Aldo's Ankara Print Wedges...Purely Fabulous!!!

I've been meaning to blog about my awesome Ankara print wedges, since I got them in May, but as you can all understand, I have been delayed with the busy-ness that is life...
Now, there is a bit of a story behind these shoes, because you know we don't come across this type of shoe everyday here, so check it out...

I first stumbled across these shoes on a site while I was randomly browsing the web. A person had taken a picture of the shoes displayed in an Aldo store window in New York. As soon as I saw them I knew that I was going to own a pair!! So I started googling, and I found the shoes featured on a few African websites such as http://www.shadders.net/ and http://www.omonaijamag.com/
The more I looked at them, the more my obsession and love for them grew...
The only thing that didn't sit well with me as I was doing my search, was when I saw Aldo's description of the shoes stating that "it was inspired from the groovy seventies." I thought really... couldn't they just acknowlegde that the shoes are straight African inspired...?! Anyway i got over it quickly because I knew when I got my pair, I would proudly rock them to represent my African/Ghanaian culture!!

So, I called Aldos's head office here and found out the shoes were called 'Forwood' and asked whether the shoes were gonna make it to Aldo stores here and if so, when? (cause you know how we always miss out on the good stuff here...). To my pleasant surprise though, they were!! So I placed my order for a pair to be put on hold for me in the city store when they arrived in May!!

When May came along, and I hadn't heard anything from Aldo, and after calling the city store countless times but never getting through, I made a trip into the city to find out what had happened. When I got there and enquired, the girls there told me they had not received a messgae from head office to have the shoes put aside for me, (of course...just my luck...), and they had no more of my size in stock... :-( So I tried the size up, to get a feel for the shoes, and also hoping that somehow the sizing system was different and it would fit me... lol...but of course they were too big. So I left my details with one of the girls for her to call around to the other Aldo stores to find my size, and I left...Within 15-20mins of me leaving I got a call back from the girl saying she had found a pair for me at their Robina store!! YAY!! So I came back and finalised the payment to get the shoes sent to my house!!

About a week later, a delivery man knocked on the door with a package for me!! My shoes!!! They were here!! I ripped the package apart and pulled out the shoes and they were even more fabulous than I remembered them!! I tried them on, and yes!! They fit perfectly!! And were so comfortable!! And boy did they give me some serious height!!

Since I got them, I have worn them 3 times. The first time was to go see my mom on mothers day, just to kinda break them in; the second time was to my friends Akua and Ololade's 25th birthday; and the third time was to church this past weekend.
Each time I have worn them, I have received loads of compliments and admiring glances from random on lookers, and you will see why in the pictures below... They are definately a statement shoe that scream 'look at me!' Now although the heel of the wedge is 4 inches in height, they are quite comfortable but I suggest that you don't wear them for a whole night of dancing because your feet will definately feel it, (as I found out at Akua and Ololades birthday party)...lol. They are great though to wear for a short, reasonable period of time.

The shoes came in 2 prints, and Nicole Ari Parker, (wife of Ghana's Boris Kodjoe) rocked her green pair with a simple white ensemble to an event in Hollywood recently!

At $110.00, they were a little pricey but it was definately worth the investment, because I will be wearing these shoes for many seasons to come!!

Rocking my wedges to church!!



'Forwood' in Turquoise



Nicole Ari Prker rockin her wedges with all white



'Forwood' in Green