Tango Shoe Divas

I put myself “on the wagon” from shoe buying after my trip to Denver (more on THAT later )! One of my rationalizations for my insane shoe habit was that, since I have a young child, I didn’t get to travel a do the festival circuit like my friends. But then THIS year, with my son in 1st grade, I decided it was time for me to have a different kind of tango treat… so I went to Denver for the Labor Day fest… and then to San Fran just a month later… So now I have two competing tango loves! Shoes AND travel. Thankfully BsAs is still off the table for a couple of years… so at least I don’t have to worry about saving up for THAT!

But the shoe sellers are determined to make me spend my money! First Tango Wear, then Darcos and now Tango Wear again! And I can say that I am sorely tempted… on both fronts… and there is also this pair of CiF… but I am not ready to talk about that yet…

…see the temptation

Hello dear tangoshoesdivas!
I guess I’m one of you now
I’m dancing only six months now but I’m absolutely hooked on tango shoes.
My first experience with tango shoes occurred in Sitges tango festival this year when I saw Comme il faut selling their shoes. There I saw these gorgeous shoes, ones I always dreamt of…. They were absolutely stunning, I tried them on, they fit perfectly and look soooo sexy on my legs. I payed 140 EUR without even thinking that I never spent that amount of money on one pair of shoes. I put them on immediately and once I had them on me, someone invited me to dance. After 5 seconds I realized I can not dance with them ((( I guess the heel was too high for me (9 cm) and the open cage didn’t helped either. Off course I couldn’t give them back because I already worn them on a floor. So now I use them as a show off shoes when my friends come to visit me and that’s all.
Well, here comes my question: Do you think I will use them someday, maybe when I will be more stable and secure my self on the dance floor? Maybe more experience will help me? Or I’m just kidding my self and I’m doomed to wear low heels forever. I just have to mention that I don’t have any special problems with my feet (knock on wood…). Anyone?

It was a seven month quest, but I finally got myself squared away with a pair of low heeled, (non-boring) neutral shoes.

These are from Greta Flora via Diva-Boutique and I wish I’d had them for Tangofest.

I love them. They are very well made. The materials are soft and not too stiff (unlike I find Comme Il Faut texture leathers). Greta Flora does half sizes on request though these are a regular size 36. Kathleen was able to give flower placement and color options as she adds them herself upon purchase.  The lining is excellent and the heel is lined in soft suede. The padding is average and about the only thing I could wish for a little more of (as usual).

These are a silvery taupe lizard texture suede with light cream accent and flower on the heel (my choice of placement). The heel measures a comfortable 2.5″ up the back (the 5.5cm heel).

Overall, I am very pleased and happy to recommend Greta Flora. Sizing runs similar to Comme Il Faut or Neotango for those who are concerned. Maybe just a hair wider in cut to similar band sandals for CiF, but similar in footbed length (size 36 is 9.25″ insole length).  CiF size 36 band sandals often bind my toes unless it is suede or velvet, but these were very nice in cut- not binding at all.

Yay for Greta and Flora!

Next step…a colorful pair of low heels!

***Update: I just wore these out to a milonga last night and despite the fact that they have less padding than I would like, this is the first time in quite literally years, that I have come home and NOT felt the need to ice my feet (though I did it anyway).****

Hello, by accident I found a website called www.infodanceshoes.com ( advertised by google), which sells Darcos shoes, but not with their label on them – the insole is blanc . They also apparently use Darcos’ original pics. As they are much cheaper as on the Darcos website ( I would have them sent to Germany) I am of course tempted. But I am not at all sure wether I can trust this website or wether is is just a fake. Apparently I could pay with paypal, so this might be safe ,but the whole thing remains a bit strange to me. They also give the Darcos shop address in Siupacha 259 as their address without refering to Darcos. Has anybody of you made any experiences with them before? I would be glad for an answer

How depressing. I have no luck when it comes to tango shoes.

No. Really…no luck at all…I think that is why I am so obsessed with them.

If I had easy to fit feet, could wear any heel height I wanted, and was happy with monotone shoes…I’d be such a happier person. But that is not the case.

My feet are small, but wide. I have foot problems and can’t wear high heels,and I HATE monotone shoes.

So I saw a preview for this pair:

They were supposedly going to have a heel cage that had light colored detailing to offset the leather (which looked a lot more golden yellow in the photo) and a flower which I decided to nix because the detailing on the strap and heel cage should have been enough. (Don’t know whether the distributor or Greta Flora made that change.)

The heel cage is from a different model and they are beige. No getting around it. Beige beige beige…all over….even clipping the crystal flower on isn’t enough…

The heel height is great- love it-

well made…check…

Flexible sole…check…

Fit…true to size for the size it is but on the verge of too big for me unless I add a small insole (I ordered this size on the distributor’s suggestion and we were CLOSE, but close doesn’t count here.)

I do highly recommend Greta FLora shoes. This rant is in no way something about them…it’s just why can’t low heel shoe designs also be pretty? Why?

They are returnable (yay…) but that still leaves me with, yet again…no useful low heel tango shoes, and about 4 pairs that are too high for regular use.

Any suggestions on what I could do with these? I think the next half size down might end up too small (maybe not)…