SWEETIESAL

In early March, the Trafford Centre very kindly extended an invite for me to attend their #Shoetopia Blogger Event.

I love shoes and on the promise of hearing all about what your shoes can say about you, I was the first one to shoot over my 'hell yes, I will be there' message!

I approached Bar 360 in the Orient and was greeted by one of my newer bloggy pals Fiona. We were handed a glass of Skinny Champagne and proceeded to get comfortable, avoided the temptation of the cupcakes and had a chat with Amanda Thompson who has pioneered the production of Skinny Champagne in the UK. The concept of the fizz is that there is no added sugar, and good lord that stuff is good! I am not normally a huge Champagne lover but I really genuinely enjoyed it. Check out their twitter page - @skinnychamp.

As more and more Bloggers came in and we all took our seats, Kate Nightingale from Style Psychology took the mic and talked to us about her company who specialise in helping brands with consumer behaviours. They create meaningful relationships with customers and bring together all aspects of the purchasing process.

Interestingly, the psychology behind shoes can reveal a lot about a person, with wearers tending to select a pair based on wanting to make a good first impression, or having a positive experience associated with a particular pair of shoes, thus raising self esteem.

There are many shoe trends coming at us for SS14 and Kate touched on some of the key characteristics a particular shoe can tell us about a person;

Flat Shoes Revolution; Flat shoes wearers tend to opt for comfort, are decisive, string, independent, successful and professional.

Male style shoes for women such as brogues reveal the person as being creative, robust, supportive, powerful and reserved.

50s and 60s style elegance often includes lower heel height and shows an elegance, professional, house wife and feminine individual.

Sports Luxe shows a glam person who may be adventurous, courageous, creative, sociable and friendly (if there is sparkle involved!)

So, you can see there is a pattern involved in terms of what our shoes say about us!

We were then set the task of answering some questions in the Shoe Quiz! I was delighted that my freakish knowledge of celebrity shoes won me a pair of Lego Louboutins!!!

Then we were handed a really amazing goodie bag - it was so generous of the Trafford Centre to provide us with such treats and I really had a lovely time :)

If you want to hear me talk about shoes then check out my interview on Trafford Centre TV. I apologise now for the fact I move around a hell of a lot!!!