shoeblog

by coutorture

Sister site, FabsugarUK, reported on Queen Elizabeth's gifts to the fashion industry--Anya Hindmarch and Hilary Riva, chairman of the British Fashion Council, were among those honored...

Style Bubble entertains us with talk of sale shopping and New Year's Eve happenings--we can't wait to see her New Year's Eve look. 

Need some quick New Year's Eve outfit inspiration? Check out three looks O.M.O. Writes put together for her readers.

Want to pair your LBD with a great pair of heels? Shoeblog has a round up of this season's disco shoes. 

 

by coutorture

We are living in a state of almost complete panic what with the bailout going haywire and the DOW dropping 700 points so we are doing our best to keep ourselves distracted in our state of incomprehension with a happy grab bag of style blog posts. Maybe Henry Paulson would feel better too if he spent some time reading blogs as well. Well, maybe just the fashion and beauty ones!

The Fashionable Housewife, hopefully not worrying about variable rate mortages, has suggestions on skinny jeans for all bodies even those that have endured childbirth.

Fassonaburu has some truly confusing lace arm warmers. We think they might itch. But then we don't understand a lot of things these days, like say how people tasked with risk management didn't run worst case scenario forecasts!

Ma Petite Chou needs some tough girl shoes. We think Nancy Pelosi could use a few pairs for the next set of bailout negotiations.

Shoe Blog has another emergency. A shoe emergency at a discounter footwear emporium. With conditions like this we are doomed even with cut rate shoe shopping.

And finally The Tastemakers Society has found an umbrella that just about sums up how we are feeling about all of this insanity.

by coutorture

The biggest subject of buzz around Coutorture's corner of the fashion blogosphere today was just how amazing and/or awful the shoes were at Prada's Spring 2009 show with bloggers researching every possible angle of the now infamous footwear.

Shoewawa was first on the scene, Shoeblog had an impressive play by play of the offending/inspiring footwear and noted the shoe cover connection, Hip Candy pointed us to an ankle twisting photo that made is grimace, Fassonaburu even had a video of Yulia Kharlapanova falling, and Fashion Copius rounds up quotes and backstage anecdotes on the show and its already infamous shoes.

And in case you want to read about something else besides Prada, Fashion Fillers is on the hunt for the perfect pair of boots. A journey we wish her luck on as it took us a decade and $400 to get ours (and that was a 50% discount). Denimology talks about My Lovely Jean's new retailer TopShop. And finally it turns out that Alber Elbaz has a thing for colored pencils. No really, Chic and Untroubled points us to a limited edition color pencil box called "20 Years of Supracolor by Alber."

 

by coutorture Americans are prone to bouts of personal mythologizing in our mindscape of imagined new frontiers. Manifest Destiny has never left us. This tendency showcases itself no more beautifully than in our fashion. The ideals of the rough rider have not ceased to appeal even in this time of $4 gallons of gas. As we enter August ready to vacation OPEC cannot kill our need to roam, even if favored mode of transit Harley Davidson's Q2 results were not quite up to their usual standards. But even if that bike can't come home with you, one can at least pretend to its aesthetics. And indeed garments from fringed boots to biker jackets are all the rage in our community with The Coveted and Shoeblog weighing in on both topics. Because really what is funnier than a bunch of aging Boomers and striking fashionistas saying they are bad to the bone. No offense George Thorogood but at this point the gig is up. Aging happened! There is no more "Through Darkest America With Truck And Tank" thanks to Eisenhower. The open road is a pleasant experience for families these days, we personally have experienced some fine rest stops in our cross country jaunts, some with Wi-Fi. It is time to accept that much of that culture of establishment bashing has become the establishment, one we are supporting with Louboutin fringed boots and and Member's Only Biker Jackets. And that is OK, its alright to sincerely like these things and be well off so get off your narcissistic aging high horse. Harley is publicly traded, the highway system keeps America's businesses in gear, and even your humble editor plans road trips to wayward third tier American cities of yore just for bar food. Thus we celebrate the fringe elements of Americana with expensive designer clothing that has repurposed the strange ideals of rebellion into thousand dollar jackets.

by coutorture Click it or ticket has been a national slogan for safer driving for some time. But the way we seemed to be obsessed with buckling up in the fashion business you could be forgiven for thinking retailers underwrote the campaign. As community member Shoeblog points out, ornate buckled sandals are a favorite of New York City women this summer and Bill Cunningham has the photos to prove it. The trouble is that these buckled shoes, with or without heels, have made the rounds for so long that even our favorites like Dolce Vita are now on sale and every copy cat on the block from Steve Madden to Guess has shipped a facsimile to market. So while everyone else is saying one two buckle my shoe we are sorely tempted to say three four shut the door on this trend. And if you really want a nice buckled shoe? Can we suggest these Manolo Blahnik Buckle Anklestraps? We will just leave you with a variety of choices below and you can do whatever feels right.

by coutorture We wonder if the fast fashion culture has had a few unintented consequences for shoe lovers. Is it possible that the faster we go through disposable clothing the less likely we are to take good care of our footwear? If it isn't worth taking care of a jacket or a pair of pants then why would we think its worth taking care of a pair of pumps. Shoeblog thinks we need reassess how we care for our footwear. And we couldn't agree more. We may be a rare case but we own four pairs of good shoes (a boot, a pump, a platform and a sandal) and we find ourselves making the way to our cobbler on a regular basis to keep them looking like new. We actually prefer this method as not only do we enjoy our shoes as an investment we aren't continually hoping, hunting, and searching for the next best thing. We already own the best shoes for us. For more tips on the fine art of footwear care check out Shoeblog's tips.

by coutorture

Most people think they own too much blue. We're not sure if this is some scientific fashion fact but we know we've heard it somewhere, said it ourselves, noticed it reported by others. Blue is a color people can get down with. Whether it's navy or cobalt, most people fancy themselves in some shade of blue and even if they don't, well, they probably own a pair of jeans after all. But yellow, well, yellow is the runt of that dysfunctional family we call The Primary Colors. Yellow, that is, is sitting in his bedroom writing chain letters while Blue is downstairs getting fifty dollar checks from grandma and grandpa. To that end, our network partner, Shoe Blog, has decided to befriend the little color that could, in spirit of a season where the fashion folk have opened their cold, thin arms to its spectrum. To which we say, why the hell not. We own too much blue as it is.


Check out another shoutout.

by coutorture

ShoeBlog takes a step back in time to introduce us to the Spring-O-Lator, a shoe designed for Herbert Levine's line by his wife.