Best of the Week in Shopping: The Slipper That Asks "Chicken or Egg?"
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“What was there first,” I'd wondered. “The Clarks or the Lemaire leather slipper?” Chicken or egg?
By the looks of these very simplest of shoes, one is almost compelled to treat them like white t-shirts. The design is so straightforward, clean-lined and minimalist, to ask of origins or ownership becomes secondary to questions over details in quality and value-for-money.
Starting with what I'd argue is the better known version of this silhouette (and, turns out, the better equipped for everyday out-and-about wear), the Lemaire calfskin slipper is a stealth wealth classic, full-bodied or backless, proper mule or folded-in heel.
The French fashion house's foundation's built on the notion of simple, good clothes. Unlike aesthetic peers like Hermès or The Row though, Lemaire sits at more of a middle-of-the-road price point, its aforementioned footwear clocking in at a comparatively modest $700ish a pair, versus the the Olsens’ $1500 area. So, by some bar, fair effing play.
Here, enter Harston Elite and Harston Mule leather slippers by Clarks, of Wallabwee fame, at under $50(!). Granted, the Harston range is marketed as more of a dressy house slide, but there truly is nothing that screams fashion as loud as an appropriative transformation of something totally banal into something covetable and luxurious. 101, really.
This is not a matter of dupe-ing, however, do not get me wrong. The composition of each of these nearly identically-looking but differently-made shoes will, indeed, shed light onto the cost chasm at hand:
Lemaire's are block-heeled, all-over leather kicks to roam about the streets in, whereas Clarks’ are comfortably textile-lined and sit atop a bendier rubber sole.
Virtually indistinguishable from afar, the literal fine print lays bare the fork in the road that separates these products, each by respectable names in their respective lanes.
If one is entry-level, in every which sense, then consider the other its expert-tier counterpart in the games of slender footwear. As far as the latter goes, I'd call this tie.
On all other counts, I’m now finding it wasn't ever about chickens or eggs at all. It was always apples and oranges. Yum.
Apples & Oranges, No "Or"
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