Sophia Webster Lucita Malibu Wedge Sandals
Quirky, cute and kitsch are not among the concepts I do well and I’m generally not interested in very elaborate designs – many small details make me nervous. It was therefore somewhat unexpected that two months ago, I came into possession of a pair of shoes by Sophia Webster. But as with food, so with design: every style can be great if done well.
Webster is still a relatively new British shoe and accessory designer, although well known to those who follow that sort of thing closely. She is the perfect creator for the age of street style and Instagram: her shoes are colourful, easily identifiable and impossible to ignore. She loves butterflies and flamingos, pearls and feathers, pastels and neon colours, pompoms and cut-outs. Her heels will instantly turn a pair of nondescript cropped jeans into a statement look. I’ve always followed her designs with interest, but never felt they were quite for me. Until I saw the Lucita Malibu Wedge on the pages of Net-a-Porter.
By Webster’s standards, these are pretty tame – some pastel raffia stripes and decorative palm trees, nothing major. For me, they are something of a departure, but such a fun and fabulous one! The shoes were the first thing I bought for my Martinique holiday and everything else followed from that. I can assure you that Malibus look equally amazing with a bubblegum pink bikini, rolled-up khaki trousers and a long white dress.
A word of caution, though: these shoes (and Webster’s other wedges) are 14 cm high, not very stable and work best when lounging by the pool or walking very short distances on very smooth ground. And I say this as a hardened heel-wearer. Therefore I recommend to just sit by the bar, dangle your feet and enjoy the attention.
PS Her prices are lower than these of the old luxury brands (especially when it comes to bags), but this is not a highstreet brand by any means. If I had enough money left after the purchase of the shoes, I would also have bought the striped beach bag from the just launched bag collection. Alas, no bag.
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The are rather wonderful and quite frankly who needs the bag when you’ve got them? Sophia Webster certainly has some really fun stuff but I am incredibly bad at including such things in my wardrobe unless on holiday or for a special event. They are surely made for a tropical holiday though! I was amused to hear about the wedge issue- as someone who used to walk nearly everywhere in heels but whose feet have paid dearly (well running didn’t help) I admire your ability to stay upright in them…
I wonder how I managed to write an entire post on Sophia Webster without using the word ‘fun’. Thanks for correcting that omission, this is exactly the right word. I understand completely what you mean about integrating her stuff in one’s wardrobe, though: for me, I can see it working either in a holiday/special event context as you say, or as an accent in a casual ensamble (with jeans or khaki trousers or white linen culottes, for example). Although she has some simpler models as well. Have you seen her Butterfly flats? Your style seems very elegant, so these might work.
Oooh I have just looked up the butterfly flats – they do indeed look perfect – will have to go and try these…and you are obviously good at getting a feel for people’s style, certainly elegance is probably the word used most often about what I wear and that can get a bit well, dull, hence the need for some additions!
Thank you! I get a huge amount of pleasure out of matching people with things I think they’ll like – perfume, books, clothes, whatever. If you do try the shoes, let me know what you think.
Also, I have become quite adicted to the Champagne/Yvresse you sent, it’s a perfect cocktail party scent for me – I wore it several times in Martinique. Do you know how old the bottle is?