Tag Archives: shoes

Crazy, Stupid Love and new shoes

Crazy stupid loveWatched this film the other night and, whilst it scored an ‘ok’ on my film-o-meter 9000 scale of movie goodness, it did make one specific lasting impression on me.

At one point, Steve Carrell’s character is sitting at a bar, nursing a drink, moping about his wife having left him. He gets pitied by a smooth-talking ‘player’ in the bar, who decides to help him improve his look and educates him in the ways of picking up women. The line that stuck in my memory was an exchange over what Steve was wearing:

“Are you Steve Jobs,” asks the Player.
“What?”
“Are you billionaire founder of Apple Computer, Steve Jobs?”
“No,…”
“Then why are you wearing New Balance trainers?”

Which at first struck me as elitist – I love New Balance trainers, they are my running shoe of choice. But then I looked at him, in his oversize suit and New Balance trainers, and realised… That’s what I must look like half the time.

So this weekend, we went suit and shoe shopping (as well as, more importantly and more successfully, shopping for Amanda). The Jones sale furnished me with a pair of ankle boots which I think are probably a reasonable upgrade over my previous best efforts for day-to-day footwear, but the hunt for the suit continues – thanks to the diet I am firmly between sizes at the moment.

Still, new shoes. Good start.

How to buy running shoes online

photo (2)My advice? Choose them offline. Which is what I did about 4 years ago, when I first discovered New Balance’s line of anti-pronating running shoes… then the 859, it’s since been “upgraded” to the 850, and after the hundreds of kilometers I ran last year I needed a new pair a mere 9 months after the last pair of 850s arrived.

Amanda made them a Christmas present to me, and they arrived a couple of days ago courtesy of an eBay shop, Running Outlet. Amazingly they sell the shoes at about 60% of the typical retail price, and as I know exactly what size, width and model I wanted it was bargainous.

I tried them out this morning – without breaking them in… but more on that shortly…

High fashion? Not me

I’ve never been good at getting high-end/fashionable/nice clothing, much to the chagrin of my sister and brother… but thanks to my brother and his friend Nate, I have my first ever ultra-high end shoes – a pair of Lodger Italian-style black Oxfords – they are a very generous pre-wedding gift from @ArvD. You can read more about them over at the main Lodger site or read more about high end design and style at their blog here.

They’re going to take some getting used to, not least the fact that I will need to look after them extremely well… But they are possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever worn. V. exciting. Going to the shop was a great experience, too – have visited before but the experience is totally altered by actually being a customer rather than just visiting Nate…

Now I just need Raja Fashions to deliver the wedding suit… (and to lose the remaining kilos)…

The ultimate in shoes

I’ve meant to blog this for a while; our friend Nate (originally Arvind’s friend, but like all good friends he has been adopted into the wider family) has been hard at work prepping for the launch of Lodger Footwear, his premium shoe shop and service… but that description somehow doesn’t do it justice. Nate has a vision for living, wearing, eating, well — and part of that ethos is the driving force behind the brand.

Check out the blog, where you’ll learn some fascinating facts about the creation of fine footwear and other things related to living well.

I don’t own a pair yet, but I’m very envious of Arvind’s shoes!