I saw these shoes in a shop window a month or so ago, and they looked so cute. Then I saw them on the street, on a real person, and they were even cuter. So I went into the shop (Prada, a place where I don't remember ever going into before — what would be the point?), took this surreptitious picture, and am now posting it. I would link to them but I can't find an online seller.
They caught my eye, of course, because they are RICK-RACK SANDALS, and as such, absolutely gorgeous. They're also $495, which puts them WAY out of my budget (that is, if my budget were at the Equator, this pair of shoes would be at Alpha Centauri) which is sad.
My hope is that I can outlast everyone else — in six months, these shoes will be "so last-season," whereas my love for rick-rack knows no season. There will be pairs going begging, and I will snap them up, preferably on eBay. At least, that's my fantasy.
There's also a high-heel version, but I didn't bother taking a picture of those. (I was terrified of the salesladies, frankly.)
(If you look at the reflection in the chrome edging of the table, you can see my stripey seersucker dress. I'll try and post about that dress towards the end of the week.)
A Dress A Day 
Love the “rick-rack” shoes. Just wait a month or so, **Pay**Less** will have a version on their shelves. And you can have them next summer!
LikeLike
I’d love to see the high heel version, because these are too cute! Good luck finding them at the right price!
LikeLike
I found the high heels online, but check these out: the two tone high heels! A little….eek! for me I think. Oh my gosh, the wavy pumps are so cute, though!!Google “prada wavy” and you can find every version out there, it looks like.
LikeLike
ric rac seems to put itself in your path, have ya noticed?
LikeLike
Wow, those are fabulous. I’d have to go with one of the heeled versions though (in my dreams! I couldn’t think of buying shoes that expensive).
LikeLike
wait a little, somebody will make a similar one and you can snap them up!
LikeLike
I love love love those wavy pumps! I’ll bet those salesladies would freak me out too.
LikeLike
Okay, since we’re talking about shoes, perhaps this is a good day to come OUT OF THE CLOSET here and identify myself as a drag queen. Here’s my real pic! (Well, somewhat retouched, and about 15 lbs. ago, but me nonetheless.) I wasn’t sure how everyone here would react to a guy on a sewing site…but you all seem very cool, so this is me. But, as to shoes: I buy all my shoes in thrift shops, because I only wear vintage styles for drag. (I actually buy my boy loafers in thrift stores, too…someone always seems to have bought or been gifted with the wrong size and has donates them.) My favorite style is something that I think went out of production…Hi-Lifes? They might have been made by Payless (!) They were a 1940’s style open-toed fabric shoe with a 3 inch heel that was good with practically everything! I have them in beige and black, though both pairs are now sadly falling apart, I wore them so much. A lot of the heels I buy I just have to wear to a photo shoot or an audition (2 hours max) so they don’t really have to be my size. So most of my shoes are too small! Another pair of PERFECT heels I have were made by Ralph Lauren probably 10 years ago (at least) I wear a lot of simple black pumps with a stiletto heel (3 3/4″ seems to be the perfect height) and there’s always some pair of those lying around in a thrift store, somewhere. The most comfortable pair I ever bought were my first drag shoes, 15 years ago. They were cheaply made, but I got them resoled 3 times before they officially died. I love this site; hope you can all live with the real Cookie 🙂
LikeLike
Cookie, as far as I’m concerned, you’re not only welcome, but bring a wonderful, unique perspective that I’m sure we all value. (Plus, that’s a lovely photo!)-Sandra
LikeLike
I still love you Cookie. You are hecka funny and I love reading your posts. Besides I live about a wink from San Francisco. The whole cross dressing thing is a non-issue here.And lol: I am working on those sneaky 15 pounds that somehow ended up on me, too.As to the rick rack shoes and the Prada price tag…I sure wish I could make shoes and stuff like this is exactly why.
LikeLike
Cookie! Not want you around?! No way! I love drag queens. They are the ones who taught me how to be a lady (since my mother never did). I mean, who else has studied femininity as much as a drag queen??Please don’t go away!Julie
LikeLike
Those shoes are so adorable.loriwill:I sure wish I could make shoes – likewise! I remember growing up reading in McCalls Needlework and Crafts magazines those ads in the back for You Can Make Your Own Shoes – back in the 60s 70s. Wonder if anyone ever had success with that?
LikeLike
Cookie, how could I not love someone with a love for fabric, shoes, fashion…..etcetc….that runs as deep as mine?The only intolerance here is reserved for those who have no love for patent leather. Who do they think they are anyway?
LikeLike
Crazy price, super cute shoes.
LikeLike
All hail the trickle-down fashion theory.$495 is patently (sorry) ridiculous for sandals. I have paid close to that for a pair of unbelievably amazing loafers (leopard pony fur with a jeweled buckle), but that was an irresistible once-a-year compulsion.Look for the same shoe, but it’s late in the season for a more affordable brand to come out with them.
LikeLike
CRAIGSLIST, BABY. as you know from your tar-get purse, everything ends up on craigslist.or, discount shoes + michael’s rickrack= pradaness. those prada peeps are horrifying. i once tried to exchange a gift, bought by a CBS executive (with signed freaking card and original packaging, godsakes), and they treated me like i just busted out of sing-sing, prada bag in hand.
LikeLike
Just wanted to say You Go Cookie!
LikeLike
Ok these are expensive and the dollar low not to forget. But in general I am always astonished how lowpriced Prada shoes are in comparison to their competitors. Not cheap yes, but I have seen some for under 200 (full price), I was really tempted, since they where really cute.
LikeLike
I just wanted to tell Erin that my children now say to me “Mummy, why are you obsessed with sewing” when we are out anywhere (I am known for my loathing of clothes shopping and see dressing as a necessary evil). I’m just back from Rome where I looked in every shop window and had to be dragged out of fabric shops. The advantage for people in places which have warm summers (ie not Scotland, a high of 73, once every three weeks if we’re lucky!) is that you get to dress in just one layer, so it’s possible to look chic without having a ruck-sack full of cardigans and waterproofs on your back. Lucky things! And I love the Prada shoes. Which is something, coz I never looked at shoes before either!
LikeLike
If I would ever pay that much for sandals I would so buy those. Rick Rack shoes! Who knew that they even made them? Perhaps rick rack is about to be a new Italian designer IT item? Erin, they are COPYING you!
LikeLike
I think it’s funny that someone else is intimidated by the saleswarriors in those ultra chic places! Nothing like walking into a place by mistake and then realizing, “I could afford maybe a KLEENEX in this store!” and trying to sneak out without attracting attention. . . There is much to regret about “Pretty Woman” but the revenge on the snotty salespeople part is priceless!
LikeLike
Cookie, it’s just one more reason to be glad you sew!Erin, I think all you have to do is give it a couple of months. Steve Madden, and a few others, will probably be creating much more affordable versions. In the meantime, you can console yourself with a pair of more ordinary sandals, rickrack, and a hot glue gun!Fabricgirl, was that the Mary Loomis book, by any chance? I think it got left behind in a move, but it offered pretty easy instructions, as I recall.Oonaballoona, did you get to make your exchange, regardless? I’m always astonished by stories of haughty sales-help; in theory, at least, they’re being paid to help.
LikeLike
Cookie – I was SO CONVINCED you were a woman. I love your reall picture. I think you are funny, and creative and I wish I new you in the real world. Digging the rick rack shoes — no so much the price.Looking forward to the seersucker dress post. Theresaaka Velvet Plaza (Sewing Conspiracy, Frock Republican Army, Drag Queen Name.) If I were a man I would be a drag queen.
LikeLike
Cookie, you’re awesome! I’m so happy you’re here with us (and I’m so proud of everyone else for being so welcoming)!
LikeLike
Cookie! One more reason to love you.. Ive REALLY been enjoying your posts and glad *I* have been talking round here more often is BECAUSE I am lovin your banter. You are cooler than cool and drop dead gawgeous. Thank you for feeling comfortable enough with us all to share more of your world with us!OK NOTHING I put on my feet and walk the streets with is EVER going to cost me more than $10. I also love thrifting for shoes, much to my husbands chagrin (because my closet is getting very Imelda Marcos-ish). Id rather be seen in unusual and unique shoes that NOBODY else has than wear something everyone else in the world is wearing. Same for handbags. I just dont get the whole designer, huge suitcase looking bags (but I dont carry a lot around, either) nor the mega expensive shoes that youre going to just scuff dirty the bottoms of, and fret about because they were so expensive. Erin, you found your Yellow Bag Holy Grail on ebay.. I send you good vibes to find these shoes there soon, too! Fashion Season ins outs and dos and donts.. who needs em! hahaha
LikeLike
This made no sense at all. “I’ve REALLY been enjoying your posts and glad *I* have been talking ’round here more often is BECAUSE I am lovin’ your banter”Should have been:I’ve REALLY been enjoying your posts and one main reason *I* have been talking ’round here more often is BECAUSE I am lovin’ your banter.Pardon my poor grammar!
LikeLike
I remember the make your own shoes book. Being from a family of engineers, I have a compulsion for knowing “how they do that.” There were instructions in that book for every stage of the process. The thing that I remember most is that heel forms and the metal arch brace were canibalized from old shoes. Don’t ask why I remember that.Amy
LikeLike
I love ALL of you, and rick-rack shoes!
LikeLike
Is it showing too much of my soft underbelly to say that I find $500 for a pair of shoes absolutely obscene when I have friends who have to scrape for the money to buy their kids enough food?Bah.The fashion industry can bite me.
LikeLike
Cookie! Hi! I really enjoy your comments. I don’t always comment, but I had to say that it’s great that you’re posting here. The community of Dress a Day fans is a very special one, don’tcha think?As for the shoes–SWOON! As for the price tag–YEOUCH! That’s insane. I mean, I love the things. My only expensive shoes I ever bought were Miu Miu and yes, they were knocked-off not long after I shelled out three C notes for them. (Stupid, stupid, stupid.) The sad truth for me is that sometimes shoes with a horizontal ankle strap give me “cankles” (aka–ankles that look like calves–so not attractive.) Holly
LikeLike
We need to have a dress a day convention so we a can all meet.
LikeLike
Cookie,Ive personally never understood why anyone would care whether someone else was red, blue, green, gay, a cross-dresser, drag queen or whatever. As long as everyone is courteous respectful, what difference could it possibly make? I/we enjoy your creative input. Period.ADAD conference would be mightily interesting, indeed.Cheers All!
LikeLike
Oh no, rick rack shoes? Ugh. Why did you have to show me these? The are SOOO cute that I’m crying at the price! Is there anything cuter than rick rack? I’ll be dreaming of these shoes with you…
LikeLike
great shoes! i love that you went all ‘secret agent man’ to get the pic for us! i would say ‘go prada’ if it weren’t for the highway robbery factor.
LikeLike
Problem solved: mohop shoes. You buy the base and add your own ribbon (or giant rickrack) to create the sandal part.Also, this woman gives a tutorial on making your own shoes.And Cookie: You go, girl! Thank you for bringing a higher level of fabulousness to us.
LikeLike
“I think it’s funny that someone else is intimidated by the saleswarriors in those ultra chic places! ” Thanks to leamonteach for the technical term. May I recommend taking a man (preferably geeky) along? Back in the early ’70s, DH and I were shopping in a snooty part of Toronto. He saw a casual jacket – windbreaker/golf type- in the window of Chez Catherine, and went in to ask the price. (I wouldn’t have gone in at all.) The expensive blonde said “It’s $135.00. Is that all right?” He sputtered, “No, it isn’t all right!”, and we left, never to darken their door again.
LikeLike
Tea: thanks a bunch for the link to the Mary Loomis book site! I may well end up taking on yet another hobby.
LikeLike
I sincerely hope affordable knock-offs come along soon for you, Erin! The shoes are too cute, and a pair of shoes I love can make me smile for a long time.In 1967, I found a mod dress I loved at Paraphernalia, and a pair of mod, square toe, flat shoes, with a strap and toe cleavage. I smiled all summer long. Other favorite clothes and shoes and bags have come and gone since then, but I’ll never forget how happy that outfit made me. Until someone stole the dress off the clothesline, sigh. But a friend helped me get it back from the thief, and I was happy again.
LikeLike
Shoes !! wearing dresses and underwear are only an excuse to buy more shoes!! it’s always about the shoes.and cookie..I’m just impressed that you actually work in a law office…and like to sew…I only fulfilled one aspiration.
LikeLike
ric rac flip flops:http://www.whatapair.com/wp~aspx~iid_SU-RICRACMADRAS~dim1_RUB~dim2_Blue~pw~itemDetail.htm
LikeLike
Those shoes don’t got any arch support, honey.
LikeLike
tea, thanks for the link to Mohop shoes, but I’m not sure I’m willing to pay $195 Canadian for them! Still, you can customize them in so many ways, that it would be like buying several pairs of shoes. I’ll have to think about it.I bought the Mary Loomis book, but I have yet to try her methods. I think I would need someone to help me when it comes time to make the mold of my foot.The biggest disappointment/problem with the book is the fact that you have to canibalize existing shoes for the soles. I was hoping for information on making a shoe from scratch, and how to find “shoe findings” so I could make a well-fitting dress shoe or pump with some arch support.
LikeLike
I am very touched that you all are so supportive and welcoming! Even though I’ve lived in big cities since college onward, there’s always that sneaky little feeling inside that new people will be nasty and judgmental. Dressaday has brought a lot of fun to my life in the last few months, and inspired me to get out of my office cubicle and buy a sewing machine, fabric, vintage patterns, some old sewing books and even look into converting the little dressing room off my bedroom into a full-on sewing room 🙂 I have such a great love for vintage clothing and styles, and all their fellow enthusiasts. Basically, I’m coming to thing that CREATIVITY is the opposite of INERTIA. While I’ll miss my pics of my breezy Jackie O. Beach Lady and the little blonde Ponytail Girl I’ve put with my posts, I guess the real pic of me is here to stay! (Though the drag queen in me wishes I could make it BIGGER!) Thanks again for being so neat!!! Talk to you soon! (PS: That pic was taken by George Hurrell’s old darkroom assistant, using the same lense, etc., he used to use on Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer. When that job happened, I was like, “Okay, I can retire now. I have the type of picture that was in all those glamour coffee table books that brought me to Hollywood in the first place!”)
LikeLike
Wow, I was just going to comment about the shoes (cute, but waaaaay overpriced, and, frankly, made of cardboard overlaid with leather, so no support and no padding — death to your feet), but then I saw Cookie’s comments/pic and gasped: George Hurrell’s assistant??! I’m speechless. I bow to your utter fabulousness and obvious affinity for artistry. There is no glam like Old Hollywood Glam.
LikeLike
Cookie, I could eat you up!!Okay, since Cookie has come out of the closet, I might as well too: I’m an atheist. (Try saying THAT at a cocktail party and see just how fast the martini glasses stop clinking.)Anyway, yay for the fabulous Cookie! I think anyone who loves dresses is welcome in Erin’s fabulous salon, non? Frankly, I’d love to see more guys post here (regardless of whether they wear dresses or just admire them). I think the more perspectives we have, the merrier. And more men should get into sewing!Having said that, though, Cookie, should I EVER run into you in the shoe section of a vintage shop or Nordstrom rack, I will wrestle you to the ground for a pair of cool size 10 or 11 pumps. A warning: I will show no mercy! It’s hard enough for us Lady Bigfoots as it is without having to compete with drag queens for footwear.elke-I laughed so hard, I wet myself with your story. Unrelated to sewing, but your story triggered a memory of my geeky ex husband. For fun he and I used to go to open houses for million dollar estates. (The charade was his idea.) We’d get the whole tour and he would mention how we needed lots of room to entertain and make it seem to the realtor like we lived a lavish lifestyle. We’d oooo and ahhh over the patio, the pool, the big dining room. “We love entertaining!” We would also point out all the flaws in any remodeling. Then toward the end of the tour he’d turn to me and say very seriously, “You know honey, I don’t think this place is big enough for us.” And off we’d go. (Sometimes he’d end the ruse with “This place is a dump! You deserve better honey!”) Probably one of the highlights of our otherwise lousy marriage. 😉
LikeLike
Thanks! Yes, his name is Mark A. Vieira and he’s written some absolutely GREAT books about portrait photography in the Golden Age. He assisted Hurrell, and is now in charge of the photographer’s official archives. When collectors order a print, he will be the one who prints it off the old 8X10 negatives, etc. He works out of the historic Granada Building, which is where Hurrell had his studio in the 1930’s. The fascinating thing is Mr. Vieira uses the old methods, such as retouching the huge oversized negatives (NOT the print) directly, rubbing lead on them, I believe, and adding highlights with different, archaic methods. The surprising thing about the photo session, to me, was that the older cameras, the indirect lighting and that size negative all require you to hold the pose for a few seconds’ exposure time…which actually feels like a strained eternity to the way we take pictures now. I think that’s part of what can give some of the images a slight gauzy quality…that the subject really can’t hold completely still for that time unless they’re highly trained (and who is, or was?) It was a REALLY interesting experience!
LikeLike
Okay, I’ve just added Vieira’s SIN IN SOFT FOCUS: PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD to my Amazon WishList. I already have collections of Hurrell’s photographs in other books, but didn’t know anything about Vieira until you just told me. These photographs are ravishing.
LikeLike
My all-time favorite of Hurrell’s photographs of Joan Crawford is that one where she’s wearing almost no make-up, you can see her freckles, and she looks so beautiful and so un-Crawford-vulnerable, it’s just breathtaking.
LikeLike
A DAD convention would be great but dont think Ill be traveling anytime soon to the mid-west as it would have to be held in Erins home base! Besides, then Id have to actually get out of my jeans t-shirts and, gasp, WEAR A DRESS/SKIRT – OMG!!! So, in the theme of coming out of the closet – I am a dyed in the wool jeans wearing only own one dress kinda person. That one dress? Yep, its my wedding dress – a size 12 made by me and my mom 30+ years ago! Given that, I read Dress a Day regularly and enjoy Erins stories and posts as well as everyones comments.Thanks all for a great community and a break from the work-day world! Thanks Erin for a great website and hosting such a community.Teresa
LikeLike
I commend the Atheist and the I-Only-Wear-Jeans babes for stepping out of the dark forest of secrecy and into the moonlit clearing of dressaday. You are brave, and ACCEPTED, souls!About Joan Crawford: There are three Hurrell images of her I like particularly, out of the thousands they created together.This pic is beautiful, and was shot in her home. It shows how lovely she really could be with a minimum of makeup (and a good photographer!) Ironically, this was taken around the time her long time employer, MGM, was thinking she was over the hill in her late thirties, (!) and dropped her. I think she was looking her BEST in that period, and she went on to even greater success as she moved on to Warner Brothers Studio. http://www.joancrawfordbest.com/41hurrellgoddess.htmThen this one was used in the window of Hurrell’s first private studio away from MGM. She did it for publicity for him, as a favor. You can really study her superb bone structure here, which is something you ultimately cannot get away with faking for very long. (There’s actually a slightly different shot from this same session that I like even better, where she’s looking directly into the camera…but I can’t locate it on the web! You can find it in Bob Thomas’ biography on her, which still seems to be the fairest and best researched book on her life, at this point.) http://www.joancrawfordbest.com/41joanhurrell.htmFinally, this is an earlier pic, I believe from the 1930’s. I think the composition and contrast are really exciting, and Crawford looks damn SEXY!! http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3345913856/nm0001076
LikeLike