Red and white hair flowers: Arden
Red plastic rose stud earrings: Claire's
Dark blue shirt: Suzy Shier
c. 1940s plastic novelty binoculars brooch: eBay
Vintage red plastic necklace: Gift with purchase
White 1950s gloves: Gift from a dear online friend
Vintage red skirt: etsy seller Thrifty Kitten Vintage
White faux leather skinny belt: eBay
White cross body purse: eBay
Nude stockings with black seams: eBay
Casablanca navy blue and white polka dot shoes: Miss L Fire
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red
Photography by Tony Cangiano
♥ ♥ ♥
There are certain names in the vintage fashion community that elicit squeals of delight, top many a wish list, and are, by the same token, found in scores of closets the world over, one of which is undeniably vintage reproduction footwear company Miss L Fire.
Famous for their vibrant colour, swoon worthily sublime vintage inspired designs, quality products, and releases that frequently sell out, Miss L Fire began life in the UK in 2005 by company founder and designer, Lynsey Hand, and it has continued to grow in popularity, amassing legions of loyal fans, since day one.
Miss L Fire's offering are bold, beautiful, and very, very vintage appropriate (their styles typically channel the 1940s and/50s, though some can easily work well for fans of earlier and later decades, too), which makes them a huge hit with those who enjoy sporting vintage, rockabilly, and pinup styles, in addition to folks who may just like a slight nod to the past with their footwear choices or who simply see and fall head-over-heels in love with this company's products. Their spring/summer 2014 recently launched and it chocked full of incredibly lovely, covetable old school inspired heels, wedges, and even an ankle wrap ballet flat.
I have been smitten with Miss L Fire's shoes since the moment I first spotted them online several years ago, however it wasn't until just a few weeks ago that my first pair made its way into my closet. A lovely member of the Miss L Fire USA team contacted me to ask if I'd be interested in a collaboration with their company and once my feet had come back down to the ground, I said yes at the speed of light.
Miss L Fire very kindly let me select from a number of their styles that were/are currently on sale and still available then in my size (a US 8/UK size 39), and after much deliberation (I sincerely adored them all), I opted for the alluringly beautiful navy blue and white Casablanca heels, which I'm wearing in today's photos.
I had seen these shoes on numerous vintage and rockabilly blogs, as well as on social media, and had fallen hard for them since my first visual encounter, so ultimately I knew they were the pair for me. Even then though, I was aware of the fact that there was a degree of risk involved. You see, I don't have the world's easiest to fit feet (uber high arches, a width that tends to fall between average and wide in most brands, slightly uneven sized feet, etc) and have had some really lousy luck when it comes to ordering shoes online - or even buying them in person.
In fact, almost every pair of shoes I've purchased online over the years ended up having to be returned or resold, and as a result I've pretty much stopped purchasing shoes from the ol' internets (not an easy thing for a shoe lover like myself to do by any stretch of the imagination!). As such, I will fully admit to being a bit anxious about my first Miss L Fire's. What, I worried, would I do if they didn't fit?
Never have I launched into opening a package that just arrived as quickly as I did my lovely Miss L Fire delivery got her (and was lovely - Miss L Fire has custom branded mailing bags, awesome red and white gingham shoe boxes, and include a wonderful fabric shoe storage bag as part of every order). Taking a deep breath and crossing my red lacquer tipped nails, I slipped the shoes on and much to my unending delight, my Casablanca heels fit. Not just fit, but fit well and were (are!) very comfortable.
I wore them for the first time this past Sunday, which is when we did the shoot for today's post for a few hours in total, as we were celebrating my mom's birthday immediately after we took these snaps and my toes were completely happy campers when I slipped them off at the end of the evening (and talk about lucking out on the weather front, as it's been very overcast and/or rainy almost every other day for the past couple of weeks).
These shoes are sturdy, comfortable and marvelously beautiful. Rarely, no matter the price point, have I tried on or owned shoes that felt as as solid, durable and reliable as these Miss L Fires do. Their soles have some traction grip to them, the inner foot beds are soft, the sides and top (on me at least) don't pinch or cause blisters, and the whole shoe itself is nothing short of a joy to wear.
Though having one style of Miss L Fire shoes fit me is not a guarantee that all their others - be they past, present, or future - would, it's an immensely encouraging sign that I could have good luck on the fit from from them again in the future. Given that I've now fallen even more in love with their products and sincerely hope to purchase future pairs, this is a very good thing indeed!!!
Speaking of purchasing Miss L Fire's offering, for the first time ever, the company is going to have a booth set up this year's Viva Las Vegas rockabilly and vintage convention in Vegas, where they'll be selling select shoe styles and other fabulous merchandise, as well as providing Viva updates on their Instagram account throughout this rocking multi-day event. This is especially cool - and handy - for those, like myself, who may have held off on buying online because of hard-to-fit feet or any other reason, but who have been yearning for a pair (or ten!) of Miss L Fire's fabulous vintage style offerings.
In addition, some of Miss L Fire's gorgeous products will be featured at the Viva fashion show, which is definitely one of the best suited spots on the planet I could ever imagine for this sparklingly fantastic offerings. Seriously, as you gals and guys know, I never let the fact that I received a product as a review item influence my judgment or what I say about said item, so it is with absolute sincerity that I sing Miss L Fire's praises from the highest of rooftops.
I knew that in putting together my first ever outfit (and outfit post involving) for my new Casablanca heels, I wanted to channel a bit of a nautical vibe, as that's the first impression that dark blue and white polka dots like the ones on these stellar heels telegraph to me. As it's still early April though and the weather, though slowly improving a touch, isn't exact sweltering yet, a full on summertime nautical look seemed a bit much, so I opted for solid red and blue garments with an assortment of white and red accessories.
One of which is this fabulously cute c. 1940s plastic novelty binoculars brooch that I bought a year, or maybe even two now, ago on eBay. I'd been wanting one of them for ages, and finally happened to luck out and win the auction on this charmer. Between the fact that it too has a bit of nautical feel to it and that the area where we shot this shoot, Vaseux Lake between Okanagan Falls and Oliver, is well know for being a hotbed of bird watching activity, it really seemed like the right brooch to partner with this outfit.
Though there is still a seriously lack of blooms and blossoms around these parts, and some days are struggling to hit double (Celsius) digits, one does sense that spring is slowly rounding the bend again. I'm thrilled about this, not only because of the sunshine and many perks and exciting things to enjoy all season long, but because it means that I'll get to sport my new Miss L Fire's time and time again all the way until fall's icy cold front barrels into town again (and even then, they can of course be worn indoors).
One thing that I especially love about Miss L Fire, and which I'm sure will help land further pairs in my closet, is the fact that put their past season's stock on heavily discounted sale once the new season's is unveiled on their website. Case in point, these Casablanca heels originally retailed for $180.00 US, but are now on sale for just $49.00, with similarly slashed prices on many of their other styles from 2013. For those who may not be able to squeeze a pair of full priced Miss L Fire's into their budget normally, these sales may be able to help make that happen for you - and of course, they're awesome for shoe lovers everywhere, regardless of budget, because there isn't a fashionista alive who doesn't love a great sale!
Thank you again to Miss L Fire for bestowing my first pair of your magnificent offerings onto my feet. It's immensely fitting that the pair I selected is called Casablanca, because all it took was the first moment of slipping them onto my feet to know that, to borrow a line from the iconic movie that shares these heel's name, this was the beginning of a beautiful (footwear) friendship!
