Today I decluttered my shoes – again!  I am now down to 15 pairs.  This includes my thongs and slippers which live in my wardrobe but excludes the gumboots and old gardening sneakers which are downstairs.

This is the least number of pairs of footwear that I have owned anytime in my adult life.  I do like shoes but in recent years my fascination has not been about falling in love with totally impractical styles and colours but rather about the pursuit of the ‘perfect’ shoes.

It is interesting that the more I streamline the selection of clothes that I wear the easier it is to let go of shoes.  If I tend to wear lots of a similar style or colour it stands to reason that the same shoe will work with many different outfits.

Here are the shoes that are in my cupboard today.

On the floor (from left to right)

Hiking boots – rarely worn but still make the cut
RM Williams dress boots – worn with jeans in cold weather
Short boots (red) – bought last year overseas when I needed some to replace a pair of shoes that wore out
Red lace-up shoes – Ecco brand – worn with jeans or trousers
Sneakers – for walking and exercise
Australian Geographic slippers – lightweight, great with socks
Purple thongs – summer casual wear

Top shelf

Bronze Mary Janes – super lightweight and comfortable, can be worn with dresses or trousers
Red Mary Janes – as above
Black patent kitten heel – dress shoe for after-five wear
Red walking sandals – Ecco brand – very comfortable

Lower shelf

Black low-heeled sandal – Taos brand – flexible sole, comfortable but quite dressy
Black low heeled ankle strap shoes – dressy winter shoe
Pink summer sandals – very comfortable
Red summer sandals – as above

Comfort and ease of wearing are my main criteria when buying shoes and they also need to be able to be worn with a variety of outfits.

Here are a couple more that I would like to add to my collection.

These are identical to my red and bronze Mary Janes and are available here.

I love red shoes and this pair look perfect.  I don’t know that I can justify them at the moment but I do love them.  They are from Frankie4.  I have not bought any shoes from this range but a friend has and she recommended them.  I like the selection of summer sandals that are both stylish and look comfortable.

I will be keeping an eye out for their spring/summer catalogue as I will definitely need some new summer sandals.  The pink and red ones that I have are just about at the end of their lives after a couple of long, hot summers.

What do you look for in shoes?  Have your criteria changed over time?