I just bought myself a pair of new shoes. 

It was a spur of the moment buy. One of those “I’m not buying anything, just browsing” moments that turned into a conversation, which led to me trying on a few pairs of shoes and then….well, you’ll never guess what happened next dear reader…. I bought the shoes.

The conversation went like this:

Salesperson: “Can I help you.”?

Me: “No thanks, I’m not looking for shoes today, I’m just filling in time.”

Salesperson: “Ok, well, if you do want something, just let me know.”

Me: “Oh I do want something but you don’t have it – one day I want to come in here and buy shoes with light-up soles and you only have them in kids sizes.”

Salesperson: “Our light-up shoes go up to a size 39.”

Me “You are joking? I’m a 39.”

Salespersons: “Would you like to try some on?”

Me: “Heck yes!”

Dear reader you need to know something abut these shoes. I have wanted these shoes (or shoes just like them) since February 24th 2016.  It’s been 24,315 hours and 1,013 days. Quite a decent amount of time for me to covet a pair of shoes. 

Specifically a pair of sneakers with a light-up sole.

I first saw these shoes on a certain man. A Mr. Prince Rogers Nelson. He was onstage at the ASB Theatre in Auckland for his ‘Piano & a Microphone’ tour and I was mesmerized. By everything. His hair, his voice, his proficiency at the piano. His presence. His funk. But particularly his light-up soles. I spent way too much time watching them, seeking them out on stage. They were like the flame to my ill-fated moth. I could not stop staring at his shoes. I knew I needed light-up soled sneakers in my life.

As a shoe aficionado, naturally I tweeted about his footwear and Prince re-tweeted my tweet. Cool. A journalist called me in the morning, woke me in fact to ask me about the concert and what it was like to be re-tweeted by him. I rambled incoherently about his legendary status  (I’m not a morning person) and that was that. 

I’ve been hunting for a pair for myself on and off ever since that magical night. I came close once. An online sale site was advertising light-up sole sneakers so I took a chance and bought a pair online last January. When they arrived many weeks later, they were not only too small, but the soles were just regular soles. I was so disappointed. So right now I can’t tell you how elated I am to have my very own Prince shoes, and finding them was a complete and utter surprise. Happy ‘New Shoes Day’ to me.

Buying those shoes has reminded me what a pure joy it is to buy new shoes. I don’t know if this is true for everyone, but for me, ‘New Shoe Day’ is just about one of the best days there is. Maybe even better than Christmas Day. Just maybe.

It depends on how extreme your love of shoes is and for me, my whole 25+year fashion career began in shoes, so it’s a pretty enduring love affair.

I understand that light-up sole sneakers will not be on every ones must-have list of footwear. They are not foreveryone, that’s ok. We are all different and that’s a good thing. But one thing that we can probably agree on is the wide variety of choice in color and styles on offer this season. All the red super excites me. It seems red is the new black as far as footwear goes, unless of course yellow is? Then there is green of course, and don’t forget the patterns. Polka dots, stripes and jungle prints are all in season for Summer.

I don’t know if like me, you have been coveting a particular colour, style or feature for 2 years, but if you have, don’t give up. They are out there. Keep looking, keep trying shoes on because one day when you least expect it, you’ll have your next ‘New Shoes Day’ and I hope it is as joyful and triumphant as mine was.