40th Birthday Shoes: Dolce & Gabbana

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You might remember my post last year about my new-ish tradition of buying myself a pair of designer shoes for my birthday.  That and watching the Korean zombie film, Train To Busan (on my own because nobody else in my house would like it)!  Last year I bought the Charlotte Olympia t-bars and the previous year, Vivienne Westwood suede boots.  This year I turned 40, so I decided (pre-Covid) that such a milestone called for a mega treat of 4 pairs throughout the year, one for each quarter of the year (not so minted that I could buy them all at once!) and four seemed apt (and more manageable/sensible than 40!) to represent 40.  A lot of my friends had lavish holidays (multiple) planned throughout the year to celebrate their birthdays, which isn't something I could do with being ill and as a family we were struggling to find something I could manage to celebrate, so we had no plans before Coronavirus hit.  I figured before and after, that this was a longer lasting memento than a holiday or party anyway and was in keeping with my previous birthday treats. 

So, I got my first pair long before my birthday, in the January sales and I haven't shown you those yet, but I had a bit of an issue with my second pair not fitting.  They had a silly strap that didn't really stretch that I couldn't get my heel past (otherwise they would've been fine), so I had to return those.  The hunt was on for a replacement (once I got my refund) and one day I got lucky with these Dolce & Gabbana mules online at TKMaxx.  They literally had one pair in my size and I remember eyeing these elsewhere a while back, so grabbed them quickly as I'd never seen them so well priced.  They are from SS17, one of my favourite Dolce seasons, I honestly don't think there was a single item on that catwalk I disliked.   

They took a while to arrive and in that time I saw my absolute dream pair of Dolce heels in my size (again only one pair), but didn't have enough money, attempted to buy them multiple times and sort out money in the morning, but I don't know if they'd really already sold out and it wasn't registering, but after several attempts (my bank ok'd it, the website didn't), I had to give up.  I was trying not to hold that against these shoes when they arrived!  Anyway, they are lovely and despite looking like a size 2 (seriously tiny), the 5 (my usual size) do fit.  The purple raffia fringing will absolutely do my head in, I don't know how you're supposed to stop it getting tucked into the shoe with your foot as you slide them on.  Although they are peep-toe, you don't actually see much of your toes for that amazing detail across the front.  I've seen these in various colours, but I thought the combination here was really unusual, so was glad this was the colourway that popped up.  I think they're very unlike anything else I have too, which was a big consideration when making my birthday shoe choices this year.     

Can we also just appreciate how utterly fabulous the dustbag is below?  Gorgeous.  The shoe box though is oddly huge (and not at all pretty) for the dinky shoes.  I was falling a bit behind with the birthday shoe buying, with that other pair not fitting, then having the IC/Care Bears launch to buy, but I'm back on track now.  I have my third pair and actually probably my fourth too, if I've made my mind up!  They are all very different to each other and I think I've managed to represent the seasons a little with my choices, without trying to!