Comme il Faut

I'd just bought two pairs of Burjus and I'd just paid for my second Open University module when the slightly tipsy sounding Gisele emailed me from Argentina to ask if I still wanted a pair of tango shoes bringing back.

They're just over £100.  Is that OK?

It wasn't really OK - my bank account was looking barer than Mother Hubbard's cupboard but Christmas was just around the corner and I did deserve a nice present...

I emailed her back with my instructions:

Size 39*. 
You can choose the style.  
Here's a link to my Dance Shoes board on Pinterest for an idea of what I like.
Nothing too ordinary.

It was about a week before I got a cryptic message back:

OMG have just bought you the most amaaahhhhhzing shoes! 
Even Adam is impressed.

And Adam is a boy!! I think she was drunk again but she was on her honeymoon, so I reckon that's allowed.

It turns out that when you buy expensive shoes, you get what you pay for.

Check out the shoe bag(s) on this!

Each shoe is packed away in its own individual pocket of satin finish shoe bag.  AND it comes with an over the shoulder bag to put them away in, making them easier to carry and easier to store all those little extras that I usually cram into my shoe bag: hand sanitiser, fan, perfume, brush etc.

The individual shoe pockets give your precious shoes just that little extra protection and might well be something that I'm converted to as my taste in shoes is obviously getting a bit more expensive of late...

Naturally I will have to replace these shoe bags with my own hand-made version, because I shouldn't really be seen carrying anything but a Mambo Delight bag around with me, but for now, they're working out just nicely.

Oh - I nearly forgot!  The shoes:

That's right - they don't match!  And they certainly get a reaction - from people who just can't stop staring, to those who aren't quite sure, but don't really know how to tell me.  Regardless of whether people like them or not - they always comment.

My first proper pair of tango shoes are pretty special. When I worked in a shoe shop, I used to tell the children who didn't like their new trainers,  that they would make them run faster.  I don't think that these shoes actually make me dance better - but with the placement of the heel being in the optimum place, I genuinely think that they make it easier for me to keep my weight forward when I'm dancing.  

So now I just need to work on the posture, balance, leg extension, embrace etc... because when I'm wearing these babies, there's always going to be someone in the room looking at my feet. Hopefully they'll be so dazzled by the shoes they won't notice my clumsy footwork!

*Just in case anyone was thinking of buying me some shoes, I'm usually a size 40, but Comme il Faut come up bigger.  Thank you!