Summer shoes and bags from Nice Things ....

Due to the fact that this weekend  looks like the sunniest so far in this weather-tormented spring, I've felt confident enough to write about the ultimate summer shoe: the espadrille. It has been around for centuries, maybe even thousands of years. The Archaeological museum of Granada owns a pair of espadrilles that were found on human remains inside the "cueva de los murciélagos". It is estimated that these shoes are around 4000 years old. Clearly, the visionary who wore them knew this primitive version will then develop into something more sofisticated. 

This light sandal, made with jute rope or braided hemp and with linen fabric, comes from my home country, Spain, where they were being worn around the XIII century by the King of Aragon's infantry men. Later on, it also took Salvador Dalí on seaside strolls and a young JFK on Cape Cod vacations. It's name is derived from "esparto", which is a kind of plant that was originally burned and then braided to make the soles. 

By the 1940s, the girls had gotten in on the game and the sandal became a Hollywood staple, Its ribbons crisscrossed the ankles of Sophia Loren and Grace Kelly, and Rita Hayworth accessorized her one-piece with a pair for 1947's The Lady of Shanghai. The espadrille reached new heights in the late 60s, when YSL introduced the high-heeled wedge and every arguably fashionable young lady owned a pair when on vacation in Nice or St. Tropez. 

My favourite espadrilles this season are from (also Spanish) brand Nice Things, and they come in a variety of designs to please even the toughest espadrille-lovers. From flowers to geometrical designs, crochet or classic one-colours, each pair is handcrafted in Barcelona in collaboration with Naguisa, another Spanish brand specialized in the production of espadrilles maintaining the traditional crafting methods, combining design and practicality. The result is a beautiful collection of shoes from the classical lace-ups to a more modern take with bright rubber soles. If you are like me, you will want every single one of them to combine with ripped boyfriend jeans, white flared dresses and high-waisted bikini and a straw hat like the everlasting Audrey Hepburn. 

Grace Kelly, Lauren Bacall, Rita Hayworth and Audrey Hepburn

XOXO

P.D. The not mentioned above but added pouches and bags are just to lift up your holiday spirits and make you fall in love a little bit more (if the gorgeous espadrilles weren't enough) with Nice Things

Sources: CondeNastTraveller, Espadrilles.eu, Nice Things and Naguisa 

Snapshots. Cornish Landscapes ...

There was a smell in the air of tar and rope and rusted chain, a smell of tidal water. Down harbour, around the point, was the open sea. Here was the freedom I desired, long sought-for, not yet known. Freedom to write, to walk, to wander, freedom to climb hills, to pull a boat, to be alone ... I for this, and this for me.

The novelist Daphne Du Maurier wrote these lines about her beloved county of birth in her last book Vanishing Cornwall; she dedicated her last ounces of talent to the rough coastline and sailor's towns which inspired her hauntingly beautiful novels such as Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek and Jamaica Inn. 

It is not hard to be inspired by Cornwall. Everything from the salty seaweed smell in the air to the fifty shades of blue of its waters. You can almost feel your mind quieting down and soaking up every possible detail: faded pastel façades, often decorated with good-luck charms, frondose extensions bordering the riverside with willowing trees spreading its branches towards the still water, the soothing sound of metal against metal emerging from the Falmouth docks at midnight. 

I can understand now the freedom Du Maurier found in this strange land. You are surrounded by the omnipresent sea, its immensity and its reign in every step you take. Its temporary stillness slowly seeps through your pores, making you lighter. You feel the need to be alone, to disregard any distraction and fully commit to just following the patterns in the sand to the white foam and soft waves to then lose your sight in the infinite tonalities of the water. 

XOXO

Spotted. First Surfers of the Season ....

XOXO

Snapshots. India #3 ...

"Indians are the Italians of Asia and vice versa. Every man in both countries is a singer when he is happy, and every woman is a dancer when she walks to the shop at the corner. For them, food is the music inside the body and music is the food inside the heart. Amore or Pyar makes every man a poet, a princess of peasant girl if only for seconds, eyes of man and woman meet"

-Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram

XOXO

Snapshots. India #2 ...

"May in India is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid. The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees. Red bananas ripen. Jackfruits burst. Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air. Then they stun themselves against clear windowpanes and die, fatly baffled in the sun"

- Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

XOXO