This shoe (in purple) was my first melissa purchase.

Melissa Plastic Dreams is a shoe manufacturer I truly madly deeply love. Melissa began their journey 30 years ago, inspired by footwear worn by the fishermen of France, and today stand as the leader in design and development of jelly shoe technology.

Melissa shoes are made from MELFLEX plastic – a patented, hypo-allergenic, recyclable and extremely flexible PVC.  Melissa shoes recycle 99.9 % of factory water and waste, and use no animal products, making their shoes green and vegan friendly Furthermore, Melissa shoes smell like sweets and remind me of scented My Little Ponys and cupcakes. Even after a year, the smell dominates the shoe section of my walk-in-cupboard.

I first discovered Melissa shoes at Big Blue in Johannesburg and have never quite managed to get the obsession out of my system. They are extremely comfortable, smell delightful, and with the clever collaborations melissa holds with other designers, they hold serious street cred.

Melissa has partnered with the queen of the anglo-fashion world -  Vivienne Westwood:

Love these shoes!

Super-modern architecture guru Zaha Hadid :

If you think these are unusual, take a look at her buildings!

And design marvels the Campana Brothers:

And finally, my favorite collaboration:  Le Petit Prins : The Pumps that got away

The shoes that got away. How could I ever think I would not eternally regret restraining myself from purchasing shoes decorated with the illustrations of my favorite book?

There really is no excuse for crocs when you can don these in the anemone ridden waters of Mauritius and other tropical islands instead.

Visit Melissa Plastic Dreams to find your ideal style.