Art in Asheville

We went and had a lovely weekend in Asheville, one of our favorite places to visit.

Days of great food, gorgeous weather and finding new wonderful local artists.

I was drawn to this adorable owl locket by Marisol Spoon...

But was drawn to their amazing art in hand carved frames.  I had to take this lovely one home.

I love that the Fall art and antique shows are gearing up. There are always some great discoveries out there!

Store Focus: SoleStruck

I just realized that I hadn't posted a few of the other outfits that I wore last week.

I wore one of my favorite Target dresses. This was actually one of the first dresses in my "Dress Reintroduction" plan. It's a nice heathered grey wool with a two-tone green herringbone accent. inside the collar, cuffs and the reverse of the belt. I like to roll the cuffs up so you get to see the green and then I paired it with my vintage La Rose green velvet heels (which are more olive-y green) and my vintage locket.



Then, when it actually got a bit chilly I whipped out my Gap cashmere grey and black stripe dress and added lavender We Love Color tights. I also wore a matching lavender wrap so I at least had some thing to tie those tights too. And I added another new Paraphernalia piece - my Kiss pin. Oh yeah, and my Facade heels. These are my new #1 most versatile heels of the year. I'm going to wear them at least once a week I think. I seriously should have bought 2 pairs.



Not that either of those outfits have anything to do with the title of this post, but, hey, I did the Polyvores. I'm going to use them!

Anyway...

SoleStruck.

I hadn't shopped with them before. There are so many great stores out there, especially online, that I don't get a chance to go to all of them... if you can believe that! I tend to get lazy and go to the sites I use a lot. So I'm glad when other bloggers, friends and even the companies themselves make recommendations of places to check out. Also, there is a bit of a boycott going on against one of my typical shoe haunts, so I'm probably not going to be shopping there for a while.

I was actually contacted by Sole Struck about testing out their site and service, so I quickly popped over to see what I could see. And I have to say I was very interested, indeed. Like many sites, they offer free shipping which makes it much more convenient for shoe shopping. In my opinion you should not worry about ordering shoes online anymore, especially once you have a few favorite brands that you are familiar with.

Just order the shoes, they come to your house and, if they don't fit, just send them back. Free shipping, free returns... how much easier could it be? Well, my mailman (and the hubby too, I'm sure) might be sick of me and the packages but, eh, there aren't a lot of options here in Fashion Exile so, whatever.

Anyway, Sole Struck graciously offered me the opportunity to choose a pair of shoes. Hello! Kid in a candy store!

After spending a while on the site, I narrowed it down to seven pairs.

First up were this pair of Campers Twins. I liked the shiny overlapping dots and that each shoe is different. I thought they would be cute with a whole slew of tight colors for Fall.




And they have a nice sturdy rubber sole which would be good for winter weather.



But who am I kidding?

I've worn stilettos during a sleet storm in New York (okay, yes it was stupid I know that but it was more than 10 years ago and I was caught out in the storm unexpectedly. I did almost kill myself!)

So I thought I would be more practical and get a fun pair of Hunters, because I've been having a hell of a time finding some rain boots in my size and in a cute look. Wouldn't these but nice and sturdy and great for running around in the yard?



Yes, I do need a pair of boots but there were also cute girly shoes to think about so maybe I'll hold out on those this time.

I mean look at these adorable Betsey Johnson peep-toes. Bows! Peep-toes! Scalloped edges and contrast stitching! I likey!



But of course I get distracted again looking at other pink and red heels including these Jessica Bennett buckle pumps. I love love love pink and red together.




Then I see they come in a green and blue combination and now I really can't choose.



So I went back to Betsey Johnson Betseyville section to see the red and white pair and saw these wedges and knew that I was completely smitten.



I mean, seriously, look at the shape. And the adorable chunky zipper-edged patent bow. But black and green or....




or black and turquoise? I still can't choose. Maybe I should just flip a coin.



In the end, I asked for these Vince Camuto leather knot heels with contrast stitching. My favorite element of the design is how the body of the shoe is sewn to the sole. It gives them a unique and hand crafted look.



These are very comfortable, classic and well-made shoes. I was so happy with them in person that I immediately wore them on Friday to work. They are great with jeans because they are a warm medium camel color and will work well with a whole slew of colors.

I paired mine with my new Gap Classic jeans (which I'm obsessed with, by the way. They fit soooo well!) and my medium green argyle sweater from Target. I also pinned my new crest pin from my last antiques festival excursion to the hem of the sweater.



All in all, I'd recommend checking out Sole Struck. They carry a number of really great lines, including favorites of mine like Chinese Laundry, Charles David, Report and a bunch more. And they have great customer service.

Personally I'm keeping those other pairs in my shopping cart. I think I'm going to have to go back in there and get those wedges. Green? Blue? Both?

Yes!

Ensemble du Jour

I'm trying to cover all of my bases here on St. Patrick's Day. I don't want to get pinched don't ya know.

The Outfit
I decided to wear green and blue to celebrate both parts of today's celebration - green for the Irish-American and blue, which is the actual national color of Ireland. Plus a bit of gold thrown in for luck.

Green JCrew cable-knit sweater, blue Mizrahi pleated denim skirt and vintage


For shoes I'm wearing my Claudio Merazzi dark green velvet heels with the shiny gold accets.



Hopefully with my red hair and all this green the Good People will carry me away.

The Focal Point

A bit of Irish wit and wisdom to help you along your path:


An Irishman's Philosophy
In life, there are only two things to worry about—
Either you are well or you are sick.
If you are well, there is nothing to worry about,

But if you are sick, there are only two things to worry about—
Either you will get well or you will die.
If you get well, there is nothing to worry about,

But if you die, there are only two things to worry about—
Either you will go to heaven or hell.
If you go to heaven, there is nothing to worry about.

And if you go to hell, you’ll be so busy shaking hands with all your friends
You won’t have time to worry!


What Shall I Say About the Irish?
The utterly impractical, never predictable,
Sometimes irascible, quite inexplicable, Irish.
Strange blend of shyness,pride and conceit,
And stubborn refusal to bow in defeat.
He's spoiling and ready to argue and fight,
Yet the smile of a childfills his soul with delight.
His eyes are the quickest to well up with tears,
Yet his strength is the strongest to banish your fears.
His hate is as fierce as his devotion is grand,
And there is no middle groundon which he will stand.
He's wild and he's gentle,he's good and he's bad.
He's proud and he's humble, he's happy and sad.
He's in love with the ocean,the earth and the skies,
He's enamoured with beauty wherever it lies.
He's victor and victim, a star and a clod,
But mostly he's Irish—in love with his God.

A family of Irish birth
will argue and fight,
but let a shout come from without,
and see them all unite.

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
I am not a huge dress wearer and I'm trying to change that. I just feel that I have to be selective because I just don't think they flatter me (even though I wear tops and skirts almost everyday, go figure). When I saw a picture of a new Isaac Mizrahi dress in an ad for Target, I was so smitten with the colors that I was determined to give it a try.

The dress is a grey wool/flannel shirt dress with long sleeves and a tie belt that you tie into a bow. But what makes it special and a must-have is the "hidden" contrasting green herringbone trim that is found on the inside of the button placket, under the collar and inside the cuffs and on the reverse of the belt.

So at first you think it is mono-chromatic but then you get these flashes of really bright green.



At first I was actually challenged with what shoes I was going to wear with this dress to not be too matchy but play off the green. I debated black, silver, orange, etc. But then I remembered my vintage La Rose green heels! The retro style heel plays off perfectly with the style of the dress. I feel very 1960's career gal - sassy and sexy!

The color is a dark, almost olive green thin suede with metallic olive green leather scalloped around the edges and a brighter green metallic heel.



Don't you love that heel shape! I wish more designers would pull that back into rotation. It's not that high but it is smokin' hot!


The Focal Point
I rolled back the cuff so you couldn't miss the green and kept my jewelry to small pieces in gold, which, because of the yellow tones in the green, went well with the grey. I wore peridot studs and my gold heart locket.

I think this is the outfit I have received the most compliments on and it was actually comfortable. So more dresses will be in my future.