Gone shopping, back soon!

I've gone to the motherland.

Back on Sunday.

(Source: http://www.thisisglamorous.com/2012/08/take-me-away-34-city-guide-4-new-york.html)

 

Concrete jungle where dreams are made...

I have returned from the North American fashion capital! A little lighter in the pocketbook, I'll admit, but richer in experience and closet. It was a great ten days spend with my fabulous mummy, exploring, shopping, and enjoying!

Having taken four trips in the last three and a half months, I was on a bit of a budget, so it was a task to try not to end up in a total shopping free-for-all (I won't lie, I definitely broke the bank when I was there in May), but it was a blast concentrating on finding really fantastic pieces, instead of my typical shopping mantra of "it it looks good, buy it in every colour."

Also, while checking my email one night in our hotel room, I stumbled upon a sale on my shoe racks, so I have two more coming! I'm well over a hundred pair right now and I'm having the most ridiculous time trying to squash them all onto the racks I have. It will be grand to have a little space.

I have plenty of stories, but I'm going to spread them out a little so that I can tell them in more depth, so I'm going to skim over the events of our trip and then elaborate later.

The first four days were spent "working." And, by that I mean buying for my mum's shop (which is changing location and expanding by three times the square footage, so we had a lot of space to fill), and picking up a few pieces for myself. I had written myself a list before I left and managed to get just about everything (I still don't have my spiked heels, but that's a tale for another day), including a great pair of black flat boots to get me through the fall and a beautiful red reddingote.

Through all this, we were wearing "comfortable" shoes. My mum wound up having trouble with her orthotics though, and having to buy new "sensible" (read: not super pretty) shoes to walk the 70-80(one day it was actually over 100) blocks we would typically cover in a day. Again, we'll get to those beauties another day. I stuck with my indestructible hot pink rubber flip-flops. Also, not super pretty, but they get the job done. Needless to say, at the end of each day, it was time to soak our soles and love our toes a little.

I'm sure this photo looks incredibly familiar, as the New-York-end-of-day-foot-bath has become a bit of a ritual with us. Believe me, it's well deserved, and much appreciated.

Of course, the day we walked over 100 blocks was the same night as Fashion's Night Out, which is always a spectacle and a delight, if only to people watch and see the culture come to life. I wore flats, mum wore wedges, and many a girl that night was in stilettos. Fortunately, I was still vertical at the end of the night, while mum was dying in her wedges, and I'm pretty sure I saw every limping stiletto-clad girl similtaneously reach into her impossibly small clutch at the stroke of 11, to produce a ratty plastic shopping bag and replace the offending footwear with flats in one fluid movement. Those were ladies in dire need of some Rollasoles...

Just sayin'.

That's not to say that our feet weren't also in serious need of some R&R. There was one day that we stopped for a quick peek at our shopping directory and thought to ourselves, "Damn, I could totally go for a pedicure right now..." And, low and behold, we turned around and saw this:

 

It's hard to read, but the top line says "Mani + Pedi + 10 min massage: $40." We were sold.

 

A well-earned pedicure. Having the knots rubbed out of my poor soles was amazing. The mid-trip mani-pedi is definitely going to have to be a new New York ritual. And, the girl who did mine did some fancy twirly thing with tissues to make the toe separators pictured here. I need to figure out how to do that...

The last two days were spent wandering about the city, gathering the last bits for the store, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, and enjoying Little Italy. All in all, a smashing success (less the utter failure to find the perfect spiked stiletto!), including walking the last 40 blocks back to the hotel with the impending threat of thunder showers (which turned out to be mostly idle, on the thunder-front at least.).

Then, it was time to come home. And, after a long day of travelling yesterday, it was good to get back.

Now, I just need to unpack, and I can tell you some real stories!

My feet would like to marry Jane...

I don't care what anyone says, I love Mary Janes. The shoes, not the green stuff.

They're classic, they go with everything, they're cute in every colour and you can make them sexy or sweet.

A while back, I was looking for shoes for my friend's speakeasy themed birthday party (how perfect, considering my flapper obsession!) and my mum and I wound up in a thrift store.

Now, you may say "Ick!" at the idea of buying second-hand shoes, but I think there's a treasure trove here. As long as they're in good condition, don't reek to high heaven, and are interesting-looking, I don't think there's a problem. Plus, I managed to get 6 pair for 56$ that day. I mean, really, how can that be a bad thing?

Anyways, back to the task at hand. I picked up these little Steve Madden delights:

A cute little mid-heel, adorable buttons, and some crinkled patent, definitely a recipe for shoe success! I love them, and they've become my go-to work shoes, and have been out for dinner with my man a few times. I like a mid-heel for date night, it's less over-the-top (no pun intended).

It was actually very fortunate that I found these babies, because my last pair of awesome black patent Mary Janes were on the verge of falling apart. They were a Payless find from when I was about 18, and I had walked practically walked through the heels. Here they are in fuschia, which was the colour I wanted to buy them in, but they didn't have my size...

 

See? Adorable in black and in colours. And, to drive the point home, I'm sure you remember the beautiful grey ones I got at Christmas and wrote about here.

 

Love those!

 

I will be headed to New York as of 4 this afternoon, and will therefore be MIA until the 10th. But, I promise there will be plenty of photos, stories and footwear upon my return. I'll be there for Fashion's Night Out, and you just know that's going to be a goldmine!

Always practice safe... shoe?

Now that sex ed is starting to open up past abstinence a little (no pun intended), and condoms are passed out by the bucketful at every free clinic, no one has any excuse not to know that safe sex is a must. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to YouTube right now, and search Sue Johanson. She'll teach you everything you need to know.

Any lady who makes friends with hookers and has what it takes to do that on stage, is a friend of mine. She also happens to be a speaker for the agency I work for. Check her out here.

So, now that you all have pocketfuls of condoms and pamphlets, I would like to show you a very different kind of condom, Heel Condoms!

I came upon these gems when I was in New York with my mum in May. They actually come in two styles, condoms and panties (is it wrong that I love the shock value of being able to tell that girl that fawns over your feet that they're "condoms"?).

This is a condom:

They slip over the heel of your shoe, and turn a pair of plain blue stilettos into a masterpiece. These are my favourites, with the feather, but there are lots of different styles. Check them out here.

There are also "panties" and they look like this:

These don't cover the heel, just the back of the shoe. You can check them out here.

Shoe accesories are underrated, in my books. There's plenty to be said for buying statement shoes, but, if you think back to my post about a basic shoe wardrobe, think of the possibilites of expanding those basics with a few accesories.

Especially if you're not in the financial market to buy 1,000 pairs of Louboutins, it's much easier to make a statement or ten with a pair of black heels, a pair of bright heels and a few sets of these.

Plus, if you're a jet setter like I am, this makes your packing much lighter, and your wardrobe much more diverse. I'll be headed to New York again a week from Saturday for Fashion's Night Out, and now I can use the same pair of patent black heels for dinner before a Broadway show and to go drink champagne and rub elbows with Oscar de la Renta (last year I had the pleasure of listening to him sing with a band in his boutique while standing next to Barbara Walters. Literally, rubbing elbows with the elite).

And, retailing for around $50.00 each, it's a small price to pay for fabulousness.

I'll be sporting these babies for sure:

The circle of sandal

Something divine has happened.

I found new indestructable flip-flops. Pink ones this time!

These things always come from the most unexpected places... These guys are from Shoppers Drug Mart (weird, I know) and were a grand total of $4.00.

It's ridiculous.

And, these ones should last longer than their blue counterparts, as they are made from rubber rather than foam, so they'll be harder to walk through.

Here is the circle of sandal-life, for your viewing pleasure!

I also have a horrifying flip-flop tan, despite my best efforts to wear different shaped sandals. Alas...

It's been a really busy summer for me, so, as you can see, I haven't been posting as much as I should be.

Two trips to Vegas, lots of parties and a new boyfriend will do that to a girl.

Not to mention New York coming up in two weeks.

Pray for my credit cards.

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?

The clock strikes 3am, your feet turn into pumpkins.

This has happened to us all. Don't lie, you know there's that one pair of insane stilettos that you bought because they make you legs look a million miles long and your ass go POW, but if you wear them for longer than 6 minutes you'd think that you were stuck in a furnace wearing these:

See? Now you remember. Or at least your feet do. Think New Years. We're notorious for wearing ridiculous shoes on the one night of the year it's nigh impossible to get a taxi in any city.

But, fret not! There's an answer! Enter Rollasole!

Matt Horan was struck with genius after one too many nights of having to carry his girlfriend home on his back as the result of her sadistic (though gorgeous, I'm sure) choices in footwear. Since that night in 2008, he's been the saviour of shoe-anistas everywhere!

In fact, they're so popular now, some clubs are selling them in vending machines on-site:

Let me explain how they work. They come rolled up inside a drag-string bag, and the idea is that you can cram them into your going-out purse and forget they're there.

Until furnace-feet kick in. Then, you will gleefully recall that they're hiding in the recesses of your bag, between the lipgloss and your cell phone, and you unroll them and swap them for your metal-fire-torture shoes.

And that handy little bag they came in? Big enough to fit your skyscraper stilettos and you can use the drawstring as a wrist strap!

I had seen them at various drug stores around various cities, but was a little unsure of the necessity of such a thing (plus all the ones I had seen were black and boring-looking). Like Jenna Marbles (as seen here at 4:42), I feel that when one walks out of the house in a pair of shoes, she is married to them for the evening. You made your bed, girl, now limp home on it. But, when we were in Vegas in October, my partner in crime, Dominique, came back from a toiletry run with these bad-boys:

First of all, they're gold. Come now, how can anyone say no to that? Dominique's are metallic pink, so they're just as adorable.

So, I gave them a shot. That night, we went out dancing like the crazy glamazons we are, in our very own version of the glass slipper (read: ticking-toe-time-bombs) and when the champagne began to wear off, I could feel the first few flames licking at the soles of my feet.

Of course, I had forgotten that I had them, but when I went to sit down for a moment, Dominique reminded me, and, lickety-split, I flipped off my heels, slipped on my little flats, and was back on the dance floor before the song was finished.

And my foot-fire was extinguished!

The best part was that when my Vegas-boyfriend (a charming Brit named Luke) came by, I was ready to pop my heels back on and keep dancing til dawn!

Here comes the rain, little darling!

Ahhh, the rain has finally come. All the snow is gone, and I had the pleasure of sloshing through puddles all the way back from work yesterday, as seen below:

You can even seen the shadow of my umbrella! It was a rainy, windy day but I had a blast walking from my office to downtown Vancouver before heading home. It was lovely, as long as you don't mind getting a little wet.

My mum has been sending me photos again from New York, and this is her latest find:

Ankle socks with sandals. There were also a bunch of knee socks flying around with open toes. I think that that the ankle socks work best with a sandal that has some weight, on the heel, as well as something with less delicate straps like this shoe, and I love the way the off-white socks compliment the neutral tones in the shoe.

I find that the knee socks tend to be a more winter look, so it's easier to do the blacks and jewel tones, but it's also a good way to keep with the colour blocking and work with some brights!

Try it out and take a photo! I'd love to see what you've got on your feet!

Fresh start.

Well, it's the beginning of another year, and what do we have to show for it? An expanded shoe wardrobe, of course!

Hopefully, a little more wisdom and some stories, as well.

It's been an eventful year for this shoe-anista! There were trips to New York, Las Vegas, New Orleans, then back to New York less than a week after touching ground again. There were birthday parties, and themed parties, and lots of memorable moments. And, of course, shoes to go with each.

This past week has been spent relaxing at my parents' house, in the sleepy little town of Gibsons, where my mum runs a successful clothing store, SWISH (check it out on facebook here), which facilitates all the trips to New York, as I am her assistant buyer. I'm also taking on another project, working on her facebook page and writing a style blog for SWISH as well.


All this relaxing means that I've spent most of my time in these:





These are my delicious pink slippers, a Christmas gift from years gone by, and the only suitable footwear for lounging around while watching horror films with your dad. While wearing charming pyjamas, and maybe a touch of blush and mascara. You never know when you'll be hosting unexpected houseguests.


I've worked a few days for my mum at SWISH, as it afforded us the perfect time to spend some quality time together, and it let me shop the leftovers of the season, and get a few good deals (hooray for family discount!!), including these little Candie's numbers:



I'm so excited to break these bad boys in! And, to save my poor toes, I bought about a thousand sets of gel toe cushions from the dollar store in town... Amazing, that I got them for 1$ a set, when the drugstore was going to charge me 7$ for the name brand ones...


Now, because it is the beginning of the year, I'm also going to be spending a lot more time in these:



Because, really, no list of New Year's resolutions is complete without a promise to one's self to get healthier and fitter. With so many sheath dresses in stores right now, a girl simply must be in tip-top shape to rock the look. Shoe shopping counts as cardio, right?

Happy New Year!

Nothing bad can happen in Birmingham!

Alright, so I'm back, for reals, I promise!!

Ok, well, I'm going to try. It's really quite tricky to keep up when you're so busy!!

Anyways, when I say back, I mean two things... Back in the blogosphere, and back at home!

You see, my counterpart, D, and I just returned from Birmingham, Alabama!! We had gone for our friend Jimi King's album release, and there were good times had by ALL! And, of course, excellent footwear ;)!

Ok, so quick side-note here: I am notorious for wearing the worst and most inconvenient footwear in airports. For some reason, I always end up in laced-to-your-knees boots or 20,000-strapped gladiators, and security becomes an incredible task. So, this time, I decided I would be insanely clever, and ditch my work pumps (the little brown ones I showed you in the summer) for my favourite ugly blue flip-flops!

This was a great idea until I stepped off the plane and realised it was freezing in B'ham.

D had been clever enough to wear Uggs, which, I'm sorry if you love them but, I hate with a firey burning passion. I think they're hideous, and that they look like slippers. (I share the same sentiments about Crocs, but that's a rant for another day.) Unfortunately, (and I think this is karma for wearing them in the first place) they had started to fall apart the moment she stepped out of the house to come and meet me.

So, after checking into the hotel and having a nap, we headed to Target (which was across the street) to get something more suitable. What we found were these:

Now, here's where I become a bit of a hypocrite, because, if you click on the link provided above, you'll notice that these are not shoes, but slippers, which is the precise reason that I hate Uggs so much. But, if you look at these guys, they're so much cuter than Uggs!

Anyways, hate me if you must, I wore them outside, and I liked it! Plus, I don't think I've ever gotten more compliments on a pair of shoes in my life! Wait, I think the general concensus on my Sam Edelman fringeys was a little more exuberant. But not by much!

The other darling shoes that we got on this trip were these:

(Although, I got the black ones and D got the pink... the website won't let me save the black picture. Weird.)

Now these babies are from Wet Seal. This place is a goldmine for going out shoes. D and I have both bought shoes from these guys before, and they are our go-to going out shoes. Mine are wedges and I have had to glue them back together a million times, and D's are stilettos that have been worn so far down the leather on the heel is starting to peel back. This is how amazing these shoes are, and how often we wear them. If you're in the states, go there now.

The other thing that's amazing about Wet Seal is that their shoes are cheap. Like a friggin' steal. These were 12.50$. No, I don't think you understand. Twelve-friggin'-fifty!!!! And they'll last forever. And you'll never have to take them off at midnight because 1 hour of wearing them was plenty thank-you-very-much. My wedges? I've slept in them. Amazing going-out shoes. Amazing.

Anyways, sorry for the stolen photos, my camera hasn't been unloaded from this trip yet. More to come, I promise!

Man, busy makes it hard to blog.

Hello, my darlings!! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know it's been awhile!!

But! I have stories to tell you. Promise!!!

Ok, where did I leave you off....? Right! I was working at Vorum and trying to make the best of the summer while still wearing fabulous footwear.

What has happened in the meantime? Ohhh, sooo mucchhh!

Let's go chronologically:

Labour day weekend, we went to Nola! (New Orleans for those who don't know) and practically lived in my indestrucible flipflops (as always). Actually, by the time that the real fall weather hit, I had a pretty impressive tanline...

Anyways, after that, I continued working at Vorum for awhile, and we were told that we were going to get AMAZING custom boots from our partner in the UK and I picked THESE beauties:

They're forest green suede, and black patent. Yum, no?

You can check them out on the website too! Anyways, this whole process involved getting my feet scanned so that custom lasts could be made, so that custom shoes could be made! Neat, huh?

Anyways, moving on! I've since left my job at Vorum, although I'm still getting my boots ;), and am working at a new company called National Speakers Bureau/Contemporary Communications, as an office administrator/accountant of sorts... So far, so good!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I've also been to the Vancouver Museum to see a shoe EXHIBIT with my mum! Check out the flyer, as found on a lamppost:

Those gorgeous stained-glass leather boots are Fluevogs, and he was one of Vancouver's FIRST fantastic shoe-designers. Now, he has a cult-following. Anyways, it was an amazing exhibit, and ran through all the history of Fox & Fluevog as designers and as a company. Neat stuff if you ask me! This was my favourite sign:

Truth, sir, truth.

The best of both worlds?!

I've returned! Camping was splendid, although Dominique and I DID have to share a pair of flip-flops (again, the blue ones, those things are indestructible) because the pair that she brought broke about 3 hours into the trip. Oops... I really should have got a photo...

Anyways, it's been SO hot out lately that I'm quite reluctant to revisit the whole wearing-closed-toes-in-summer idea, at least until we get a breeze or two.

So, for all your shoe-anistas out there who LOVE a little heel in your life, but hate the idea of sweating in your pumps all day, I bring you the solution:

Heeled flip-flops.

Again, these are a Payless purchase, and they're actually about 5 years old (shhhh, we'll call them vintage), but they're pretty freakin' cute. The little sequins give them some sparkle, and the bright pink makes them really cute with a super casual outfit. Nothing quite like a splash of colour on your tootsies to bring life to neutral shorts and tops.


Do me a huge favour though and ignore the dirty feet, the unshaven legs and the flaking toenail polish, please. Remember that I've been camping for 4 days.

Long time, no shoes.

Ok, ok I know, it's been nearly 2 months since I posted. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

But, let me explain!!! I went to San Fransisco. And it was amazing. And there were lots of shoes to see (I'll show you!!). But, when I got back, I was having issues posting, and it was a mess.

And then all this time passed.... And I was still taking photos. Sometimes.

Anyways, I'm going to catch you up, and then we can have a clean slate! A fresh start. A gosh-darned NEW BEGINNING! What do you say? Good ;)

SO! San Fran:

**Special Thanks** to my mummy for modelling ;)

Super cute little microsuede wedges we saw in Bellingham before we flew out :)

It might be a little sick how obsessed I am with these crazy sandal-boots. Way too awesome!!

And all the ankle-sandals blow my mind. I got a few pairs you'll have to wait for me to wear :D!

This is one of the shoe displays at Barney's (Where we went and pretending to be heiresses, we know how to live it ;)

A particularly dreamy pair of peep-toed boots at Barney's. I was afraid to look at the tag cause I knew I would start rationalizing. :S!

Then my mummy tried these on. Omg. Chrome snakeskin PERFECTION. And only 800$ ;)


I HAD to jump in on the action, and slipped on some delicious Givenchy before I nearly melted to the floor. ("But, oh, Katy, wouldn't they just be PERFECT for that event we have to go to?" "Oh, yes, Mummy, absolutely DIVINE!")

And then we walked into Armani. And my heart stopped. Sorry, Givenchy, but these shoes are my soul-mates (no pun intended :P)

I had a really hard time taking them off ;) But then... wouldn't you??

Ok, I'm going to continue in another post. See you in a sec :D!