Shoe Porn Challenge!--Wicked Wednesday 5/5/2010

I thought I would do something a bit different with this weeks shoe porn installment. First I selected a shoe that differs greatly from my previous selections and secondly I want to ask you the readers how you would wear it.
I have selected a recently purchased brogue(or oxford if you prefer) shoe from H&M. I love this shoe and I absolutely think that although its a canvas flat it qualifies as shoe pron. It's different, it's bold, it's sparkly and hey if worn in a certain way can be sexy.



Now as much as I love this shoe I quickly realized that I could only think of 1 outfit to wear it with and that was skinny jeans and a tee. Now I'll be honest I own many many many many many things that I have only worn once but times are tough and I am attempting to get more bang for my buck and would love to use this shoe more than once. It's simply too cute to be a wear once and toss aside item. Also I think that it has more than one way in which it can be used I just cannot think of any. Which is where you come in lovely readers, I want you to tell me how you would wear this shoe. What outfit of your own it works with is OK, or simply a recommendation like what type of clothing you think would work. Details are important, I do not need to know the makers of any items but style, cut and color are crucial. I am a very visual person so I am asking you to paint me a picture, or if you want to link to pictures that good as well.
There is an awesome website that I frequent called Polyvore.com. Polyvore allows users to create wardrobe collages with the millions of photos of clothes, shoes, accessories and backgrounds that have collected. It a great way to virtual "window shop", below is one of my recent polyvore set's. Please feel free to send me a polyvore if you would like, but it's not necessary.

Rock & Ruffles by tania831 featuring Rock and Republic shoes

Now I'm not going to ask you to do work without a reward, so the poster of the suggestion I select (hoping that I actually get at least 1 if not more) will be a guest blogger on a future Wicked Wednesday. You can select and write up a shoe porn selection and describe which type of partner the shoe represents.

EDITED TO ADD:
If you are going to use polyvore you do need to include the shoes in the set. Unfortunately a photo of the shoes is not available on H&M online and it takes great difficulty to add a non online store photos to a set.

Wicked Wednesday-4/14/2010 AND An Ode to Southern Belles

I am a child of the 80's and the TV shows and characters of the 80's (and a good portion of the 90's) were my babysitters, best friends and guru's.
While I was a big fan of Growing Pains, Who's the Boss, Saved by the Bell, and Full House I find that those characters had no lasting impact on the woman I that I grew into. The same cannot be said for the characters from The Golden Girls, Designing Women and Beverly Hills 90210, those women had a massive impact on me and my personal sense of style.


I will not go into my obsession with Brenda Walsh of 90210 (on this post anyway) but I do want to talk about the GREAT Blanche Deveraux(Golden Girls) and Suzanne Sugarbaker(Designing Women).


Blanche was the original cougar, with an endless string of southern gentleman making their way through her tropical themed bedroom. Her clothes matched from head to toe, she got married in red and called her father Big Daddy. She was the aged Southern Belle who never gave up her vitality, personality promiscuity or style. Blanche taught me a few major lessons, like never tell anyone your real age, you can set your own rules, it's ok to need friends.


Suzanne was simply special. A former beauty queen, she lacked professional direction but retained her beauty, spirit and a sense of entitlement yet she was a good person. She lived alone in a huge mansion and walked about her home in negligee's that rivaled ballgowns, had a maid that practiced voodoo and she paraded around Atlanta with her pet big Noel(a gift from Consuela the voodoo maid). While she was quite thin when the show first started she had a significant weight gain during it's run, yet you could not contest that she was the most beautiful big girl or not.
Suzanne was who I wanted to be, she taught me the joys of tiara's, the importance of shopping, that one could retain grace in adversity and that beauty could be found in all forms. I do not wear tee shirts to bed, I do not own pajamas with pants and I do think nightgowns or are only for special or romantic occasion, this is all because of Suzanne.


These women were amazing, I was entirely too young to be watching the very adult Designing Women and Golden Girls, I had no idea what menopause was, what it felt like to have an empty nest or to be divorced but I knew one thing for certain---these women were FANCY!!! They wore silk dresses to work, wore negligee's and peignoirs not pajamas, Suzanne wore tiara's and sat at a vanity to comb her hair and they wore heels every where. The sound of Blanche's heels clicking whenever she walked onscreen is ingrained in my memory as is as the sight of Suzanne's swirling layers of chiffon sleepwear. To me they were the very epitome of femininity.
This brings me to this week's shoe porn selection, the Rosazissimo sandal by Christian Louboutin. The moment I stumbled upon a photo of this sandal my mind instantly went to Blanche and Suzanne and the feather slippers they wore.


Very sleek and clean yet the Rosazissimo sandal features a slim heel, ruching and a feather adornment. To me they seem inspired by the marabou slippers that were popular in the 80's and that can still be found at many lingerie shops. They are a 500 times improvement on their predecessor yet the retain the whimsy and allure of the pouffy original. Also this is an actual shoe as opposed to the 80's bedroom slipper.

They are increasingly difficult to find right now but came in three colors, Scarlet, Cobalt and Ivory. My personal favorite is the cobalt. That shoe in that lovely shade of blue is the perfect wedding(and wedding night shoe) to me.

I do not own this shoe and I'm not sure that I'll have $795 to spend on a feather adorned shoe no matter who absolutely gorgeous it is. But I absolutely appreciate their beauty and the memories they brought of the brassy belles that I grew up watching. I would say that when comparing this sandal to a lover I would say it's the bride, she is lovely and soft yet has an absolute sense of whimsy and delight about her.

Wicked Wednesday's 4/7/2010

When it comes to style I like to think of myself a hybrid. I can identify with the classicist(think Audrey Hepburn,Coco Chanel or Charlotte York)I have deep appreciation for the safety and chic'ness of black, enjoy pearls to no end and think that pieces that are beautiful because of their sheer simplicity can be worn throughout decades.
I'm also very much into remaining on trend, there are many trends that I just ignore but occasionally a trend will come about (or come back around ie leggings and oversize sweaters) that I just love like this year stud invasion---Thanks in big part to designers like Balmain and Jimmy Choo I developed a stud obsession as did many many many others :) Which is OK and where being a hybrid comes in handy because while the trendy hipster part of me was wearing studded shoes, boots and bags the classic part of me was wearing a lovely dress with them.

And style hybrid that I am I also have a deep love and appreciation for all things Kitchy!! You know purses shaped like houses, a telephone shaped like a kiss, a purse that is an actual telephone, ginormous flower shaped rings and hearts, hearts everywhere and on every fucking thing, especially on a shoe!!! Which bring us (finally) to today's Shoe Porn selection "The Melissa" by Vivienne Westwood for Melissa DragonHeart.


This heeled peep toe pump is made in plastic and it is one of the cutest shoes ever!!! This shoe looks like it belongs to Barbie or in my nieces dress up trunk but is made for us grownup's and I think I am in love with it. This isn't a super sultry shoe, it's a fun shoe but it's still sexy and it's different you are not likely to encounter another woman in your office( yes I would and certainly will wear this shoe to work)or dinner party party wearing this pretty pump. I love this shoe, it screams summer in NYC, sundresses and ice cream to me. It's completely impractical and that why it's wonderful.
I would say this shoe is like champagne, it just makes me happy and smiley. It's available in a few color combination's so that you can find the perfect level of cute for yourself. While it is not a part of my personal collection yet, it is currently on it's way to me in the Gold (the yellow which was my first love is no longer available) from the good people at Saks 5th avenue.

Finally to equate this shoe to a lover I would say that she is (this shoe is all girl, all the time) the Summer Romance Girl--The girl you meet at a party and she's wearing a halter dress or pink shorts while having drinks & dancing but you can also have a conversation with, because there are thoughts behind her lively appearance. She is fun and sweet and not at all lacking in sex appeal.

PS: I wasn't kidding when I said I loved hearts everywhere, here is a prime example of my love of all things, hearts, kitschy and shiny all wrapped into 1 shoe by the Queen of kitsch herself Betsey Johnson. These wedges are one of my favorite purchases from last summer.

Wicked Wednesday-Shoe Porn

In my post on my theory of "Shoe Porn" I stated that it would become a weekly feature, now Wicked Wednesday's has been born. Every Wednesday I will detail a new Shoe Porn find. Sometimes the shoes will be from my personal collection others will be online or magazine finds.

Today's shoe is a peep toe boot from my personal collection. I love this boot!! When the package arrived, I slipped it on and my worn down "work sucked the very life & joy out of me" attitude changed. I instantly felt the desire to go out and make something happen, it's was like shoe Viagra awakening the lifeless.


If I had to compare this particular shoe to a lover (see previous post) I think it would be a hybrid of a Dominatrix and a Bad-Boy. Similar to the bad-boy with it's air of the dark and mysterious(the stitched leather and zipper detailing scream biker boy) it also has a decidedly kick ass feminine aspect (the multiple straps and hints of skin are very "bondage" you almost expect a whip to be a part of the outfit, while the peep toe and skinny heel keep it approachable & sexy). It's a bit hardcore, a bit edgy and calls attention to itself.