Month: May 2008

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Posted on by Shoe Daydreams

Tags by Ti.mo

I’ve been a bit slow on the uptake on getting this done. Miss Katie at Breaking Curfew tagged me to tell six habits or quirks about myself that, I’m assuming, no one knows. Since you already know I’m a big city girl who now has three chickens, I’m sure everything else will less odd in comparison, but here we go:

  1. My minor in college was Early British Literature. That means I read Beowulf, the Mabinogian and Sir Gawain and The Green Knight… for fun. I also “collect” stories about the Arthur legend and fairy tales.

  2. I grew up in South Florida and volunteered at Miami MetroZoo for over five years. Consequently I’m not afraid of any bug, spider, snake or animal and have been bitten or scratched by everything from parrots to wolves to hedgehogs. Heck, I’ve rescued and relocated coral snakes from my front yard. Plus I don’t mind getting messy when it comes to taking care of an animal.

  3. I’m a not-so-closet geek. I was doing science fair competitions and reading fantasy/sci-fi in high school, not cheerleading or reading fashion mags. And I still want that darn Kindle!

  4. I love really esoteric Victorian silver serving pieces like baked potato and lettuce forks. They come in handy when we have a tea party.

  5. We don’t watch a lot of TV, especially not reality TV but we’ll have movies on all day long. Althought we thought this show was high-larious!

  6. I don’t like sugary candies but I love to bake and love love love dark chocolate, especially the Black Pearl and Naga truffles from Vosges, Scharffen Berger 77% (even though they sold out to Hershey’s – blech!) and the Godiva Key Lime truffle.

So there you go! Interesting, who knows. I’m not the greatest on giving out tags, so I’ll take a cue from Miss Wendy B. – if you want a tag, just let me know!

Sweet Delights

Posted on by Shoe Daydreams

Macaron a la Rose by ::fanny::

Since I’ve been babbling about it for a while now, I’m going to New York next week. I’ve got a work-related event one day but am free to traipse around the city the other three.

I’m hoping to get some shopping in at the big four stores (Barney’s, Saks, Bergdorfs, Neimans) but also want to find time to hunt down macarons and maybe go to an afternoon tea.

I’d love to see if anyone in New York at that time would like to maybe meet for dinner Wednesday night or maybe get together for tea or sweets on Tuesday.

Anyone interested? Drop me an email or a comment!

Don’t Be a Tough Guy

Posted on by Shoe Daydreams

After I bought the Bluemarine dress from YOOX.com, I determined that I had absolutely no shoes that would properly go with it. I really wanted to pair something strappy but modern and a bit tough. I have some lovely sandals and pumps but not a lot of “tough” shoes.

But I’m finding that I’m more and more drawn to these shoes. I think perhaps, my horizons have been widened by my stylish blogger friends.

I am very covetous of these Gucci Sevigny sandals. The wide strap and double buckles give it the edge but I love the shape of the heel. Nine West did a knock-off of these but, even though they are far more wallet friendly, they just are not executed that well. I’d rather go without than get a shoe so poorly done.

Since those are not likely to be bought any time soon, I’ve been looking for another option that jumps out at me. These sandals from Nine West are pretty good. I like the strappyness but I wonder if they are dressy enough. They’re $80 which isn’t too bad

But I think these Everless sandals are more the look I’m going for. The triple straps and toe strap give it sort of a dominatrix-y look which is more my kind of tough.

I’m not sure if I’ll get either. I’m sure they would come in handy but I don’t need them that quickly. I’m actually sending the dress back. It had a rip in a seam and for the price it was (even way marked down) I don’t want to have to worry about it. It is a gorgeous dress though. Now I just need to find another going out dress that I can wear one of these heels with.

Innovations in Packaging

Posted on by Shoe Daydreams

As I’ve mentioned before I’ve been helping out with the marketing of SimplySoles.com. The owner, Kassie, is a great person and I like seeing the industry from her perspective because I aspire to starting my own shoe line (shhh! Don’t tell anyone) some day or maybe a brick & mortar shoe store in my town.

Kassie has included some great elements into her company’s philosophy, such as recycling and giving back to the community. But now she’s actually been looking to reduce her packaging and carbon footprint by creating a new way to ship the shoes she sells.

The ShoeShuttle is a very plush quilted two compartment bag with a drawstring ribbon closure. The shoes come from the manufacturer in the bags and then are shipped to you in a recycled cardboard box. I recently got a pair shipped to me and took pictures so you could see how it looks.

With most high-end designer shoes you will get a dust bag with your purchase. I love these bags because I carry my shoes to and from work rather than wearing them while I’m driving. I also use them when I travel to keep my shoes from getting nicked up in my suitcase.

This bag is far superior to any that I’ve seen to date. Not only is it much thicker and padded but it has two compartments. Usually I have to pull a bag from another pair of shoes so I can wrap each shoe individually (putting both shoes in one bag almost defeats the purpose in my opinion). I love that these are in one bag but individually protected.

I’ve been looking around to see if there are any other companies who are looking into new innovations in design and packaging. Obviously there has been a lot done with new materials such as vegan-friendly but I haven’t seen any new box or packaging options. If anything I’ve seen boxes get more luxurious and branded.

Personally I keep all of my shoes in their original boxes (or buy/re-purpose a photo-holder box for instances such as with vintage shoes that don’t have their boxes) because I have to stack my shoes. And also the boxes help with identification purposes for me. But I like the bag a lot for travel.

SimplySoles is starting with the incorporation of these bags for their own brand of shoes, lillybee, but will be asking the designers that they carry to incorporate the bags for their lines as well. The bag will soon be available for individual purchase as well and are $18.

Has anyone seen any packaging that they thought was innovative or that they really liked? And if you have any thoughts on the ShoeShuttles, let me know and I’ll pass it along to Kassie.

For Your Consideration

Posted on by Shoe Daydreams

A while back I got this really cute sequin skirt from YOOX. It was a good bargain and you just never know when you are going to need a black sequin skirt, right?

Well, I haven’t worn it just yet. My vision was to wear it with a white t-shirt and Chuck Taylors or something but that’s for another day. Now I’m thinking of taking it with me to New York and can’t decided on the right top to wear with it.

For some reason I’m totally spacing on what to pair it with. I was thinking the deep v-neck American Apparel t-shirt in black (which I don’t own, but could get) but I’m not sure. I would typically go for a 3/4 or longer sleeved shirt. I have a whole bunch of black tops that would be okay but I wanted something a little better.

I want something fun and not too boring. Any inspired ideas out there?

Walking On the Clouds

Posted on by Shoe Daydreams

The trouble with Pre-Fall is that you start to see very early gorgeous pieces come out but you have decide… do you get something beautiful now or do you hold out to see if there is something even more amazing down the road? And if you wait, will the early pieces be sold out? Or will you just fall in love with everything and have too much to choose from?

Decisions, decisions.

Here’s a perfect example, stunning turquoise snakeskin “Campari” Manolo mary janes.

I have these exact shoes in red and they are amazing. But the bright blue is one of my favorite colors.

If this is Pre-Fall, I have high hopes for the rest of the season.

Leather, Brocade and Temptation

Posted on by Shoe Daydreams

As I get closer to my trip to New York, where I haven’t been in ages (shame on me, I know), I realize that I don’t have a lot of New York-worthy clothes. I mean, most of my stuff is fun and comfy and good for work but otherwise just eh.

So when Style Spy unfortunately brought the huge YOOX sale to my attention my ears perked up.

Now normally YOOX is crammed with stuff. So much so that it tends to overwhelm me a bit. But I was up not sleeping so I thought I would take a small peak. Nothing serious mind you.

Stupid, stupid me.

I think my wardrobe fears have gotten the best of me because I some how convinced myself I needed all of these things! They’re gorgeous and I hope they fit but damn.

First up is this Claudia B. blazer with the cool closure and slightly peplum back. It looks like it could be worn alone as shown for a sexy night out look. We’ll have to see if that’s a viable option in reality. I’m more worried about showing too much tummy than cleavage.

I always like a good skirt and this Roberto Cavalli is made of an amazing moss green velvet with gold. It may be too much but it could look totally stunning with my velvet Claudio Merazzi heels.

As I was browsing in the skirts section I got totally sucker-punched by this gorgeous silk brocade skirt from Alexander McQueen. I will have to do some serious thinking about what shoes to pair with this… and what top.

What I had actually been looking for were dresses. As I’ve mentioned, I’m not a huge dress fan and am trying to work more into my wardrobe. I know what silhouettes work well on me and I’m hoping when I try this on it will be what I imagine. The length seems right and I like the v-neck. I may alter the sleeves to be 3/4. But what really drew me to it was the leather detail on the bodice area. It gives it a bit of unexpected toughness that I think is sexy.

Now we just have to try and patiently wait to see if they get here in time and if everything fits! And since it’s the big sale, and I’ve been burned this way by YOOX before, we have to see if we actually get all of them too.

Poochie Has No Clothes

Posted on by Shoe Daydreams

You may have noticed that this week has been a little light on the outfit of the day posting. The hubby has been out of town since last week fishing which means that I’ve had to try and keep up with taking care of all the pets, the house, getting ready for work, schlepping the dogs to the doggie day care, going to work and then some community meetings in the evenings.

It kind of sucks.

But he’s having a nice visit with his Dad and cousin and uncle so that on the positive side. And I get to go to New York in a few weeks so, he’ll have to pick up the slack then. I guess that makes us about even.

Not that anything I’ve been wearing this week is too awesome or anything. Since I’ve been carting the dogs to and from the day care place I really haven’t worn anything too nice because my older pup likes to lay on my lap while we’re driving. And even when they both stay in the passenger seat I still manage to get dog hair all over me. I had to put the lint roller in the car with me because I was so covered. Plus, as the week progresses they get kind of stinky. I can’t wait until Friday night when I can wash them. Pe–ew!

I did pull out some more older shoes which were kind of cool but he has the camera too! So I am sans pictures. Once he gets back I’ll have to take pics of the shoes I wore (if I can remember that far back!) and post them up.

After this week we’ll be back to our regular programming with some added fun of trying to figure out what to pack for the City.

Kick Ass Shoes

Posted on by Shoe Daydreams

I haven’t even really had a chance to wear any of my Spring/Summer shoes yet (I was so chilly today I actually was wearing a tweedy jacket to work) when all of the new Fall shoes are now already hitting the market. Time is just flying by.

I’m not sure I would get these and they would be a very large departure outside of my typical comfort zone but I love these sandal/booties by Yves Saint Laurent (even Saks doesn’t know what to call them).

I would wear them with jeans or a skirt and then into Fall with some grey tights. Thank goodness tights are still going to be around.

I’m not too sure about the metal embellishment but the heel is just sick! Gah! I love them.

It’s too bad these are in pre-order. I’d love to try them on in person when I’m in New York. Just to see if I can actually walk in them.