CELEBRITY FESTIVAL FASHION

Yaktrax Pro Traction Cleats for Snow and Ice,Black,Large

The Yaktrax Pro will instantly give you better traction, confidence and safety on packed snow or ice. Move about naturally with the same solid grip that you are accustomed to on dry surfaces. Walk or run as you normally would and experience stability on ice and snow like you have never felt before. Made with high strength, abrasion resistant 1.4 mm steel coils and heavy duty natural rubber material, the Yaktrax Pro easily conforms to the shape of your boot or shoe. With its patented SkidLock coil design, the Yaktrax Pro provides 360 degrees of traction on packed snow and ice and can be worn in temperatures as low as -41-degrees Fahrenheit.

Waking up early, we set off for the conference to register and get to our classes. After a solid morning for the ASHRAE 62.1 class, I immediately set off for the Chelsea Premium Outlets from the Las Vegas Hilton. My Boss was in a class until 3 and would just hang out with our supplier friend, so it more or less meant that I'd have Saturday all to myself.

With that in mind, what happened between my course and this photo consisted of the following:

Shopping at the following places:

- Chelsea Premium Outlets
- Fashion Show Mall
- Sephora @ the Venetian Canal Shops
- Rock and Republic at the Encore
- Caesars Palace Forum Shops

I don't mind telling you that I was wearing my dress shoes for this since my other shoes ripped the skin off my ankle... Suffice it to say, by the time I took a break and stopped for lunch, I was bloody tired.

A bit of antecedent information about this photo - it is a photo of the "Hibachi Steak" at the Cheesecake Factory. It is my ultimate favorite steak anywhere, and every time I come to Vegas, it is one of the first things I do.

Having no one else, I went on my own and had lunch...alone...for the first time. I've eaten lunches alone plenty of times, but in a restaurant? I don't think so. It wasn't really all that eye opening, but it was tasty!

Fully charged, I finished some more shopping and finally went back to the hotel to shower, nap, recharge, and I'd eventually meet up with Anton and his wife who were staying at the hottest new hotel on the Strip called "Cosmopolitan". We had dinner and drinks together at the restaurant Comme Ca, and true to it's name, it was just alright, but I had a blast talking with Anton and his wife, it was a pleasant surprise to see them in Vegas, and made me feel slightly less alone in the city.

Afterwards we went our separate ways and I headed home to begin nursing what would become a wicked hangover. A word to the wise: Vegas drinks that are mixed can be considered double or triple of your typical drink.

Despite (or perhaps because of) attracting looks of derision and disbelief from some of the more "sophisticated" Shanghainese for wearing shoes more suited to schoolkids and old men who play badminton at 6am, these humble vintage-looking "Feiyue" brand fabric plimsolls, made locally in the city for decades, long the favoured suppliers to Chinese Martial Arts schools, latterly adopted in the West by the Parkour and freerunning communities, and now becoming the shoes to wear for Shanghai's less gymnastic foreign hipsters/anti-hipsters.

In fact the company has gone into a some kind of distribution deal with some zetigeisty French urban-wear retailers for exporting, and can apparently be bought in achingly subculturish footwear emporiums around Europe for the extravagant sum of 50 Euros. Or order them direct from China for 15 USD, via Amazon, ebay, taobao...

Me, I joined Club Feiyue a month ago, bought from an old woman who runs a tiny shop every bit as old-school as the footwear, all for a more reasonable price of 48 Yuan, or about FIVE Euros. Best money I ever spent. Although what with seemingly half the roads in Shanghai being dug up for subway construction, it's a bit dusty out and about.

There was nothing else to do but go back and buy another pair in black.

UPDATE: My Feiyues have now climbed up Zijin Shan (Purple Mountain) in Nanjing. Very comfortable for on-road walking, like barefoot on firm wet sand, but akin to a vigorous foot massage when you get onto the rocky stuff....