I am forming a society for the preservation of nice footwear
Today as I was driving along in city I was indulging in that well-known female habit of checking out other women and assessing their clothing/look/hair etc. I was feeling charitable, and was delighted to spot a beautiful black velvet suit jacket with slim white piping, matched with a very nicely tailored grey frock. The wearer would have been late 20s, well groomed hair and walking along jauntily looking quite sweet indeed "How nice" I thought to myself, before I gazed down in horror to the footwear.
Light blue havaianas.
I have whinged before about the whole thongs with a suit thing, but now I have had enough! I may be old-fashioned but I belong to the suit=work, thongs=beach school of dressing. Enough crimes against fashion I say. From now on I will accost such types and shriek loudly at them until they march into Nine West and get themselves a nice pair of proper shoes.
12 comments:
Ms. Batville, I couldn't agree more. I know of one bride and her coterie who wore thongs for her wedding. Yes, it was a beach wedding, but she had a traditional white frou-frou dress! The other fashion footwear faux-pas that I abhor is the ugg boots or hairy boots with mini skirts or shorts. Ewwwww.
as a feline frocker, I can only agree. But perhaps she was a lowly but well-dressed law clerk, forced to trot across town on some minor errand; the Miss Louise specials might be in the draw at the office...
summer always presents me with footwear dilemas aplenty. While I wouldn't wear thongs when out and aout, I have yet to find a halfway feminine shoe (I'm too old and sensible for heels but I think they look very nice on those that can wear them), that I can walk in without getting sweaty footed blisters. Winter is easy, boots. Summer always ends up birks. Luckily there is an almost total absence of a dress standard where I work...
Ms Batville,
Hooray - some one I can ask for a disciplinary ruling on shoes!!
What do you make of Keds www.keds.com.au
While not possessing the coltish legs of Mischa Barton and clearly not being 15 years old, they appeal to me. However if they are going to make me look like a try-hard granny, I will avoid them with all my might.
If I were to buy them, I would promise on my honour not to wear them with business suits or wedding gowns.
Perhaps the lady in question had galumphing great wide feet that find it difficult to fit into pretty little shoes no matter how hard she tries? Because if so, you may have been looking at me.
Also, gigglewick, Keds are way expensive. You should pop down to Big W for their similar canvas shoes at $11.95 a pop.
Uggs are a sure sign of the end of civilisation!
gigglewick I am honoured to be able to asked to deliver a ruling. I quite like Keds and I don't think one needs to look like Mischa Barton to wear them. I think with shoes the question to ask is whether they make the rest of your outfit look finished or rather do they stick out and seem odd (hence light blue havianas not matching black velvet jackets). Someone I trust recently told me the trick was to stand in front of a full length mirror, shut your eyes and then open them again - if something stands out and looks wrong you should change it. It is a very useful tip.
I recently acquired some pink Converse shoes which look great with jeans and a t-shirt and don't seem to make me look like a try hard granny. On the other hand if I was to wear them with shorts I might seem tragic. I'd also check out the Big W option.
Audrey and Janet - I do sympathise with the shoe dilemma. I am not possessed of the smallest feet myself. My Mum tells me that the first thing she looked at when I was born was my toes to see if I inherited her family's weird long second toe thing. I did and for years I refused to wear anything strappy.
I have however in recent years found the solution to footwear problems - frequent combat style raids on shoes shops. Try lots of things on, don't look for anything specific and if it feels right buy it. One time you might terrorise assistants, pull their store apart and not buy anything, but the next time you might pick up two good buys at once.
(Of course one look at my credit card bill might undermine the wisdom of this strategy !)
I'm as much into the fashion crash tackle as the next gal, but Ms B, heels really, really hurt to walk in! (Call one a pussy, but one simply can't do it - one is too elderly for such pain. Say no to blisters!) Perhaps said lassie had a lovely pair of stilettos in her bag, to change into a few steps from the office? I've been known to (I know, horror of horrors) wear the sneakers with a suit and carry proper shoes with me, so perhaps the thongs are the warm weather equivalent or the Reeboks?
Well you know, I hate to be the one to point this out because I adore him, but Carson Kressley is the one to blame for the whole suit/thong thing. But I hate it too. I always want to shout "Put some real shoes on!" but of course I don't, because I'm not a psycho :)
"The other fashion footwear faux-pas that I abhor is the ugg boots or hairy boots with mini skirts or shorts. Ewwwww."
I am with watersheddd here - I really hate the ugg/hairy boot with skirt look. However, I am really quite fond of Haviannas and would wear them with just about anything. This might be partially explained by the fact that my feet are too small to fit into anything stocked in Australian shoe shops (size 4-5) unless I want children's shoes, which I don't, and the fact that I lived in Sydney...
I must say that I share Janet's summer shoe dilemna, with the added problem of not being able to shop my way out of it without leaving the country. It really does make Haviannas quite appealing...
that should say 'dilemma'...
I have the perfect solution for all of you. They go with EVERYTHING and are very affordable at the DFO.
White Keds with cars on that light up in the dark! There's something for everybody in that, don't you think? And seriously, what else would one wear with a black velvet suit? Just ask my toddler, I'm sure he'd agree...
Honey Bear that is awesome. If I were still the fashionista type* I would be all over that.
* may not have ever been.
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