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Shoe Save 16/102: The First of Many

by Shoeperwoman
1
| Shoe Challenge, Shoeperwoman's Shoes
April 5, 2012

SHOES: Carvela ‘Australia’ pink peep toes (c/o Sarenza)
SAVED: Sunday, April 1st, 2012

As predicted, I lost no time saving my pink Carvela peep toes, which I predict will become the most-worn shoes in my collection this summer – they just go with absolutely everything I own, so I’m going to have to fight the urge to just wear them with everything, I think!

You’ll have to excuse the image above – it wasn’t actually supposed to be a photo of my shoes, you see: we were out with friends, Terry snapped a photo of them, and my feet just happened to be in the way. I’m sticking to my resolution to consider the shoes “safe” once they’ve been worn, regardless of whether or not there are decent photographs to document the occasion, though, and as I just showed you these shoes a couple of weeks ago, I’m sure you can remember what they look like. And I’m also sure there will be many, many more outfits to photograph these, should I feel the need…

Tagged carvela, Carvela Australia
Shoe Save 15/102: The Basics

by Shoeperwoman
4
| Shoe Challenge, Shoeperwoman's Shoes
April 4, 2012

SHOES: Tan peep toes, c/o Barratts (last saved here and here)
OUTFIT: Dorothy Perkins jeans (worn on many occasions!); New Look blazer and tank
SAVED: Friday, March 30th, 2012

When I’m not prancing around in fields or jumping like an idiot, this is the kind of thing you’ll normally find me wearing: basic jeans, something with stripes on it, and these Barratts peep toes, which really should have gone to the great shoe closet in the sky quite some time ago, but which I just can’t seem to let go off, or stop wearing. I’m sure we all have shoes like that, right? Um, right?

I didn’t take a close-up of these because they’re so beaten up now that they don’t really stand-up to close inspection. In fact, I almost didn’t include them in the challenge count at all, for that very reason, but I had a feeling I’d probably end up wearing them anyway, and I was right, because here they are, safe already, and it wasn’t even April yet when this photo was taken!

This was our last day of sunshine before the cold and wet set in again: boo!

4 Comments
Tagged barratts peep toes, Dorothy Perkins skinny jeans, New Look white stripe blazer
Shoe Save 14/102: Hearts and Dots

by Shoeperwoman
16
| Shoe Challenge, Shoeperwoman's Shoes
April 3, 2012

SHOES: Vivienne Westwood/Melissa Lady Dragon heart shoes in black and bronze (last saved here)
OUTFIT: Miss Selfridge (via eBay) polka dot dress (also seen here and here); ancient black cardigan; ebay sunglasses
SAVED: Thursday, March 29th, 2012

Yes, I’m STILL catching up with shoe saves from last week, and I know I’ve said this about a million times already, but this whole “shoe saving” business is just SO much easier in the sunshine. If I had weather like this all year, I think I could be done in about a quarter of the time it usually takes me. Then I could buy more shoes.

No, wait! What am I saying? Of course I wouldn’t buy more shoes. I mean, it’s not like I won a pair on eBay this very week, or anything, because I would never do that. Ahem. Instead, I’ve been busy wearing the ones I have, and last Thursday, it was the turn of my black Lady Dragon shoes. These are the first of my Vivienne Westwood/Melissa collection to make it through the challenge, and they’re actually surprisingly practical for the kind of summer strolls I like to take, because the heel is fairly low, and the wipe-clean upper means I don’t have to worry about ruining them in random patches of mud.

As it happened, there was no mud to be found on this outing, and instead we found this little “runway” in the middle of town. Well, it would’ve been rude not to have a quick strut, wouldn’t it?

I also had to do a spot of twirling. I can’t seem to NOT twirl in this dress…

Speaking of the dress, you’ve seen it twice now, which makes me very happy, because it was one of those dresses I couldn’t resist buying, but didn’t think I’d get much of an opportunity to wear, on account of the strapless bodice. Luckily, I found it on eBay, and won it for a price low enough for it not to really matter if it only got the occasional outing, but once my mum had turned the fabric belt into a halter tie, and I’d worked out that almost ANY dress can be made suitably “casual” by the simple act of throwing a cardigan over the top, it went into regular rotation, and has more than earned its place in the Shoeper closet.

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16 Comments
Tagged black lady dragon shoes, ebay sunglasses, polka dot ebay dress
Shoe Save 13/102: Gingham and Red

by Shoeperwoman
9
| Shoe Challenge, Shoeperwoman's Shoes
April 2, 2012

SHOES: New Look red flats (last saved here)
OUTFIT: Tara Starlet carpri pants (last seen here); New Look tank and cardigan; thrifted scarf; eBay sunglasses
SAVED: Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

By Wednesday of last week, the weather had turned a little cooler, but was still much more like Summer than early Spring, so I grabbed the opportunity for a quick spot of shoe saving. The challenge has been running for a little over three weeks now (although it feels like much longer, somehow!) and I’ve already worn almost all of my flats, so I decided to continue the good work with these red patent ones from New Look:

These shoes were an emergency purchase a couple of years ago: I’d somehow – and don’t ask how – managed to go out wearing two different boots (Ok, they were both black, and they were both mid-calf length, with the same height of heel. But… they were different boots. Whoops.) and even although you’d have had to look closely to notice, I felt so stupid I ran into the closest shoe-selling store I could find, which happened to be New Look, and bought the cheapest shoes in the place. And I call myself a Shoeperhero!

As it turned out, the shoes more than paid for themselves, because they’re the flats I wear most often. I had to snip the elastic at the heel because it rubbed horribly, as this style of shoe always seems to, but once I’d done that, they quickly became my go-to “practical” shoes. Because stilettos just don’t fare too well in fields, ya know?

Yes, I took far too many photos. I do that when it’s sunny.

Only two more pairs of flats to go! And here were you, thinking I only ever wore heels…

9 Comments
Tagged ebay sunglasses, new look red patent flats, Tara Starlet capris
Shoe Save 12/102: Still Sunny

by Shoeperwoman
15
| Shoe Challenge, Shoeperwoman's Shoes
March 30, 2012

SHOES: Gold ‘Atticus’ wedges (last seen here)
OUTFIT: River Island bird print dress (last seen here); yellow belt (my mum’s), Gucci sunglasses
SAVED: Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

Earlier this week I explored the fashion blogger cliché of “prancing round in field of flowers”, so today I thought I’d go for the “Look! I’m hovering!” one. Yes.

As you can see, Tuesday was another day of glorious, sunny weather, so I made the most of it in another River Island sundress from last year, and these ancient gold wedges which I bought in TK Maxx years ago. These shoes really need to be retired soon, but I’ve keep hold of them purely because they’re comfortable enough to walk long distances in, so they come in handy on sunny days when I’m planning to do a lot of walking, but don’t want to wear flats, or something similarly “sensible”. And, you know, I NEVER want to wear flats.

This dress is exactly the same as the one I wore on Sunday, but with birds rather than fruit on it:

Of course, the problem with being a dress-wearer, especially in warm weather, is that there aren’t too many ways to “remix” them. In the winter I guess I could add tights and sweaters or jackets, but with the weather so warm, the most I could realistically do was add a belt, and wear different shoes and sunglasses. Even so, the look is basically the same as the last time I wore this, but ah well, such is life.

With these shoes on their last, er, soles, and hopefully a lot more summery walks on the horizon, I’m starting to think I might need to pick up another pair of cheap wedges which I don’t mind ruining by walking for miles in down dusty trails. Primark, here I come!

According to the weather forecast, we’ll be back to cold weather again next week, so I’m glad I managed to make the most of this unseasonable sunny spell and wear some of my open toed shoes: my biggest issue with the last two shoe challenges was the fact that I have a disproportionate amount of peep toes and sandals for the type of weather we get here, so when I do get the chance to wear them, I have to grab it. I think I managed a shoe save every day this week, so I have more sunny photos to show you next week, when the weather’s back to normal again.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Shoeperwoman x

15 Comments
Tagged gold wedges, gucci sunglasses, river island bird print dress
Shoe Save 11/102: Cheater, Repeater

by Shoeperwoman
2
| Shoe Challenge, Shoeperwoman's Shoes
March 29, 2012

SHOES: Silver thrift store sandals (last saved here)
OUTFIT: Dorothy Perkins blue cropped trousers, black Oasis top
SAVED: Monday, March 27th, 2012

On Monday, our glorious Spring weather continued, so I grabbed the opportunity to save another pair of open-toed shoes, in the shape of these silver pumps, which I found in a thift store a few years ago, and have worn regularly ever since.

Want to see what I wore with these? Well, all you have to do is click here. And look at my post from LAST time I saved these, in my 2011 challenge. Yes, folks, I repeated the entire outfit, head to toe, not one thing different. I do that. Quite a lot, actually. Hey, you know what would make this year’s challenge REALLY easy? If I just wore exactly the same outfits as last year, and pointed you to last year’s photos, too, instead of taking new ones! Now why didn’t I think of that sooner?

Don’t worry: I’m not quite that lazy, but as you can see, I really wasn’t joking about saving the shoes as I wear them, rather than waiting until I can photograph them: these shoes were worn on Monday – and for quite a few hours, too – so these shoes are officially safe. Even if I did do it in the laziest way possible…

2 Comments
Tagged silver thrifted sandals
Shoe Save 10/102: Quick Change

by Shoeperwoman
6
| Shoe Challenge, Shoeperwoman's Shoes
March 28, 2012

SHOES: Moda in Pelle leopard print peep toes (last seen here)
OUTFIT: Black dress c/o Goddiva (a few years ago); Gucci sunglasses and watch; clutch bag stolen from my mum
SAVED: Sunday, March 25th, 2012 (evening)

Not only was Sunday the sunniest day of the year so far, it was also a “double shoe save” day: I wore my yellow Carvela slingbacks during the day, before changing into these Moda in Pelle leopard print pumps to go out to dinner in the evening.

Because we’d been enjoying the sun so much, I ended up running really late, and only had time for a very quick shower and change (and some super-fast photos) before we had to head out the door. With not much time to think about my outfit, I went for that old stand-by, the little black dress, and chose the shoes mostly because they’re really comfortable (I’ve had them for a few years now and the suede is really supple and soft), and I wasn’t sure how close to the restaurant we’d be able to park. As it turned out, we did have to do a fair bit of walking, so I made the right choice. It was such a nice night, though, that I didn’t mind at all – can you believe I actually walked through Edinburgh in this dress with NO JACKET, at 7pm in March? No, me neither. (And, OK, I did have to put my coat on for the walk back, by which point it had turned pretty chilly, but even so…)

Once again, these photos were taken in a hurry, so they’re not the greatest. I’m determined to “save” my shoes as I actually wear them this year, though, rather than waiting for the perfect photo opportunity, so they’ll have to suffice for now!

6 Comments
Tagged black Goddiva dress, black vintage clutch, gucci sunglasses, moda in pelle leopard print peep toes
Shoe Save 9/102: Daffodils

by Shoeperwoman
8
| Shoe Challenge, Shoeperwoman's Shoes
March 27, 2012

SHOES: Carvela ‘Gypsy’, c/o Sarenza [availble here]
OUTFIT: River Island dress (last summer, last seen here); eBay sunglasses; my mum’s belt; cardigan from a local shop, years ago (last seen here)
SAVED: Sunday, March 25th, 2012

I was a little bit worried that by getting out my Spring clothes last Friday, I’d somehow tempt fate into giving us a couple of feet of snow or something, but I needn’t have worried: Saturday was a little bit cool (hence my trench coat and sweater), but Sunday? Sunday was pretty much the warmest day we’ve had since, ooh, last July, I’d say. Seriously, it was so warm that people were actually swimming in the river in our town, and not just because of that thing Scottish people do where the sun comes out and they instantly strip off, regardless of how warm it is, either. No, it actually was that warm. I know! I’m seriously still in shock: I don’t normally get to go outside in July/August without a jacket (and even then, I’m often shivering), but I wore this outfit all day without so much as a shiver, which is just totally unheard of for me in March. I don’t know where this warm weather has come from, but I DO know I can’t get enough of it: it was just so nice to be able to wear the clothes and shoes I wanted to wear, without having to worry about keeping warm!

As for what I wanted to wear, well, it had to be my Carvela ‘Gypsy’ slingbacks, which I got as part of the Sarenza Brand Ambassador Programme a couple of months ago. As you may remember, these shoes were actually chosen by my readers, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting the warmer weather, so I’d finally have the chance to wear them. These are the first peep toes of the year for me, and I found the perfect photo spot for them, too: I was almost invisible amongst all of those daffodils!

(I only picked the ones which had been broken, by the way: I wouldn’t have picked the healthy ones!)

I had been really looking forward to wearing these shoes, and I think I’ll get a lot more use out of them this summer: the colour actually works with quite a few of my summer dresses, so it’s much more versatile than you might suspect of bright yellow.

I was also really pleased to be able to save this River Island dress in my Closet Challenge: I have this dress in three different prints, and I’m kind of hoping they’ll re-release it this year in some other colours, because it’s just so easy to wear, and one of my favourite shapes, with the boat neck and full skirt. I wasn’t expecting to be able to wear it quite so soon after getting it out of storage, but I’m really happy I did!

Now, if we could just get a little more of this gorgeous weather, I’ll be one happy Shoeperhero…

8 Comments
Tagged carvela gypsy, cats eye sunglasses, green cardigan, river island apple dress, sarenza brand ambassador