Well, after episode two’s rather bland shoe offerings, last week’s episode three was a definite improvement. 

I have been drooling over the Gucci “Eva” wingtip platform pump and booties since I first saw them at the Gucci website last fall.  Unfortunately, even at Bluefly’s best sale prices, these have yet to drop below the $450-500 range. This is just too rich for my blood - and my bank account.

So, I was happy recently to find several reasonable and affordable alternatives to satisfy my attraction to the basic style of the Gucci originals.

• Guess by Marciano’s “Egeria” $129 at Zappos.com/$125 at Shoes.com. In black or brown:

• Report “Ellis” $189 at Zappos.com/$185 at Shoes.com.  In black, grey, or nude:

• Bongo “Square Dance” $46.00 at Zappos.com:

And, for those of you attracted to the green Cavalli sandal already seen on several episodes, Chinese Laundry has this affordable copy. Which, interestingly enough, seems to come in just about any color except for green.

• Chinese Laundry “Mika”, $63 at Zappos. In black, red, royal blue, and white:

I love the challenge of finding affordable styles for those of us who are on a budget or who live in small towns where we see very little variety. I hope these help you to look like you just walked off of a fashion runway.

And as for tonight’s show? I’m hoping to start seeing stronger designs tonight, both in footwear and in fashion.

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LEANNE WAS ROBBED!!!!  Robbed, I tell’s ya!

How beautiful and classy and chic-with-a-(literal)-twist was this outfit?  It’s a blouse and skirt, and I would wear both of them, together, separately, any which way I could.  And she accessorized it perfectly with that gold necklace and the Gucci Eva wing-tip inspired platform pump.

On the other hand, the actual winning outfit (Kenley’s) did indeed look like it was made with… what did Joe call it?  Ft. Lauderdale pool furniture cushion fabric.  From the 80s.  Not in a good way.  I’ll give it that it was interesting and well-made and a good interpretation of the photograph on which it was based.  And it gave us our first double shoe usage (the emerald green Robert Cavalli sandal from episode 1).  But I can’t put this dress in the top 3 at all, let alone give it the win.

Who would I say was deserving of more love (and perhaps a spot in the top three instead of either Kenley’s or Terri’s (which was also interesting, but the dress over pants thing is old hat, and hers seemed to have a lot of extra messy fabric that made it look flouncy rather than streamlined sexy)?

Once again, Jerell.  He made a whole gown, for chrissake!  And it’s perhaps more limiting in what kind of “night on the town” you can wear it to (a black tie gala?  a flamenco performance?), it’s beautifully made and a gorgeous dress.  And worn with shoes that are not quite the Kenneth Cole Hit or Miss, but pretty close.

I’d also give a shout out to Kelli for this rocker Mad Max number, which went perfectly with the Gucci Ebony sandal, which isn’t available anymore, but I remember well from Chris March’s Hershey outfit last season.

I mean, I even didn’t hate Blayne-licious and his neon frills.  Though I didn’t much like the blah shoe choice (something along the lines of the Charles David Devin pump).

Emily’s losing “little black dress with a corsage” (Tim Gunn is always right, people.  Listen to him!) wasn’t great, and one could argue that the Gucci Eva maryjanes (guess it was the night for Gucci Eva shoes) were the most fabulous part of the outfit.

But in this, too, I think the judges went wrong.  Because I swear to you that I would much sooner be seen in public wearing that dress—which is at least kicky and has an energy to it—than Jennifer’s dowdy and depressing silk charmeuse number, which looks like maternity wear for a ladies club luncheon rather than a dress for a night on the town.

The shoes are VERY DEFINITIVELY the best part of this outfit.  They’re the secret love child of the Stuart Weitzman Vanity and the Christian Louboutin Caberet, and I love them.  Unlike the dress.

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Yes, it’s back.  Much like Galligator, I’m hella excited to see Project Runway back for season 5.  And whaddaya know, it’s back to Season 1 for the famous supermarket challenge.

My god, a lot of them used tablecloths.  That makes for a boring supermarket challenge, folks.

But the new Bluefly shoes were lots of fun.

Let’s give Kelli her props for this winning outfit, which was a beautiful dress AND made of creative products (vacuum cleaner bags, coffee filters, push pins, and my very favorite element: the spine of a spiral notebook for hook & eyes on the back).  And the Charles Nolan Casey pump was a nice shoe to go along with it.

In other interesting shoe choices, we’ve got Emily’s bouncy ball collar dress with the Charles Nolan Tara boots in bronze.  Gotta say, the collar’s fun, but the boots are my favorite part of the outfit.

Following on in the school of “the shoes are the best part” was Jennifer’s paper towel dress.  The dress was cute enough (if a little snore-inducing), but the emerald green Roberto Cavalli sandals popped.

I liked Joe’s “Italian” themed pasta dress.  And much as I gasp in horror to imagine it, it looks like Bell (the model) may be shoving her feet into these funky Christian Dior Anniversary pumps without benefit of ankle strap or proper sizing.

On the rare “affordable shoe” front, it looks like Daniel (who when he first showed up in a camera angle that didn’t show his face, terrified me for a moment that Daniel Franco was back… AGAIN) used the Savior mules from Charles by Charles David.  Also Elena here was by far my favorite model.

And then we get to eliminated Jerry’s crazy shower curtain/tablecloth concoction that does indeed (as one of the contestants said on the show) look like it belongs in American Psycho.  And the Cesare Paciotti white boots (embellished with even more crazy ribbons) don’t help matters.  As far as I’m concerned, this Auf’d designer was good riddance.

I won’t go into all the shoes, because this post would go on for days, but I can’t wait to see how they use the shoes this season, and to figure out which is the Patron Shoe of Season 5.

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I don’t know what’s come over me this Halloween, but I feel less Halloweeny and more…Hallospleeny. You know, in the sense that the French used “spleen,” particularly Baudelaire:

Spleen

Quand le ciel bas et lourd pèse comme un couvercle
Sur l’esprit gémissant en proie aux longs ennuis…
…

When the low, heavy sky weighs like a lid
On the groaning spirit, victim of long ennui…

Needless to say, donning a costume and going out partying seems like a faraway prospect right now. Where’s that Halloween candy? Give me some more.

But! If I needed some nice shoes to get me out of this funk, go out, and own the night, it would probably be these Roberto Cavalli burgundy metallic booties:

What would I go as? As someone who can walk in high heels, of course!

Happy HalloWEEN, everybody!

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For fall 2007, Roberto Cavalli designed a collection exclusively for H&M with prices that can’t be beat (think $9.90 - $349 ). All of the items are, in keeping with Cavalli’ style, very sensual, flamboyant, and fun. Let’s have a look, shall we?

I love that these Cavalli for H&M shoes are in Cavalli’s signature leopard print and gold but I must admit that I was hoping for something more over-the-top, like these jeweled T-strap sandals.

No worries, the rest of the collection, including the accessories and as-seen on celebrity dresses are much more appealing.

Cavalli for H&M includes some very affordable accessories. My favorite is the serpent horn pin for $9.90.

Scarlett Johansson and Britney Spears both worn this stunning gold sequined dress from Cavalli’s Spring 2004 line. For a mere $249 (by Cavalli prices), you can also have it too. I wonder what the original went for.

Kate Hudson wore this shimmery dress from the Roberto Cavalli’s Fall 2005 collection to a movie premiere. It’s very similiar to the one that H&M is now offering.

I’m quite fond of the feminine ruffle dress and it’s sibling, the ruffled blouse. I have rather wide shoulders though and wonder if I could pull it off.

The loose animal printed silk dress looks quite comfy and looks like something JLO would wear now that she’s pregnant.

More lustworthy pieces online at Roberto Cavalli for H&M.

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