Used, hand-me-downs, second-hand, previously owned, vintage and/or recycled. Whatever you want to call it, you weren’t the first owner. Bonus, you didn’t pay full price. Not new, can be very deceptive. My first pair of Louboutins (and only—so far ;o) I purchased in a consignment store. Technically used, second-hand, previously owned… But they had never been worn. Score! I procured them for a third of the price. Sadly, I didn’t get the fancy box, however I was spared the enormous price tag. I will survive somehow. The wife of a billionaire who lives in Las Vegas happens to fancy fabulous footwear, and just so happens to wear my size. Sin City has now become even more dangerous. Selling unwanted goods second-hand instead of discarding them obviously benefits the seller, you get a little cash on the back end. Yes I know my Louboutins previous owner is a billionaire’s wife–but billions or no billions I can hear her husband “Did you really need another pair of shoes?” Some things are universal, bucko bucks or not. This way she gets a bit of petty cash. And I can acquire ridiculously expensive shoes at a slightly less ridiculous price. Win win! Hand- me-downs generally refer to used items, also previously owned but most of the time are gifted to you from a person cleaning out their closet. Anyone from a large family is very familiar with this concept. I have been the giver and the recipient of this exchange on many occasions. However when I ‘place’ a pair of my shoes in a new home I call it shoe adoption. My shoes are my babies and I need them to go to a good home. I also have had the good fortune of being on the receiving end of ‘new to me’ shoes. Generally they are not of the CFM glitz caliber I like but quite serviceable for the day-to-day deeds. And vintage is just fancy verbiage for used and old. But what constitutes vintage is up for debate. So the next time I travel to Vegas, it really will be because “ baby needs a new pair of shoes.” Laura
“One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure”
There was an Old Women who Lived in a Shoe… What Happens in Vegas…
Most of the old nursery rhythms are sinister and/or political in nature—Thanks Mother Goose—sweet dreams. Ever really think about the words to Rock a Bye Baby? Frightening!
“There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children; she didn’t know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread;
And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.”
The earliest record of “Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe” was printed in Joseph Ritson’s “Gammer Gurton’s Garland” in 1794. The rhyme is reputedly linked to Queen Caroline, who had eight children and her lack of control over parliament. Is this true? I have no idea. It will be like trying to explain Don Trump running for office in 2265. No one will understand or really care.
I didn’t live in a shoe so much as fall into a shoe. On a recent trip to Vegas—what happens in Vegas… except when your friends take pictures to document your idiotic behavior.
In the fall, Christian Louboutin is opening a store in Vegas. Will I be there? Ah.. Do birds fly? Anyhow in the Cosmopolitan Hotel to garner attention, there is a huge Louboutin shoe. I could not resist the photo op. All good until I fell in said shoe—and literally could not get out. The drop is nearly 2 feet and on a downward angle. And I’m wearing a skirt. I was laughing to hard I had lost any muscle strength with tears streaming down my face. It was funny. But no I really could not get out, not without flashing the entire audience of people watching and also laughing. Oh there were others taking pictures as well—did I mention it was funny? The more I tried to get out the more I was laughing – it was hopeless. My friend was on the ground in stitches—no help. Finally a group of Italians, very little English came by and saw the predicament. They vaulted my out of the shoe— grazie mille! Moral of this fable? I love shoes, but do not wish to live in one.
Laura