Color Study - Whites

After doing the Color Study -Pinks, I thought I would go to an easy color... white. Now, I do love white shoes (I know a lot of people don't) but how hard could it be?

Well, first I had to decide if I wanted to include creams and neutrals in the mix too. It quickly got too out of hand and color difference too great. So I focused on whites, off-whites and those shoes that were patterned but mainly white.

There were still 20! And a lot more flat shoes in this range. Is that because I'm from Florida where you can wear white more often? Hmmm.....



Not too many really fancy shoes in this color study either.



I went back to the pinks and added who made each brand so let's add that in here too.



Row 1 - left to right:
- Keds Champion canvas
- Steve Madden Northh
- Muffy's saddle shoes
- Kenneth Cole Oxfords (got these for $15 from DSW!)
- Isaac Mizrahi for Target Gail driving mocs




Row 2:
- Charles David Entice (I love white patent. And with tassles!)
- Hype Bliss slides
- Wild Diva floral platform peep-toes
- Sergio Rossi Pelle Mexico (these have an amazing heel)
- Jessica Simpson Like




Row 3:
- BP Fabulous satin polka-dot peep-toe
- Martinez Valero Adam high heel mules in white linen
- Stuart Weitzman Omega d'Orsays
- Wild Diva Balmorals with black velvet ribbon trim (I think these were LV knock-offs)
- Jimmy Choo Star pumps




Row 4:
- Stella McCartney Jupiter platform diamonte sandals
- Wet Seal strappy booties
- Mossimo Patty espadrilles
- Kenneth Cole City of Angels platform t-straps
- Oh, Deer! Pistachio pumps




Of all the white shoes, I think these Jimmy Choos are possibly the prettiest. Sadly they were a overly wishful eBay buy a long time ago, and as size 36s, they are too big for me. I can wear them with pants but otherwise they look silly. And I rarely wear pants.

It's such a shame because I adore them and my favorite part about them is this little asymetrical cut and stitch detail. How neat is that?




I have much less of a Summer here, so I need to get these whites out and about asap!

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
Yeah! It's finally warm enough today to wear some of my new stuff. I'm wearing my red Gap light knit v-neck top, which is so flattering that I should have bought several in all the colors, and my denim skirt. To add a bit of tonal craziness, I'm wearing my Paraphernalia Anatomica Heart necklace.



I love how this thing freaks people out.


It's so weird. I love it.



The Focal Point
White shoes before Memorial Day, OMG! Hey, it's warm enough, it's not raining and they're new. So there. I'm a rebel, Dottie.




But how could you wait to wear shoes as cute as these?



You just can't!

You will be seeing a lot of these babies this Summer.

The City of Angels

When I saw these adorable white t-straps from Kenneth Cole (appropriately named City of Angels) I nearly squealed with delight! They are exactly what I have been wanting for years.



Because, you know, I totally aspire to have Alicia Silverstone's wardrobe, and closet, as Cher in Clueless. And these are the closest I have ever seen.



So, carpe diem! Snatch yours right up and use coupon code WMS01 for free shipping.

You're sure to get some "Nice Stems" compliments.

Ensemble du Jour

I've been a little reluctant to post my outfits, because, well I just haven't been feeling them, ya know? I mean, they're okay and everything but because I didn't plan them out the night before and because I am a total slacker in the mornings, I had to sort of throw together what I was thinking about. And I'm not totally thrilled with the results.

Here's what I had on yesterday and today -

The Outfits
I had planned on wearing my new vintage gold booties with black tights. Being a lazy git that was as far as my mental processes got. So when I went to get dressed I got a mental block. I wanted to wear the newly acquired shoes but had no inspiration to draw on for the remainder of the outfit. So I ended up with a pleated black miniskirt and black v-neck sweater. I was trying to craft a necklace using my large "gold" vintage pin and some very regal purple satin ribbon but it all died on me. The pin was forced to act as it's regular old pin self.



Thursday shoes - vintage Kenneth Cole slingback lace-up booties.



My vintage pin - She looks far lovelier than I was feeling.



Today it is crummy and rainy. I've been wearing black most of the week so I just needed a little color. I'm wearing one of my approximately 15 argyle sweater with my jeans. How neutral is that.

I did pair it up with my new vintage Etienne Aigner pumps that are a luscious teal. The sweater has a really bright teal line as a part of the pattern, so I used the heels and my London Blue topaz ring to try and pull that out.



So blue!



I would have liked to have worn a thin patent belt in a really bright color like yellow or purple. Now I have to go track one down.

(yawn!)

A Vintage Treasure Trove

I had never really considered vintage shoes as viable options before my experience with vintage La Rose dead stock. And I hadn't really done a lot of exploring of vintage shoes on Ebay (everything else, yes, shoes no), but I've been really happy with some of the pieces that I've found on there. The style, quality, fit and condition have all been good.

I try to pace myself so I end up going through the site every few months and just seeing what there is on there that I have to ruthlessly stalk down and use dirty sniping tactics to make them mine. Here's my latest haul:



These are three of the shoes I got (one more is on the way). What we have (from left to right) are a pair of 90's teal Etienne Aigner pumps, a pair of 80's Kenneth Cole gold lace up shoe-boots, and 40's/50's Nanette brown suede heels.

Here are some close-up views of the Etienne Aigner shoes:









The color is a beautiful peacock teal with these great little cut-outs on the back and sides. They are very walkable and comfortable.

The gold Kenneth Cole's are kind of funky and very very gold. I think I was influenced by Jennine at The Coveted and Susie at Style Bubble. They have such fantastic style that they encourage me to take greater risks with my wardrobe.





I'll probably wear them this weak with all black and some black tights so they really pop.

But I can't pass up my favorite mid-century heel silhouette. I love these brown suede and leather pair that I got.



The loopy stitching is great and like nothing you would get today. I think I'll wear this with a tweedy or plaid skirt.



I just got a few other amazing pairs. As soon as they come in, I'll post them up because they are too pretty to not share.

Shoe Anguish

I have a good friend that is getting married in November and she has asked me to be in the wedding party. I have never been a bridesmaid, so I am kind of apprehensive about it. Mostly because I am not sure how I feel about being "on display" in an outfit not of my choosing.

Well, to be honest, to some degree it was of my choosing. We were told that we could pick any dress at David's Bridal in the Truffle color. It's not a bad color really, it's just not a color I would choose to wear given my coloring. The brown is sort of a reddish-brown and my hair is a bright-ish auburn red and I have a lot of pink/red tones to my skin. I think I may clash.

Plus the styles available in this color are not great for me either. I have never really worn/liked strapless or sleeveless clothes but those are your main options. The wedding is in November, but is is in Florida, so I don't think I will be freezing. I guess I can't use that as an excuse. Anyway, after debating between a few of the options, I ended up with this style. I was originally going to get a shorter style but got this, which I will need to get hemmed. Which brings up the question of what shoes to wear. Because you have to know when you go in to get the hemming done.



We have been requested to wear some form of a metallic shoe with the dress. In spite of my vast collection of shoes, I am having a challenge with this because a) I don't really wear this color a lot, and b) I'm not sure of what colors would actually look good with this.

I immediately ruled silver out. I don't think that would look good at all. So then I went to gold. I have a pair of gold Manolo heels some what similar to this pair. In person they are a very bright gold like 24K. I fear they will be much too gold to go well with the dress.



So I am actually thinking of going with a champagne color, maybe in satin like the Kenneth Cole ones below, to get some of the shine. I think it would be less of a clash of colors. And I actually don't think I have anything in champagne. I may have one pair, but they are glittery and may be too much of a competition with the dress and/or too casual. Not that I don't want to distract people away from me in the dress. Hmmm....



What I would actually like to wear is something bright and jewel toned like grass green or a bright teal or, like this, bright rose.

I love the feather poof on these Kate Spade heels.



And I'm totally smitten with these satin Rose ankle-strap heels from JCrew.



I can have the dress hemmed right to the floor so they'll be kind of hidden which makes them perfect, right? Or is the wedding just an excuse to buy them.

Decisions, decisions!