oh thank you all so much! *humbled*
I feel I should talk about the boots a bit. They're very special to me for all sorts of reasons. It's at least in part because of the huge influence Dame Viv has had on how I think about fashion, and how I see these as a quintessentially Westwood design, up there with the platform ghillie shoes, the bondage trousers, the pirate print. And Angie's right, I owe so much of that to Adam Ant, her muse and my crush during the early '80's.
There are so many reasons to love Vivienne that I can't even begin to count them. I can't say I love here clothes unconditionally, but I don't think there's another designer who knows quite so well what makes a woman feel good, or how to dress a curvy lady. I've learned so much about drape and tailoring from looking at her clothes and I've bought a fair few pieces over the years for the sole purpose of copying them. I might tell you about that too sometime.
But back to the boots.
You know I told you all about my friend who passed last year? She moved to the country after her diagnosis and I went to visit her after the first round of chemo. She'd lost all her hair but none of her lust for life.
She took me shopping and steered me towards the last pair of VW pirate boots in that small town's finest premium boutique. I'd already clocked them months before as my perfect boot and I have no idea why they were half price, how they came to have one pair in (almost) my size, or how she knew I had to have them. Either way, it was one of those perfect shopping moments, followed by a glass of wine to toast a fabulous find.
They've had a lot of wear since then but I think the last time I wore them was at her funeral. I felt like I had to carry the torch. It's good to put them on again.