Lucy Parker on Designer Shoes - Confessions of a Footwear Fanatic

Lucy Parker is DUO’s very own expert on all aspects of the wonderful world of ladies boots and women's shoes. Lucy is a self confessed footwear fanatic, who for years has been an ardent fan of DUO’s perfectly fitting boots and shoes. From her footwear-filled home Lucy has agreed to regularly give us an insider view on a life stuffed to the brim with family, work, friends… and footwear!

Designer shoes win the race, and my heart

This morning I woke feeling totally inspired by Kate Winslet. Sunday night was Oscar night, and she worked the red carpet looking every inch the stylish working mum in that YSL one-shoulder number. I absolutely love Kate Winslet for her unashamedly stylish post-baby curves, her down-to-earth Englishness, her passion for beautiful designer shoes, and for her famously BIG feet. All endearing attributes which incidentally I happen to share.

My weakness for beautiful designer shoes has consumed me for many years. They say that you always want what you cannot have, and if the price tag of designer shoes alone wasn’t enough to stop me filling my shelves with tissue-lined boxes, these outsized feet of mine have prevented me from indulging my habit as often as I would like. Finding beautiful designer shoes that fit me has been a real headache, until I discovered that you can buy them from those heavenly saviours of ‘perfect fit, DUO. DUO shoes are sumptuous and desirable in the extreme, they fit my big ‘canoe’ feet like a dream, and having just seen the new Spring collection, I confess that I want them all.

So a stolen hour or two of trashy breakfast telly this morning, with highlights from the Oscar frock-fest saw me ditching my tracksuit bottoms and reaching for some old school Hollywood-style glamour. Off with the trainers, and on with my brand new DUO Bethany shoes in cream leather. Even though I am only working from home today, there are no excuses for letting the sartorial side down.

Just as I was having my own private red-carpet moment before settling down at my desk, my mobile buzzed and it was my friend Kate with the horrifying news that I had forgotten all about the school pancake races... oh dear, the kids will never forgive me. So I hastily grabbed my coat and zoomed out of the door, arriving breathlessly minutes later in the playground. Imagine my horror when I realized I had timed my entrance perfectly with the start of the ‘mum’s race’. Teetering in my new cream leather heels, a small army of baying six year old children started pushing me towards the track. Trust me when I say that designer shoes are not the ideal footwear of choice for a muddy playing field in the middle of February.

I’m proud to say that with true British spirit (and I like to think, in the swashbuckling style of Kate Winslet) I grasped the bull by the horns (or the frying pan by the handle). I handed my beautiful new shoes to my daughter for safekeeping, tucked my pencil skirt into my knickers and ran barefoot through the mud to win the race!