Chasing Summer, Sensible Shoes, And Cuddly Warm Plaids...

• Marry Me starring Casey Wilson from Happy Endings (RIP) whose husband created both shows and the adorable Ken Marino (Crew Chief Ron from Party Down*!).
  
  Sidenote: A Thakoon Addition dress worn by Casey Wilson in the second episode of Marry Me was a perfect blend of this Grainline Scout and my new Simplicity 5191 dress. I actually gasped when she put her hand in the hidden diagonal pocket.
  
• Manhattan Love Story with Analeigh Tipton and Jake McDorman. I don't know or care if the reviews are great for this but I like it a lot. It's like a mini Nora Ephron comedy every week. Of course, the fact that Ms. Tipton's voice overs and new blond wispy hairdo could also double for Meg Ryan secures that impression. It's premise is cute, but I like how they don't always go for the obvious TV tropes. For example, the couple plans their first "night together" and instead both come down with food poisoning. I loved how the resulting scenes played out.

• The time came and I stepped up to the plate. My feet were killing me in my 11 year-old Merrells so I needed a new pair of hard-working shoes for the retail job...enter Dansko XP Professionals. They make my feet look like Mickey Mouse' from above but they are doing the job and I got them for 45% off at 6pm.com. I also bought them in this great chocolate brown/rust color. I've since been searching the web looking for style inspiration for when I wear them with my "not uniform" clothes.
  

• As for my summer sewing plan, I did very well, even though I am short that one shift dress and three pairs of pants. Luckily, two of the pants and the dress will still work so they remain in the queue joined by a plaid shirtdress (new!), a refashioned button-down shirt (for work), and my mad mod ponte dress. That last one is of course carried over from last year's fall plan.

• After regretting not getting those plaid fabrics last year, I just scooped up this red, hunter, navy, and brown plaid brushed cotton on sale from the JoAnn Fabrics Platitiude collection, along with green stitching thread and matching red topstitching thread. This will become view D from McCall's 6885. I so want to start on this right now, but I have a button-down shirt for work next.

*If you are not already on the Party Down fun train, click on the name to watch it free on Hulu.

Valentino, I Love These Shoes!

FYI: TLo posted about these yesterday and their readers hated them with a passion! So, I guess I am a very unique person with an acquired taste, but I think these are gorgeous! What do you think?

Valentino Fall 2013 RTW

 

Yes, the clothes were beautiful and being an Art History major, I appreciated the influence of the Dutch Masters on the necklines and tapestry prints chosen for the dresses; however, I really loved the gorgeous shoes that walked down that runway. Various styles and colors but all with a common denominator, the upper vamps and heels were backed with velvet which from the front resembled spats from yesteryear.

The description from Vogue.com states:  "...trompe l’oeil Mary Janes (the uppers filled in with blush-colored velvet)..."

Vogue got it wrong as there were no Mary Janes, instead there were T-straps and a few lace-ups fashioned with both chunky and stiletto heels. In addition, all of them had cut-out sides; a unique take on the D'Orsay pump that traditionally reveals the arch of the foot while covering the toes and heel.

  

I love how the chunky white ones with the white pants above make me think of Courrèges boots from the 60s. So, I don't know about the "bitter kittens" at T & Lo but I would definitely wear these, especially the black patent leather lace-ups.

P.S. Love these velvet Byzantine-heeled ankle-straps too! Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2013

Retro From Head To Toes

Seychelles Footwear, for all the retro loving girls out there. I've known of this company for years, seen their name around, but never really checked out their shoe collections. Since I mentioned them in my post about the costumes of the Muppet Movie I had to find the link to their site. What I found was a great collection of modern and gorgeous vintage-inspired shoes whose prices range from $70 to $130*, which is much cheaper than similar styles from Anthropologie. Because I prefer vintage style here are my favorites from their latest collection:

Backspace Hamburg

ClueCarriage

All Dressed Up


Images: Seychelles Shoes
* Their boots price in the $120 to $330 range.

Why Tempt Me?

These things are tempting me, but I'll be able to resist them because I don't have the money.

But, still...how cruel.

Yarra Lace, £39.00
https://www.clarks.co.uk/womens
This adorable 1950s-inspired wedge in flint grey suede and velvet laces is on sale right now at the Clarks UK site only. It also comes in black and yummy purple suede.


These new Vogue patterns at their newly redesigned website; which I love.

V8629 (no zipper!)

V8640 V8633

Two great vintage-y looks

V1160

This is another great vintage-inspired design by DKNY; however, I didn't like the fabric choice on the website, so here's the great pattern sketch.

V1170
A Rachel Comey design, she of the great shoes I usually see on the Totokaelo website. I love the details.

Aris Allen on the East Coast

Checking out a new blog today through Sew Retro, I discovered another company selling reproduction vintage shoe styles.

I'm a big fan of California's Re-Mix shoes but I just don't have the money for them now. This semi-local, east coast company, Aris Allen, sells their shoes at such affordable prices, ($40-$90) it unbelievable. The brand was created by a swing dancing couple in D.C. so it may be because they know if actual dancers buy their shoes they will definitely get return business because the shoes will wear out much faster than "civilian" shoes with that kind of constant use. Since these are created especially for swing dancing, that means they're made to be comfortable, right?* The shoes can be bought online at DanceStore.com.

The shoes I'm talking about are lovely. There are so many that I want and I just found out there is an Aris Allen Factory Outlet not too far away in Baltimore!

Peep-Toe Mary Jane, $89.95 (My faves!)
1930s Heeled Oxford, $64.95

Closed Back Wedge, $89.95

Nubuck RugCutter, $79.95

* I just found out through the website that their shoes are used on Dancing with the Stars so they are comfortable!

If only it could really be mine...

Check out my DREAM closet at Making it Lovely.

Right now, (hopefully) Nicole is just putting the finishing touches on it and soon (very soon, I hope) she will be shipping it down to me, where it will live in my bedroom.

I must have all those boldly patterned dresses and all those vintage-looking Mary-Janes.

Do you see that luscious tray of girly accessories?

Just Lovely.

Me and my Red Shoes

My Clarks arrived early Friday morning, but I didn't open them until I got them home that evening.

As advertised

In real life

As you can see, I ordered the rust pair. They are a more subtle red than the type I'd been looking for the last six months, but I think I like that.



Here they are (first photo) with both black and brown tights. They really look better with the brown than they appear in this photo but I couldn't get the color right.



Though with the Miz Mooz brown ones having a bit more red in it, these Target ombre ones, and now these brownish-red ones, maybe they are all a little too close for comfort.

Maybe I need to get a more true red pair...what do you think?

Waiting...

for my shoes.

Since I live in a secured-door apartment building, UPS wasn't able to deliver my shoes the last two days. Even though I redirected the delivery to my office early this morning (actually 12:04 AM) I won't be able to get them until tomorrow.

It was disappointing since I was wearing an outfit perfectly assembled for those shoes today. My red swing skirt, autumn colored fall shirt, black Forever 21 50s-style swing jacket, and my new pumpkin colored earrings. Oh well, at least I know what I'll wear with them next week.

Target for the win?

The black Merona sweater coat from Target may* have won the challenge to stay in my wardrobe and take its place as my new cardigan.

As it turns out the Old Navy cardigan was only serviceable, not really cute and funky once it was layered over anything more complicated than a brown racer-back tank that strangely enough was originally from Old Navy. Hmmm...

In other matters, the Clark Devine has been asked to join the wardrobe family as it was on major sale at 6pm.com. I was very enamored of the Nicole Beautiful but unfortunately it was not on sale AND it's mixture of red and brown was not as closet-friendly with all of my black skirts and trousers. Hopefully, the Devine may have an easier time finding its place among them, as well as, with the various shades of brown and brown-friendly prints I already have in my closet. It should be arriving today!

*An employee in my department was let go yesterday, so I think the Target cardigan is going back too. My older black cardigan isn't in that bad a shape if I get some funky cool patches on the elbows as soon as possible. Of course, I had a chance to repair it very early in the unraveling process but procrastinated. Oh well.

...but not enough.

Funtasma Gogo 305, $37 (!)

Hmmm, I like these almost enough to dress up as Wonder Woman for Halloween.

Almost.

You can check out more from this brand, Funtasma, here! I found them courtesy of new site, Like.com.

If you get them, please let me know!!!

Yes, shopping...

As it turned out, I do have a bit of money to spend, $80 in fact from those Clarks that I returned. I turned around and ordered these Merrells but a few days later I received a voice mail that The Walking Company could no longer get them (at least not at that reduced price), so that money is now back in the pot. Since it was part of the wedding payment, I still want to spend it on something fun. Hence these shopping posts and that one on red shoes.

Well, back to last weekend:

after Old Navy I ran over to Target before I got exhausted from trying on sweaters in 70 to 80 (!) degree weather. I decided to try on that short sleeve cardigan again, just to be sure. I also tried on any other cardigan that might possibly work out. One of my steadfast and never fail rules is that you never eliminate a garment that catches your eye until you actually try the garment on.

First:

Mossimo Juniors mock turtleneck sweater coat, $35

It does look as good as in the picture, great quality, and has great detail in the pattern (see top photo). However, a short sleeve cardigan is not going to cut it for me, especially since in one day our temperature here dropped from the mid 80s to the low 40s!


Merona one-button car coat, $40

If I had seen the picture before I would not have tried this one on. The picture was incredibly honest. The one I picked up was constructed poorly as you can tell from the neckline but the sleeves were still an awkward length and not flattering at all.

Mossimo mock-neck cardigan, $30

This looks promising but I don't recall seeing this in the store. Perhaps it was because of that great low price. Or it was so unattractive I didn't give it a second look. Who knows.


Merona scarf sweater $40



I love this one! It's not really practical as a throw on/off cardigan because of the hidden button and scarf panels but once done up it is extremely elegant. I especially love the silhouette. I automatically saw it with a short pencil skirt, tights, and pumps though it also looked great with my cords and ballet slipper-like Borns.

So what did I end up buying? Well I was a bad girl and brought two cardigans home on probation. One was the more casual ON cable knit in pale gray and the other was the Merona scarf coat because it was so fittin' elegant I couldn't leave it in the store!

Update: This occurred last weekend so there is a shakeup going on right now. I'm going to try them on again with different items in my wardrobe to see which one deserves to stay. You see, one of these red shoes is on considerable sale and I do still need to replace my other pumps. In total, I can only afford around $80 worth of merchandise. One of the sweaters must go back. I'll let you know which one soon.

Red shoes running through my head...

Nicole Beautiful in Apple

Clarks Divine in Burgundy AND Rust!

Naturalizer Referee in Dark Red

Naturalizer Daily in Red


Naturalizer Ashina in Red

Born Codder in Cherry
Born Fifth Avenue in Raisin