I make no apologies for my love of shoes; from a gorgeous gucci sandal, lovely louboutin or classy chanel to a sexy ali rahimi, I find them all divine. This is lust you say, not love? Either way, heel to toe, there is deep affection.
I pamper my shoes by housing each pair individually in my closet. Shoes are organized by style and then by color. A friend of mine has taken this a step further by attaching a photograph on the front of each box for easy viewing. Somehow this seems a little too impersonal for me, like putting a name tag on your loved one's lapel. But then again, not everyone is as in love with their shoes as I am. Instead I use perfectly sized clear boxes from the Container Store. And periodically, I make an effort to rotate shoes out of my closet for cleaning and repair.
But having an organized closet where you can find everything because you can see everything can have a down side...my husband sees everything too! Thus, came my promise to Gary-to donate an existing pair of shoes aka: physically remove a pair of shoes from my wardrobe (and sometimes this hurts) whenever another shoe purchase is made aka: a new love appears.
This culling if you will, not only helps keep my closet updated, it keeps it in shape. The shoe promise along with my dear friend Paula motivated me to do the same with my clothes:t-shirts, blouses, socks and lingerie. "How many white shirts does one really need?" Thank you Paula! What this accomplishes is amazing. Surprisingly, especially for me, is that I now never really have to take time to reorganize my closet unless I want to, but not because I need to.
Watching and/or helping friends yank out their entire wardrobe every spring- clothes piled high with belts, bags and boxes everywhere is time consuming. It can take a day just to try on each and every piece of owned clothing prior to sorting. Try making the promise instead. This requires less time, it is easy with practice, and actually, over time it could even save you some money. Yes, loving and dumping, at the same time. Heartless, but helpful.
Too bad your blog wasn't around when Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos were in power in the Phillippines. Perhaps if she'd read your advice, she and her husband wouldn't have had to live out their days in exile in Hawaii. This blog should serve as a wake up call to the dictators of the world (and their wives). Happy Sunday! :)
ReplyDeleteDear Perri,
ReplyDeleteI love reading your posts over Sunday morning coffee. It's one of my new traditions. I especially liked this weeks post. Although I don't have a shoe obsession, my husband has one over McCoy pottery, a legitimate obsession I am told. But how many McCoy vases can one house have? I have tried to install the "One pot in, one pot out" edict, similar to Gary's shoe rule, but to no avail. Any thoughts?
PS - You're right - Ali Rahimi's are divine!
Hi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your question regarding what to do when the "promise" waivers as in the case of McCoy pottery. My suggestion is to put a mutually agreeable acquisition plan in place. This can flux from year to year due to space, budget and annual de-acquisition adjustments. Otherwise, a good carpenter for another closet or room may be in order!