FOREVER 21 (ALEXANDER WANG KNOCK-OFF) FRINGE BOOTIES
Alexander Wang kills it every season. But nothing beats his Spring/Summer 2009 collection for me. That embroidered mesh dress? Those backless blazers? And most importantly people, those shoes??
I saw the Alexander Wang Alexis fringe booties all over the blogs, in every magazine, being worn by Dree Hemingway and every off duty model known to man. At this point, the concept of an open-toed fringed ankle bootie was just genius and every was going nuts for them, including myself. So I did what I do: found out where to get them, how much they were, and crunched the numbers to see if I could squeeze them into this month's bills without too much trouble. Nope. Couldn't do it. I could only find them at Colette in Paris and the Euro exchange still didn't make the price tag doable for me.
When I get pissed about things, I usually head to Forever 21 to release my frustration on $50 worth of impulse buys that I may or may not ever wear. So I head down there, and Bam! Spotted: my beloved Wang booties, but they're not Wang, they're F21! God bless bad knock-off laws because I have no idea how Forever 21 got away with making these. They are near identical to the originals, give or take some materials (the materials part was sarcastic). These shoes were such an awesome purchase, because for me it was about the look and the concept of the shoe, not necessarily the quality. Yeah a $595 pair of leather fringed Alexander Wang booties would be nicer, but these pleather pieces of shit Forever 21 ones will do just fine for now. They move like the Wangs and look like the Wangs, in my humble opinion. I will say, I have invested a whopping $75 in repairs on these bad boys (the heel has fallen off two times) but still to this day, I get compliments on my incredible "Alexander Wang" booties. I just don't have the heart to tell anyone that I only paid $34.80 for them. Oh wait, I just did.
Photographer: Claire Thomas
Outfit- Vintage Lace Mini Dress, Topshop Shag Sweater, Mother's Vintage Gladiator Belt, Luv Aj Onyx Knuckle Ring