Do Your Homework, People

I just saw this ad on a fashion website:

I am not providing a link. They don't deserve to be linked to until they get their merde together.

What's wrong with this picture? Well, as anyone with even a passing interest in fashion and/or pop culture knows, that is a Manolo Blahnik shoe, not a Christian Louboutin shoe. Said shoe was a fairly important plot device in the "Sex and the City" movie and pretty much anyone who pays any attention to this sort of thing knows that. It doesn't really matter much, it's just really sloppy editing or whatever you want to call it and it offends me for that reason. It would be one thing if they'd used a shoe that wasn't so instantly recognizable, but... this is just dumb.

Because every Shoe Whore (yeah, I said it!!) worth her heel taps knows there are vast differences between Blahhniks and Louboutins. Even if you don't wear either of them, you know the difference when you see them. I'm a Manolo gal. I guess that makes me old school. Some of it is that I see Blahnik's shoes as more classically elegant and Louboutin's are more about the sex. Which is a debatable point, of course, and certainly a matter of taste. Mostly it's about the fact that Louboutin shoes never fit me. They seem to be made on an incredibly narrow last, and I have yet to ever squeeze my foot comfortably into a closed-toe shoe from this line. Even the peep-toes -- way too narrow. Actually, everything about them is narrow. Case in point:

This is Mr. Louboutin's Ginevra boot. Now, try to look past the zebra print, which I know a lot of folks will complain about, and just look at the shape of the thing. Which is stunning. I mean, that is a boot that wants to have sex with you. (Or anyone else who comes along with $2500 in his or her pocket. Yeah, seriously.) Last weekend, I tried on one of these bad boys at the sale at Neiman's, only the one I tried on was better -- it was a solid red leather and it? Was heart-stopping. I'm usually a size 39 or 39.5. I put on the 40.5 and it was still too narrow -- no way could I have worn that boot if I needed to actually use the -pedal part of my bipedal classification. Those are sittin'-down boots only, and I'd have to be carried from my closet (where I put them on) to the barstool on which I sat and accepted drinks from besotted men who plied me with Veuve Cliquot in the hopes of getting a piece of that boot-y (on purpose) action. But not only that -- I couldn't get the dang things zipped. Not even close. I will cop to having fairly muscular legs as a result of my running habit, but I can usually get a pair of boots zipped, at least. These boots? Ils ont ri de moi.* In French. Putain!**

At any rate, you need some pretty skinny pins to get into these boots. Way skinnier than mine.

Fear not for my shoe ego, however. Exhibit B:



Mmmmmm...

I went on a No Buy for the last part of 2009. It certainly contributed to the general crappiness that was Style Spy's 2009, but it needed to be done. It's a palate cleanser, for one. It also was a financial necessity, and did all my balances a world of good. And since I stuck to it awfully well (there were a few pairs of underwear here & there, and a couple of CDs), the Shoeniverse, once again, rewarded me. There was a sale, and a coupon, and when the dust settled... Oh, I'm not even going to tell you. It'll just upset you. Suffice to say they were a very, very good deal. Even more so considering they're the kind of shoes I can wear day in & day out, all year long, for the next 20 years. This weekend, they have a date to celebrate Ms. A's birthday by accompanying me to some as-yet-undecided fabulous watering hole to raise a glass of something bubbly. And I will be able to walk. Run, even. (In case anyone wants to chase me!)

Have a great weekend, everyone!


* "They laughed at me."
** Really? Do you need a translation for that?


Photos: Shopstyle.com, NeimanMarcus.com, Style Spy

Pretty For Friday -- September 25

Good googly-moogly...

Stuart Weitzman - Scrinchable (Taupe Pizzo Suede) - Footwear

I am a little faint, and my clicking finger is twitching. Stepping away from the computer now...

A Model of Restraint

I spent the Memorial Day holiday in Dallas with some dear friends. It was a lovely three-day weekend spent in the company of three of my most beloved friends, so even if I hadn't done anything besides sit on my butt in their living room it would have been great, but it was filled with fun. Saturday, we had dinner at a lovely tapas bar, where I ate a tuna tartare dish that made me nearly cry. (Yummy seasoned tuna over a pear slaw with a hazlenut/anchovy/olive purée. Seriously. So. Damn. Good. And these particular friends happen to all be big ol' weenies cautious when it comes to raw seafood, so I got to eat ALL of it all by myself!!!)

Sunday I finally got to go here:



This is the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando and filled with some mighty fantastic stuff. This building is... words fail me. It is simply spectacular. Even if it didn't house some of the best art I've gotten to look at in quite a while (more about which at a later date), it's worth visiting just to experience the architecture. If you live within striking distance of Ft. Worth and you haven't been there, hie thee over and take a gander.

And then... there was some retailing. Because... well, because that's what I do. (You may notice you've yet to read about me going on vacation at a beach or an isolated mountain cabin or anyplace like that. Quelle surprise.)

I was retailing both with a purpose and with great restraint. The purpose was to replace a bottle of one of my Top Three Frags at Barney's and sniff some new things I haven't yet tried & some old things I'm interesting in trying anew. (I'm on the hunt for something kind of specific, fragrance-wise -- again, more about which later.) The restraint was... a fact of life. Style Spy is not blessed (Dammit!) with unlimited funds and needs to be pinching her pennies if she ever wants to return to Paris. (Which she does.) So I was good. I was very, very good. What follows here is a list of things I resisted, for which I would like to receive some cyper-pats on my curly little head, thankyouverymuch. Because all of the things shown here were either in my hot little hands or on my hot little feet and, additionally, they were on sale. Everything pictured here was available at 40% or more off this past Monday at either Nordstrom or Barney's and I? Said no to ALL OF IT. (::Style Spy bends to make head available for patting here::)

YSL. These come in black and navy, as well as the burgundy, which is gorgeous.

Even more fun? Pink! ones at Luisaviaroma.

I want a pair of Tribute-based sandals of some sort so much I can practically taste them, but thus far I have refrained. I just live vicariously through Thumbelina. More patting, please.

Nicholas Kirkwood sandals that seriously make a gal gasp out loud. These I didn't even put on because I was pretty sure they'd never come off. And then I'd have had a situation on my hands.

They're available in purple at Luisaviaroma. Good googly-moogly...

Christian Louboutin Lillian in light pink. Oh, my.

Louboutin Hyper Privé in Shocking Pink. Yeah, buddy, these are PINK. Neon, crazy, not-found-in-nature pink. And yet? They work somehow.

I. Just. Want. Them. That is all.

In all honesty, the Loubies shown above weren't that hard to walk away from because they don't fit me. Louboutins are made on a very, very narrow last -- I have tried on exactly one pair of them in my entire life that I thought I could probably wear without crippling discomfort. These:

These? Are some pretty damned fine red patent sandals that would go with everything and never go out of style. Most yummy.

Also yummy. I do not understand how a bow can be made to look both girly and perverse at the same time, but they have managed it in this shoe. These were also available in burgundy, which is even better than the black and far more tempting to me. But I did find that even though these shoes made me instantly sexier and more sophisticated (really!), the top edge of the forefoot came up just a liiiiiiiittle too high -- if I wore these for any length of time they would rub me painfully. I was very surprised by this because typically I have great luck with YSL shoes, they're usually quite comfie on me.

Lastly, on pre-sale* at Barney's:

I put them on but I didn't bother to look at them in the mirror. It would have been too painful. They really are wonderful, but even on sale they're... well, frankly, they're ridiculously expensive. I could get airfare to Paris for the cost of these things, even at 40% off. Which is what I have to keep reminding myself. I have good shoes already. What I need? Is Paris.


How about you guys? Anything you're putting off in favor of something else? What's at the top of your list right now, and how are you faring in your quest to achieve it?





* "Pre-sale" is a concept that annoys the hell out of me. When things go on pre-sale, you're shown the items at their reduced prices and you pay for them, but you don't get to take them home right away. I do not understand the logic of this. I understand pre-SELL, when you put in an order for something that might not yet be physically available at the store so as to ensure that it becomes yours before all of them get snapped up. But pre-SALE, where I give you my real money (or my real credit card signature) for real items that you obviously have there in your real inventory, and then you keep my goodies hidden away until such time as you deem fit to release them to me? I think that's a little more Master & Slave than I like in my retail relationships, thankyouverymuch.



Photo: themodern.org


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Blown Slightly Off Course

So I was whacking away at the ol' computing machine, working on a post about Fashion Week, when I went to the Neiman Marcus website (Research!! NOT shopping!!! I swear!!!) and what to my wondering eyes should appear but these:

::insert slack-jawed gaping noises here:

Holy mackerel. Now THOSE are some boots.

Well, okay, they're almost boots. I mean, not boots in the most traditional, strictest sense of the word, but definitely boot-like. The overall impression is certainly one of boots, even though there are a lot of things about them that don't fit squarely into the commonly recognized category of boot. If you really wanted to pick them apart, you could actually come up with a lot of reasons not to call them boots, although I can't see why you'd want to because they're a lot more interesting as a boot, I think, in the way that anything that defies its own category always is...

(You know that phenomenon that sometimes occurs when you meet someone you're so attracted to that your entire brain instantly shuts down except for the part that reflexively strings together inane, moronic sentences that try as you might you cannot stop from pouring out of your mouth like a waterfall? And as all this ridiculous drivel spills out of you, your interior monologue is saying, "Would you shut up? Dear lord, would you please just SHUT UP!!!" But you can't? That's happening to me now. Does it mean these boots are going to be my new boyfriends? I wish. But at about $1700, these bad boys are a liiiiiiiittle out of my league. So I'll just shut up now.)



Oh, lordy. Hot. So, so hot...


(Huarache Boot by Sigerson Morrison. Available at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.)

Chooz My Shooz!!

I'm being taken out to dinner for my birthday tomorrow, and I have a dilemma -- the most delicious sort of dilemma, of course:



(Because I've already decided what I'm having for dessert.)

Since I don't have any new clothes that I'm specifically dying to wear, the outfit will begin with the shoes, as it so often does. And who better to help me chooz my shooz than my tasteful readers? Have narrowed it down (!!!) to the following:

Manolo Dianamus. Oh, they are things of beauty.

Red satin Valentinos, that make my feet glow.

Nude leather & snake Atwoods, so terribly chic.

Mmmmmm, sparkly. Blue sequined Armanis.

The new kids on the block -- glorious turquoise Fendis.

Delicate, elegant, classic gold & crystal Manolos.

Beloved old favorite silk Guccis. They go with everything!

YSL stars. I will never get tired of these shoes.

Red Manolo Dodos. Probably the sexiest sandals I own.

Big ol' Marni platforms -- still rocking my world.

Wow. Thank you for indulging my little exercise in shoe porn. That was a lot of fun -- redhead has some good shoes, doesn't she? Also helpful in reminding me that no, I don't really need to shop -- I have a closet filled with wonderful goodies.

So visit the poll at the top of the page and chooz my shooz!!


Photos: Style Spy