My first pair of espadrilles were Calvin Klein, navy blue canvas with a jute rope wedge and thin rubber soles, and I wore them everywhere, including to a fire. In the middle of the night we got a call that my first husband’s company was on fire. We leapt out of bed and raced to the fire. I was wearing my espadrilles and a pair of bellbottom jeans… So ’70s! After the fire was extinguished we followed the firemen into the building. My shoes and jeans wicked up the black sooty water and were ruined. For years afterward I couldn’t find another pair of espadrilles.
Perhaps that’s why now I treat every pair like they may be my last.