Lekker!

Embroidered Slip-Ons

Thursday, April 24, 2008

At the foot of the Great Wall, specifically around the parking area, there is an explosion of souvenir gift shops stocking all and sundry. There were the usual t-shirts, caps, scarves and ash trays lining side by side to fur hats, fox stoles, communist uniforms and Mao memorabilia. It was downright mind boggling to say the least.

Then, out of the tanglewood of kitsch, this lovely presented itself:

The slip ons are made entirely of fabric, right down to the soles which comprise of several layers of stiffened cloth stitched together. The embroidery, likewise machine stitched, is also bee-yoo-tiful.

I'm currently wearing them at home. They are comfortable and lightweight but because they are cloth soled, these slippers are slippery and our smooth wooden floors don't help much either. And you must understand I wasn't born in the Year of the Ox for nothing.

Lightly as we tread along, Dutchess.

Labels: Beijing, retail therapy

The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 10:05 pm

4 calories

Comments:

These are beautiful. I have to hunt me down some of these when I'm next back in Asia. They would make great gifts for the ladies here.

# posted by

petite fleur : April 29, 2008 2:29 pm

M, you must! There is a well-known cloth shoe shop in Beijing where even Mao used to get his footwear from. I'm going to check it out real soon and I'll let you (and everyone else) if it's any good or not. If you haven't already known, I'm shoe crazy.

# posted by

Dutchess : April 29, 2008 9:48 pm

Currently China is getting a bad rep for everything Made in China but looking at this is a reminder that they do churn out exquisite stuff too & they have been doing it for hundreds even thousands of years.

# posted by

petite fleur : May 05, 2008 5:36 am

Well, some of the bad rep does have a ring of truth and it only takes a few bad apples to mess up the whole basket.

I've been buying a fair amount of silk apparel, tea sets and savouring all sorts of wonderful teas since we arrived.

# posted by

Dutchess : May 05, 2008 11:02 pm