LIESBETH AND THE SEARCH

for the perfect boots

The search for The Perfect Boots is almost as impossible as the search for the perfect jeans, the white t-shirt, and the white blouse. The search process is endless, the disappointments numerous, but if, if it finally works out, the joy is unmatched. Over two years ago, I found them, the perfect boots. They were the Janette Boots by Isabel Marant and to this day, they still regularly accompany me outside. But as perfect as they are, they are a bit worn out and the suede has faded a bit. So, for the past few months, I've been back on the hunt. I fell for the Shark Lock Wedge Boots by Givenchy, then the Cartel Boots by Jimmy Choo, but both were actually too expensive and they were nowhere to be found in my size. And then this week, I found the To Be Cool boots by Valentino. Still exactly in my size, so we lived happily ever after. At least, I thought so, because it went desperately wrong.

You know, you can return them for free, so if you find you don't like them that much, you send them back and get your money back

As mentioned, there was exactly one pair left. And with a nice discount so it was somewhat acceptable in terms of price. “Should I?” I asked Josselin. “Yes Lies of course you should do it!” she said. And intern Maud also said: “You know, you can return them for free, so if you find you don't like them that much, you send them back and get your money back.” Now that’s logic I can work with. And off I went, into the shopping cart, proceed to checkout, iDeal, ABN AMRO and then, then it went wrong. The payment window didn’t pop up, but I did receive an order confirmation in my email. Did I now have free boots? Or was the order not successful? Calling the webshop. “Yes no ma'am, we have problems with iDeal and something went wrong with the payment, so your order is not approved. You can try again in 5 minutes.”

 Ah yes ma'am, no, those were sold a few minutes ago to someone else, I see here

After refreshing the page for 10 minutes, they indeed came back in the webshop. Minor detail; in Rio my wallet was taken from me so I have no credit cards left. Only a very old one from Visa whose code I no longer remember. To be safe, I used that one anyway, but after going through the whole process again, it went wrong AGAIN. I had to fill in some password that I don’t have. And then yes, again that order confirmation, again calling, again a failed order.

At this point, I want those boots more than ever. I must and will. I refresh again for 10 minutes but this time it just keeps saying sold out . Panic. How can this be?! Calling the webshop again. “Ah yes ma'am, no, those were sold a few minutes ago to someone else, I see here.”

WHAT?!

I've been working on those things for god knows how long and now someone else just quickly snatches them away from me?! Seriously. Furious. Or well, mostly disappointed. Of course, I immediately went online to see if I could find them somewhere else but no, those things are completely sold out everywhere. I put them on my wishlist so that if someone returns them, I get an email that they are available again, but don’t hold your breath.

And then this morning at 07:00 I woke up and saw that I had an email from the webshop at 05:34. The boots were available again! But by the time I looked, that cursed sold out. was back again. I have officially given up. Maybe it’s better this way, the universe doesn’t want these perfect Valentinos and me to be together.

Or... or maybe it does? To be continued...