The Shoes We've Been Loving

Style you'll love, comfort you'll feel.
One week, told through my shoes.

People ask me how I get through my to-do list and I always say the same thing: "Honestly babe, no idea. But the shoes have got to be doing something." I'm only half joking. The pair I leave by the door sets the whole day.

Some weeks feel longer than others, and these are the shoes that get me through them. So instead of giving you a tidy list of favourites, I'm just going to show you my actual week. Four Mia Vita pairs, one very real week, and the life they carried me through (school gates, a surprise dinner, a proper day at my desk, and a weekend that went from the couch to the laundry).

If you just want the short answer, these are the Mia Vita shoes for women I have been living in: the Ramona II sneaker for everyday, the Leni boot for anything dressier, the Vienna flat for the air-conditioned office, and the Zen slipper for the weekend. The long answer is a whole week, so let's walk through it.

Dee Riediger

Lead Social & Email Marketing Specialist / Resident Style Editor, The Comfort Co

Eight years behind the lens, a single mum styling real outfits for real days, here to make cute and comfy stop fighting.

Monday

The drop-off that becomes a desk day

Monday is a marathon disguised as a school run. Out the door early, a kid who cannot find one shoe, drop-off, then straight to my desk, where the office air-con has my toes cold by 10am no matter what it is doing outside. You'd think a desk would be the easy part, but I am on my feet more than I ever admit and need those shoes to keep up.

This is a sneaker day, every time.

The comfortable everyday sneaker I keep reaching for is the Ramona II in Terracotta and Blush, Mia Vita's lace-up casual sneaker. It is my do-everything pair, the one I pull on with jeans and a top without a second thought, and the warm terracotta does something lovely against a wardrobe of neutrals. It feels like nothing on my feet, which is half the reason I make it to pick-up still smiling.

Wednesday

The night out I did not plan

I try to break out of my routine at least once a week. This week it was Wednesday. Sometimes it is dinner with the girls, sometimes a cute little mummy-daughter date, and every now and then an actual real date. Whatever I line up, there is rarely time to go home and change first, which is exactly the kind of day that used to catch me out.

Not anymore, because the Leni Boot in Mocha has become my answer to it, Mia Vita's zip-up ankle boot. It is a clean boot in the softest not-quite-brown, and it carries you from an over-air-conditioned meeting room to an 8pm table without a single thought. I feel a bit grown-up in it, in a good way, and it walks me from the taxi to the restaurant to the after-dinner "one more" without complaint. A small heads-up from me to you: the Mocha is down to its last few sizes as I write, so if it is calling your name, do not sit on it.

Thursday

The one where I look the part

Thursday is my proper office day, the one where I want to look like I have it together even if the morning said otherwise. Heels are out when I am up and down at my desk all day, but I am not about to turn up looking like I gave up either.

This is where the Vienna Flat in Black comes in, Mia Vita's engineered-knit ballet flat. It is the quiet professional of my week: clean, black, happy with tailored trousers or a dress, and nobody would ever guess there is a cushioned footbed and proper arch support hiding inside. I am at my desk in the morning and on my feet by the afternoon, and it never once makes me wish I had worn something sharper.

The weekend

The reset (and the couch)

When I'm lucky enough to have a lazy weekend I want one pair that does everything, from a Saturday night where nobody leaves the couch to a Sunday of washing, tidying and roughly forty trips between the kitchen and the door. Two very different jobs, and I do not want to be swapping shoes halfway through.

The Zen Slipper in Charcoal is the one that pulls off both. It is my weekend warrior: cosy enough to melt into the couch for movie night, but with a real footbed and a proper sole underneath, so it keeps right up when I am on my feet all Sunday. That bit of support is the whole reason one slipper can cover both, and it means I can pad around and duck down to the lobby without going barefoot on hard tile floors all day, which is a quiet route to sore feet by evening.¹ It looks grown-up enough that I have absolutely answered the door in them and felt fine about it.

The rest of the week

And a peek at everyone else's

That is my four, but the whole office has been comparing shoes like it is a competitive sport. If you want the full team edit across all our brands, boots and loafers and the lot, Ben has rounded up the shoes we have all been loving over on The Comfort Edit. Go have a squiz, then come back and tell me I am wrong about the Ramona.

Before you go

A few things you have asked me

What are the best Mia Vita shoes to wear every day?

My everyday Mia Vita rotation comes down to four: the Ramona II sneaker for everyday, the Leni boot for anything that needs to look a bit more done, the Vienna flat for the air-conditioned office, and the Zen slipper for the weekend. Between them they cover a whole week, from the school run to a surprise dinner to a proper desk day to the couch, which is exactly why they have not left my hallway.

Can you wear the Ramona II sneaker with a dress?

Yes, and it is one of my favourite tricks. The Ramona II in terracotta and blush looks lovely with a midi dress, and it keeps the whole look feeling easy rather than fussy. The warm colour does most of the styling for you, so you can keep everything else simple.

Do Mia Vita shoes need breaking in?

No, and that is the part I still love. Every pair in my week felt right from the first wear, no blister phase, no pushing through a bad first day. If you want the why behind it, we wrote about why Mia Vita shoes don't need breaking in.

That is my week. Whenever you are ready to build your own, the whole Mia Vita edit is right here.