Boys Who Love Girls Who Love Boys' Shoes

I've always been a fan of not so femme footwear. I've coveted men's shoes for a long time, way before they became the latest trend. There's something so reassuring and sexy about solid, brown, leather, low wooden heeled, brogues on a man. As a woman I like to borrow some of that manly sexiness sometimes. It's brute and brusk and boys surprisingly dig it. I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a perfect pair of boy shoes and although my heart's true desire would be a pair of hand tooled, timeless George Esquivels, which I drool over on his website often (that opening slide show is like shoe porn to the max for me...here, sneak a peak at some styles)...

...my budget is a little less generous than Mr. Esquivel would allow. My alternative tactic for scoring a quality pair of boy booties has been to keep my eyes peeled like bananas at any thrift store I enter. And yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, it paid off! Meet my new baby boys!

They are Cole Haan Resort and I scored them at Housing Works Thrift Shop for $30. I love the knotted leather and the twine detail. I also love that they are broken in and that my thrifty purchase doesn't simply stimulate--or perhaps lightly poke?--the economy, it helps AIDS patients get the support and services they need (go Housing Works!). My strategy is to wear these shoes with girlie things like dresses and skirts, and of course my new red lips! I'm loving this style/aesthetic I'm cultivating. I call it TomGlam (meaing tomboy glamorous, not to be confused with TomKat) and it feels like home to me. My favorite part of these shoes? You can see my bright red pedi through the strips of leather. I like it!

One More NY Note

Now that we are thoroughly enmeshed in the craze of future Spring looks, Fall has arrived in real time and it's time to do some shopping. As a Jersey Girl, I was raised in malls. Now that New York is my stomping and shopping ground, I've discovered that there are certain blocks that can provide the same one-stop-shop experience (minus a few of the perks like climate control, easily accessible restrooms, a centralized food court, and mall walkers).


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My favorite mall-like shopping stretch in the big city is 5th Avenue between 15th and 19th streets. This is where the practically priced looks live. You've got Anthropologie, Banana Republic, Free People, H&M, Gap, J.Crew, Zara, and a slew of other reasonable retailers at your disposal. I have a pretty good hunch that this is where the Village Voice's excellent, eccentric fashion writer Lynn Yaeger did her research for this recent article. It is a well-written summary of the above mentioned stores' fall offerings. Print it out and take it with you as you follow the Google Brick Road.

As long as you are in the area, if you take 17th street and head west towards 7th Avenue, you walk through the best two block stretch of vintage stores in Manhattan (don't miss Housing Works Thrift Shop) and wind up at Loehmann's, every patient shopper's best friend.