THE CINDERELLA ADVENTURE

by May

Where I seem to have a strange tradition of finding my dress only a few hours before the party, I actually had a wonderful Blumarine ready for three days.

I had asked my favorite stylist Anouk van Griensven to find a dress for me for the finale of Holland’s Next Top Model and this piece was what you would call ‘bycatch’. Perfect for Amayzine's birthday party.

The dress was arranged, but the shoes were another story. I had thought of my blue Jimmy Choos but Jet pointed out that they actually hurt just sitting in them. For a party where you are the host (and thus talk and stand all evening) maybe not such a great idea.

So I called my boyfriend Jan-Pieter from Shoebaloo. I looked at all the goods on their site and he checked if they had those shoes in my size. It turned out two pairs of Gucci were humming my name so I would, very decadently, pick them up with a taxi on my way to my makeup artist.

‘I had to have those shoes’

Once in the PC, I passed the Gucci store itself and decided to take a look there first. I have a discount card from Gucci (nothing Dutch is strange to me) and who knows, they might have a shoe that was a bit less over the top, which I would wear more often than a real party shoe. They turned out to have them. They were deep red and had two very funny straps that were sewn on with a little knot. The discount card turned out to no longer work (now that Alessandro Michele is waving the needle, they are holding all preferred vips up to the light again) but anyway, I had to have those shoes.

I dutifully called Shoebaloo to confess that I had cheated and off to makeup. There I decided to wear my new shoes right away so they could also apply a nice shine to my legs. What do you think? As soon as I walked out of the M.A.C Cosmetics salon, the strap broke. Seriously after seven meters of walking. Called Gucci, but they didn’t have another pair in my size.

Now you should know that it was already 4:00 PM and the first guests would arrive at 5:00 PM. In the taxi, I called Jan-Pieter. He had to help me. “I’ll drive by the store with a taxi later, if you throw those two pairs of shoes through my window, then I’ll choose which ones it will be and I’ll come pay tomorrow.” No problem was the answer and so it happened that I stepped back and forth that evening in fantastic aquamarine pumps with the Gucci letters in rhinestones. And they fit wonderfully too.

‘I’ll drive by the store with a taxi later, if you throw those two pairs of shoes through my window, then I’ll choose which ones it will be and I’ll come pay tomorrow’

At our party, the owners of Shoebaloo also came who laughed heartily at my adventure. That’s what you get when you cheat, they said. And that the shoes looked beautiful on me, they said that too. When I waved them off, one said to the other: “Did you already say she gets the shoes as a gift?”

So you see, investing in designer shoes is always a good idea. Before you know it, you get them as a gift.