Have you fallen for Fendi shoes contest

Instyle and Fendi are running a shoe contest. The grand prize winner receives an entire shoe wardrobe and 10 runner ups will each add a pair of Fendi’s to their shoe collection.

The contest rules are simple. All you need to do is explain, in 100 words of less, why you have ‘Fallen for Fendi’ Fall/Winter Shoes. One has to wonder why they only allow 100 words. I could write a thesis.

Yellow booties by Marc Jacobs

Aren’t there Marc Jacobs booties, featured in Harper’s Bazaar, a wet, yellow shoe dream?

Again, several trends in one–the oxford, the bootie, the yellow, the dazzling height–doesn’t your little fashion-jaded heart skip an imperceptible beat for these? They’re $750 (ahem), and the magazine indicates only the number to call for the order (415-362-6500); I couldn’t find them on the Internet otherwise.

In a lovely movie I saw last night, Clive Owen reminds his budding love interest that yellow signifies the end of an affair. If so, are designers simply giving you more options to express what state you’re in? Or is this the end of the affair with dark, somber fashion? Oh, one can only hope!

Belle by Sigerson Morrison ’4718′ Pump

I simply adore these Belle by Sigerson Morrison 4718 silver pumps :

The pleated vamp with the stickpin, the elegant lines, the promise of comfort coming from the chunky heel–absolutely dreamy. They would also make a great wedding pump, in my opinion–but they could also dress up a casual outfit quite nicely. They’re $290 at Nrodstrom.

Oxfords, oxfords, oxfords!

Oxford (lace-up) booties and pumps are all the rage this season, perhaps reminding us that this fall women are all about business. Kick up your sexy librarian quota with one of these styles, which are in abundant supply just about everywhere:

Claudia Ciuti ‘Luella’ pump, $332 at Nordstrom.

Emilio Pucci black and gray patent oxfords, $579 at Zappos.

Marc by Marc Jacobs Oxford pump, $450 at Zappos.

Marc Jacobs cylindrical heel lace-up shoe, 508 Euros at Luisaviaroma.

Bally ‘Glania’ brogue pump, $575 at Nordstrom.

Stuart Weitzman ‘Cambridge’ pump, $285 at Nordstrom.

Christian Louboutin ‘Miss Fred Tacco’ booties, $695 at Saks.

I must admit that, by comparison, the low-heeled versions look positively dowdy:

For example, the above Paul Smith ‘Starr’ oxford (rosso dip dye silk), $469 at Zappos, is, well, quite repugnant for me. Not quite menswear and not quite a feminine style either, these shoes are forever stuck in…no man’s land (no shoe’s land?). I can’t imagine any outfit that these shoes would flatter.

I guess I would need a compromise between the flat and the impossibly high heel–something like this, perhaps, with a 2-inch heel and somber croc-embossed leather:

This Vittorio Virgili low-heeled oxford is 242 Euros at Luisaviaroma and is a barely acceptable compromise between a man’s and a woman’s shoe. Since I can’t wear the stylish high heels above, I guess I’ll keep looking!

This Week in Shoes

Here’s a roundup of this week’s shoe stories:

A Florida man traded a surface-to-air missile launcher for Reeboks. True story!

Here’s a kind of MySpace for sneaker afficionados: Sneakerplay. Build friendships over sneakers–why not?

An end in sight for the aggravating shoe-check in airports? I won’t hold my breath yet, but I’m still excited!

High-tech shoes for prostitutes. We covered the story here, too–and I am the opinion it’s a weird, and probably not particularly effective way to actually protect sex workers.

A woman after my own heart writes this compelling editorial: Free your feet, free your soul. Worth the read. In the same vein: New research reveals British women’s painful addiction to shoes.

Finally, here’s a fabulous idea for those of us with plenty of nice designer shoes which we are forced to cram into our closets: a shoe picnic. Display them on the wall as art–don’t they look fabulous?