cimorene

See, in terms of regular person shoes, Finland is a shoe wasteland. There are almost no shoes here; trickle-down fashion arrives years later than in the rest of Europe; in terms of recognizable international brands, only the megastars are sold on Finnish shelves, and then in very limited quantities. For example, if you say "I need some Converse" or "I will buy some Pumas" or even "I would like a pair of Sugar sneakerboots", okay, you can have them, but you have a choice of like, 10 styles (in the first few cases) instead of hundreds, or like, 2 styles instead of 30-something. Dirt-cheap designer knockoffs don't exist, and the dirt-cheap shoes which are quite common are a) comparatively more expensive, b) comparatively out of fashion, and c) comparatively ugly. I complain about this a lot, and out of the last 10 pairs of shoes I've bought, all of them except the disposable-quality plastic ballet flats (we're talking 10-euro price range) and one pair of Vans have been mail-ordered from the US or the UK.

However! One really awesome and genuinely original high fashion shoe designer is based right here and actually has her boutique in Helsinki. I would make a pilgrimage someday, except I might hurt myself with the pangs of shoe-lust.

Click the pictures for big versions. All are from the current S/S 2010 collection.