Falling for Valentino espadrilles

 

I’ve never really understood the appeal of espadrilles. They aren’t unforgivable like Crocs or FitFlops but I’ve never felt the need to own a pair, I guess there’s not much need for flat raffia and canvas shoes in London – it just never gets hot enough! Even on holiday, I’m a sandals or sliders kind of girl. I think most fashion girls wrote them off until Karl Lagerfeld debuted the ultra-covetable Chanel espadrilles in SS12 – suddenly the easy, breezy summer shoes were on the top of every editor and blogger’s wishlist. Fast forward three years and every high end designer is offering their own incantation of the humble espadrille, from Celine to Valentino.

Although the now iconic ‘double C’ Chanel holds a certain appeal, I tend to prefer the more subtle take on trends or must-have pieces – I hate looking or feeling like a walking advert! While I was umming and ahhing over espadrilles, I spied the gorgeous Valentino version which were covered in their new butterfly print. They look luxe without overtly advertising their brand. Sold.

 

I never thought I’d be eagerly awaiting the arrival of a pair of flat raffia and canvas shoes, but I was practically hopping up and down with excitement waiting for the postman. The espadrilles were actually much more lovely IRL – leather lined and super comfy, the print was heavy on the forest green so super easy to wear, particularly to add a pretty edge to the military trend.

I’ve been super eager to wear my lovely Valentino shoes, although the weather hasn’t been overly cooperative, you wouldn’t know that spring has supposedly sprung in London! For now, I’ve been wearing my espadrilles with my trusty jeans all around town but I can’t wait to wear them with more summery looks when the weather decides to play ball. I love Karolina Kurkova’s decidedly South of France take with cropped white jeans as well as Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s understated chic look.

Keep your eyes peeled for my next post, I’ll be sharing my top five espadrilles to get you summer ready.