Saturday Jazz

Out to hear some music with some friends Saturday night, and this is what it looked like.

Linen lamé bermudas (!!) from J. Crew, black cotton blouse from Martin + Osa, Miu Miu patent mary janes.

Vintage milk glass & rhinestone necklace, lucite ring from Alexis Bittar, cufflinks from my Pap-Pap G. It was, thanks to a cold front that rolled through this weekend, actually a little chilly Saturday evening, which rarely happens in Austin at this time of year. So I threw on my Boudicca jacket.


I really don't think there's ever been anything I wore that this jacket didn't make look even better. I love this dingdong thing like a relative. (More than several of my relatives, in fact.)

And because the jewelry is so fab, it deserves a close-up...


I posted this ring on the blog a couple of years ago and raved about it and then a few weeks after that received it as a birthday present from my darling friends Ben & Mike. I have the best friends...


I found this at one of the vintage dealers in the Austin Antique Mall and I'm pretty sure I didn't pay more than $10 for it. I adore this necklace, it looks like something I would have seen at the British Museum.

Once upon a time, I had a very sniffy disdain for anything that was known as a "dressy short" or a "city short" or the idea of shorts as anything but a slovenly alternative for someone who refused to wear skirts. Ah, how that worm has turned. I've acquired lately a couple of pairs of sharply-tailored cotton bermudas from Gap, and I must admit I was wrongwrongwrong. I went from not having any nice shorts in my closet to wondering how on earth I lived without them. When I saw these in J. Crew I giggled, tried 'em on, & bought 'em. I had other plans for them on Saturday, but the aforementioned cold front brought with it a considerable amount of rain, so my shoe choices were limited and I adjusted the wardrobe accordingly. I'm looking forward to playing more with these shorts over the summer. They were available on the J. Crew website when I looked yesterday, but today as I type this post they are gone, so apparently I'm not the only one who liked them. There were several pairs in the store, however, so if you go in person you might be able to find some. A caveat -- these things "grew" quite a bit over the course of the evening -- the fabric is a fairly loose weave and it stretched out pretty quickly. The good news is that the care tag says the shorts are machine washable, which I would never have expected, but hey, I'll take it! Also, if you're the sort of person who cannot stand it when she has lap smiles, these shorts (or anything made of this sort of fabric) are not for you. I snapped those photos immediately after I put the shorts on. By the time I'd driven downtown to Eddie V's, they were good & creased. Ah, well.

So what'd you guys do this weekend? More importantly, what did you wear??


Photos: Style Spy

If You Love Something, Set It Free

A few months ago I saw these on the Neiman Marcus website:

Good googly-moogly, huh? That is one amazingly beautiful shoe. That is the sort of shoe I really go for. It's sexysexysexy, and what a fabulous color. There's a lot of uses I could find for a pink patent shoe like that, and best of all, they're Miu Miu, which means they'll fit me. (I have great luck with Miu Miu and Prada shoes -- they suit my feet incredibly well.) I hot-footed it (hah!) up to Neiman's and they didn't have them, but they were to be found at Saks. However:

Let this be a lesson to you about the color accuracy of the photos on etailer sites.

Um, that is not the color on the website. And here is where things get a little murky. These are not the exact shoes in the Neimans site. (Note how the inner side of the NM shoe is cut out, while the ones I have one are not. The color of the NM shoes is called "Antico," and described as "dusty rose." The color of the shoes I'm wearing is called "Mughetto" and I would also describe it as "dusty rose." Specifically, somewhere in the middle of rose, gray, and nude. I have since done some research and while I have found several variations on this shoe in both "Antico" and "Mughetto," the colors appear to be the same. It's killing me not to be able to compare them side by side, but based on a wide selection of photos up on one of the auction sites, I have to conclude that on some models they chose to call the color one thing and on others, another. No doubt there is some sort of inscrutable Italian shoe marketing logic behind this, but it eludes me.

At any rate. It's a difficult color. It seems like it would be a very good neutral, but it's not, really. Maybe on someone with a different skin tone, but on me it's most definitely a color, and a very odd one. But, oh, they're wonderful shoes, aren't they? Sooooooo good-looking. And they were Absolutely Perfect with this:


Woo-hoo! Adorable little rosy sequined dress. It's a perfectly simple little dress, basically just a sequined t-shirt. I've always wanted a sequined dress, and post-weight loss I found this one marked waaaaaay down and went ahead and bought it. I like it because it's a subtler color than you usually find in sequins (if I can use the words "subtle" and "sequins" in the same sentence without being laughed out of town) -- typically they're black, silver, or gold, or a very bright primary color. It's actually a color that I usually stay the hell away from, honestly, that dusty, grayed-out rose is deadly on me, but it seems to work because the shine of the sequins keeps me from looking too washed out. I will still have to wear a strong eye and a strong lip, though.

At any rate, I've had this little number for a while and wasn't quite sure what shoes to wear with it. It's too silvery for a gold shoe, but I wasn't about to buy a silver shoe because I otherwise never wear silver. It's a very sparkly dress, so I didn't want a super-flashy pair of shoes, in order to balance it. But the Miu Mius are perfect. PERFECT. As though they were custom-made for it. However, as I stood in my closet with them on my happy, happy feet, I had to admit that this was just about the only thing they worked with.

Even yours truly is not foolish enough to spend nearly $500 on a pair of shoes that go with exactly one thing in my closet, and that one thing an item I'm not exactly going to be wearing on a weekly basis.

So back they went.

Sad Style Spy.

Last Wednesday, which was my birthday and I thank you all once again for all your lovely birthday wishes, I just happened to be in the Saks neighborhood. (How on earth did that happen?) And they just happened to be at the very tail end of their summer sale. And I just happened to wander through the shoe department. Where those bizarre-yet-beautiful Miu Mius just happened to be on sale for what amounted to about 70% off. There was one pair left. And they were my size. And so they have come back to me. A birthday gift and reward for patience and sense from the Shoeniverse. Oh, the Shoeniverse is good to me.

And I discovered that they look wonderful with aubergine.

(Why, hello there, Ms. Inverse Raccoon! Apparently, the undereye cover stuff I'm using does an even-better-than-advertised job of reflecting light. Note to self: Not good makeup for photos.)

Like this gorgeous dress that I wore when the fabulous Plumcake took me to birthday dinner at my favorite French restaurant that's not in France on Saturday night. This dress is Fendi and is one of my very favorite garments of all time. Simple, elegant, not so much as a zipper, easy to move in, gorgeousgorgeousgorgeous. And I love it with the shoes, I don't know how I missed this combination when I was in the closet with the shoes the first time. (Although you can't tell from my expression, can you? Jeez, girlfriend, lighten up!) They're also good with navy, and of course everything works with black. So I feel confident I'll get some use out of them, and I wore them Saturday night with great success -- as anticipated, they're super-comfortable on me.

So let this be a lesson to you. If you love something but you don't have anything to wear with them, set them free. If they come back to you at 70% off, buy a dingdong dress to go with them if you have to!


Photos: NeimanMarcus.com, Style Spy

Making Do

So what do we think of these?

(BCBGirls)

I just got the catalog for the Nordstoms sale and they were in them. They don't have quite the same feel as the Miu Mius, but they're certainly in the neighborhood, and a fraction of the price. And if I get the ones that are a fraction of the price, I could potentially also get this:

(Maxx New York)

which is also at Nordstrom and hopefully on sale as well. (Also, pretty darned cute and I have been a-hankerin' for a red patent bag.) My problem is that I've had a few pairs of BCBG shoes and while they're decent quality and usually quite cute, they've all been really rough on my feet. Also, I'm afraid they're not... quite. I may be ruined forever by the Miu Mius.

These would have done me quite nicely:

(Stuart Weitzman)

but they're only available in black or brown suede. Not what I'm after.

It is truly hard for me to believe that every shoe manufacturer on the planet has not heard my piteous wailing after red patent ankle boots and instantly responded with alternatives. I'm a little hurt, frankly. Is this any way for the Shoeniverse to treat someone as devoted as myself? I think not.

So, what do we think, people? My inclination right now is to go ahead & order the BCBGirls and see how they are up close & personal. I can always give them back, right?

A personal note (who are we kidding, this whole post was a personal note): I'm getting my foot fixed tomorrow. After about 1:00 pm, my plantar fasciitis will no longer plague me and I can wear whatever shoe I want whenever I want to. (After the first two weeks of recovery in a surgical shoe and then sneakers, of course. THAT is the part I dread. Seriously -- I have dinner plans at a nice place this Sunday. I can't believe I have to wear one of those silly things out in public. It will be infinitely more painful than the foot itself. I may have to get drunk to even leave the house...) At any rate, you may not hear from me for a few days -- evidently there are painkillers involved in this whole endeavor and I think it would be ill-advised to post while I was high.

Photos: Nordstrom, Zappos.com

Crushed!

The lip, it quivers.

The eyes, they glisten with tears.

I am crushed. Devastated. Gobsmacked. How can this be? The people at Miu Miu have pulled a bait & switch on me! I feel like a toddler whose favorite stuffed toy was just yanked from her hands and tossed out the car window. Bye-bye, Mr. Bear!!!

I just received an e-mail from Lizette in Customer Searches at Prada. She sent me the product number for these boots that I have been daydreaming about for weeks now:




along with where I could buy them in black (Nieman's, Saks, Nordstrom) but, but, but...

"I am sorry to inform you that red is not available."

WHAT?

WHY NOT??

Why not available to Style Spy -- they were available enough to the people at Vogue, who got a picture of them and splashed them right there across the page for sensitive, loving souls such as myself to fall in love with!! Are you kidding me? -- I've already mapped out the trajectory of our relationship -- I have outfits planned!!! (Sadly, no, I am not kidding. My friends, this is who I am.) I was thinking I would take them with me to Paris in November -- how cute would I have been, sitting at a café, my black velvet stole wrapped nonchalantly around my shoulders, enjoying my verre de vin blanc, legs daintily crossed, with my red patent leather bootie dangling several inches above the cobblestones of rue de Buci?

Pretty damn cute, that's how cute!!

But no, it is not to be.

Honestly, I really feel quite hurt. Why would they do this? Obviously, if you show a boot as fantastic as that one a lot of people are going to want it. Why would you have a photo of it if you're not going to make it available? Why would you tease me like this???? I'm confused, I'm stung, I'm disillusioned. Next thing you know, someone is going to tell me there's no Santa Claus. Or Shoe Fairy.

Someone pet me, please. I feel like I might cry. Maybe I should go put on my new Manolos for a few minutes.


Photo: Vogue

This Next

The Want Monster growls. Come fall, these are on The List:



Oh, yeah, as soon as I'm allowed to shop again (not until after my next birthday), I'm going after these bad boys. Provided I can find them, of course. The above showed up in Vogue a month or so ago and made my little heart go pitter-pat, but I haven't seen them anywhere yet. I spoke with an SA at the Madison Avenue Miu Miu boutique, but they don't have them and aren't getting them, so I'm going to have to call "corporate" to find out where they're hiding these little sweeties. (Seriously, if anyone stumbles across them, please let me know.) They have them in black at Saks:

but the black ones don't excite me, of course, the way the red patent ones do. (The way to Style Spy's heart is red patent just about anything, as we all know.) I want the red ones to wear under pants, and to wear with skirts and tights. Oooooooh, how cute would my leopard print dress be with black tights and a little black jacket and those boots? Pretty darned, is how cute. I'm also pretty excited about them because they look a very similar shoe to my Miu Miu mary janes, which are so incredibly comfy.

And here I must stop to make a confession. I bought another pair of the Miu Mius. (You may have noticed them in the leopard dress post.) I didn't break my No Buy, these were the shoes that inspired the No Buy, because I got them and the red Manolos on the same weekend. Therefore my credit cards went into cardiac arrest and I am banned from shopping for... a while. This means that I have them in blue:

and black: Yes. I am a thoroughly ridiculous creature. In my defense, may I just say that A) the black ones were very on sale and B) I find myself wearing these shoes all the time. They are seriously some of the most comfortable shoes I own. That nice roomy toe box with the beautiful almond-shaped toe has at least half an inch of padding in it, and they are fantastic to walk in. Light as a feather. It looks to me like those cutie-patootie booties may be made in a similar way, based on the shape of them, which would make me love them even more. I've tried on a lot of Miu Miu shoes and I really love the way they fit my feet. Louboutins are made on too narrow a last to suit me, but Mius Mius (and Pradas) really work. Miuccia and I are sole mates, methinks. (Me also thinks Miuccia has the not-so-tiny feets.)

At any rate, those are my fall shoe plans. I don't really have any other ones, especially since my calendar has a tentative trip to Paris on it, but looking forward to those will get me through a summer of shoe drought. What's on your radar? Any must-haves? What's the Want Monster torturing you with?

Photos: Vogue, Saks.com, Style Spy, Net-a-Porter.com

See Under: Irony

May I present Miss Hilary Duff?



Her new album is entitled "Dignity."



Commence the eye-rolling.

And do you know what really grates my cheese? She's wearing my shoes!!!!

Photo: InStyle.com

I May Have Blacked Out in Barneys...

...and when I woke up I was wearing these:

(Miu Miu)

I wasn't just wearing them, kids, I was wearing them home. See, here's what happened...

We all know Parts One, Two and Three of my long and winding Manolo Blahnik Camparis Saga. (This is the last installment, I promise.) When last we spoke, the plan was to go to Barneys in Dallas to try on the Louboutin Iowas

in that fabulous nude patent leather in my (evidently too-enormous-for-Neiman's) size. And I did. They had them in my size and I put 'em on and gosh, they're pretty. They also hurt like the dickens. The toe box is very, very narrow on these babies -- even in the right size my toes were actually overlapping one another. And the edge of that peep toe started rubbing my big toe before I'd even made a full lap around the shoe department. No way I could wear them for any length of time without tears. This is slightly disappointing, but not actually surprising -- my feet, they are not particularly French, and I have noticed this before.

During Part One of the Saga, I had tried on these little beauties just for giggles:


My thoughts about them were that they were insanely sexy beyond my everyday needs, and that since I already have black shoes in this vein I should leave them at Saks.

But on Saturday in Barneys, what to my wondering eyes should appear but these babies in blue -- a perfect, delightful blue exactly between Wedgewood and robin's egg. (They're a teeny bit brighter than they appear in the photo above, but just a teeny bit.) I have been hunting for blue patent shoes lately. As a matter of fact I've now ordered & returned two pairs of them because they just weren't quite right.

But these are right. Oh, how right they are. My feet, evidently, are not French, they are Italian. (Good to know.) The shoes are beautiful, and believe it or not they are very comfortable. There's a hidden platform of about half an inch in the forefoot that seems to be made up entirely of padding -- they are the cushiest heels I own. I capered around on them all day Saturday and my feet were absolutely fine. Plus, the balance is perfect. They are so easy to maneuver in that I actually skipped through the shoe department to show off. I will be very interested in obtaining more Miu Miu shoes -- they appear to have the high heel thing figured out.

I had on a chocolate brown dress Saturday and the blue was just beautiful with it. (Later I accessorized with a patterned head scarf that had a few blue notes -- perfect.) Once I had them on my feet, I looked over at my friend Jody, who was shopping with me, and said plaintively, "I don't want to take them off!" And Jody, because she is a good & true friend, responded, "I don't think you should."

So I didn't. I paid for them, put my old shoes in the box, and hoofed it downstairs to buy some perfume. And I will have you know that before I had traversed the approximately 500 total feet from the shoe department down the steps to the Le Labo counter, three -- count 'em, THREE! -- people complimented me on my shoes. Three compliments in less than five minutes. Those are some good shoes.

So that's what happened. I have no regrets. It was meant to be.

Photos: Style Spy, Net-A-Porter.com, Style.com

The Dream Deferred

Say there's a cute guy you keep seeing, maybe at the coffee place or your grocery store. He's not just cute -- he's absolutely hot, completely your type, totally rocks your world. He notices you, too, gives you a shy smile, perhaps even a little witty banter is exchanged in front of the Cheese of the Week display. You find yourself thinking about him all the time, indulging in little fantasies about your relationship, your life together... Pretty soon you're sure he's the perfect man for you and your life isn't going to be complete until he takes you in his arms and makes you his. And finally, it happens! One of you works up the crickets to actually propose getting together on a date! You both seem delighted by the idea, and you spend the following week planning your wardrobe, choosing your fragrance, hoping to heaven you have a good hair day. You paint your toenails. You even shave your legs.

And then you go out. And then you come home. Alone. And as the door closes behind you, you feel the poignant loss of another shattered dream. 'Cause he's just not right for you. It didn't... click. He's not actually that funny (the witty banter must have been a fluke or a product of the manhattan you had at happy hour), or he watches the wrong news channel (if ya know what I mean), or he lets slip a few disparaging remarks about his ex that make you raise one of your perfectly-tweezed brows in mild alarm. Whatever it is -- it just doesn't fit.

Here's my dream man:


Manolo Blahnik Camparis. The "Urban Shoe Myth" shoe. Imagine them in black patent. I've been hungering for this shoe for far longer than any of Britney's marriages have lasted. And this weekend I finally marched into Saks and unshod my dainty (ahem) foot and slid one on, determined to take this Perfect Specimen home with me.

They don't fit.

Not the 39s, not the 39.5s, not the 40s. They are extremely narrow in the toe box, much narrower than I expected them to be based on other Manolos that have been on my foot. Narrow to the point of pinchy discomfort. Perhaps this means I am not the Shoe Lover I profess myself to be, perhaps if I were truly dedicated to the Art of Fine Foot Fashion mere discomfort would not deter me. Alas, I am one of those principled idiots who feels if I splash out that kind of money for a pair of shoes I should be able to wear them without tears.

I tried on these Miu Mius as a consolation prize:


These are fierce shoes, they are unbelievably sexy. This photo seriously does not do them justice -- they are incredible. They are so damn sexy that in order to wear them and not look like I'm auditioning for a burlesque show whatever I was wearing would have to basically be stolen from my Grandma Stella's wardrobe (which ran heavily to polyester pantsuits and printed cotton snap-front dusters). And I have to admit, I'm still thinking about them. They are seriously, distractingly sexy. Those shoes are a weapon.

But they are not the same. They are not my Perfect Man in shoe form, like those Camparis.

I am crushed, I admit it. I'd built those shoes up in my head until they were true love, a cure for cancer, and the gold medal for the biathlon all in one. My idol lies in dust at my feet.

And so, I am once again living the lesson that I have learned over & over again throughout my adult life: you may think he's the Perfect Man, but if he's not right for you, he's just not right. Perfection, believe it or not, is relative.

All is not lost, however. I think I have a line on a pair of Pangalas. Cue the swelling, romantic music that indicates the consummation of long-delayed passion. I grow dizzy at the thought.

Photos: NeimanMarcus.com, style.com