Are you ready for a saga about loafers? Maybe settle in with some coffee.

I like loafers and they are a difficult style for me to wear. I have bought so many over the years that have not worked out. Me buying loafers reminds me a bit of Charlie Brown falling for Lucy's football trick, over and over again. (Where she holds it for him to kick, and then pulls it away as he swings his foot at it. . . every single time.) I have bought pairs from Nordstrom Anniversary Sale with high hopes, including, in different years, a pair of dark cranberry crinkle patent ones by Munro (turned out to be too tight and didn't loosen up with wear) and a dark red studded pair by Paul Green (loosened up too much!), two brands that have worked well for me in many, many other styles. I had a pair of Munro loafers in black that did fit and were comfortable (collected in brown in FInds), but I didn't wear them much, because they were too classic or just didn't fit my style at the time.

Another beautiful dark floral sueded pair by Ron White didn't work (again, too snug). My most recent fail was a pair by Stuart Weitzman, a chunky style in muted pewter with a lug sole and block heel, which I bought full price. I wore them a couple of times, and then I started having trouble keeping them on my feet. I bought insoles recommended by Angie. I even put two in one shoe. Not good. I finally donated them. (Unfortunately, I am not determined enough to go through the resale process.)

So I tried loafer-style clogs by Dansko, in olive nubuck. They are winners. I love them. They are clogs, but I figured, well, they could be my loafers, too. Then I also got a pair of summer loafers by 27 Edit at Nordstrom Anniversary Sale several years ago that worked surprisingly well. I took them on a trip this year, and they broke! There was an insole underneath the padded insole, and that under-insole was some kind of hard plastic or ceramic type of material. I put on the shoes, and--crack!--that undersole broke into a few pieces, in each shoe. Well, that saved some space in the suitcase coming home! At least I got a few good summers out of them!

Recently I have tried again. I bought a pair of Mephisto loafers to replace the summer pair of 27 Edit. I got them at the end of the summer, so I haven't put them through their paces yet, but I have a good feeling about them. (Clearly my loafer intuition is not to be trusted, I admit.)

And I bought another pair of pewter metallic chunky ones, again full price, and even more expensive than the Stuart Weitzmans, by Pedro Garcia. I have been wearing them a lot for the last month or so since I got them, and they are great. Finally! These are working, thank goodness. They are an odd shade of pewter, with an almost brownish or plum cast, so I don't have a bag to match them, but they go with a black bag or a silver one, or I carry a bag that goes with something else in my outfit. I am smitten with these shoes.

There are so many cool looking loafers available now. They seem to be quite on trend. Today I tried on a pair of loafer-style booties by Blondo that I thought were adorable. They were terribly uncomfortable (narrow in the toe, verrrrry wide in the heel), so I saved a little money there!

Thanks for reading, if you've stayed this far. I just wanted to share my tale of woe and eventual success.

Anyone else fall hard for a style that rarely works for them? Or maybe had some good luck finally with a stubborn style?