Melissa plastic dream come true

OK, I hate to be repetitive, because I have posted many times before about the Melissa Shoe. At first, I was posting because they are a good vegan environmental shoe option (as the plastic is recycled). Then I posted because they started using fab designers such as Vivienne Westwood Anglomania. But after having been the proud owner of a couple pairs for a good year (since last years sample sale), I can also attest to their supreme comfort and durability. On one occasion, I was invited to a party at a gay bar with a pool. I can tell you that I was the only babe in the pool in my bikini, cocktail in hand, sporting baby blue plastic Vivienne Westwood slingback heels with a big heart on the toe. Meanwhile, the rest of my days, I sport my adorable black Melissa flats nearly every day. They go with everything I won, look chic, feel like slippers, and I can wear them in the rain.

I just previewed the latest NYC sample sale (to start tomorrow), and I can tell you that all my fave styles are back, and more new styles. They have a range of sizes and colors and great prices, so I guarantee that you'll find something good.

Below are some items that caught my eye...

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Green Chic #7 Sample Sale!!

OK, what I wouldn't do to get my hands on that amazing Vivienne Westwood design!!! I am a particular fan of a splash of red set off of baby-blue/turquoise. If I were to get these shoes, they would definitely be the focal point of an outfit. The splash of color against a neutral or black look. yum.

And, as you may know from my previous post about the melissa shoe, they are green. Of course, you know they're vegan, but also made from recycled plastic...and the shoes themselves can be recycled into new pairs (when you're done with 'em). Guiltless shopping: minimal carbon footprint (with a rather cute foot), and sale prices!

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Green Chic #3

The Melissa shoe

Gals...summer is here...hot days, but the odd rain shower and those pesky guys hosing down the sidewalks make the Jelly Shoe the perfect trend. Yes, yet another style from the by-gone days of the 80's has found it's way out of fashion-purgatory and back into the lime-light.

Just about every designer has a version, Marc Jacobs , Cesare Paciotti, even Fendi (to name a few). But those designers are just dabbling....the place to go for all your Jelly shoe needs is Melissa.

Melissa is a Brazil based company whose ethos is firmly rooted in environmental and economic sustainability.  All their shoes are fabricated in such a way that they can be recycled into a brand new pair (customers in Brazil can drop their used shoes off!). The manufacturing process makes use of all it's own residues, thus leaving practically zero waste on the environment, and Melissa employs 20,000 people in 12 vertically integrated factories.

Now lets get down to the fashion...creative director, Edson Matsuo is always in pursuit of new ideas in the realm of plastics technology and design. So far he's had a great result with the innovation of MELFLEX, a material that molds easily and comfortably to the foot, as well as being highly recyclable. On top of that Melissa has been collaborating with great designers and artists for years: Campana Brothers, Judy Blame (with his punk styling), Karim Rashid, Alexandre Herchcovitch, and this year Vivienne Westwood (due out in the fall)!

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