THE GREY AREA

My job has certain but definite hazards. I work 2 blocks from Saks’s 8th floor of Shooze, 4 blocks from Bergdorf Goodman’s shoe department, 1 block from Jimmy Choo, 1 block from Manolo Blahnik,2 blocks from Prada, 3 blocks from YSL, 8 blocks from Barney’s and across the street from Fendi, Bottega and Versace. It’s a lethal location for my budget if you like shooze as much as I do. And since I just wrote checks yesterday for the boys’ baseball camps and made the financial commitment to rip up my moldy basement carpet, bleach wash the floors, repaint and install new carpeting, I find myself with no leftover ca-ching for my nasty lil’ shoe compulsion. But just because I can’t buy, doesn’t mean I can’t look and appreciate the finer things in life, right? One thing that was as clear to me as black and white – I was going to go for a walk during lunchtime but I was not going to make any purchases. I was going to show some restraint and just ogle the sights. Black and white. Clear and straightforward. In my head.


And so, I started on my excursion and went for a walk to the 8th floor of Saks, 10022.

AND HOLY SHIT, that’s when all the grey came flooding towards me and confused me entirely. A grey area is where there are no clear rules, where concepts become hazy and causes havoc on what I thought I understood. I saw grey Prada. Grey Christian Dior. Grey Jimmy Choo. Grey Gucci. Grey Oscar de la Renta. Grey Alexandre Birman. Charcoal, slate, gunmetal, dove, oyster, pearl and many more hues of grey. They surrounded me. Fucked with my head. Toyed with my resolve. Charcoal commanded, “Just do it”. Gunmetal purred “I’ll make it worth your while”. Dove cooed “Baby, I belong to you”.

And that’s when I saw a sign. A sign that made everything make sense. It said PRE SALE IN PROGRESS. It meant that all of the yellow stickered shooze were going to go on sale in one week by 30% off. So you see, life is only sometimes black and white. I did make it off the floor without massacring my wallet. But damn it, I love grey areas. Because I’m coming back next week when I get paid and I’m gonna get me a pair of one of those grey temptresses. WOOSAH!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
From top:
Christian Dior, Perforated Strappy Sandal
Gucci, Venus Front-Zip Platform Sandal
Alexandre Birman, Python Cage Sandal
Prada, Peep Toe Slingback
Jimmy Choo, Mostyn Lizard Embossed Sandal