Showing posts with label Platform. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Platform. Show all posts

Monday, December 12, 2011

The Deets on Dita (and Ditan)

These are my girls. Where the Jessica Simpson Cheetahs are my everyday go-to shoes, the Betsey Johnson Dita(n)s are my sexy go-to shoes. If I need a shoe that's gonna give me an instant self esteem boost - then one of these are what I grab. They're 5.5" with just over an inch of platform and good internal padding so they're easily wearable all day. The round toe is natural shaped and tinger-friendly. Even my mondo long toes are comfy in them.

I've been trying to figure out the difference between the Dita and Ditan, but there doesn't seem to be a common theme. Both have patterned soles, both are available in solids and patterns, patents and not. What you see here is navy Dita, floral Ditan and red Dita. The navy and red are a fantastic marbled glossy patent leather with a non-contrasting corset lacing. Both have a hot pink sole with rose buds on them. The floral Ditan is like a pearlescent watercolor painting that picks up what ever color you wear with them, though the main undertone is pink. The corset lace and sole are both powdery pink. They all have the signature Betsey Johnson heart medallion on the shank in gold.

These run perfectly true to size on me. There is no extra room and no pinching, rubbing, or pressure anywhere.  They are a tad on the heavy side, so novice feet will tire easily in them. There is an interesting feel to the platform - it has a little of a 'roll' to it. I guess it's to make walking more natural, but it doesn't help me. I don't walk like Bambi on ice like some heel wearers do though, so that may be it. (Side note - do they make training wheels for heels? If not, someone should invent those.)

As for pricing - they retail for around $90 a pair, but deals can be had if you grab them during one of the store-wide percent off sale at somewhere like heels.com, endless or Amazon. Using Ebates with one of those sales can help dramatically. I paid full price (with a courtesy credit, so not really) for the navy ones on Amazon, the red ones were 30% off on Amazon which I paid for with a gift card from a dear friend, and the floral Ditans were gotten during heels.com's Cyber Monday sale at 30% off, and I got another 20% cash back through ebates for them. The other option is to keep an eye out on Hautelook, Beyond the Rack, Ruelala, or Ideeli. They all occasionally run these in the $50 range with shipping.

If you only have two pairs of heels, (are there creatures like that?) then one must be a pair of Jessica Simpson Cheetahs and the other a pair of Betsey Johnson Dita(n)s.

Footnote: I've been asked how these compare to the Marryls from ShoeDazzle. They don't. Beyond the pink sole and the corset back, there are no other similarities. I highly recommend waiting until you can either splurge on these or until you can get them for $50 instead of getting the Marryls if you are solely wanting them because they're similar.  If you truly like the look of Marryl or that fit or material (that material IS dreamy) then get those for $40. But don't expect them to be a Dita replica. I did and was sorely disappointed.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Run Cheetah, Run!

I LOVE the Jessica Simpson Cheetah Mary Jane pumps. I have them in 4 colors and am valiantly trying to trade my left arm and left ear for a pair of the Powder Chloe Leather in my size (7.5, but am willing to chop off some toe length to squeeze into a 7). I'm so desperate for these particular shoes that I'm almost tempted to pay <gasp> full price for them. Those of you who know me know I pay full price for only two things - Uggs and ShoeDazzle. That's it. I feel like I'm being shit on by the retail gods if I pay full price for anything else.

Anyways - back to the Cheetahs at hand. I cannot describe how comfortable these shoes are. They are in the 5.5-6" range according to size and I can wear them for 16 straight hours. They have a nicely padded insole and natural shape in the rounded toe. The toe box is short, so most women do have to go up 1/2 size to combat that. The strap will hold you in place nicely without the need for inserts if they end up a little on the large side. The outer materials are soft and well made. The neutral colors are extremely versatile and the colors are bright and vivid. The Mary Jane styling feels fresh and though the platform is pretty thick, the shoe just wouldn't be the same without it. 

Unfortunately, as the winter moves in, it appears that these are on sale everywhere now, which leads me to believe they've reached the end of their run. Though, they released new colors in the Waleo pump just as I thought that line was winding down so I'm hoping that I'm wrong. From what I've seen and found - the Cheetahs were released in 13 colors already - but never a blue or red. That gives me hope that maybe they saved the best for last.