How annoying about the smell, tell them MN will be watching their customer service performance 🧐
Venus, a pricier suggestion, Ancient Greek Sandals do a comfort bed line (or called something like that). I don't know if it's good enough to support actual foot problems but they have some interesting designs among those that don't overtly scream specialty foot problem shoe.
Whoever asked about Nomasei, I somehow ended up on their mailing list when they launched and while I like how they're developing and keep meaning to stop by their showroom in Paris (and then forgetting when I'm there), my main issue with them is fairly well illustrated in the pictures posted, the models never seem to fit the shoes, they either squish them into too small shoes and the model's feet are narrow enough to do that for the picture or they're way too big, so unless I'm fitting them in person I'm rather suspect of them fitting properly and since the other poster had issues with keeping them tied I feel my suspicions weren't wrong.
Hmm, 🤔 about my shoes and bags, well I still think it's terribly boring to list it all but brands like Rick Owens, Margiela, Jil Sander, Loewe, The Row, Chloé, Marni, Givenchy, etc. My longest ongoing love affair is probably with Acne Studios, footwear and bags (and clothes and other accessories) but more so footwear, especially in the 00s, I loved the shoe designer they had then, it was very experimental (Avant Garde if you want) with litteral nails as a heel, etc. They moved onto &Other Stories when that launched but is obviously not there anymore, but I've yet to figure out where they went next. I like a shoe with personality and interesting architectural/sculptural details but not the irregular choice kind of personality and I never liked the Louboutin/Jimmy Choo era of look at my expensive shoes.
I tend to like footwear that everyone hates at first and then sort of change their mind on, like the Isabel Marant Wedge trainers. I don't actually own actual shoes, though, in the brogues, moccasin, typology, high arches and these just don't seem to mix well. It's lots of boots, mules (major weakness for the mules, I'm talking about flat-ish half covered shoes here as this term gets used for different shoe types), sandals/slippers, small selection of heels and I may have some ballerinas gathering dust. And since I own a lot of footwear hardly any of it actually dies, so I've got some Prada slingbacks that they've now brought back on the runway at Miu Miu in the back of my closet, ready for the spring weather.
I'm not anti trainers, but I tend to buy designer versions as they fit more shoe like and work better for me somehow, trainer brands are often too wide or the arch support is in the wrong place for me.
WRT bags I had a real Céline and Givenchy habit back in the day but feel the quality of the big designer bags has gone down drastically while the prices have steadily climbed to ridiculous numbers (Céline and Givenchy have stayed fairly consistent and bucked the trend here though but design wise not all that exciting anymore), so these days I tend to look at smaller contemporary brands, Danse Lente, Osoi, Aesther Ekme, I have the most impractical bag from Rokh that I adore, Venczel, Yvonne Koné, Building Block, Matter Matters, etc. They tend to be Asian or Scandinavian designers.
I realise I've never answered on how I decide what I need/get dressed either because much like OP, I was a bit ehm how do I explain that, despite having the ability to overanalyse fashion to death I've not done it much about my own process in front of the mirror effing about. But the accessories probably ties into it a lot, was it Venus with the settling for the lesser Baukjen trousers due to shape? I think we all feel we have a limitation of sorts and paint a grass is greener idea.
My main focus when deciding how to get dressed and what I want to buy has to do with silhouette, and it's probably why I monitor fashion so closely as this constantly shifts. But I'm on the short side and a classic hourglass, I should not be allowed to complain, it's a lovely body that many would love to have but it's not a body that the fashion industry love.
But if you're attracted to the impact of a silhouette it's difficult to pull off when you're not tall and fairly straight, the not straight thing is relatively easy to overcome, but some things are just off the table but the right boot with a distinctive design and a bit of a hidden platform that seamlessly merges onto my legs as if it were one with my tights gives me the longer legs I need to pull off a bigger silhouette.
Bags help, too, a really structured geometric bag stops me looking like I drown in an oversized squishy coat, cuts through like a bit of lemon juice can in something overly greasy. So that's probably why I go more all out and forward here, I've never really liked the flashy accessories with basic clothes look like they're trinkets for me it's really the things that pull it all together and finish out the silhouette.
I do like the look of Loewe bags and they really should have a customer in me but they don't serve that function of finish for me, they're more trinket-like when I've played around with them in the shop.