Despite the fact that Carrie Bradshaw is also a fashionable, single blonde and we share an all-consuming love of footwear, I don’t really feel like she and I have that much in common. She lives in NYC, I live in Nashville. She has a glamorous job as a writer and Vogue contributor while I have a career that is the opposite of that. And oh yeah – she is a fictional character and I am not.
But one thing Carrie and I definitely did share is our reaction the first time we saw the fabled Manolo Blahnik Mary Jane:
“I thought these were an urban shoe myth.”
Thank God no one was around to take a similar picture of me. But let’s have a closer look shall we?
(And if you follow this link you can watch them spin majestically in a circle.)
I LOVE THEM. LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE THEM. But here’s another difference between Carrie and I – she can afford them and I cannot. I mean, at this stage in my life, $645 for a pair of shoes is not even something I can justify saving up for. Too many other bills to pay and mouths to feed (okay, just my own mouth, but still).
So I set out on another mission to try and find a way to love a black mary jane pump for less. Let’s see how I did:
The good: the shape and the style are pretty close to the Manolo. The bad: they’re suede, not patent and at $198 are still a tad pricey. And so we soldier on:
The good: may not be patent, but is actually leather. Plus I think the double-strap detail is cute and the price is good, too. The bad: still not the Manolos. And so we soldier on:
Michael by Michael Kors Devenport Mary Jane
The good: they are actually patent and I like the wider strap across the instep. The bad: the 4 1/2 inch heel would make me approximately 8 feet tall.
Ultimately, I think I gave my heart away a long time ago and no matter how great another shoe might be, it’s just not the shoe for me – kind of like when Carrie broke up with Aidan because she couldn’t let go of Mr. Big.
So kids – what do you think?
Shea Brakefield
Do We Love It? 
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