Like Carrie Bradshaw had a love affair w/ Manolo Blahniks’, I have an affordable love affair with a brand called Melissa.
I want to say that my review is not sponsored or paid. This is my honest review of a brand that I think deserves the accolades.
In a nutshell, Melissa is a brazilian brand that creates shoes made completely out of plastic. One of the details I love about them is that many models are just one piece, a block of plastic molded into an amazing shoe.
The other curiosity I show everyone, when I buy a new pair, is that the shoes smell nice, they have this bubblegum scent that last quite a long time. So when I buy a new pair, I take it off and give them to people to smell. It can be funny, as no one expects to smell someone else’s shoe and be pleasantly surprised it actually smells nice.
Here goes a more detailed explanation of why I love the brand.
Amazing designs, the brand by itself does a very modern kind of futuristic type of shoes.
But they also do a lot of collaborations w/ other designers. Some are running for a long time such as Vivienne Westwood collaboration, some designers cooperate with Melissa for one season only.
The smell of the shoes are definitely a plus for me 😀
They are super comfortable.
They are versatile, because you can wear them in Winter or Summer. In Winter, if you get caught in the rain, it’s Ok. When you get home you can dry the shoes with a cloth.
You can wash them. Yes you read this right, I wash my Melissas all the time. In Summer w/ the heat and sweat, the shoe can get a bit dirty. Also if they are light coloured and you bump them in the pavement, cars, stairs, etc, they can’t get spots. Every once in a while I gather all my Melissas and I wash them with cold water, non abrasive soap and a sponge.
And my favourite thing about the brand is that these shoes last a lonnnnnnggggggg time. I have been buying, using this brand for years, I have had many many pairs and they last many years. If the shoe has glitter, rhinestones, etc, etc, anything attached to it, it can affect the shoe longevity and they wear off faster. But I can attest that the average pair, with me, lasts about 7 to 8 years, at least. And these are shoes I use a lot, not just for special occasions.
This is my favourite feature of the shoe brand and this is important to emphasise because Melissas are not cheap, but in this case I think you get your money worth out of the shoe.
Back in the days, when I was young and with less financial goals in life, I would buy Melissa’s full price. Nowadays, if I have friends going to Brazil I try to order some pairs. If not, I browse the internet for used pairs and/or check the sale section on the brand website, or the physical store.
The one I like to visit is the flagship store in Covent Garden. I have been there recently and saw this heart shaped bag that I really liked.
My most recent purchases of the brand have been on Ebay, I bought 2 high heels, one from Melissa and one from their sub-brand Mel (Mel is a diffusion line of Melissa usually cheaper, with more basic designs).
I also had to let go of a pair recently and this always leaves me sad, because I have had these shoes for years. Seeing them break down, fall apart and having to put them in the trash is always a tiny bit difficult. This last pink pair, I had it for about 8 years, one of the bows fell out and I still tried to super glue the bow back, but it didn’t work. I still wore them for a while, but I couldn’t stop the bow from falling apart. I had to accept that it was time for these shoes to go.
I will leave you with the brand website: https://www.shopmelissa.com/ if you want to browse, but always check other platforms to see if you can buy used pairs, to save some money.
I am Franca and this is personal.
Franca Personal Style Consultancy 