>> I remember getting closet envy over people who could catalogue their shoes with a Polaroid shot tacked on to each box. It seemed like a grudgingly appealing decadence to be able to go through endless packs of Polaroid film as well as afford yourself a good amount of space for said shoe closet. Now with Polaroids in short supply unless you buy eBay deadstock (Impossible Project's substitute film seems to constantly overexpose the shots… anyone else with the same problem?) and the fact that I tend to want to grab my shoes without getting them out of the box, that dream of Polaroid shoe storage isn't as potent as it once seemed.
Charlotte Olympia has solved half that problem. From S/S 12 onwards, every pair of her shoes will come with a Polaroid snapshot that has a self-adhesive back for you to pop it on to the box. Amongst my rabble jumble of shoes where I do sacrilegious things such as stacking heels on top of one another, this Charlotte Olympia box can be the sole shining example of shoe keeping etiquette. The lonesome Polaroid snap would also spur me on to photograph and document the rest of my wardrobe for posterity's sake.
At the very least, even if Olympia doesn't start a sticky Polaroid shoebox revolution, inside her immaculate boxes still lies a pair of her charm-heavy shoes. From fruit salads to tropical flowers to cat's ears, it's hard not to have that cutesey "Awwwwwwwww" reaction when faced with Olympia's shoes. These velvet flats with an embroidered web (Charlotte's Web, geddit?) and a teensy tiny spider are no exception. I'm also glad Olympia favours her flats with a slight 1cm heel, the type that makes Salvatore Ferragamo Vara pumps so walkable.
Charlotte's Web shoes available from stockists and her website in March.
