10.6.11

which wellies



And I am absolutely paralysed with indecision.

While friends in NY are reporting that it is a heatwave (98 and sunny) the skies have opened here in London: pitch black, the mews quaking with thunder and lightening and pouring rain. I was just about to go out, and I have the right rain gear for my head and torso (beige all weather hooded jacket) but no wellies (that's Wellington boots, rubber rain boots, to those who reside outside the UK, or who have recently arrived from another planet).

Here's my dilemma:

A while back, you might recall, I was invited to a party at Selfridges, to launch the new Havaianas Wellies line. As a thank you, I was to be gifted a pair, and these really nice girls took my shoe size and my order. I chose a nice fun brown paisley, but then, in the cold light of day I realised, I really can't do patterns. Not on Wellies.

That was even before I read that Daisy Lowe, when asked for festival style essentials, said wellies but only black or green, NO PATTERNS. I got in touch with Russell, who invited me, and asked to be switched to black. There's a lot more to the story which I won't bore you with the details - poor sweet Roxanne, at Yellow Door, has been up to her eyeballs with complaints with delayed deliveries, running out of colours (talk about beggars being choosers) and I was delivered the pair in the middle, which, while fine for some people, will simply not do for a woman of my age:



Now, what I'd really like are the shiny black pair, but that's not part of the new line (don't they look great, worn in, on the girl at Hay in the red jacket?)



These are my choices:



Interesting about the word, dilemma, by the way. (Well, interesting to me, as I sit it out with the cat inside while waiting for this torrential rain storm to stop). According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilemma, A dilemma (Greek: δί-λημμα "double proposition") is a problem offering at least two possibilities, neither of which is practically acceptable. One in this position has been traditionally described as "being on the horns of a dilemma", neither horn being comfortable, "between Scylla and Charybdis"; or "being between a rock and a hard place", since both objects or metaphorical choices are rough.

Now, while I like the brown paisley, I can't get Daisy's words out of my head. And I don't know if hot pink or bright blue are too.. bright. So I'm kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The black isn't really black - Roxanne said it's a dark grey. And while I love shiny black with hot pink, I'm not sure about grey. I am spending WAAAAAY too much time on this decision - and I really need to be writing - so I am posing it to you, Reader. Please. Help. Sway. My. Vote.

23 comments:

Emma said...

I have a pair of wellies, they're white and blue/yellow polka dot. I don't care if patterns are not cool... they're awesome :D

In my opinion, grey wellies... nahhhh. Go for the bright pink ones :D Or the paisley.

jill said...

Ah, Emma, I think you're right! The paisley were my first choice and I remember once, in school, when I changed all my answers for a true/false test, bringing my score from an A to an F, and the teacher, bless his cotton socks, split the difference (he could see I'd changed) and gave me a C, (showing me what my score would have been had I not changed my answers) and wrote:

Always go with your first choice.

i am not a celebrity said...

I have the brown paisley ones and I'm thrilled. Been wearing them inside and out... I recks I'm my own style icon. :) xx

slowdownapproaching30 said...

I definitely won't blend in wearing my wellies, they are zebra print! I really want the bright red hunters, but really how many pairs of wellies does a girl need when she lives in south london!

Anonymous said...

Oh, get the brown paisley if that's what you're drawn to! If you love them then you'll find a way to wear them. As prints go, they actually look pretty versatile to me (we're talking about the pair on the far right in the last photo, right?) Brown isn't too loud of a color but it looks like there are lots of little touchec of color in the pattern that you can pick up on in your outfit.

--Sarah M

jill said...

Hmm.. so Kate, you went for the brown paisley, too.. and slowdown, to answer your question, I guess, how long is a piece of string? I think wellies are like flip flops, you can't really have too many.. Thank you, Sarah, I'm really leaning towards those.. but the dark grey seem more 'practical'.. what is WRONG with me today? I'm never like this. It's a conundrum.

San said...

I own a pair of snake print wellies. They are perfect to me.

As for your dilemma. Pink! After all I don't remember an Aerosmithsong about Paisley. And in brown?! Ewwww. If they had a black bikerversion, I'd say go for it. But in this case it's: "Pink, cause today it just goes with the fashion, aaahhhh."

Enjoy your weekend.

Pearl Westwood said...

Jill did you see my giveaway: http://fashionpearlsofwisdom.blogspot.com/2011/05/giveaway-come-rain-or-shine-with.html Havaianas have given me a pair to giveaway so why not enter and have two ;-) I like all the colours so I wouldn't mind but I do like a bit of paisley!

Maria. said...

I absolutely LOVE seeing people wear bright, bold prints and patterns when the weather is gloomy! The pop of color always makes me happy because it reminds me that rain does not have to be something that gets you down and that I should just go out and run around in my bathing suit like I did as a kid! Or at least adopt the mentality I had back then. I guess what I'm trying to say is- go with whatever puts a smile on your face! 'Cause that's what we usually need most on a rainy day.

Anonymous said...

I still say go for the paisley! They a gift, gifts are meant to be fun! (and if you decide later that you need a 'practical' pair, you can alway pop into Wal-Mart or something next time you're back in the States and pick up a pair of plain work wellies. That's where I got mine. Chic shops are a bit thin on the ground where I live...)

--Sarah M

jill said...

That's what Carrie (wishwishwish) said to me when we were trying to decide which free shoes to get at the Kurt Geiger press day! (It was the most gorgeous place - done up like a birds of paradise thing:

http://streetstylelondon.blogspot.com/2010/11/we-are-all-birds-of-paradise.html

So I chose these pair of stilleto heels in lizard, with silver studs - completely outside my comfort zone (altho they actually feel really comfortable to wear). Alas, I've only worn them so far for like 20 minutes.

Carrie, on the other hand, chose, if I recall, a pair of really cute pointy toe flat pumps. I should ask, I bet she's wearing hers all the time.

But I'm still thinking.. the paisley or the blue now. And I've entered Pearls give-away because I'm a greedy greedy girl.

jill said...

and p.s., Maria, I LOVE what you said!

Maria. said...

Thank you so much for the kind words!

slowdownapproaching30 said...

When you put it that way! You can never have too many pairs of flip flops, so why not have multiple wellies!

Unknown said...

Have you decided yet? If not I reckon either the paisley or the pink and i'm not a pink or paisley person! But in the context of wellies why not have a little bit of fun? It's hard not to ignore the words of the beautiful Daisy but your wardrobe is probably different from hers so how relevant is her comment to you really?

and you'd make Maria (and me) happier on an otherwise gloomy day. It's a no brainer ;)

x

Lizzy said...

It depends entirely upon the look I guess. When I'm at home with my parents in deepest darkest rural England I stick with my trusty dark green farmer wellies. But for a festival I think you can wear any colour you want - festivals are all about crazy fashion hedonism right? Hope you end up with the pair you want! x

jill said...

Ahh! I am now more paralysed with indecision than ever! I think Roxanne is doing the drop off/switch on Monday - we're off to see friends for a BBQ in Brighton then spend the weekend with other friends in Hastings, and I know all that will be in my head is yes, Juliet's right, pink or paisley. And Lizzy has a point, dark green is for deepest rural England (like when we were walking the dogs in Herefordshire), but we don't live in deepest rural England. But then I keep thinking, what about the blue? (My friend Lisa, who doesn't do blogs, who I sent an email of the photos, said 'go for the blue') but I keep thinking about Pret - speaking of which, Pret, I just realised.. Oliver Theyksen must be part of the Antwerp Five that Charlie May loves! I'm going to look him up now. We don't have Theory here - I don't think - yet. Maybe we do!

Okay better get packing. Luckily it's looking sunny on the coast, because I sure don't want to bring those silly beach scene wellies!

thanks all - remember every vote counts. I should really just do the beach scene ones as a give away but I don't think I can even give them away!

Sweet weekend all. xx

Fashion Limbo said...

mmmm, Im going to say grey with the pink details...why? because I would be like you "do I really want ones with a pattern?"... the brown ones don't convince because they are brown, and brown wellies don't really attract me... That said, the bright pink ones are also veeery pretty... I've realised I'm not being very helpful here, am I? :P

jessica said...

pink! but then thats my answer for everything! haha no I think any welly in a solid color is ok! But Id love a bright pair pink or blue or purple! well you get my drift...

Damsels said...

i think that the bright blue ones or the grey ones are good. i would go with the dark grey but i see where youre coming from :(

jill said...

Ah!! You are all so wonderful for your suggestions (and reasons). And now I am even more confused than ever. I'm going to have to make a decision and I am literally trying to count the 'votes' - I think it's a draw!

I might go with blue, simply because it's got the least votes, and I like to support the underdog.

Thank you!! xx

Any Second Now said...

I would still get the brown patterned ones. To me, they seem the most "neutral" out of all the others!

xoxo
Cyrillynn

Anonymous said...

Mine are blue with white polka dots, not MY first choice (but maybe yours!) but let me tell you when you have wet feet and you buying the last pair of wellies, you don't care what they look like. Get enough mud on them, they all look the same. I like the brown paisley but the pink is nice too. Own the wellies. I think Daisey's point was, take wellies, no matter what they look like, you won't be sorry.