Month: July 2008

Sweet Treats

Posted on by Shoe Daydreams

I’m not even sure where it was, but a while back I saw these adorable vintage heels on a website.

Sadly, they were already sold, so I totally missed out.

But that doesn’t mean I still didn’t long for them. They looked like the most adorable mix of candy taffy colors.

But I was on Amazon today and found this pair of Oh Deer! heels on there and they reminded me of the vintage pair that got away.

Not quite the same, to be sure, but a very similar candy-colored heel and edges.

This pair has a more baby doll shape the body is glittery. I hope they are as cute in person as I am hoping they are!

What’s Black and White and Read all Over?

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Hopefully this blog!

Okay, enough silliness. Here is my amazingly black and white outfit for the day.

The Outfit
This, thank goodness, was one of those “Aack! I’m totally late” outfits. Something I know will be appropriate and comfortable but, yeah, not amazingly inspired or creative.

You can’t go too wrong with black and white. And since I’m still carrying around my emerald green Dooney, I get an injection of color in there.

The skirt is so neutral. You could pretty much get this anywhere and wear it anywhere it is would be fine. A bit boring? Perhaps. But sometimes that’s about as inventive as my 2 minutes to get dressed gets me. Eh.

At least the shoes are cool.

These are Miu Miy Vernice Pop heels. What I liked most about them was the way the crazy heel goes up the back of the shoe.

Funky, right?

So neutral skirt, modern shoe. I need to get back to my outfit planning. I’m relying too much on my shoes for giving my outfit some personality. And it would help if I went to bed at a decent hour so I could actually get up on time and get my act together in the morning rather than rushing around at the last minute!

Beautiful Living at Bele Chere

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Yesterday we went to the Bele Chere festival over in Asheville.

Asheville is one of our new favorite towns. We’ve gone there about four times in the past year. Ever since our first visit, we just keep going back. It’s a small town and, while we’ve already walked all over it, there are still tons of places to go and restaurants to try. And it’s something like #2 in the country for micro-brewing.

Asheville has some really cute architecture and the people are an interesting mix of hippies, artists, environmentalists and foodies. The town prides itself on being weird so how fun is that? This is the place where we saw the naked bike ride through downtown on a previous visit.

We ended up just making this a day trip. With the drive only being a little over 2.5 hours, we left early and got there just before the festival started up for the day. Not only were there a ton of vendors but we went to our favorite stores too. Plus the Asheville style of window shopping is fun. I love this display of star lanterns.

But this silly display of yard art violence was even better. You have to view this bigger and see the other two shots I have, here and here to really appreciate it.

But of course it’s the people that make the town the weird, fun and welcoming place that it is.

This image below is a pretty typical example of the types of folks you see around town. The town can be a bit “crunchy-granola” but also you get a good variety of food and music and experiences. We like the local co-op grocery and that you can find a wide variety of organic and vegetarian foods.

The festival brought out bagpipers in kilts…

little cuties like this one who was enjoying an a cappella group (this is a very family friendly town)…

plus I saw some great street style, from a little punk-y…

to this very stylish pair.

We ate lunch in an Irish pub/restaurant and then hung out at Jack of the Woods, our favorite (non-smoking, music every day, kids welcome, micro-brew) pub.

We did get some old favorites and made some new discoveries while we were there. Our first stop was at Chocolate Fetish for some of the our favorite chocolates, behind only Vosges. Then we stopped at a few of the mineral stores in town. I was looking for a piece of pink salt and found a great salt lamp. We also got some jams from Imladris Farm, who have their stuff everywhere in local stores and coffee shops. They ship so let me recommend how yummy they are.

We discovered a new brand of chocolate which I can’t wait to try. The Maglio chocolate bars are single origin chocolates and we got the Africa, Equador and Extra Bitter bars. I like dark chocolate so it will be interesting to see how good they are.

When I met this lovely girl on the street dressed in layers of vintage with a parasol, we struck up a conversation, since I had my parasol too. She told me about the store Vintage Moon which I had missed on previous visits. I was glad I stopped in because it’s an adorable little store jam packed with clothes, hats and more. I got this black lace robe-y item – great for layering and to pick-up on all the lace sure to be around this Fall.

And I fell in love with these cute sweater clips. I may even wear them on some v-neck shirts as a sort of necklace.

As we walked along we took a ton of pictures and sent Tweets. We laughed when we saw this sign for folks to get updates on the festival via Twitter. You can’t escape it!

I put up a TON more pictures on Flickr including some cute doggies, so check them out. And don’t forget – sign up for Twitter and we can “follow” each other.

Ready for a Recap?

Posted on by Shoe Daydreams

It’s been a busy couple of days since I last posted up here.

I came home early on Thursday because one of the city papers wanted to interview me about the blog. The reporter came over after I got home from work and we had such a good time that we’re going to do a follow-up next week. Exciting!

Friday was actually pretty quiet. I took the day off from work and, after we got Napoleon taken care of for the morning, I watched movies in bed with the other pets. My hair stylist had an opening so she was able to fit me in for a cut and color. I got bangs! Long ones, since I haven’t had bangs in ages. They swoop over to the side, so we’ll see how I continue to feel about them.

After my appointment I had to go to the mall to return some shoes (I returned these – too uncomfortable, kept these – very comfortable, and am not sure if I’ll even get these). I exchanged my Old Navy skirt and got a smaller size in my Gap denim pencil skirt. I also got some new Clinique eyeshadows, a new bottle of my Origins Ginger perfume and a bottle of Estee Lauder Private Collection perfume (which I haven’t worn since college). I also found the perfect big boyfriend cardigan in black and grey stripes for which I have a few Fall outfits in mind. Oh yeah, and a few Godiva Key Lime Truffles.

When I got home my Pearl River order had arrived. Lots of fun Chinese fans and parasols and straw slippers (which are very comfy indeed!).

Yesterday we went to Asheville for the Bele Chere festival. If you follow me on Twitter (and I hope you do, so I can follow you as well!) I had lots of “at the moment” updates and Twitpics – you can always see the most recent down below on the right. We took lots of fun pics so I’m going to upload those to Flickr and will do a post asap!

At the Crossroads

Posted on by Shoe Daydreams

So I am finally wearing my Proenza Schouler sandals that I got on sale. These heels are way higher than they look. Kudos to SJP/Carrie for trotting around in them, even if it is only for a shot or two during filming.

I have a vision to get a cute mustard colored skirt to wear with them, but in the mean time I decided to wear a denim pencil skirt, a black cami and the hook and eye jacket from Patrick Robinson for Target. What’s cool is that the hook and eyes on the jacket are a brass metal and it picks up the hardware on the shoes.

Mine are brown leather on the heel rather than the snakeskin version from the movie.

I am totally convinced that all they did for the movie was just cross buckle the straps. I wore them the traditional way but here they are both ways.

From the outside the cross-buckles look cute and the shoe still fits well but you do get a bit of a gap where the bottom strap attaches to the inside of the shoe. So I’m not totally convinced. But I’ll probably give it a go with a different outfit.



This is a very graphic and tough-ish shoe. I’m a fan!

Mining Ebay

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I was talking with a co-worker today about whether the shoes I “invest” in could retain any of the value (aka the crazy prices I sometimes spend for them). We were debating if they might even increase in value much like what is happening in vintage these days.

I’m not counting on that but it is possible. Many of my shoes are very well made and very lightly used. But they are worn. I love them far too much just to look at them in their boxes. I want to wear them.

But I think, if I wanted too, I could get maybe 50% or so of their purchase price. Why? Because I see it happening on eBay now. In fact, here’s a great example –

These little beauties are a fun pair of Manolo Blahniks that I got off of eBay a few years back. I’m not even really sure of what year they are from but, while I know they aren’t current, I still think they are adorable.

They were were in great condition – immediately wearable. The back half is a spotted pony hair, and the front half is a black satin with black and white cording.

I was wearing these on Friday and I did break off heel tap (darn it!) so I do need to take them in now.

I think ankle ties can be dainty and elegant. Not necessarily chopping your leg at a bad point.

These sit below the ankle so that probably helps.

Yes, they’re tall but, as always, so well made they’re comfy. I mean that!

Now, I’m not planning on selling off my collection anytime soon. How many people in my size would like the same things that I do? But if I needed to, I think I could.

And maybe someday they will be coveted classics auctioned off at a big Christie’s event.

Shoe Customization: Corset Sandal

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I’m kind of in love with these Alexander McQueen uber-tough ankle-tie heels. They’re kind of scary but I would love to be able to add more toughness to my wardrobe with them.

But they’re about $1000+. Sooooo, I’m not going to get them anytime soon, I don’t think.

I wanted to find something that would have a similar feel but be easier on my wallet. Especially given the fact that they are not what I would call a “classic-wear-anywhere” shoe.

After some searching I found these corset style heels. They’re actually a bit trashy (the brand is “Pleaser” for Pete’s sake!) but since they were only $35 I felt I could make something out of them.

The style seems simple enough that they don’t look totally trashy. My biggest issue was with the clear heel. I felt I could paint them and you’d be none the wiser.

So I dug into my pile of arts and crafts supplies and got my acrylic paint and paintbrushes out.

Before. After.

Not too bad, huh?

Not one to leave well enough alone, I thought it might be fun to add a contrast heel… and some glitter. Yeah, glitter might be too much but if it starts to look too crappy I can take off the paint and then just repaint them solid black.

Granted not the best lace up job here…

but I think they’ll be pretty cute with this black sequined dress I just got.

Sexy, not too trashy right? The simplicity really helps.

Glitter!

Not a bad solution for the price.

There’s No Place Like… Saks

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Ruby Slippers collaged by Poochie

Oh My Goodness… Where do I sign up for this auction?

From Vogue –

Betsey Johnson is just one of the designers who will be designing a pair of ruby slippers to commemorate the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz next year.

19 designers, including Christian Louboutin, Diane von Furstenberg, Manolo Blahnik and Roger Vivier, will be using Crystallised Swarovski Elements for their shoes – that will be showcased at New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue in September.

To raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the shoes will do a tour from Saks to the Bryant Park tents at New York Fashion Week before heading to Art Basel Miami Beach.

According to The New York Times, two pairs of each shoe will be produced for auction – while Betsey Johnson’s design is rumoured to be a slipper turned into a high heel, Diane von Furstenberg’s takes inspiration from her upcoming Wonder Woman collection and the Jimmy Choos are said to be red snakeskin pumps. Either way, we have no doubt they will all raise a lot of money when it comes to auction.

How much do you think I need to save up to get one of those shoes (any one) in the auction. Wait! What if they don’t make them in my size???

Pretty as a Peacock

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I’m not going to use any cliche “blue suede shoes” lines for these beauties because they are just far to gorgeous for that.

I know I’m getting far to predictable with my desire for blue heels but I love peacock teal and I love this style from Manolo Blahnik.

For as much as I love this color, I don’t have nearly enough of it in my wardrobe. Must get more!

If you love the Butterflo style but this color doesn’t work as well with your skin tone, it comes in black as well. And who can’t use another black heel?