unconvinced: jelly shoes

Remember jelly shoes? I wore them at age 8. In fact, I had a pair I loved so much my mother had to pry them off of me and throw them out, threatening my life if the shoes emerged from the trash. This is a common theme in my childhood.

For the love of this blog, I spend a good amount of time looking at shoes from a variety of retailers at different price points, although most of the shoes featured here are fantasy shoes and so are often higher end. The first time I saw the jelly ballet flats that are becoming ubiquitous was while glancing through Target's website.


These are by Xhilaration, come in a variety of colors, and cost about $8. I would almost consider buying them for beach. Almost. If I ever went to the beach.

But then, while clicking around on Barney's site, I saw these.


They are by Marc Jacobs, and cost $160. No, that's not a typo. Sure, they have a cute little shape and unique heel but hello, they're jelly shoes.

It gets better. At Neiman's website, these Fendi jelly shoes are available. They come in a nice shade of pink too.


But they are jelly shoes. And they cost $175. And they have the dreaded ankle strap. Save me.

So I looked at Nordstrom.


Stuart Weitzman, ugly, made of plastic, and yours for $115.

Where does one wear these shoes? I can't imagine they're office appropriate. I think they'd be hot on your feet, and everyone knows synthetics cause blisters and sweatiness. I have a pair of grape-colored jelly thong sandals I picked up at Gap for $4 two summers ago that I hardly wear because that jelly plastic stuff kind of hurts. Also, if I'm remembering correctly, the jelly plastic gets dirty pretty quickly, especially the translucent kind (all three expensive pairs), which spells disaster since they're not easy to clean.

Even if you think they're cute, I can't imagine investing more than $10 on something like this. I'm unconvinced. How about you?