25 For 25 [2 of 5]

After a whirlwind of a weekend (I did complete my dress!), I leave you with this quick version of "25 for 25": Back In Black. My parents used to tell me as a child that I needed a sugar daddy; some things never change.



1. Dior Extreme Cutout Shoe, $780.
2. Burnt Ostrich 1940s Pin-Up Hat, $142.00.
3. Delicate 14/17 print, $95.00.
4. Prada Suede Ruffle Sandal, $730.00.

Beige Not Brown

Glee! A few rare moments of quiet & calm.

There are so many, many posts I have been wanting to make lately. But a part-time job, full-time internship, and job search, along with snuggle & tv time, have kept me most occupied (from here and from my routine Livejournal).

So as an apology for neglect, I leave you with my most current shoe desire (which has actually dwindled quite a lot). I've been having a fetish for natural colored shoes lately-- white/beige/nude, and been thinking about how I would incorporate such a combination in to my wardrobe.

Then, Lord Fluevog bestowed me with the pretty:


(From his Wedding collection...)

Similarly, I love the grey & bone colored Yunnan shoe. The soft scalloped edges, the thick lace, and the peep toe make for a delightful and unusual color combination.



Both shoes are so quiet, yet refreshing and vibrant for the warming season.

Vigilant Shopper of Ye Shoes

I've spent the last season looking for the perfect pair of menswear/oxfords/brogues, with some being too expensive (Betsey Johnson's Lavonne), or just not quite right (like the Payless version, which, while comfortable, had a thin sole & is non-leather).

The closest I had found were the Steve Madden Derelict, which, thanks to a little patience and diligence, came to my home at the low price of $35.

Steve Madden is offering them on site for $34.99, but with bold and red
All CLEARANCE items are Final Sale. No Returns or Exchanges.

Yikes! What kind of shopper has that much faith in online shoe shopping? (Not to mention, their return and exchange policy under normal circumstances is utterly worthless.) Fortunately, Zappos has a Price Protection Policy; couple that with the fact I can still exchange or return the shoes (provided Steve Madden has them in the size & color), and you've got one happy girl!

Not too long ago, I had ordered my beloved Fluevog Latelys, as an investment in a good pair of black flats was important to me (and Zappos had them on sale!).

However, Fluevog has further seduced me-- The Lately flat is on sale -- a whopping $80 off the original price. I was so ecstatic about the additional savings, I ordered a second pair: in red. That was the color I originally wanted, and for $49 more than the original price, I got two pairs of fabulous flats.


Have you recently spotted any fantastic steals and deals you had to take advantage of?

Now if only this wretched ice-y weather would let up, so I can put these new beauties to work!

Heartbroken

I don't deal with regret well, especially shoe regret. There have been a few instances in my life where there was a pair of shoes I loved, LOVED, and for whatever reason (typically cost), delayed on buying.

This usually results in the opposite of buyer's remorse, and I find myself dreaming, pining, and praying for the shoes for a very long time.

This time I had a plan! I would not let non-buyer's remorse haunt me yet again! With the arrival of my tax return, I had intended to buy my beloved-- John Fluevog's Hildegard in Avocado Green.



The money has come. I was ready to order... and the green were missing from the website! I have contact the company, individual stores (NYC may have 8.5, but no, Boston may have 9.5, we'll see), but otherwise they are all sold out and discontinued. And if Boston DOES have a pair, do I really have the heart to skink the pair that may have been intended for my best girl, Miss Malaprop?

My heart hurts, the weather sucks balls (and UPS is not delivering my mother's flowers!), and now I have yet another shoe regret. Now I have to start scouring Ebay regularly, in hopes these will somehow show up.

Green Eyed Monster

For those women who wear between a 5.5 and a 7.5., Amazon.com has Betsey Johnson's Lavonne marked down from nearly $300 to $82.49.

Typically being a size 8 - 8.5 myself, and knowing these shoes are so hard to find, I urge all of you of smaller feet to go! Go forth and wear the pretty shoes!

(And you should also note, that the Leopold style is marked down from $189 to $52 in both the black and green colors. There is a much wider assortment of sizes available on this one, too.)

John Fluevog's "Hildegard"

In more important and optimistic news (compared to the actually important and cranky news), I have decided I officially love these:



And I wonder, quite a bit, if I should give them to myself as an "End of Master's classes gift." Because, why get only one gift from graduating when I can extend it to two?

Shoe-String Shoe Shopping

As seems the yearly ritual, my pair of basic black flats have died on me. I'm rather disappointed, to say the least, in Dolce Vita's quality. The shoes are beautiful, but don't seem to have a quality build for the price (ask me about the $375 boots I returned three times!). I spent nearly $90+ on a pair of peep-toed, ankle-strapped black flats, and in less than a year the soles have huge holes and gashes in them. One could argue that this is the fault of an all-leather shoe, but shoes in the past have been made with the same material and withstood much more pressure and living.



Right now, my covetous and wishful replacement would be John Fluevog's Lately. I loved them before, and after trying on Miss Malaprop's red ones, I'm absolutely sold. But at $209, they're a bit spendy (especially right before the holidays!). How can I resist the in-person subtlety of the sparkle, along with the modernization of a classic t-strap?

Urban Outfitters has a similar t-strap (though not nearly so darling), the Fairytales are True Broadway T-Strap. For the girl who is more admiring of the Fluevog's sparkly nature, the Broadway T-Strap also comes in sequined Silver and Gold. At $34, they may be a good, cheap investment until I can afford my ideal John Fluevogs.

Stupid Boy, Let's Get Some Shoes, Let's Party

I'm known amongst my friends as a bit of a shoe fetishist. I suppose in some ways it is understandable-- the Midwest has a tendency towards conservative fashion, whereas my style doesn't typically run parallel to theirs (and I suppose in a place where people are conservative with fashion AND money, ~45 pairs of shoes may seem excessive, though I'd hardly call it fetishism). While many of the girls I know admire the beauties on my feet, it isn't unusual that I hear comments like, "Oh, I don't own that many pair of shoes," or "I have some pretty ones, but never wear them." I myself often fall in to that last pattern, although I'm trying very hard to rectify it this Fall.

Jeffrey Campbell, Betty 2; Betsey Johnson, Whitfield;
Irregular Choice, Eclipse;Betsey Johnson, Lavonne;
Betsey Johnson, Leopold; Steve Madden, NLIGHT.

It seems that people are intimidated by fun-loving, bright, vibrant shoes! Recently, a friend of mine asked in regards to the plaid & patent Betsey Johnson's above, "Incidentally, what would you wear with those?" In some ways, I think the question might have baffled me a bit, but it's completely valid. What DO you wear with that really great, but totally unusual pair of shoes?

For the pair she asked me about, I gave her three versatile options for the Fall:
Day: Dark wash jeans, a great & simple turtleneck sweater. A bold and chunky scarf (I'd go with green myself), paired with great, vibrant natural stone jewelry.
Work: An accordian pleated skirt, with solid, jewel-toned silk blouse. Textured or opaque black tights.
Evening: Personally, I think shoes like these are amazing with a chic, classic black dress at a cocktail event. They're a completely unexpected surprise. Or for a more risque evening, I might pair them with a plunging-neckline dress, a black patent belt, and nude fishnets (to play up the schoolgirl element).

That's where versatility plays in-- you could probably replace any of the above shoes for the above plaid & patent ones, and have a completely different, yet stylish outfit. Too often men and women alike get caught up in the "persona" of a fashion item, and the rules that accompany that item. Yet fashion seems one of the few places where people seem willing to forget that rules are made to be broken, and if you're comfortable and confident with what you're wearing, no one will recognize that you're wearing white shoes past Labor Day.


Shoes are the exclamation point at the end of your fashion statement.
Uncredited, as I can't remember who said it.

Fall Acquisitions: Part 1

School begins in a week, which means my luxurious lifestyle as a graduate student will once again resume. With the beginning of classes means a few things:
1. "Back to School" shopping! (Which always exists, whether I'm in school or not)
2. The need to acquire parts for a "professional" wardrobe for interviewing/internship purposes.
3. Buying Basics

Part One: "Back to School" shopping
means developing and refining my wardrobe so it is versatile, stylish, comfortable, and well put together. And since I haven't bought any shoes since my May trip out to Moab, Utah, I'm feeling the desire to splurge a bit.

Here are a few of my "Back to School" pieces I look forward to buying:

The Canon Powershot SD1000. I have a beautiful, wonderful Digital Rebel, but find that it's bulk can be inconvenient, particularly when carrying around a bag of textbooks. So I'm looking in to a smaller, more compact camera, that will still provide me with high quality images. With this, I won't feel so damned with missed photo opportunities! (And as an amateur photographer, there have been too many of those.)

This one is more of a make, but I'm really curious to start wearing bloomers with certain outfits. With this seasons trapeze dresses, I think a neutral pair of bloomers (like nude or grey), much like is popular in EGL/Lolita styles, would be great. In the warmer months, I'd love to pair them with these flesh-colored flats by Irregular Choice. In the cooler autumn and winter months, they'd be cute with textured, chunky tights, booties, and a yummy, warm sweater dress. Best of all, the pairings would be super comfortable! I wonder how many odd looks I'd get for an outfit like this, gauging on the reaction of a male friend.

One of my signature pieces, women's blouses. Always short-sleeved, with a fitted waist, but never average. I've picked up one this season from Target's Libertine collection (striped, with a bow at the neck), and anticipate picking up the silk one (provided it doesn't sell out as the grey one has!). I love that I can wear these with jeans and a belt for a casual look, or pair them with skirts, heels, tights, and more. They're incredibly versatile, and help me in creating a professional wardrobe (post coming soon!).

The shoes!
Fluevog's Sienna Bootie
Jeffrey Campbell's Betty 2
John Fluevog's Jade (in peacock, which has sold out on his website. Which means, sadly, paying a lot more through Zappos... *sigh*)
Steve Madden's Loubiton knock-off, the Chap

If I could just go buy more for the hell of it, these three pairs of Betsey Johnson's would also come home with me: James, Jeannie, & Aggie.

My shoe wishlist goes on for days. How I'm going to narrow it down to a few pairs to buy is a bit baffling.

A Fresh Breath of Victorianism

Every so often, I come across a designer or artist who sends my head spinning and reeling with their creations. Another one of those times has come, as I came across German designer Maide, who specializes in breathtaking women's spats.

One of my favorite pairs of boots resembles spats, with a contrasting white upper and black bottom. Maide, however, creates removable spats that are adorned with velvet flowers, lace bits and trims, ribbons and lacings, all antiquities from 1900-1930. Each pair is a work of art unto itself, bring the Victorian past into the modern era. The influences of Klimt, Mucha, and Larrson are visible in each set's beauty and design, while establishing the designer with their own nostalgic vision of fashion.

If only there were some way I could justify the expensive exchange rate, I'd snatch a pair of two up for myself.