Adventures on Two Feet: The Grecian Princess Sandals

Today's photograph strikes me as psychedelic but maybe that's just because that's what I was aiming for when I took the picture. I placed these lovely $4 sandals against the Mexican blanket that keeps me warm at night in my over-conditioned dorm. Somehow the two items just matched in my mind, perhaps because they both represent my ideals of their individual category. The blanket is perfect: magenta, a color that I love (of course I go for ALL berry tones) and super-cozy. And these, what I call Grecian Princess, shoes are my favorite pair of sandals that I currently own (except perhaps for their sisters, which are of a similar style but are more golden and lace-up instead; unfortunately that same pair is also broken). Let me tell you the story of these shoes, although it's brief because the sandals are relatively new. In fact, I bought them just this summer at a discount fashion chain in black Harlem, called Danice's.

Even though I despised the music that the store blasted (hip-hop, rap, etc.), I ignored my ears and let my eyes do the work as soon as I entered the business. Danice's boasts everything from jeans to dresses to lingerie (yay!) to boots to stilettos to...hell, if fashion has it, it seems like Danice's has it, too---and from what I could see at least, everything's under $20 and most things are $10 or less. In other words, it's retail heaven! (One thing you'll quickly learn about me is that I'm fervently frugal---fine, cheap). I wandered through the store for the second time in my life---I had gone once before just months ago over my spring break---completely awestruck but not awestruck enough to ask questions about the source of most of the goods. No matter how much a store's prices impress me, I'm never totally starry-eyed. A hardcore fashionista like myself realizes that fashion in this day and age is first and foremost a business, and business always has a sinister side. Images of child/slave labor flashed through my mind; then I turned to thoughts of gang violence and thievery. It wasn't until I checked some of the labels that I noticed that many of the pieces (not all but many) came from Target and Wal-Mart, meaning that Danice's probably had some kind of surplus deal with the stores. I no longer felt so guilty. I couldn't buy everything in the store so I had to be selective. But when I saw the Grecian Princess sandals for under $5, even under $4 without tax, I lunged.

I recognized that the sandals shared several of the same characteristics as the broken ones I already described, and that was definitely a plus. When I noted that they were both the same brand, it made sense. The biggest difference between the two was a matter of economics. I picked up the other pair for $7 (plus tax) at Rose's, a discount chain in the South (that coincidentally one of my best friends of high school says her grandfather established; Rose also happens to be my friend's middle name. However, the store no longer belongs to the family. I didn't discover this bit of trivia until AFTER I casually mentioned the store to my friend. Ironically, she's never even stepped inside one of the stores. The closest one is probably a four-hour drive from our hometown of Arlington, Virginia). Rather impulsively, I asked my mother if I could have the shoes and she gave me her permission for that and probably six other items (including a red leopard slip dress but that's a whole other story).

Even though I've owned the sandals since July and absolutely adore them, I've only worn them twice: once during my internship at Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive (which you may have caught sight of on Day 38 in "Eleven Weeks of Eclectic Elegance") and then yesterday with a deep brown and cream polka-dotted dress that my boyfriend bought for me in June. Thankfully for my Grecian Princess sandals, it doesn't cool off significantly for a while in Virginia so I can probably still wear them through mid-October, late October or early November if it's unseasonably warm. While I generally like Fall collections best, there are certain elements of summer fashion, like pretty sandals, that I adore and will miss come the first sign of autumn. But the onslaught of wool tights, tall boots, light sweaters, soft scarves, and layered outfits trump sandals any day! And I've already promised myself that this fall will be a remarkably stylish one. I'm not about to go back on that promise for the sake of a single pair of shoes. After all, I own so many more.