romantic and poetic, but also hard, expressive and challenging. Doshaburi, an online store based in Barcelona also stocks Marjan Pejoski's clothing, quite a bit of which is reduced, but with a lot of stock currently sold out.