The red shoes

My new footwear obsession

Have we discussed my new footwear obsession? I don’t think so. Even though I have, by this point, developed an entire clog wardrobe, there is no love like the love I am experiencing this summer for my new Swedish Hasbeens. 

Let me count the ways. First, they are adorably clunky, with all the orthopedic charm I require in a summer sandal. They are also perky in their cherry red, immensely easy to wear to anything and strangely comfortable for a wooden platform that makes you clatter along in careful steps like a Swedish orthopedic geisha. And best of all for those of us who could use a little visual lengthening, these babies come with a three-inch heel. 

The story behind Hasbeens is that they were started by these crazy Swedish hipsters who discovered a treasure trove of vintage 70s Swedish clogs and basically took over the old factory. The new designs (which are awesome–I would have got an all-black pair in a higher heeled version if they hadn’t already been sold out in my size) are based on the original 70s models and made in the “small small happy Swedish factory by happy people in nature-friendly ways since 1972″ (according to the cute little leather-tied tag that came on the box). 

In the interest of journalistic reportage, I must report that they make you feel happy as well when you have them on. 

It’s funny for us clog aficionadoes who have always been clog friendly that our little guilty pleasure has now become the height of fashion. The other night I was at a fashion bar (cinq-o-one if you must know) and before the former PM’s son Ben Mulroney arrived, in the company of his very pregnant wife Jessica Brownstein (twins, due in August) and the exquisite Somali-Canadian supermodel Yasmin Warsame, every single woman in the bar was wearing a variation of a 70s-inspired high-heeled clog. 

As the Swedish hipsters write on their Hasbeen website: “sometimes you have to move back to be able to move forward”. Stepping it up in my Hasbeens, either way, it’s a breeze.