Quirky, cute and kitsch are not among the concepts I do well and I’m generally not interested in very elaborate designs – many small details make me nervous. It was therefore somewhat unexpected that two months ago, I came into possession of a pair of shoes by Sophia Webster. But as with food, so with design: every style can be great if done well.

Webster is still a relatively new British shoe and accessory designer, although well known to those who follow that sort of thing closely. She is the perfect creator for the age of street style and Instagram: her shoes are colourful, easily identifiable and impossible to ignore. She loves butterflies and flamingos, pearls and feathers, pastels and neon colours, pompoms and cut-outs. Her heels will instantly turn a pair of nondescript cropped jeans into a statement look. I’ve always followed her designs with interest, but never felt they were quite for me. Until I saw the Lucita Malibu Wedge on the pages of Net-a-Porter.

By Webster’s standards, these are pretty tame – some pastel raffia stripes and decorative palm trees, nothing major. For me, they are something of a departure, but such a fun and fabulous one! The shoes were the first thing I bought for my Martinique holiday and everything else followed from that. I can assure you that Malibus look equally amazing with a bubblegum pink bikini, rolled-up khaki trousers and a long white dress.

A word of caution, though: these shoes (and Webster’s other wedges) are 14 cm high, not very stable and work best when lounging by the pool or walking very short distances on very smooth ground. And I say this as a hardened heel-wearer. Therefore I recommend to just sit by the bar, dangle your feet and enjoy the attention.

PS Her prices are lower than these of the old luxury brands (especially when it comes to bags), but this is not a highstreet brand by any means. If I had enough money left after the purchase of the shoes, I would also have bought the striped beach bag from the just launched bag collection. Alas, no bag.