YSL Besace bag; Mel jelly flats
Skirt & cardigan, J. Crew Factory; top, eBay; shoes, Mel; bag, YSL (via consignment)

I know. I’ve shown you this exact outfit before. And umpteen variations of it. Chalk this up to my “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to dressing. So style, much fashion. But check out my cute new jelly flats:

Mel jelly flats
Mel jelly flats

I’m an 80s kid, but I grew up in a Communist regime, so my 80s were not like your 80s. Let’s just say that there are a few pop culture references missing from my mental archives. Because there is nothing I love more than useless information, I have retroactively filled in some of the gaps, but jelly shoes are still a relatively new phenomenon to me. I’ve been avoiding them for the last couple of years because the idea of wearing plastic on my feet struck me as atrocious, and I had no nostalgic memories to offset the squickiness.

And then I saw these Mel flats. They are, like, aggressively adorable, no? The flower reminds me of Chanel’s famous camellia, and the beige is a nice versatile colour, though it does blend in with my irremediably pasty skin making my feet look vaguely creepy-mannequin-come-to-life-esque. Ok, I’m not selling these very well, am I? Bottom line: I love them, I bought them. They’re fairly comfy. Minimally weird feeling. Only $13. I stand by my choices.

10 Comments on 30 x 30: Two

  1. I have never worn and have never owned a pair of jelly shoes for the same reason. It just .. sounds so weird and must feel like.. jelly on your feet. Very odd to me. Just as odd as Crocs.

    • These flats are a peep toe d’Orsay style, so there is a fair bit of … um, ventilation. Honestly, they’re not bad. Definitely not Crocs territory 😉

  2. i love this outfit and i will be copying it this week for sure. unfortunately, i don’t have the ultra-precious jellies to go with it, darn it! okay, side note. i’ve been trying to figure out where you live. is it canada? and where did you grow up that was under communist regime? i’m still a newbie around these parts and i feel like i’ve missed so much!

    • You haven’t missed a lot; I haven’t talked about it much. I do live in Canada, in Edmonton, Alberta. It’s, like … above Montana? My grasp of American geography leaves a lot to be desired, LOL!
      I was born and grew up in Romania. English is my second language, if that wasn’t abundantly clear from the way I butcher it on the regular – haha!

  3. I noticed these shoes in your budget post and they are so cute! I wore jellies growing up but it’s been so long, it might be time to bring them back into my closet! I love the whimsical bird-print blouse too. And I’m glad to see it’s finally warm enough for you to skip tights! I’m not sure where you live but in Baltimore, it’s already humid and sweltering. i need to move up north. 🙂

    P.S. I would also love to know where you are from! My best friend of 18 years is from Albania and moved here in time for ninth grade after living in Italy for several years. I was assigned as her aide to help her find everything and get around, and we’ve been friends ever since. I am fascinated by her stories about growing up in Communist Albania, it’s so different from my experience.

    • OMG, I am SO happy it’s finally warm enough to burn the tights! (The ritual burning of the tights every spring … just me? jk)
      It’s been fairly warm these days (low 70s), but it’s mostly dry not humid. But you do NOT want to move here, because spring/summer lasts about 12 weeks, and then it snows for the rest of the year. I’m exaggerating much, much less than you think.

      I grew up in Romania, and moved to Canada in Grade 10, after living in England for a few years. So … quite similar to your friend. I probably have a lot of the same growing-up-in-a-Communist state stories, too. They’re kind of fascinating now, in retrospect and with the benefit of the privilege I now enjoy. Don’t get me wrong, though, I have awesome memories of my childhood, because I didn’t have a frame of reference at the time to realize how poor and oppressed we were, and also because my parents worked hard to shield me from the harsher aspects of reality.

      • Thank you for answering! Actually, I dated a Romanian guy in college ten years ago! (I swear I don’t hunt out people from Eastern Europe or anything, just a coincidence, I promise!) His parents were professors who moved here in the early 90s. I loved his accent, it was very musical and lilting. It’s wonderful that your parents were able to protect you from some of the harsher aspects of growing up in a Communist country…and that you ended up here so I can follow your blog! (I’d have trouble following you in Romanian!) Incidentally, I used to follow academicchic and one of the bloggers (I can’t remember her name) was Romanian and visited/studied there. I loved looking at her photos, such a beautiful country!

        • Wait, what?! I loved Academichic … I had no idea! I’m going to have to go back and re-read their archives; I miss their posts.
          And, hah – Eastern Europeans are usually pretty entertaining, especially after a few drinks, so I don’t blame you for hunting them down. I’m actually the exception to the rule 😉

  4. At first look, I totally thought your jellies were Chanel so A+ dupe. I wore jellies when I was a kid and then I purchased a pair of Melissa flats a few years back to wear on rainy summer days (when rain boots would be too hot) but couldn’t deal with the rubbing. They never felt comfortable. These ones are so cute though!

    I love your top and bag too. Your bag collection is amazing. I’ve been scrolling through your archives the last few days and am envious of your consignment prowess.

    • Welcome to the blog! I actually follow yours too. I binge-read it a few months ago, after finding it through Looks Good From the Back. I covet your dress collection, by the way – so I’d say we’re even 😉