Needed - Strong Brown Boots

I've been enjoying wearing my new flat black boots but I've realized I don't have any brown boots and I really really need them. My new obsession is for these Frye "Melissa" Tall Riding Boots.

I love the equestrian style, especially the front laces and the leather piecework.

They are very similar to the boots I actually used for my riding lessons, except those are black with no laces. I think I would wear these year round as well. I've never bought Frye boots but I've been told they are well-made and comfy.

A good investment? I need them, right?

Featured Shoe: BCBG Max Azria Caldea Blush

If you were looking at my Flickr Color Study set you may have seen these beauties when I listed my Pink Color Study group.



One thing doing this project is doing is reminding me of some of these adorable shoes I have lingering in my closets. I need to get them out there more often. At the very least they need to be photographed!

I don't remember exactly where online I first saw these BCBG Max Azria Caldea heels but I remember swooning over how amazing they are.



You really need to look at these images bigger because they are just so detailed. Pink, tan and dark brown sections with dark brown stitching and scalloped edges.



They are just a confection!



Plus they have an amazing heel shape.

I wore these with the pink Liz Claiborne plaid skirt and a grey tee. I was quite girly.

More pics on Flickr!

Ensemble du Jour

So even though I have a crummy camera, don't think I'm photogenic at all and am too embarrassed to ask someone to take better pics of me, I'm doing a real live here I am in the outfit post. Disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer.

Anyway.

On Wednesday, I was getting ready for work and I opened up my armoire. I had on green and thought "maybe I should wear my cute boater." But then I didn't. Why? Because I thought people would think I was a bit silly for wearing my hat.

WTF???

Well, that meant I had to wear one of my new vintage hat finds from the weekend. I have big plans for the hot pink fascinator, so that will have to wait until NYC (TWO WEEKS!!!) but I could wear the other one. A really neat pilbox-y brown hat with a big feather poof!

The outfit was the almost retro-looking plaid jacket and skirt from Target. I paired that with a Proenza Schouler for Target brown camisole. Here it is sans hat:



And with hat:



This hat is a bit silly but I love love love it!

It's it great condition and just fun.

I do need to fix the ribbon that goes around the peak but other than that it is perfect.

For shoes I wore this great pair of Enzo Angiolini peep-toes. They are suede and a sort of lace material.

Just a lovely girly shoe that fits great, is comfortable and, with the peep-toe and bow, adds to the retro vibe.

A perfect example of what I love - classic shape with a unique twist.

Oh, I also took today, Friday off, and got my hair cut. I cut a lot off the length and look! Bangs!

I think this weekend is going to be Seasonal Swap weekend. I'm sure that means I will be totally sick of half of what I own and realize I have nothing to wear with the other half. It is dangerous to do this right before going to NYC. I will have to ensure I don't blow all my money while I'm up there.

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit

Today's outfit is part of my Fall mix and match separates. I bought the plaid skirt and jacket and then some knit tops. I've already worn this skirt with the jacket but I like the creme top with it too.

One of the reasons I wanted to get this top was to get more use out of a few pairs of creme heels that I have.


10-29-08 by Princess Poochie

For jewelry, I just bough this lovely delicate necklace from a friend who makes jewelry. Isn't it darling? Little pearl charms that slide along the chain.



The Focal Point

But what I wanted to wear were my glittery cream peep-toe heels.

There are lots of dressy glittery shoes but most of the time they are red or silver or black. These are a creamy light gold satin and glitter.

Lush, puffy bows!

And a great curvy heel.

I bought these Nina Melia heels were bought at Zappos a while back. They also came in a great brown and a deep black - which you can still get on Amazon.

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit

I'm doing the transitional thing again. Trying to work in some of the clothes from summer that I haven't had a chance to wear as well as putting together color combinations that I like the look of.

On Wednesday, I decided to wear this bright pink patterned silky wrap dress from JCrew with the much more substantial dark brown corduroy blazer from Target. One of my favorite elements of the dress (and the reason I bought the same style in three fabrics - on sale!) is the ruffle collar. What's fun with it, is when you wear the dress under a blazer, the ruffle gets pushed up and creates this sort of ornate neckline that really frames your face.

The two colors are very strong and contrast each other well. I walked in the door to work and got all sorts of compliments which I directly contribute to the colors working off of each other.



In keeping with the simple/ornate look I wore one of my new Paraphernalia pieces - a "P for Poochie" Petit Nom Initial Necklace. If you have not found a Paraphernalia piece that you like, you just can't be looking. I think I have about ten pieces and I love them all - from girly to a bit goth.

You're going to be seeing a lot more pieces of hers because I just received a bunch and I'm so excited I'm wearing them almost every day.



For shoes, I wore these Casadei dark brown suede mary janes. I love the shape of these when they're on and the color and material are an equal weight to the blazer - they help to ground the dress.



Plus they have giant pom-poms!



The Focal Point

It was all about the dress and the great color and pattern. I am a sucker for a great saturated pink. I really cannot resist, even when I should.



I think this weekend might be the right time to do the seasonal switch for the closets and pulling out the sweaters. But I'm going to have to keep this transitional idea in mind and not bury anything too deeply that I might want to layer with.

Blogger Inspiration: Liebemarlene

I like to give credit when I find someone's style inspirational. As I mentioned before, when I see another person or blogger wearing or talking about a great piece or outfit that I like too, I'm excited to incorporate it into my wardrobe and put my own spin on it.

Miss Rhiannon of Liebemarlene Vintage has an amazing eye and a very gorgeously consistent style. And she looks just adorable in all of her vintage finds. She tends to wear a lot of cute short dresses, with and without tights and high socks, paired with little t-straps, sandals and oxfords.



In the Fall and Winter I wear as many of my colored tights as I can and this year I am already stocked up and pining for the cool weather to start so I can break them out. One thing I needed this year was a pair of brown oxfords to go with them. And this pair from Nine West were just perfect. They have the same sweet styling that Rhiannon's do and they are just what I wanted.







They are very well made with great stitching and detail work.











I was so exited to see these on Zappos because I was able to get them with my gift certificate. These are also going to go great with my new jeans, blazers and scarfs for the even chillier days.

One of my favorite elements of fashion today is to find inspiration in people and designers (especially independent ones) from all over the world then bring it home and combine it together with pieces I have. One any given day, I could have built my outfit using a color cue from someone I read but with pieces from Australia, the UK, New York, vintage, Etsy and Target. Global access means we have a broader palette to work onto our own personal canvas.

At the Crossroads

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!

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
I was all dressed this morning and on my way to work. I had planned on wearing my Alexander McQueen skirt from YOOX, then, as I started to leave I felt something hitting my leg.

Yeah. It was the stupid security sensor tag!!!!!

And I can't take the frigging thing into a store to get it taken off. So, as much as I wanted to wear it today, I had to do a last minute switch to what I actually wore.

I pulled out this little skirt from Anthropologie and my scoopneck tee from Target.



What I liked about the skirt was the feather pattern and the overlapping pieces of fabric with distressed edges which give it more of a texture matching the pattern.



I also added one of my new Target beaded necklaces. I like the texture but this does tend to lose little fibers as you wear it.



The Focal Point
I can't say that I have one really because I was so annoyed by the stupid stupid tag. The skirt pattern set the tone for everything else. I haven't worn this skirt since last summer and I may have actually worn these sandals with it. Hmmm...

These cute Jimmy Choo sandals have a funny story with them. We were visiting Orlando with my in-laws a while back. I love the Jimmy Choo store there and we just had to pop-in to see what they had.

Uh oh, big sale.

I was trying on these leopard print sandals and another pair of these cafe au lait sparkly sandals and just couldn't decide which to get.





My M-i-L surprised me by saying she would get one pair so I could get the other. Whoo Hoo!

As we were paying the hubby and my F-i-L walked in and essentially were like "Aaack! What's going on here?!?"

Busted!

I had to profess my innocence. I swear I didn't do any mind tricks or anything.







Then later that night they were asking us how much the shoes cost (always a dangerous question, right?). When we finally 'fessed up, my F-i-L said, "I thought the would have been more."

I said, "Let's go back to the store right now!"





Aren't they delightful? I soooo love them. Thanks again, guys!

Smooches!