Just recently, I was contemplating making that same purchase again, a new pair of loafers, almost 20 years after my maiden voyage to the Gucci boutique. The timing just felt right. It’s no secret that loafers and the Gucci brand itself are having a moment — or more like a tectonic shift, with the house and its supernova creative director, Alessandro Michele, helping to redefine what an It thing even means to someone today. And for all my good intentions in collecting just the right cast of chic-and-sensible shoes over the years, the ultimate pair of loafers had escaped me. Some were too dowdy. Others way too feminine. I wanted something classic, but also defining of the times we live in right now. And not least of all, defining of how far I’ve come since that last purchase and that very first time I was published.

And so, just a few months ago, I hopped on the subway (like I did the first time) on my way up to the 5th Avenue Gucci store to make another such investment purchase. Amid towers of green boxes, I must have tried on 12 or so pairs of loafers, navigating everything from heels, studs, and brocade to patent leather...to find out which ones were THE ones. Because, let’s face it, purchases like these don't come along so often. They take time, contemplation, editing, soul searching, and a little saving helps, too. In my humble opinion, I think every person needs that "thing" to strive for. Not in a superficial way, per se, but in a way that helps make tangible — and notable — the reward of doing the real work in your life. The work that matters to you. To finally buy your own place, to recover from a hideous breakup, to go to India alone, to survive a parent or a friend — those big life moments shape our images of ourselves as much as genetics do. We deserve to choose something special, every now and then, to help honor the new chapter of that unfolding story. Don't we?

For the record, my new loafers are nothing like the first ones, though they do look like something my very chic Italian grandmother might have worn — gold foil, square block heel, double gold Gs framing each foot — comfortable, practical, but also a little bit flashy and ridiculous. And maybe that's an apt description of me these days, too.

Here's to sole mates.