I was recently sent Fornarina’s Autumn/Winter 2009 catalogue. As for the previous season, the testimonial of the brand’s new collection is again Lindsay Lohan who doesn’t do much for the clothes, apart from successfully obliterating them with her body and face.
Yet this is not a post on Lindsay Lohan or the umpteenth negative critique of her part in Ungaro’s S/S 10 collection (though she would definitely deserve it...).
In the pages of the catalogue I spotted a pair of red shoes, dubbed “Chris” (see them circled in the second pic in this post), that are supposed to be the Autumnal version of a pair of shoes Fornarina did for the Spring/Summer 2009.
I bought the latter (in black) in June in Italy and wore them only for roughly ten days in three months not because I usually wear new shoes only for a limited amount of time and then throw them away, but because they were a serious health threat.
Despite costing almost €90 it was impossible to walk in them as they would cause horrendous and painful blisters all over your feet even after walking in them for 10 minutes.
I have another pair of shoes by Fornarina, bought a few years ago when the brand didn’t seem to need any celebrities as testimonials, and never got any problems with them.
A few years have gone and, in the current financial climate, the brand must have thought that it's much more profitable to lower its quality, take production as far as possible and invest in silly celebrities (in Italy the brand associated its name to mediocre TV shows by sponsoring the clothes/accessories worn by the celebrities appearing on it) .
The shoes I bought were made in Vietnam and this gives you an idea of how far Fornarina moved its production.
Now, I would be happy to buy made in Vietnam shoes if at least they would be made with proper materials, but my shoes broke down around the toe area after ten days, revealing that the upper was made of cardboard. Wonderful.
So, if you ever see the red "Chris" shoes in a Fornarina shop this Autumn just don't buy them. Your health is much more important than your look.
NB I alerted the Fornarina/Fornari customer service a while back suggesting them to pay less for their sponsors and invest more in the quality of their shoes, something that would definitely result in a long-term investment. I also sent them in attach pics of the shoes and of the latest blisters they caused to my feet (not posting them here in case you're reading this while eating...). They obviously never got back to me but maybe they’re too busy replying to all the complaints they get or they are too distracted by pampering darling Ms Lohan to pay more attention to their customers.
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