IF THE SHOE FITS...IT IS THE AGL BRAND

With temperatures reaching the mid 80's in New York City last week, it prompted me to change up my comfortable low block heel booties for walking around to putting on shoes- with a low heel - meaning flats. I found a pair of flats in my closet. They looked sad and worn. But I thought it meant they were broken in and would be comfortable. However, while wearing the shoes on Thursday they felt uncomfortable and I concluded new flats were in order. These old shoes served me well and it was time for them to step aside.

Looking again in my closet on Thursday night, realizing I hadn't purchased flats for daily walking since 2021, I decided to start looking for comfortable leather flats the next day. I decided the flat style I'd look for would be a ballet style, and if possible, with a pointy toe.

Brands such as Mansur Gavriel, Repetto and Tory Burch, to name a few have been well regarded so I thought I'd try to locate those brands. Though feet change over time and shoes that others highly recommend are not the best for all I decided to keep an open mind.

On Friday I made it to the New York City Nordstrom store to look for comfortable ballet flats. Nordstrom is known for its huge shoe offerings. Though the selection in the New York City store is not as extensive as the range available on the Nordstrom website, I wasn't deterred. If I didn't find the shoes during the trip it would still be a good use of time as as it would be a chance to see shoe styles and colors I might not had not seen before and would keep me up to date with shoe brands and trends.

The selection of ballet flats in the Nordstrom lower level shoe department was mediocre. That did not matter because only one pair needed to be attractive, to fit and to be comfortable. I asked the sales associate to see three pairs of flats. Then I told him what I was looking for and asked him for his help. He happily went searching.

After trying on about eight pairs of flats the choices were narrowed down to two, each with pros and cons.

The runner up was the shoe in the bottom of this post, the Veronica Beard Champlain Chain Pointed Toe Flat. In addition to a great fit, the major attractive part was that it was pointy. I have other Veronica Beard shoes so I felt it would be a contender. The deterrent was that the leather seemed too elegant to stand up against my feet pounding the pavement. The shoe deserves better care than I can give it.

I purchased the shoe shown at the top of the post. It is the AGL Monika Cap Toe Ballet Flat. After I walked around the shoe department with them on for a few minutes, I knew these would be a great option to consider and then it became my purchase. Yes, the shoe fits! The pros were many: leather sole, leather lining, leather uppers and a patent leather cap toe. The only downside is that it is a round toe. With the exception of the toe shape, the AGL Monika checked all boxes I was looking for in buying these shoes.

I left Nordstrom happy, especially since these were not the only shoes I purchased at the time! The sales associate provided nice thoughtful service.

Do you have recommendations for flats, or other types of shoes for walking on city streets?