My first pair of ballet flats were the kind you actually needed. They were tiny, smaller than my hands are now, little shoes for little feet to go with little leotards and little tights. They were baby pink. I was baby pink. I was joining the ranks of little girls the world round and taking my first ballet class. I have vague recollections of getting those shoes - softer than the softest puppy dog, softer than my mum's pillow in winter - from a ballet shop in Randwick, where you got to sit on a high chair like a real princess and find the shoe that fits. But really, it was never about the shoe. It was always about the tutu (I was five years old! what do you think). I'd like to think that I loved ballet flats from the start, that it was enduring, passionate, overwhelming love but to be truthful I never really started loving ballet flats until I owned my first pair of Porsellis.
Some things just never sink in until you're older. I recently mused on the fact that for the first 10 years that I watched Sound of Music I never really realised that the bad guys were Nazis and this was all set in the midst of the third reich and in the lead up to world war two. I honestly thought that Herr Zeller was someone who didn't want the family Von Trapp to win the singing competition, and they were chasing after them to take back their trophy. Trophies are very important to five years old. Of course the whole kefuffle would be about a trophy - who would want that take away from them? I'd climb every mountain to ensure that it wasn't, that's for sure. Well, now that I'm older (and wiser, with someone telling me what to do) I know a few things. I know what happens at the end of the Sound of Music, I know that you have to follow a skincare routine, and I know that investing in quality really does make a difference. Which is why, when I was in Milan, I snapped up a few pairs of Porselli ballet flats (my favourites) to add to my collection. Ever since I eschewed heels altogether a few years ago (another grown up thing, or maybe a childish thing I've claimed as a grown up?) ballet flats have become the cornerstone of my style. I wear them in summer and winter, and they are the perfect foil for university, work and weekends. Like beloved sandals in summertime, ballet flats are indispensable because they completely, wholly embody that feeling of relaxed, effortless comfort that I actively search out in all aspects of my life. As Lindsay summed up in a recent post, style is about so much more than the sartorial, it is about discovering how it is that we want to live our lives. Well, I want to live mine in simplicity and comfort and ease and - as for me this follows unquestionably, inevitably, without any shred of a doubt - contentedly. So thank you to Porselli for allowing me to do that.
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ps. I recently found out that my favourite online store My Chameleon will be stocking Porselli very soon. This is exciting news for fans like me who lament over how difficult it is to get hold of them. I really cannot wait!
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