Help me on a shoe hunt, please.

[piprabbit]

In May I'm going to spend a day at the races for a major family celebration.
I already have my dress. Now I need to shoes (and possibly a bag) to wear with it.

The dress is a silk, wrap-shape, tea dress to just below the knee. It is basically ivory with an abstract pattern of chocolate/chestnut brown and pale pistachio green.

The shoes need to be closed-toe with no more than 3 inch heels. It would be nice to have a bit of a 1940s feel to them perhaps. My feet are size 8 and I'm chunky of leg, so (what with the walking on grass as well), I think spiky heels are out. The chunkiness also means that any sort of ankle strap will look odd.

Any ideas please?

As I suspected, it's an impossible task.

Sorry you haven't had any luck this evening - you should bump it in the am for the morning S&B crew! Do you have a link for the dress as that would really help? Budget?

where do you live piparabbit? And what is your budget?The higher-end high st brands should have something - Russell and Bromley, LK Bennet, Hobbs etc. Given your spec - I would go for a nude patent, round toe wedge court. Given that the dress is patterned you want a neutral shoe. A nude or tan will take the focus off your feet and put it back on the dress, whilst lengthening your legs (keeping you in proportion). A wedge is great for wider calves and ideal for the races.

If your budget allows, I really recommend Russell and Bromley. If you can't get to them, just call one of the stores and ask them if there is anything in the catalogue that fits that description. You can pay via credit card over the phone (not debit as they have to check the cards' address) and they can be posted directly to you with parcel force. I used to work for them and I would have happily taken pictures of possibles and emailed/texted them to you so it's worth asking if they can do this. I am sure LK etc would be happy to do the same. But you definately want a round toe and a paler, neutral colour with a wedge (block heels just make calves look chunkier!)

Good advice mrsmartin...I just spotted these but they are a bit ££

And before I head to my bed....a couple of other suggestions. I know you said toes in but worth considering as they are very pretty shoes:
debenhams
Hobbs
Hobbs Toe In

I'd go for something in a nude, gold, brown or pistachio green personally.

Would you consider peep toe

If not something like this?

m.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod_10001_10001_050010635078_-1?CMP=AFC-ANET-437947&m-redir=dotcom

Depends on style of dress but you'd need to be careful that round closed toe doesn't look too clumpy with it

Crap, can't do links on phone. Like the first 2 you linked to, hate the 3rd pair!

yep dingdong3 - that's exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about. There's no denying they are pricey but they go will almost ANYTHING (black tie, dead of winter and the beach are the only times they won't work).

But then I'm the kind of woman who fools herself that affordability can be worked out by cost per wear :o

Also - now you know what you are looking for you can try cheaper options if the budget doesn't stretch - MandS, Ebay, Arcadia stores etc...

Also, I'm guessing you need closed toe because of the dress code (I've dressed alot of feet for the races in my time!!)

Thank you both for some great advice.
I love the LK Bennet shoes, but my budget is around £80 max. I like the fact that they are tan rather than very pale nude.

I think I'll have to make a trip to Bluewater now you've given me some ideas. As a lot of the heels seem to be right on the edge of my comfort zone, I'll have to go and do some trying on.
Many thanks again.