Shoes I want

You know how right when you go on a spending fast, you realize you want tons of stuff? Yep. That’s what’s happening right now. Chris and I are not spending anything for the month of September except for necessities and things we’ve already made plans to spend on (like fabric/pattern for a fall cardigan for me, or textbooks for a Spanish class I’m taking in a couple weeks, or appointments we’ve already scheduled). Of course now I’m all “Omg I want this and this and that and this and that and that and this!”

I mean, seriously though. LOOK AT THESE DOC MARTENS. I am obsessed.

The classic 1460s in synthetic Pewter.

The Darcie in Black/Pink fabric.

Chris says my collection of boots is starting to take over the closet. The question is, can you have too many boots? No. No, I think not.

New purchases!

So, the weather’s turned stupid cold again, just in time for spring! Come on, spring, where did you go? This week is supposed to be a high of 40 pretty much all week with some snow. Yuck. But on Friday I will be traveling to Minnesota to visit my favorite Stephanie! I’m so excited, and at least with the weather I won’t be in for a crazy shock when I arrive. I can’t wait – I desperately need a vacation!

Anyway, the Friday before this past one I splurged on a new bag and some shoes! The bag is from Urban Outfitters and the shoes are from Target. I actually don’t like the Urban Outfitters/Anthropologie empire, but I’m pretty sure there is nowhere else to get a reasonably priced, black, non-leather satchel. I have wanted this style of bag for about ten million years, and after I first spotted it, I waited weeks to go back to buy it! We spent half an hour wandering the store trying to find it the second time, and worried that they were sold out (stores like that have pretty high turnover). But no, we found them in a shelf underneath a display, rather than on a rack. They come in tons of colors, too, and they are vegan, yay!

The shoes are my favorite. I actually really love these shoes – it’s kind of guilt-filled because they hardly last very long. Maybe a year, tops. They’re really soft, manmade, with no durability whatsoever. Despite this, they’re really simple and super comfortable and only about $12. I actually was going to buy them in black, and I picked up a box and opened it and instead of black, I saw these amazing silver shiny ones. It’s hard to photograph, but they’re amazingly sparkly.

Makes me feel a bit like Dorothy in her silver shoes. Too bad I have to wait awhile to wear them again with this cold (they are definitely thin)! These are my first clothing purchases in months, actually. Pretty exciting!

Outfit post!

Finally, after dithering about it for months, I’ve decided to make an outfit post. I walked in the apartment and Chris accosted me with a camera and wanted to take a picture of my cold-weather gear. I insisted on taking off my hat, though, so ignore the hair (and, you know, the face, and the stupid expression).

Coat: Anne Klein
Skirt: Self-made
Tights: Urban Outfitters
Shoes: John Fluevog
Scarf: Self-made
Arm-warmers: Self-made

I’m also wearing a long-sleeved thermal and a cardigan under my coat, and during my walk home from the subway I wore mittens Stephanie made for me (yayyy) and a hat Chris got for me. I realize that that means that I’m wearing FOUR handmade things, which is pretty freaking cool.

Also, we can’t take a single picture without a cat sneaking in there somehow. That’s just how it works.

Shoe collection!

Speaking of shoes, I’ve finally decided to get around to posting up my shoe collection after thinking about it for quite some time. So, shoes. Girl’s best friend or something. I actually have quite a few shoes, but not nearly as many as some people. In fact, I think Chris has more shoes than me, which is fine. He’s a shoe connoisseur, maybe more than me. We also tend to go for different shoes, just as we have very different fashion – he’s a 1960s prep and I’m definitely not. But if there’s one thing we both have in common, it’s that we gravitate toward interesting, exciting, colorful, or otherwise eye-catching shoes.

Here it is! Ignore my weird pink shirt laying there (I didn’t even notice when I was taking a picture) and the cardboard toilet paper roll (Augustus loves to play with those). Actually, I’m missing two pairs of flats (black ballet flats and black flat oxfords) and a pair of sandals (electric blue gladiator flat sandals – I’m not a sandal person, I think they might be my first pair of sandals since I was maybe 13). But this is pretty much it. I wear several of these more than once a week and some of them just once a month. But they all get worn and pretty often!

First two. The pair on the left is by far my tallest heels at about 3.5 inches, maybe 4. They definitely feel very tall, even with the platform, so I confess I don’t wear them as often as I’d like. I can’t read the brand from the picture and I don’t feel like digging them out, but I remember being very excited by these shoes when I saw them, particularly the shape of the wedge. They have a little triangular hole in the wedge as well, so they’re rather sculptural. I also remember hemming and hawing about them until they sold out in my size, and then I bought a half a size down and had to stretch them.

The shoes on the right are United Nude shoes that Chris’s amazing stepmother bought me in Pau, France. I love them. They’re amazingly comfortable and easy to walk in and they’re really awesome with all the colors. I’ve gotten a ton of people asking about the material, so if you’re curious, they’re made of elastic. Rainbow elastic.

The shoes on the left are oxford heels from Target. They must have run me maybe $15 at most. I do like them and used to wear them all the time, but for some reason I’ve been wearing them less. I think I get paranoid about wearing out the heels in a lot of my shoes.

The shoes on the right are great! They get a lot of use. These are TUK shoes, which is a great brand because they’re inexpensive, quality, interesting, and have lower heels than just about every other goth/punk inspired brands (seriously, what’s with the 6 inch stiletto + platform?). Also they have some cool creepers.

Getting into combat boot territory. I actually feel more comfortable in combat-style-inspired boots than any other boot. The shoes on the left are from Modcloth and they get a lot of use, but they have a weirdly plasticy heel. I’ve nearly killed myself slipping on dry cement sidewalks before, and I won’t wear these to our local Whole Foods EVER because I think they wax the floor and turn it into a roller skating rink during off hours.

The boots on the right I’ve had since I was 16 and they’re still in awesome shape. I love these boots. I remember seeing them in Foley’s and BEGGING my mom for them (Hi, mom!). She cut a deal with me to pay half and I would pay the other half, and I saved like crazy to get these. I love that the sole part is so high – perfect for rain and also makes me feel like I’m wearing a couple of bricks.

Finally, my two guilty shoes. These are both leather, which I am opposed to as a vegetarian. Buuuuut, well, I really have no good excuse for them. I try to just ignore the tag and the little pangs of guilt I get when I wear them.

On the left, those are John Fluevog Libby Smiths in black on black. I originally wanted the ubiquitous and stupidly hard to find black and white ones, but when I tried these on in the Fluevog store, everyone gasped, even the sales people. They are made for me. They fit so perfectly it’s incredible. I have very narrow legs and feet and these actually fit around my ankles and calves PERFECTLY. It’s incredible. You can’t see the detailing very well but the buttons are red-violet and they have faux-spats in black.

On the right, skeleton Doc Martens. I’ve shown these before on a previous blog, and here they are again. Funny story – once, I had a work training to go to. I remember being super distracted the entire time while packing for it, because Chris was coming along and we were going to look at apartments, so I was so busy contacting realtors to make appointments to look at places. I forgot to toss in a pair of work-appropriate flats for the trip, and ended up having to wear these the entire week. No one cared, and I actually got a ton of compliments. I’m extremely EXTREMELY fortunate to work at a place where your personality and performance matter more than what you wear. Everyone’s excited when I wear these boots. I also wear them when I have to fly and the TSA people always give me raised eyebrows and weird looks.

And this is it. I hope to add a pair of 20 eyelet black satin-finish Doc Martens (the knee-high ones) for times where I really don’t feel like having people stare at the skeleton feet on my boots, but I need tall boots for rain or snow (the boots I use for rain just bit the dust a few weeks ago), but that’s later. I suspect a few of these shoes (the black oxfords and possibly the wedges) will be either sold or given away sometime soon, but the rest of them I absolutely adore!