Destroyed, Wicked and Bad

OK I admit it, I wore heels on Monday and took 900mg of gabapentin and now have really bad rebound pain. Was it worth it? You bet your L’Oreal life on it. Summer dress, open toed heels, not big heels but heels nevertheless. For once, just once, I didn’t feel dumpy in flats. I quite like flats but if I wear them with a dress, I look about 3’6” and 250lbs. See how I side swerved the metric system for my American readers?

Actually, I never really got to grips with the metric system, it was just being introduced in the UK when I was at school and to be fair the teachers didn’t have a Scooby, so we ended up not knowing what an inch or a centimetre was. Anyway, thankfully I know how much a pint is and what a four-inch heel looks like, what more do you need?

I could make some smutty gag about four inches and needing more than that but moving on…..

Remember me mentioning the Destroy wedges that were ‘well fierce’? Well check them out and behold the fierceness. Or is that ferocity? I bought these in 1996 at the start of my musical career and they accompanied me on my first trip to Ibiza in 97, the year I handed out a whole bunch of 12” vinyls and a record label was born. Aaaaaah, good times.

Being what can only be described as a ‘short arse’ the height that these shoes gave me was ‘visa card’ priceless. I had these slinky dark blue trousers, not quite jeans but with a substantial flare that I wore with these shoes. As I remember I wore them to death; you know how sometimes material gets a sheen to it after it’s been worn and washed too many times? Yeah well these got to that stage. I was a UK size ‘8’ back in those days, when 8 really meant something and wasn’t just a number plucked out of thin air by Gap which bears no resemblance to a size 8 in Topshop or Wallis, they’re all completely different arbitrary sizes. Or is it just me that thinks that? Answers on a postcard please.

You probably wouldn’t think so to look at these shoes but I could fair bust out a few moves on the dance floor wearing them and I never once twisted my ankle. To be brutally honest though they were so huge and cumbersome that gravity had planted them firmly on the floor before I’d even had the intention to do so. I felt like I was on the cutting edge of fashion in these shoes, they were bad, funky and wicked and lots of other words we used in the late 90s to elaborate upon something's brilliance. I’m not sure if they’ve reached vintage status yet. I read somewhere that an item has to be at least 20 years old to reach vintage status but I’ve also seen ebayers advertising something from three years ago as vintage. Divvies.

Ibiza 1997

Picture the scene, Ibiza 1997; foam parties, Manumission sex shows, sunsets at Café del Mar, Renaissance at Pacha, Divine at Privilege and I was there with a suitcase full of shoes.

I had the little white strappy numbers that I wore four years later on my wedding day; we’ll talk about them some other time; some canvas pumps with thick rubber soles and the Destroy Blue wedges that were and still are ‘well fierce’. That was a fantastic holiday, me and the white strappys danced at Manumission until 7am, as I recall Sonique played that night but I could be wrong; it’s 14 years ago and I’ve been to a lot of clubs since then, life has become a blur.

There came a point that night or possibly morning when the sex show started and I stopped dancing long enough to think, “screw this, I need some sleep”. It was a bit boring and being 5’1” I saw bugger all other than Mike’s baldy head bobbing up and down like a sweaty nodding dog. It was all rather unsavoury if you ask me, but I am English you know.

Anyway we left after the sun had risen looking slightly dishevelled with the white strappy shoes more dirty grey than white; it was so bad I had to wash my feet before hitting the sack. I have many photos of that holiday, generally my husband stood in front of some landmark in the day or a sunset in the evening but I have one photo that sums me up completely. A little shop in Ibiza town caught my eye and I knew I had to commit the place to a slightly blurry photograph. I wonder if it’s still there.