The review I never thought I’d write: Crocs. In public.

Some people love Crocs.

Some people do not love Crocs.

And then there is me.

I have been on a personal crusade against Crocs since the first time I saw a grown woman step out into public with neon styrofoam on her feet.  I have said, repeatedly, that you we should be careful not to confuse packing material with shoes.  I have said, to anyone that will listen (and a few who would not), that we should stand up and demand more from our shoes.  Nay, from ourselves!

On my most recent visit to New York City, the only pair of shoes I came home with came from a Crocs store.

How does this happen?

To make a long story short (because I plan on telling the entire story – including my meeting and admiration for the YOU designer, Samantha Bryan – later on my personal blog), I threw down a challenge to the Crocs people via Twitter, and they accepted.

The challenge:

Prove to me that I could find shoes that were both sexy and comfortable enough to wear for 12 hours in the YOU by Crocs line.

Let’s get to the review:

After a round of in-store try-ons, I decided on two pairs of shoes from the YOU by Crocs line to test, a wedge and a heel.

I had to be convinced to try the metalic silver wedge.  At first glance, the leather reminded me of something one of my grandmothers wore in the late 80s.  I’ve also never been a huge fan of wedges because God did not grant me ankles, which are required if you want to wear wedges without looking like you’re walking around on stumps.  But I was pushed gently nudged by a woman whose opinion I trusted.

She insisted I take them home with me, and I wore them out that night.  They did something miraculous to my legs, giving me calves and high-butt without overpowering my ank-less limbs.  I don’t know how to explain it, but they were so much prettier on my feet. I got tons of compliments on my shoes that night, and gasps of “NO WAY!” when I revealed that they were, technically, Crocs.

And how did they feel?  I wore them out after a full day of walking all around SoHo and TriBeCa and the subway system of NYC.  I walked to and from pubs and bars and halal carts with ease.  The new wedges have design features that cup the heel and ball of your foot, which seems to remove all of the weight and pressure that makes you want to just. sit. down.

To quote Julie Andrews, I could have danced all night.

The second pair was a heel.  A 3 and a half inch heel in a beautiful snake skin pattern. A 3 and a half inch heel in a beautiful snake skin pattern that I was advised was maybe not the best shoe for my “12 hour challenge”.

“It’s just, I mean, they are comfortable, but… 12 hours is a really long time to wear a pair of shoes for the first time.”

But I wasn’t backing down.

I loved the snake skin and I loved the way the style of this shoe reminded me of my old show choir shoes.  I loved the way my legs looked in them.  I loved the way they would compliment the dress and jewelry I had picked out for the day of my 12 hour challenge, as well as dozens of dresses and jewelry combinations I had back home.

I had said that the only way I would endorse a Croc was if it was sexy and able to be worn for 12 hours.  It was this heel or nothing.

They passed the sexy test with flying colors.

The 12 hour challenge?

I wore them for 14.

Did my feet hurt?

Oh dear God, yes.  My feet were sore and swollen – because I had been on my feet for four days straight.  My feet were sore in ballet slippers.

BUT…

I wore them for 14 hours straight.  And not because I had to, mind you, because I had brought a back up pair of flats in my bag with me all day.  I walked and stood and sat with my feet elevated when I could, and those beautiful 3 and a half inch heels with snake skin and genuine leather lining were just as comfortable as any other shoes could have been at that point in my trip.  They were remarkably comfortable at the beginning of the day, which doesn’t sound impressive until you realize that I had been on my feet for three days straight before I even put them on and probably had bruises on the bottoms of my feet.

I got so many compliments on my shoes.  And every time I did, I told my fellow shoe lover that they were Crocs.  And every time I said that, I was met with a response along the lines of “SHUT THE HELL UP!  Really?”  Yes.  Really.  I know.

The bottom line is – yes.  I would recommend YOU by Crocs.

For those of us who will never be caught out in public wearing styrofoam clogs, the YOU by Crocs line offers us a way to be stylish, sexy, and beautiful without having to hear the “I told you those things would hurt your feet!” lecture from our more friends in sensibly ugly shoes.

If I dare to let myself dream big, I imagine a world where the YOU by Crocs line also allows women who have succumbed to comfort to experience what a great pair of heels can do for your butt.  Please.  For the love of God please try on a pair of heels again.

Specifically, allow me to recommend these beauties:

(I don’t have these, but I covet them dearly.  They didn’t have them in the store but the designer let me try hers on. I want them so badly in this exact color it hurts.)

OH!  In addition to being cute, comfortable, blah blah blah, most styles are designed to only have to be fit to your foot once.  What that means is, the designer wants you to be able to put them on and off without buckling and unbuckling – because I am apparently not the only woman who has changed her entire outfit in order to avoid having to bend oh so far over and buckle a shoe because I didn’t have any slip-ons that matched what I was wearing.  That sentence only makes sense if you get it.

You can follow YOU by Crocs on Twitter or Facebook and buy them online.  I haven’t ever seen them in a store outside of NYC, but I know they exist.

I was not paid for wearing the shoes, tweeting about the shoes, or writing this post.  I asked for a pair of YOU by Crocs in exchange for an honest review.  I may have made the poor social media woman cry.  I was given two pair because the designer and I had a disagreement about heels vs. wedges.  True story.

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