The trouble with flats.

People are constantly asking me, "How can you possibly wear such high heels and not die?!" and always answer with a quip from a reperatoire I've developed for just such an occassion, ranging from, "they really have very cushy soles!" to "the ratio of heel height to platform height makes for a much milder slope from heel to toe, so they're really not as harsh on the feet as they look!"

And, having reflected on my shoe choice for today (a seemingly innocent pair of dove grey flats by American Eagle Outfitters), I feel that these are really the more evil of the shoe choices.

It has come to my attention that I am apparently only able to wear ballet flats if they have some kind of elastic in the backs of them. These are stiff and I'm pretty sure I'll have blisters from them by the time the day is out. Plus, my heels are always sore when I wear flats... They're not used to carrying the majority of my weight.

It's interesting that most people have trouble with heels, and I have such difficulty with flats, is it not?

C'est la vie!

Gadzooks! (Or: The cat's pajamas)

I warned you. It's flapper time.

After seeing the cast Charleston-ing the night away in Nice Work If You Can Get It, and picking up the most fantastic tights, printed to look like they're stockings with garters, I'm obsessed!

(worn with one of my new Betsey Johnson dresses, divine!)

It also doesn't help that the first thing I saw on my Facebook feed upon arriving home was this:

Trouble!

While I was in New York, I came upon the most darling T-bar shoes, shopping at Strawberry. Unfortunately, the straps on them hit a little funny, so I had to pass up on them, but I'm back on the hunt now, and the second that I find a pair I love, it will be on. It may have to wait until I've paid off my credit cards from New York, though...

In the meantime, the obsession grows. Here's a little history lesson to show you what we're going for here:

These are all shoes from the 1920's, and we can gather the basic elements pretty quickly. They all have straps across the foot (I'm sticking with the T-bar for the sake of this exercise) and a wider, mid-height heel. A lot of designers have done sky-high versions of the same, but I think the mid-heel works best, and looks more authentic.

Now, I've done a little sourcing (of course) and here's what I've found thus far.

These are by Monsoon, and are essentially exactly what I'm looking for. The issue is that I found them on Polyvore, but when I went to the Monsoon website, they were no where to be found... Back to the drawing board.

Then I found these little numbers. They're by Office (apparently the UK has the right idea), and are adorable in mint green! How cute with a complimenting minidress and those garter tights?

And, of course, if we're shopping London, we have to check out Vivienne Westwood! The queen of British fashion, no pun intended! (The crown is her signature symbol, and she has been known to make fun of the monarchy,) These demure little beauties would be perfect with knee socks and short shorts, no?

 Finally, I found a pair that were no longer available from Samanta. It's a shame, because this orange is very hip right now... I'm wearing a dress the same colour as I type this.

Now! To learn how to Charleston!

The Return Triumphant!

I'm back! So sad to leave New York, but I'm headed back for 10 days in September, so now it's just another countdown. And the only emotion that can stir up is excitement!

It was another whirlwind trip, but definitely a success! There was only one hiccough... about 20 minutes after dropping off our luggage at the hotel, my mum took a spill due to some uneven pavement and a subway grate. She tore up her knee pretty bad, and pulled a muscle in her shoulder. We got her bandaged up really well, and put her arm in a sling, but she was pretty sore for the rest of the trip.

Although, with the amount of walking we do in New York (not to mention the weight of the shopping bags we lug about) all my muscles were pretty sore, too.

We saw some shows, Nice Work If You Can Get It (starring Matthew Broderick, who was divine), and Harvey (starring Jim Parsons, who was also fabulous), and the former has sparked a new obsession with flapper-chic for me. Expect to see lots of garter-stockings and t-bar shoes. It's coming.

Of course, we did mass amounts of shopping, and visited all our wholesalers for my mum's store. We also paid a visit to Betsey Johnson, at the devastating news that she's going under, and I picked up a few dresses (25% off, yes please!)

And, it goes without saying, we picked up a bunch of pairs of sweet shoes! One of which I'm wearing today:

Little spectators, how adorable! Chanel inspired, and the perfect neutral shoe for all the bright colours and beautiful patterns I picked up! These babies are from Forever 21, but the one in Times Square, which is way better than the silliness they have at home.
We also went to the Met to see Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, which was a brilliant exhibition that compared and contrasted the two designers. If you have a chance to be in New York before August 19th, go see it, it was fantastic! I bought the book.

The last night was spent packing, of course. We actually wound up having to buy two extra bags to get everything to fit:

This is the pile before we packed the last few bags away. Excessive? Never!

It became necessary to discard all the packing materials, tags, bags, and wrappers in order to get it all in... I'll admit, it felt a little wasteful to be throwing away so much plastic. Next time, we'll bring reusable shopping bags!

Ridiculous, no? And that doesn't even include any shoe boxes, we leave all of those at the stores! I hope they recycle...

We also bought hats, and, to avoid either of mine getting crushed, I had to wear them both on the plane. My mum thought this was simply hysterical, and kept telling me that this was how fashion trends come about. I beg to differ, but for your viewing pleasure:

Silly, no?

Prison and The Big Apple

This weekend, I went to prison.

Ok, I don't mean it the way it sounds, but at least the shock value was there. My partner in crime and I hosted a party at our house on Saturday night that was prison-themed. We dressed as cops and policed the evening, while our guests came dressed as criminals and debaucherized until dawn.

I looked a little something like this:

And, of course, there was some delicious footwear involved! These bad boys are Vera Wang, and I have them in a slate blue as well:

Yummy, no? And with some wild fishnets? Let's just say those legs went for miles.

Overall, it was a great weekend.

Sunday was spent in my indestructible flip-flops, lying in the sun in the park near my house. It was delightful. I really feel like summer has arrived, and hopefully it will stick around for a good while!

Cause, really, all those bright summer shoes would look so much better against a tan...

Also! I'm headed to New York with my mum on Thursday night, so I'll be MIA for a while. That being said, I promise to have lots of stories, and photos, to share with you upon my return!

Summer? (Or: The return of the indestructible blue flip-flops)

I feel like I've been neglecting you, which is inexcusable.

It's been a very busy few weeks, not that that's an excuse!

For one, summer appears to have shown up. It's a little odd... And, with summer, comes summer-mode, a rather terrifying state of mind that I go into when the weather gets nice. Think lots of high-heels, tight skirts and wine. On a merry-go-round. Now, you've about got it. A bit of a whirlwind, no pun intended.
Essentially, my weekend warrior setting has kicked into overdrive, and, it's hard to slow down.

But! That being said, I've been shopping. In fact, I plan to do much, much, much more shopping, as I will be on a plane to New York in just over a week. And, last May, I came back with 15 new pairs. Let's see if we can break that record...

Anyways, back to the present! The sun has been trying to shine the last few weeks, and is slowing gaining ground over the rainclouds! This means one thing: it's time to bring out the indestructible blue flip-flops. If you don't know the ones I'm talking about, let me jog your memory here.

I've also picked up a few new pairs of beauties since we last spoke, one of which I'm wearing today.

It's going to be a beautifully bright summer, people! I love that I can wear these with most anything (I'm in a blue sundress above the patent leggings) and they add the perfect pop of delicious colour that just makes you feel like you're walking on sunshine! Plus, the cork makes them a great day shoe, and the wedges mean you could wear them to the beach and not sink into the sand.

They're much prettier than my ugly blue flip-flops, but sometimes, you can't beat the feel of hideous foam against your toes!

I have a summertime resolution (as we all know I like to make these things at odd times of the year) to keep up my toenail polish, so expect some cool colours in photos to come!

I'd love to see your toes! Please send me photos of what's on your feet, and I'll happily feature them!