Shoes: Lusting after chunky shoes from Shelly's

Hi guys,
Spring has sprung which means it's time for thoughts to turn to pretty sandals and floaty summer dresses: and when I saw these chunky block heels from Shelly's I knew they'd be just perfect for clomping along the sea front in, ice cream in hand, whilst wearing a floral tea dress.

Of course in reality, I'll be spending the bank holiday weekend in jeans and flip flops with a pot of paint and pureed carrot in hand. But a girl can dream! And right now my dream is of bottle green heeled shoes.
I have a couple of pairs of Shelly's shoes already, so despite their height I can vouch for their comfort: the inner sole is leather, which means any rubbing or pain is minimal. It was the colour of these that grabbed my attention first, followed by the chunky wooden block heel. I love chunky heels because they help make your legs look slimmer: and when the sun comes out and the leggings come off I need all the leg-lengthening help I can get!

These shoes have a very retro '70s feel which is the perfect antidote to the paired back, minimalist shoes that are so in vogue at the minute. I'm really not a fan of minimalism: my motto is that over-the-top is so much more fun!

These beauties come in at £110.99 and you can buy them here. What do you think?

Love Tor x

*Post written as part of a new partnership with Spartoo shoes

My party shoe picks from Sarenza.co.uk

Hi guys,
Well, party season is officially upon us. Everyone has been mentioning the 'C' word for what feels like months (I know, I know, I probably started it!) and the atmosphere is starting to feel pretty festive. Which means only one thing: we have the perfect excuse to go shopping for pretty glitzy party dresses and their companions: matching impractical shoes. Hurrah!

Whenever I want to do some virtual shoe shopping I head straight to Sarenza: where else will you find so many premium brands all in one place? Which means that if you know you need amazing shoes but aren't sure what style/brand/colour you want, it's the perfect place to browse. Here are my picks of the perfect Christmas party shoes currently available on the site:

Heels

Betsey Johnson striped shoe, £93.50
Bordello pink glitter heels, £97.90
Betsey Johnson red heels, £93.50
Jeffrey Campbell foxy glitter shoes, £119
Dune snakeskin heels, £89
French Connection nude heels, £115

I'm really excited by the edition of Betsey Johnson to the Sarenza family: hence my including two pairs from her collection on the site! She was the first designer I really loved when I started exploring fashion, and I still have a soft spot in my heart for her now. The pair I am going to have from my selection as my Christmas party shoes though are the Dune snakeskin heels: you'd get so much wear out of these, and they're versatile enough to go with almost anything!

Flats

Ted Baker glitter flats, £75.70
Missoni sequin stripe pumps, £518.50
Steve Madden silver studded slippers, £84.99
Studio TMLS gold brogues, £101

I normally avoid flat shoes like the plague when it comes to party season time- a frock and heels is my December uniform. But actually there are a lot of really gorgeous flats out there this season and the importance of comfort really can't be overrated! I've got my eyes on these Ted Baker glitter slipper shoes: they also come in black.

What do you think of my picks? And have you started thinking about your Christmas wardrobe yet? I'd love to know what kind of shoes you're going for this season!

Love Tor xx

Sarenza high heel race: Too good not to share!

Hi guys,
I've already posted about the massive fun of the Sarenza high heel race, but this video was just too good not to share, as it shows the fun and atmosphere of the event perfectly: this is what we put ourselves through last weekend. We were racing for shoes, and for a free trip to Paris. It was a whole lot of fun!!

Sadly the video doesn't show the fabfrocks team racing in all their glory, but I can assure you we were fabulous, and more importantly, we didn't come last. I started the weekend not giving a damn whether we won or not, but when you're actually stood on the track waiting for the gun to go with people cheering you on at every angle, winning (or at least not coming last) becomes very important!

I know i've already shown you my pics of the event, but the official photographer was much better than I am (obviously!) So here are a couple of the official pictures I just have to share:


Patriotic and topical: look at Reena proudly waving the Kate and Wills photo, whilst Amy went for a more traditional Queen shot, and I opted to bury myself behind Union Jack. The more pictures I see the more I remember what a fun night it was. I will definitely be entering a team next year and am already looking forward to it: will I see you there?!

Love, Tor xx

Sarenza high heel race - a weekend in Paris

Hi guys,

I want to start by saying phew, what a weekend!! About a month ago I asked you guys to vote for me to go to Paris to take part in the Sarenza high heel race. Well you voted, and this weekend we went! On Friday morning Mike and I headed to Paris with Amy from Wolfwhistle (and her lovely mum Sue) Reena from Fashion Daydreams (and her gorgeous pal Mariana) and eleven other UK teams. Twelve British teams took on twelve French teams in the ultimate high heel battle. Now I don't want to get your hopes up: our team didn't win. But on the bright side, we didn't come last either!!

To really build up the rivalry (and encourage our national pride) we were asked to race in costume. The theme for our costumes was English eccentrics: we decided to go for a very English Alice in Wonderland theme. Reena dressed as Alice, Amy dressed as the Mad Hatter, Mariana dressed as the Cheshire Cat, and I was the White Rabbit:

We saw the event as a bit of fun, but the French teams took the race incredibly seriously: we were talking to some teams who had been training for months, and many of the teams had strapped their shoes to their feet with masking tape. I couldn't believe how big the race was: there were several film crews and more photographers than I have ever seen before.

The event was held at the Piscine Molitor in Central Paris, which is this incredibly cool building covered in graffiti (as you can see in the pics) that used to be a swimming pool. I couldn't believe how many people had turned up to watch the race, and hearing everyone cheering as you ran really built up our competitive spirit, even if I was frightened my shoes would fall off or I would fall over! There were a couple of falls, and one poor girl had the heel of her shoe come off as she was running: ouch! It was a fun night though, and the perfect way to start a weekend in Paris (even if the journey did take nine hours from start to finish, because of the wretched snow and I was blighted by 'flu!) We went to the Christmas Market on the Champs Elysees, The Louvre, and the Galeries Lafayette to see the Christmas decorations:

Thank you to Sarenza for an incredible weekend!

Love, Tor xxx