Shoe Porn: Pump up the jam!

(Pump = flat shoe. Jam = marmalade, if you look at the coral in a particular way and have encountered some really strange marmalade).

Despite being Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, I haven't bothered with ballerina pumps for years. Most of them, however ridiculously expensive, tend to have minimal support on the heel, which makes walking through London incredibly painful. The only flat shoes that I wear now are my insane crocodile green Irregular Choice brogues (red laces! Left in from Christmas 2009, oops) or peep toes with a little wedge to make it more comfortable when I'm striding around. I do a lot of striding, and I really cannot be bothered to have my striding impeded by crap support.

With an hour to kill before drinks the other day, I did the rounds of Gracechurch Street's shops and ended up in New Look's shoe section, more out of fondness for their having size 9s than anything else - their shoes haven't been great this year. Or so I thought.

There are LOADS of great shoes in there at the moment: I tried on a bunch of size 9s and ended up coming away with three pairs: some pretty leather numbers that are just vaguely Chanel enough without looking like I bought them for 50p at a jumble sale, some suede studded ones, and these lovely grey suede(ish) and orange ribbon pumps for £15.99

These did that wonderful thing of making my feet look elegant and pretty the minute I popped them on.

All three pairs have been immediately comfortable to walk in: I haven't had any rubbing, no impact on my heels, and they look marvellous. But these grey numbers are my favourite: I love the positioning of the bow, the side makes your trotters look ever so much smaller and more ladylike, and the ribbons through the side are lovely too.

You can only get them in 3-8 on the website so if you're a 9, keep your eyes peeled on your local store.

If you fancy something a bit more discreet (boo!) then you can get them in a black and white colourway too. The website has them in a 5 and 6.

And if you've got wider feet, snap up these beautiful little numbers. Gosh I love scarves/ribbon.