Vibram: Ask For A Five Finger Discount

I am the youngest of a large family.  When I was a toddler, my older siblings would put my dad’s leather gloves on my feet and pretend I was a trained monkey.  We were easily entertained.

When I saw this photo it took me back to my childhood.

These shoes are by Vibram at about $75.00.  Time Magazine named them one of the best inventions of 2007.   Where have I been?

They offer a classic pump

A smart maryjane

and a stylish bootie.

I saw these in a store that specialized in outdoor gear.  I asked for the five finger discount and the sales guy didn’t even change expression.  No humour.

I don’t even know where to begin with these.  I will let you all have your fun with them.

Moschino C10112ISP1 “Money Shoe”

Call me crazy.  Ridicule my taste, style & judgment.  Whatever; in this instance, I don’t care.  I am insanely haunted by this (admittedly) utterly impractical shoe. I have absolutely no occasion, outfit, or excuse to wear these. But, sometimes there is no conscious rationale behind our attraction to a particular shoe.  So fine, I’m irrational.  I think I can deal with that.

Moschino C10112ISP1 $490 $275.64 at Overstock.com

Considering the ever-increasing prices of designer shoes, Moschino’s visual pun on shoe-bling and pricey styles falls more toward art than utility. I love it.  What an apt commentary on the amounts we shoe-obsessed women can be convinced to pay for a beautiful shoe-crush.  This shoe is such a great bit of tongue-in-cheek irony that I would love to own it just to but it on display in its own little curio nook.  It would be fun to add a hint of self-mockery to my decor – particularly since my little shoe-obsession is no secret to most of  those who know me.

And, unless I am mistaken, art may be the only wise way to purchase this particuler “last pair” at Overstock; someone has apparently neglected to note the shoe size in the item description.

Choosing Shoes in the Dark

Good morning.

There was some excitement at my house last night.

Not ‘dinner party’ excitement.

Oh, no – more of a let’s find all of the oil lamps and play cards in the darkness kind of excitement.

It started with a short telephone call that we received from our neighbor as we were returning home from a quick jaunt to the grocery store.  I was driving, so my hubby answered the phone. But, I still managed to hear the word ‘exploded’ float out from the receiver.

What exploded?!

This exploded:

That, boys and girls, is what it looks like after your power pole explodes and your transformer catches fire..something to do with dry summers and freezing rain in the spring making these things into occasional tinderboxes.  Good to know.

Here’s an obligatory close-up. I know it’s blurry, but note the hint of smoke as the wood still smolders:

So, what does this have to do with shoes?

Actually, very little.

But, since hubby did ask last night, “Well honey, how are you going to turn this into a Shoeblog post”.

The gauntlet was thrown.

Here goes:

I am fairly type-A about storing my shoes. I like to keep them in their boxes and then use 2×3 printer labels to put a stock-photo of the shoe on the end so I know what I have in my closet at a glance.  But, last night, I realized there is another benefit to being a wee bit uptight about my shoe storage.

Keeping things organized prevents mismatching if you are rooting around in a dark closet for your matching shoes:

Imagine leaving the house wearing these:

Because, when you grabbed them, they looked like these:

In the dark, all shoes are gray.

I’m not saying that I’ve done this, but I know there are folks out there who have.  This is definitely one of the potential fashion pitfalls to be aware of when buying multiple colored pairs of a perfectly-fitted shoe.

Actually, I’m certain that I’ve inadvertently done this with socks.  And, there was that time I ran to the closest ladies restroom stall to perform unexpected but necessary wardrobe repair; I abruptly realized that the shirt I was wearing was, in fact, inside out.  *blushes*

So, how about any of you? Has anybody else had one of these unfortunate closet mishaps?

Polyvore and Mafia Wars

Welcome to my two newest obsessions: Mafia Wars and Polyvore.  If you are interested in visual shopping sites or are involved in any social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace, you are likely to have encountered at least one, if not both of these entities.

The first, Mafia Wars, is an online computer-based RPG that encourages social networking.  More than mildly addictive, there are entire communities (families) of chick-mafias that are as addicted to their game play family as we here on Shoeblog are addicted to fabulous shoes; oh well, just one more obsession in my life.

The second, Polyvore, is a visual-shopping website that has been around for about a year or so.  I don’t normally go in for the whole visual-shopping thing. But, while Polyvore is definitely in the family of ‘Visual Shopping’ websites, it has a fun and creative twist.  While you can use the Polyvore engine to shop a fair number of online retailers, the real fun is in creating ‘sets’.  Essentially this is a ‘Fashion Plates’ playset for grown-ups. With a few clicks and drags, you can create anything from a simple dream-outfit to a magazine-quality fashion layout with accessories, to some rather stunning and individual pieces of stand-alone art. In addition to this is a layer of social networking and competitive set-creation that has it’s own unique energy.

Anyway, to give you a quick example, I went over to Polyvore and threw together this quick ‘Mafiosa’ dream-set as a fun way to bring my two newest interests together in one place.

I think I’ve managed to come up with a fun, tongue-in-cheek, gamer’s outfit to do any lady-mafiosa proud.  And, I have to admit,  these brass-knuckle, heeled shoes by Ellie Shoes run a close, and significantly more affordable, second to similar styles by D-squared (or the infamous Chanel gun shoe).

The biggest downside I see is this.  If I were actually to geek out and wear something like this while I logged in to play Mafia Wars, my dearest hubby would likely find himself with thoughts other than my playing a computer game on his mind …. which, I suppose, is not necessarily a bad thing.

So, if you love playing with fashion as well as obsessing over shoes: Go. Play. Share your sets here in our forums. Come on, who said only kids get to have fun?

Met Gala 2009: Shoes on the Red Carpet

Last night in New York was that always-delightful high point of every fashionista’s calendar o’ chic: the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala.  This year’s theme (in conjunction with the Costume Institute’s major annual exhibition of the same title)?  The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion.

While last year’s Superhero show only produced a few interesting footwear choices, this year, there were beautiful shoes galore!

This may well be the year of Nicholas Kirkwood.  It certainly was on the carpet last night.  In my opinion, the most interesting designs were his, and they were on the feet of some of the top models in the industry.

Here’s Jessica Stam in the S9051B.

And here’s Karolina Kurkova so considerately displaying the S9049A for us.

Check out the official site for stockists near you and a peek at the GORGEOUS, uber-glam styles for the spring/summer 09 line.

While Kirkwood was my favorite on the carpet, there were plenty more style statements made through shoes.

Louboutins were everywhere… of course!

I’m not sure I’m feeling the giant bow look (seen here on Ivanka Trump with her Bow T pumps, which you can find at Joseph here), but I’ll tell you I do love her dress.

The so-called hourglass heels from Louis Vuitton that Twinkletoes wrote about so amusingly during Paris Fashion Week earlier this year were EVERYWHERE last night!  And I do mean everywhere.

Madonna wore a crazed thigh-high boot version.

Posh went with the ankle straps.

And Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester took the cake for Walking Disaster in the covered ankle bow-tie version.  I hasten to add that the shoes are BY FAR the best part of this outfit, and that Walking Disaster status is earned by that horrible piece of—I hate to even call it fashion—fabric she has covered herself in that is an awful combination of rejected upholstery, spangles, and some American Apparel red lamé leggings.  XOXO?  I think not.

But we can’t end on such a hideous note, can we?  No no.  I wouldn’t do that to you.

So instead, I will end with a beautiful shoe that I totally covet.  It’s Roger Vivier’s origami-inspired Kyte in a beautiful ivory/gold combination that matches Marisa’s dress perfectly.  Mwah!

All in all, a beautiful batch of shoes full of interesting heels and toes and uppers and materials.  It’s going to be a fun season, folks.  Can’t wait for it to unroll.

(Celeb photos courtesy of Celebutopia and StyleFrizz.)