The Hermes Oran sandals have been on my wish list for years. Here is a pic:

Every spring, they start appearing on Instagram and YouTube, and every spring, I resist the urge to buy a pair. So far, I just haven’t been able to stomach forking over $700+ on a pair of sandals that I can only wear for a few months out of the year where I live. Even so, my heart wants these sandals. I need them to complete my life. Okay, that’s a little dramatic, but still.

In an attempt to see if I’d really get $700 worth of use out of the slides, I bought the Sam Edelman dupes. To be fair, Sam Edelman doesn’t advertise them as dupes, but come on. They are dupes:

That is a pic of me wearing them in my office with my favorite Banana Republic polka dot pants. (I’m clearly working very hard.)

And here’s a pic of me wearing them in Celine on a recent trip to Vegas:

*As a complete aside, I still can’t decide whether to buy the Celine Cabas Phantom Tote that I’m trying on in that picture. Decisions, decisions.*

I can tell you two main things after wearing the dupes for 5 months. First, the dupes are absolutely amazing in their own right. The tan goes with everything. The slides are so comfortable. I absolutely love them. For sizing, I went up 1/2 a size because I don’t like it when my toes are too close to the edge of a sandal. Depending on how you like your sandals to fit, keep that in mind.

Second, I wore them at least 3 times a week, which is a lot for me and probably justifies the Oran price point. The only problem is that I loved the Sam Edelman ones so much, I’m not sure I even need the Hermes slides.

So what to do? Since it is almost fall here, I probably won’t pull the trigger on the Oran slides just yet. Come March of next year, when I’ve been buried in wool and boots for 5 months and see them start popping up again, my heart will probably demand that I purchase them.

To be continued…

Dupes Fashion Hermes