The Fashionista Next Door: Mad & Ashamed (A Leopard Booties Tale)

Go ahead and shake your head in advance. Feel free to find joy in my naivete! Lol! So, I had been lusting after a good pair of leopard booties. Jennifer at The Looks for Less posted about a great pair by AMI Clubwear for $22, but they were sold out in my size. So, per the usual, I did a search on Shopstyle, but I didn't find any that I liked in my budget. I saw a couple options on Urban Original, Go Jane, and Alloy, but I wasn't completely sold so my next step is always to just do a google shopping search, which I love because it searches eBay listings too. Well, lo and behold I stumbled upon a pair for $34.99 at Milanoo.com and wouldn't you know, they looked a lot more like the Louboutin ankle boots than any of the other look alike's I'd seen on the sites I mentioned before. Now, in my mind, I'm thinking "inspired by" Louboutin which is perfectly acceptable. They weren't advertised as CL's and they certainly weren't labeled as Louboutin on the site. They were just labeled as "High Heel Leopard Sexy Ankle Boot." So, I googled the company and didn't find any Ripoff Reports or Scam alerts and the site looked pretty legit. They are a Wholesaler in China. They sell everything from halloween costumes to wedding dresses and everything in between. I figured I'd give them a try. I know what you're thinking..."Eboni, you should have known better!!!!"

Well, I got the shoes Saturday and THEY ARE COMPLETE KNOCKOFFS... not inspired by, but KNOCKed OFF! They have CL labels, came in a knockoff CL box, with knockoff CL shoe bags. SMH! and as if that wasn't bad enough, they are not even good knockoffs. The color is way off and much lighter than advertised! Needless to say I was pretty disappointed, and I quickly went online to speak with customer service. Well, apparently I NEED TO READ before I buy stuff because I can't even return the damn shoes for a refund. When I bought them, I saw that they had a 7 day return policy, but I didn not read the policy in it's entirety. Apparently, you can only return the shoes if they are damaged or poor quality so I am basically just stuck with the shoes! I'm all about a good look for less, (you guys know that!) and in my younger day I was definitely up for a good knock off, but as I've gotten older I've left them behind. If I can't afford th real thing, I'll pass. My issue with this shoe is not that they look like CL's (oviously, thats the point of a good look for less) but rather that they were blatent knock off.

Now, I could give them away, donate them to Goodwill, or sell them but I don't want to be the girl selling knockoffs or donating knockoffs for that matter. Grrrrr! Well, I've been staring at the damn shoes by my desk for 4 days now. So today I decided to take some pictures of them and send them to my friend and fashion confidante, Colleen! Well, after laughing at me and my apparent horror, she assured me that they werent that bad.,,and that I could probably make them work since I can't return them anyway! Oh, and we also established that the print is definitely NOT leopard. If anything it's cheetah, although I am convinced its more like a tiny cow print. LOL!!! (I know, I have issues!)

So after my conversation with Colleen, I decided to give the damn shoes a whirl. Fabrice and I took a trip to Chic-Fil-A for lunch. Fast food in the middle of the day. I figured it was the perfect place to wear my knock off's without being noticed! Okay, so maybe they aren't that bad but I feel like such a fraud! Lol..

Maybe, I am being overly dramatic. Please SOUND OFF! My options are basically to throw them away or keep them and wear them. What do you think?

On a brigher note, this was my first time actually putting on real clothes in days! It felt nice to get out of those yoga pants and PJ's, We won't even talk about what my hair looked like this morning. Let's just say it's been getting wet in the shower, but not combed after. Hey! I was sick :)

Thanks for stopping by (and listening to me whine!)