Teal and mustard are the quintessential winter colours, as far as I’m concerned: there’s something about them that just screams “winter” to me. Now, I don’t like winter (I may have mentioned this), so shoes which scream its name would normally be a big no-no. I DO love both of these colours, though, so they get a pass for me: the yellow pair would be the perfect splash of colour on a dreary day, while the teal pair are a little more restrained, and probably more wearable as a result.
What do you think of these? They’re £42 at Miss Selfridge: click here to buy a pair.
These shoes make me think of the sea. Those gorgeous turquoise, green and blue colours are just really calming somehow, aren’t they? This is the kind of colour scheme that would probably result in these being tucked away until summer for me, but that’s OK, because when they finally came out again, I think they’d make for a fabulous addition to the shoe shelves. I’ve been obsessed with white lately – white dresses, white skirts, white trousers/jeans – you name it. It’s not particularly practical at this time of year, obviously, but once summer rolls around, these shoes will be the perfect match for it, and will also work well with black, or with any of the three colours found in the uppers.
I’ve spoken before about my love for a good pair of wedges, but I think the heel on these ones would’ve been enough to convert me even if I wasn’t already a fan of the style:
Isn’t that pretty? I like the way that it’s been constructed to look almost like a stiletto from the back: it takes away some of the chunkiness normally associated with wedges, and creates a much more elegant, streamlined kind of shape.
These are by Rachel Roy, and are also available in a beige upper. They’re £86.95 and you can click here to buy them at Macy’s/
These shoes fall into the “It would be better if I had’t seen them,” category for me. For to see them is to want them, and the last thing I need right now is to spend £281 on a pair of shoes I wouldn’t even get any use out of until summer.
Even so, though: these are by RED Valentino, which is one of my very favourite brands, and they represent everything that’s good about the brand. There’s a bow, of course – they wouldn’t be Valentino without one, would they? – a great shape, a fabulous combination of colour. And, you know, with many other shoes, a baby-pink bow on top of a polka dot upper would just look hopelessly twee and saccharine-sweet. On these, however, it just works effortlessly, and send them straight to my Wish List.
As you’ve probably guessed, these are from the pre-Spring 2012 collection, so you can’t get your hands on them just yet. You can, however, pre-order a pair at Nordstrom, if you so desire: click here to do it.
I tend to be pretty harsh on Jeffrey Campbell here. Sorry, Jeffrey, and fans of Jeffrey! I can’t help it, though: the designer’s aesthetic is just so far removed from my own taste that the praise lavished on the shoes he makes will probably never cease to be a source of mystery to me.
Still, in an effort to redress the balance, I thought today I’d show you a JC shoe that I actually DO like.Somewhat predictably, the ones I’ve picked are the ones furthest removed from the usual Campbell fare – in fact, I probably wouldn’t have guessed these were the same brand as the infamous Litas, if it hadn’t been pointed out to me! But I would wear these. I think it would take a little bit of work to make them look a bit less “old ladyish”, sure. But I would wear them, and I would maybe even like it.
Would you? Click here if so, but be quick – there are only a couple of pairs left!
My love of leopard print shoes has been well documented on this site now, but leopard print boots? I’m just not so sure, and I seem to veer wildly between thinking one minute that I’d never be able to pull them off, and then the next thinking they could be just the right touch to an otherwise understated outfit. (I have exactly the same feelings about leopard print coats, funnily enough: I think they can look either horrendously tacky or absolutely awesome, and although I’ve come dangerously close to buying one a few times now, I always worry I’d fall on the wrong side of that line, and end up putting it back!)
With all of that said, what do you all think of these Ravel ankle boots? Somewhat unusually, these come without the platform sole we normally see attached to wedge boots, and that’s either a curse or a blessing, depending on how you look at it. Lately I’ve been leaning heavily towards shoes without platforms (or with very small platforms), but I also tend to think that this style generally looks better with one. I’m all about the indecision today, aren’t I?
If you’re a little better than I am at making up your mind about these boots, I can tell you that they’re £50 at Spartoo, and you can click here to buy them. What DO you think of them?
Once again, I find myself rendered almost speechless by a Giuseppe Zanotti shoe. This is getting to be a bit of a habit.
Let’s talk about the most obvious thing first: these don’t have a heel. They’re constructed totally around that dish-like platform, which is built in such as way as to take all of the weight of the wearer, without the need for the slim stiletto we’re used to seeing on Zanotti designs, and which my eye keeps searching for every time I look at these.
Without a heel, it seems implausible that these would actually be wearable, but of course, heel-less shoes are nothing new: we’ve seen quite a few examples of them over the past few years, in fact (Lady Gaga is a big fan, unsurprisingly), and so we know that they CAN be walked in, although just how easily they can be walked in remains to be seen. (Wouldn’t you just love to give it a try, though? I know I would.)
I really appreciate these shoes as the work of art they are. As something to actually wear? Well, not so much: as I said above, my eye keeps desperately trying to fill in the “gap” where it thinks the heel should be, and I can’t help but be reminded of some kind of kitchen implement every time I look at them. That CAN’T be a good thing.
What do you think of these? They’re $895, and you can click here to buy them at Bergdorf Goodman.
My enduring love for polka dots meant that I had to show you these shoes, even although I’m not exactly, well, dotty about them.
The polka dot, you see, is a print that it’s fairly easy to go too far with. One minute you’re thinking, “Ooh, polka dots! So cute! So fun!” and then the next minute you’re absolutely covered in the thing and looking like Minnie Mouse with measles.
For me, these shoes have gone a bit too far: smaller dots might have worked, but the larger ones mean that, while these did get my attention, and I do love the shape of them, I’d probably end up deciding they were a little too cartoonish, and putting them back on the shelf.
For all those of you (and by that I mean “for me”) who missed out on Carvela’s gorgeous ‘Grass’ wedges earlier this year, here’s another red wedge, this time from Office.
These are called ‘Wonderland’, and, unlike the Carvelas, they have a large, double bow on the toe. Personally – and a little unusually for me – I preferred the sleeker shape of ‘Grass’, but these are a very cute alternative, and red shoes always take on an extra-festive feel at this time of year.
If you like these, however, I bring bad news, too, in that they’re already selling out fast. They’re £75, and you can click here to see if they’re available in your size. (Mine is gone: my money is safe for now…)
