Shoes have always caught my eye, long before I ever had my own footwear designs within my collections. I remember specifically the first time one pair of shoes sparked a whole new design obsession for me.
It was 2001 and I had just moved out of my childhood home to a 2 bedroom duplex in Korea Town (an area of Los Angeles) with a roommate. Both of us worked in the fashion industry, and being 2 single girls in our early 20’s we were obsessed with clothes and shoes and fashion in general.
We had this thing called “money club” where her and I and another close friend would rotate lending each other money because we each got paid on separate weeks of the month. It was a brilliant idea and definitely came in handy around the time rent was due. One day, my roommate called me at work (office landline of course because cellphones were barely used back then) to tell me she had stopped by a designer shoe store and chatted up one of the sales people.
Apparently they were about to have a major sale and were letting her “in” on a deal before it was launched to the public. The deal was a great discount on a pair of platform suede covered shoes with a leather bungee cord style upper. They were gorgeous and came in about 4 different colors. Being that I wear a pretty common size she insisted that I go straight to the store after work and ask for her salesperson to buy the shoes. I rushed out of work that day and went right to the store. I saw them, tried them on, and instantly fell in love. They were beyond perfect in every way.
The issue now was how I going to pay for them AND make rent that month. Even at a discount they were quite pricey for a young girl supporting herself all on her own. I scraped up every last dime from my bank account and even had to money club my roommate, but I ended up getting them and literally wore them ALL the time until they practically died a few years later. They were probably one of the best fashion investments EVER made.
Tag us on IG @theodellsshop to show our team how you style your pieces!
Comments will be approved before showing up.
