Towering Heels in Toppling Times

Skyscraping styles from bottom-barrel times: (clockwise from top left) Ferragamo's iconic 1938 platform, WWII-era cork wedge from 1943, a sparkling disco stage for one from 1974, and Emilio Pucci's 2010 red stilletto design. Illustrated by Christine Berrie for The New York Times.

We fashion fiends are familiar with the varying trends that somehow seem to follow (or predict?) the swings of the economic pendulum. Mostly the history books have shown a correlation between good times and short skirts. Beyond hemlines, a slideshow in today's Times makes the case for a footwear barometer. Apparently the worse the dollar does, the higher womens' shoes get. That would explain the rash of ankle-breakers that seem to have taken a toehold in fashion's top tier for at least three seasons now (read: an eternity). If the enduring popularity of platforms, stilettos, and spikes are any indication, we may be in for some long-lasting hard times, but at least we'll look fierce while we starve.

Sweet, Sweet, Sweet Melissa.

My new Vivienne Westwood for Anglomania Three Strap Flats. Yay.

I've waxed plenty poetic about my plastic footwear obsession, Melissa Shoes. Made of the Brazilian company's signature Melflex material, they are uber-comfortable, weather resiliant, urban all-terrain shoes. A friend who does business in Brazil brought me back a pair after my very first ones broke after two straight spring/summer seasons of near-daily city wear. My first pair was a flukey find on the shelves of Old Navy for $19.99, and my second pair was a gift of my angel of a friend, so I had no idea the company's goods usually go for $80 and up and aren't so easy to find in The States. I've been dreaming of them more lately now that it's sockless season, and I think someone up there was listening because last night in my daily email update from The Cut, there was news of joy...a Melissa Shoes sample sale in Chelsea! Thank you Fashion Fairies!

The sale was phenomenal and got me to part with $140 of my hard typed/filed/envelopes licked/phones answered/earned money for three pairs of awesomeness. There were plenty of styles and sizes, and prices ranged from $20 to $150 (originals from $40 to $300). There were deep discounts on great collabos from guest designers Zaha Hadid, Vivienne Westwood, and Alexandre Herchcovich.

My new plastic Flatastics.

I can't say enough about how well these shoes wear and how good of a buy they are. I'm sure the sale will be stormed as the weekend comes, but you still have a few days of weekday-worker free shopping left. The sale is on through May 22nd at 520 West 27th street, from noon til 8. Go, buy, love.

Your Feet Look Good In Flowers.

Spring is so fickle--here in glorious, warm bloom one minute, then retreating to cooler climes, or lambasting us with summer's sear before we are ready. But, for all of this we forgive Spring because, well...it's magic. It makes birds chirp, babies squeal on playground swings, and it raises flowers from the cold, dead ground. It's simply magic. This year I'm seeing florals everywhere and I've decided I want them on my feet. I'm going to leave the prairie print, babydoll dresses to the waify, hipster chicks who look ethereal in them, and rock some floral Huipile Booties from Osborn paired with my uniform of black bottoms and white tops instead.

Osborn Shoes are crafted by skilled artisans and textile makers in Guatemala City and sold via the Osborn Design Studios run by Carla Venticinque-Osborn & Aaron Osborn in sunny, tropical...Brooklyn. The Huipile Booties are embroidered, and each pair is one of a kind--like all of the company's footwear. Produced sustainably and with respect to their makers, the shoes are just as magic as Springtime itself. Don't believe me? Here, watch them dance!



*Special thanks to the chic, Osborn-clad therapist/fashion fan I met on the 1 train for the tip. Always talk to strangers, kids. Always.

I've Gone Gaga.

I'm only going to say this once, so listen up: In spite of previous misgivings about The One Who Bluffs with Her Muffin, I actually really like the new Lady Gaga track and video. Director Francis Lawrence did it up on "Bad Romance"! His slick music video skills (previously seen in such poppy stunners as Britney's "I'm a Slave For You", Janet's "Son of a Gun", and Gwen's "What You Waiting For?"--all of which are in my top ten videos of all time) match the mistress of mayhem's music and me-me-me-mantra magically. The super white light, blond-coiffed, make-up saturated, sex show is something I'm sure Madonna is so jealous she wasn't a part of. With this video, Gaga actually takes the Material Girl's torch and stomps away with it, wild-eyed, searching for a built guy in some wicked footwear. I also think Gaga is the perfect female embodiment of Marilyn Manson's legacy. She's offering the scary pop that people always have a little craving for, and she's running it into a very glam mainstream. I'm spitting words here, but there's no need. Just watch the video:



I can't deny it: The Gaga done good. And, Lady, nice McQueen shoes, Bitch! Loves them on you. This Gaga track actually premiered at Alexander McQueen's incredible Plato's Atlantis runway show last month, which was brilliant. What a great match. Speaking of matches, the Gaga burns the Haus down and gets crispy in the end, but her shoes survive. Thank God.

Say It With Shoes.

Shoes--especially high heels--can say a lot about someone, and now you can say a lot with them. Artist Zummi at Deviant Art created a typeface from that oh-so-telling article of dress, the stiletto.

Click image for a larger version.

I want a large print, framed and a downloadable file stat!

Image source. Originally posted on Ignant Blog.

Thanks Donna K for the tip!

Dedication.

Re-Introducing Daphne Guinness, fashion fan, artist and a work in progress.



I love when people are absolutely dedicated to their look. I'm telling you I believe that she trains in those shoes. And does headstands.

Welcome Back To My Bathroom!

This is LanaIndiana and welcome back to her bathroom! Here, the makeup maven of the over 50 set is showing off her collection of Christian Louboutin shoes. I watched the entire ten minute video because it was that compelling. Highlights? When she recounts her brown shoe communion at an orphanage, tells us she Twitters John Mayer, models her shoes in front of her bed which is lit from below like a homeboy's car, and then splices in scenery of a bull she may or may not have ridden. I can't even.



Youtube wins again!

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!

Sneaky Flats.

My spring/summer feet want to wear these Lela Rose flat sneaks for Payless:

Don't knock Payless, people! It's the shoe source. I shopped there even before the economy tanked. They may make your feet smell a little extra funky, but everything comes with drawbacks in life. The $28 pricetag, and pink piping trimmed striped combo of cuteness more than make up for the few extra bucks you'll have to throw down for some odor eaters.

Thanks for the tip Julia!

Think Big. Then Think Bigger. Then Do It.

Greed has got to go. It isn't working for us, and by us I mean you and me. So much about fashion is ego, which is the basis for greed. How do I look? How do I get what I want? I want that. I want it now. So how do we turn a greed-based industry into something sustainable, something that won't bubble and bust and boom and doom? Maybe the answer is to think of others. Toms Shoes, the dream realized by entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie is a company that was started not to sell shoes, but to give them away. On a hot shot polo-playing adventure to Argentina he discovered that the children in the impoverished areas surrounding his tawny polo grounds had no shoes. They were either barefoot or stumbling around in tattered ill-fitting sneaks. So, he started a company that sold traditional Argentinian alpagata shoes, with a twist. For every pair his company sold, he gave away a pair of alpagatas to people who needed them. One for one. Here, watch this video. It tells the story and shares the love.

Something in my cynical American mind says that there must be something up here, that maybe the profit margin is still too huge, maybe the shoes are made in some skatey way that makes the goodness not so good, but I have found no evidence to those claims. So, I'm going to have faith that the goodness is good. I think my generation's snarky cynicism is aiding and abetting the greedy boom bust atmosphere anyway. I want to start a new trend: earnestness. Not cool, right? But so important. Believe that good can be, let it be, and it will be. Simple. Good. Yay. Toms! Buy one, give one.

March Plaidness.

Spring weather is finally here, and my feet are so ready for some non-boot shoes. Long, cold winters may make for a painful transition from cold-weather foot gear to sunshiny flats and flip flops, but the pain is worth the fancy freedom of warm weather's more footloose styles. My feet's current dance card is filled with Springy choices in light, plaid patterns. I'm loving all sorts of slides and sneaks in plaid for sunny weather. Here are a few that your feet might want to dance with too:

Even if it isn't sunny, my feet'll be radiating sweetness. That's how I like to roll, or walk as the case may be. You want some of the sunshine too, don't you? Well, you just go ahead and click any of the pics and get 'em. Do it! Your feet will love you. The mary janes are only $16. Happy!

Monument To A Shoe-In (The Head)

Iraqi orphans in the war-torn city of Tikrit helped sculptor Laith al-Amiri create a monument to the journalist who threw a shoe at FORMER (Yay!!!!) President Bush's head last year.

It's a bronze-looking, giant replica of the actual Turkish loafer that was tossed at that strange, empty-seeming noggin. I sort of wish they hurled a six-inch stiletto with a spike heel. Check out more details over at a fave site of mine, Guanabee.

Photo from CNN.com.

In the Red

Something about the fall makes me crave red accessories. Ruby, crimson, wine, and even the color of stop signs all catch my eye and I want them on my feet, around my waist, or decorating my ears. I think it is the richness of red that makes it the perfect fall color. I'm looking for some fall friendly red flats. Click the below image to peruse the ShopStyle search results and help me pick a pair.

Footwear by committee, gotta love it.

Treat or Treat?

My favorite Halloween candy is also my favorite classic footwear choice:

You cannot go wrong with a Mary Jane! Unless of course you confuse the two and start sucking on your shoe. That would be bad. Very bad.

Oh, and if this dress smells like the wonderful peanut butter toffee candies it's made from, artist Shelly Hodges better start mass producing them because I'll need about 365.

Treat or treat? Treat.


Click any image to be brought to their source.

Cheap Thrill: Fantastic Flats

I don't care how many fancy, towering, foot fetish inducing pairs of heels there are on the runways right now; I am a flats girl. Now, I'm not talking the crunchy, granola flats of the aged hippie set. I may keep it comfy, but I refuse to cut out the cute (which also disqualifies any archaic assumptions about my predilection for "comfortable shoes"). So, when I find flats that fit the profile of fashion forward and wallet friendly, I get excited. Here's a few pairs that get me going:


They are all courtesy of the super-fun and thrifty website FredFlare.com. The shoes are each $28 and the slouchy suede boots are $38. Quite reasonable, even by my cheapskate standards. Click a pair for more details.

Good Work, Gunshoe!

Miss Misshapes herself, and fellow Jersey Girl, Leigh Lezark (pictured above left with Parissienne rapstress Uffie) showed up to the Paris Chanel show wearing the house's gun-heeled heels from their Resort '09 collection.


Pumps that could pump you full of lead? I love a little danger with my fashion. Lagerfeld, Karl Lagerfeld does his best Bond impression with the sly stiletto below.

Don't mess with the well dressed.

Images (top to bottom): handbag.com, jakandjil.com, Shoewawa.com

Live Turtles, Bubble Tea, and Vintage Shoes

Having actually been to China twice, I've always marveled at how much Chinatown resembles its Motherland. Crowded streets, live animals, amazingly adventurous food, and beautiful Buddhist Temples are right there among the grunge and grime of everyday life. While the idea of the gentrification forces taking hold in such a unique New York mainstay turns my stomach a bit, the below photo of the new Ludlow Street Girls Love Shoes boutique from today's NYTimes profile, is sticky sweet eye candy.

Somehow it fits right in with the pop-up jewelery outposts and multiplied rows of counterfeit bags that currently line the streets. As long as my beloved steamed dumplings, vanilla cake carts, and buckets of live turtles don't go anywhere, I can live with a cute (vintage!) shoe store moving in. However, this image just makes me fear a Soho-like gentricide:

Here's to hoping that the Chinatown I know doesn't disappear too soon.

Take it to the Streets

If I was ever (god forbid?) to be in position to petition the folks at the Make a Wish Foundation for a dream day, I would beg to strap on a bike helmet and be a guest on Bill Cunningham's handlebars. His cheery, street fashion audio slide shows are the highlight of my Sunday Times web surfing. He loves what he does, and I love what he finds. This week he spotlights the footwear fever that has struck the fashion community. I saw more chunky, sky high, leg lifters in this city this week than I have in my two years of residence here and Bill captured a good sampling of them.

The best part is that he followed the teetering ladies around the corner where they shed their stilettos in favor of flip-flops. Ah, the fashion facade.

Do These Come in A Women's 9?

Animal print foot wear has always been a weakness of mine. I'm so excited that now me and my imaginary boyfriend can match.

Thanks 3.1 Phillip Lim!

Through the Wire

The Mulleavey Sisters inspect the colored electronics wires that would eventually wind up on their models' feet.