Week One

From the moment I arrived in London, I was in search of one thing: shoes. I have a pair of boots that physically look dead. They have numerous rips, salt stains, and discoloration. I am in dire need of new ones, but I refuse to throw them away until I find ones that look similar.

So, in my search, I have been constantly looking at shoes. On people’s feet, in stores, and in magazines, shoes in London have similarities and differences than the average shoe found in the United States.

In general, when looking about different streets, the citizen’s dress in a more business casual way compared to the average US citizen. Calf length, black leather boots, black trench coats, black opaque tights, and high waisted skirts dominate the traditional everyday wear for women. Black is a standard color for men and women. When I was on the bus heading to the flat, the frequency of black coats was the first thing I really noticed.

Shoe wise, boots are a staple shoe for all women. Boots that end right below the knee are very popular. Colors range from white, browns, gray, and black being dominant. Buckles, shoestrings, zippers, studs, eyelets, fringe, and ribbon add a little personalization to each shoe. Looking around stores such as TopShop, New Look, and Office’s new arrivals for the spring season, oxford shoes seem to be the next hot item. Styles with heels, tassels, flats, boots, stings, blacks, reds, and grays are found at these stores. Prices for these shoes very from 20 to 120 pounds.

(all from TopShop)

To go along with this type of menswear shoe, the hareem pant would work well. (Also found at TopShop).
This pant has been found in many of the Spring Collections found in stores along Oxford Street. It comes mostly in gray, black, tan, sweat pant and dress pant for any occasion. I have seen few people wearing this style. One woman was wearing the business casual side of the hareem pant with boots and a trench coat. Another was wearing the casual side as a red cotton material with high-top tennis shoes. Both ensembles were both cute and daring, being it nicknamed the "Hammer Pants".

So far, I have had no luck on my mission of finding new suede gray boots unfortunately. The winter season’s sales are now ending quickly, but spring boots are still being put on the rack. Hopefully in the next weeks someplace will be selling the perfect boots to replace my dead lifeless ones.