Magpie: The £10 challenge - zebra/tiger print

Sunday 24 October 2010

The £10 challenge - zebra/tiger print

I think it's fair to say that I'm fairly unlikely to ever wear these outside of my house. Or in fact ever again. But they do illustrate a point - some things just don't work when they're done on the high street. Slightly shiny zebra or tiger (depending on the background colour - these are a caramel colour so probably tiger and marginally more forgiving than the monochrome version) print peg legs are never going to look great really, unless you are very tall, quite thin or so brave that we all admire your tenacity and ignore the fact that it looks like you are wearing flammable pyjama bottoms.

Personally, I think even if these were pure silk and worth enough to put down a deposit on a small house, they still wouldn't be for me. Me and prints don't generally gel, let alone an animal print that also looks a little bit like an exaggerated wood grain. I can see that on someone else they could possibly look amazing.

However they do give me an excuse to show off my new shoe purchase - the Pierre Hardy for Gap wedges with which I am desperately in love. This morning I was wearing them to potter around the house in while still in my actual pyjamas (more grey marl than animal print) and every time I take them off I catch myself stroking them absent mindedly. I haven't felt this way about a pair of shoes in a long time. Inevitably JFK will hate them because they are wedges and men tend to dislike wedges, and the minute he says something they will lose a little of their lustre. I must admit I used to be a wedge hater, but now I have seen the light - as long as they are very high and not strappy sandals. Whoever said wedges were easier to walk in though hadn't met London pavements. Especially those special textured paving slabs that are meant to warn the visually impaired about road crossings but also serve as a mini obstacle course to any wedge wearer.