Ever since I saw one of my clients wearing a pair of these shoes at an event 2 years ago I’ve wanted them. As far a shoe craftsmanship goes you can’t really beat them. They are beautiful, eye catching and really sexy. These are the type of shoes you could wear with literally anything and know you will always look and feel amazing. But this all comes with a pretty big price tag!

The best thing about starting Azziki is I can now (sort of) justify buying shoes and I can tell Byron ‘These shoes are for my blog!’.

Over the past couple of years, I have been saving to redecorate my kitchen; our oven is cracked and smokes, the fridge has an ice block the size of the one which sunk the Titanic and the tap drips constantly throughout the night. However I have decided that I would rather use the money to invest in my blog and these shoes; I can live with the rest….but I cannot live without these shoes. Sorry Byron, Valentino comes first!

As this is a big purchase, I head to Selfridges to try them, I am managing my expectations as I don’t expect my huge wide feet to even fit in something so beautiful. Jumping on the Jubilee line, off at Bond Street Station and in through the heavily gilded store doors and I’m buzzing – Selfridges shoe room here I come.

The Valentino selection is right in the heart of the room. I do a scan across the selves and realise I had no idea how many colours and designs this particular shoe line comes in. Picking my favourite 3, I spin around to find a shopping assistant already hovering and waiting to help.

I request a size 9 in each, and as she looks at me with pity she puts two of my pairs back on the self and continues to show me what is available in my size. This doesn’t bother me; I’d rather she told me now before she disappears to the stock room and wastes my time. We select two more together, and off she goes with an impressively quick return.

I take the boxes and she leaves me to try on alone. First I try the flat Rockstuds which are gorgeous, but make my feet look like glistening gigantic flippers. Next I try the mid heel which have an extra strap to go up the leg, however this is not a good look for my cankles and chunky legs. Finally, I try the high heel rockstuds in nude and they are everything I thought they would be – beautiful, a perfect fit and surprisingly comfortable.

To be sure, I retry each style on just to make sure I’m not making rash decision. Unfortunately, the sales rep came back and asked me how I’m getting on. I tell her that I liked the highest heel version the best, but I’m just retrying each pair to be sure. I then ask her politely to just leave me to it, but instead she sits down, on the floor, right next to my feet; just staring at me, watching my every move. She starts using classic sells tactics which are so blatant that it really starts to cheapen my experience. Why do some sales assistants do this? If I like the shoes, I’ll buy them. In the end she is so annoying that I look at her and tell her that I’ve also seen some shoes in Chanel which I want to try on. And as quickly as that, she’s up and she’s gone with an attitude ‘you aren’t going to give me my sale commission today, so you are not worth my time and ankle licking anymore’.

When you have been dreaming about a pair of shoes for 2 years, and are prepared to pay a lot of money for them, you want that experience to be pretty fucking incredible. Memorable even. I’d like to still feel like an individual but unfortunately this is rare in London… There is too much money being flung around and you become ‘another customer’ and a target on a sales sheet. Grrr. If I ever own a shoe shop one day this will never happen!

It does not surprise me that the consumer is moving online, it allows you to avoid the pushy sales assistants who either harass you or become totally disengaged because you’re not prepared to spend money wastefully.