Review: Vivienne Westwood Anglomania for Melissa Lady Dragon Hearts

I was contacted last week by Shudoo with an offer to try out a pair of shoes from their site. Of course I gladly accepted and set about making my choice. Just choosing a pair was a feat in itself, such is the variety of great brands available. In the end though it was no contest: I have been intrigued by the phenomenon that is the Vivienne Westwood Anglomania line for Melissa since they were launched (plastic shoes? Really? How are they comfy? Don’t they make your feet hot?), and so, in the hopes of answering all my questions, I requested a pair of the Lady Dragon Hearts in fuchsia.

They arrived and on unpacking them from the box, the first thing to hit you is the smell. I had heard that they smelled of bubblegum and it’s true: they do! The second thing I noticed was that they are considerably heavier than I thought they would be. The only experience I have of jelly shoes (which is essentially what these are) is from when I was a child and wore those white, lattice work jellybeans that were so popular in the late 1980s. I think the main reason I liked them was because they were slip ons. I was NOT allowed slip on shoes as a child, my mother purported that they were bad for your feet (she was probably right) but for some reason an exception was made for jellybeans and my sister and I had at least 2 pairs (which eventually fell apart). The reason for the added weight is the padding on the inside of the sole – making the 3 inch or so heel very bearable (and indeed wearable).

The Lady Dragon Hearts are more of a pinky colour than I was expecting – my photos from yesterday show the true colour better than the official shot which makes them look more purple. However, they are just so fabulously outrageous that whatever you wear with them will pale in comparison anyway, so it didn’t make them any less easy to style up.

On to the all important question of comfort. They are three or four inch heels and if you are not used to wearing that height then no, they are probably not going to be comfortable for you. I am used to that height and so I found them pretty good for such a high heel. The squish padding in the foot bed definitely helps. Yes they make your feet hot. They are plastic shoes and yesterday was a hot day. I found the sides of them stuck to my feet a little but this was nothing some Compeed Anti-Blister stick couldn’t fix and if you wore them with tights I don’t think it would be a problem. I was very impressed with the sling back strap. As I have mentioned a couple of times this week, I usually find sling backs feel like they are going to slip off my heels and prior to this week I didn’t own any (I sold or donated the few pairs I used to own) for that very reason. The strap is adjustable and being plastic it gripped the back of my heel well. I wore the shoes all day and didn’t once feel like they were going to fall off. I did find that the front section pinched the toes on my right foot: but look at how pointy they are! And I feel this may also have more to do with my strange shape feet than the shoe itself.

Overall I am really happy with these shoes, not least because as my friend Emma tweeted at me the other night “it solves the ‘I don’t have any Vivienne Westwood shoes’ dilemma”. I would probably not wear them on such a hot day again and I am looking forward to seeing how they fare with tights once it is tights weather again. I definitely felt very grand strutting round the shopping mall in them yesterday afternoon and they made me smile every time I caught sight of my feet. What more could a girl ask for in a pair of fabulous shoes?

A range of Vivienne Westwood Anglomania for Melissa is available from Shudoo, and the Lady Dragon Hearts I have are currently in the sale for £60.