Every year just before the Oscars Stuart Weitzman opens an Oscar Styling Suite, this year it is in the London Hotel in West Hollywood.  It does hair blow outs, make up application, offers chocolate treats, colonics (only kidding on this), and red carpet shoes.  It also gives Stuart Weitzman the opportunity to chat with stylists and celebrities, and promote his shoes in general. 

 I am a huge SW fan.  His shoes are entry level designer prices – about $300 – , high quality, and he is prolific with about 700 shoe designs each year so it is not often you see someone else wearing your shoes.

  Here are some of the shoes shown.   All are beautiful. 

My second favorite pair

My favorite pair.  Do you love the crystals on the heel?

Since 2002, Stuart Weitman designed a pair of million dollar shoes for the Oscars, then offered them to one of the nominated women. They were usually auctioned off and the money donated to a charity.   In 2009 he decided to not make a pair of these shoes because the recession was taking it’s toll on everyone.  I don’t think he is designing a pair this year because I haven’t seen anything about them.  If anyone knows if he is making a pair of these shoes let us know.

(Wireimage.com)

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I’m not one for following every color trend that comes along.

As I push on closer and closer to (age) 40, I tend to stick with those colors that have proved to be complimentary to me over the years. Luckily, pretty much anything in the blue color family works for me.

Plus, with something close to an even zillion re-tweets last week of Pantone’s Color of 2010, this particular color trend seemed worth mentioning.

It will certainly be interesting to see if fashion and shoe trends fall in line with this prediction. It makes sense given the current resurgence of 80’s-inspired fashion that several of the staple colors from that decade, including turquoise and fuschia, would make an appearance. I also recall seeing a significant increase in both turqoise and fuschia sandals last spring and summer, so maybe this is less of a prediction than an acknowledgement of an emerging trend.

So, here it is:

15-5519 Turquoise, an inviting, luminous hue, as the color of the year for 2010. Combining the serene qualities of blue and the invigorating aspects of green, Turquoise evokes thoughts of soothing, tropical waters and a languorous, effective escape from the everyday troubles of the world, while at the same time restoring our sense of wellbeing.

Luckily for me, I already have my turquoise for the year – care of a few great sales last spring:

Guess ‘Chiquita” & LAMB watch

Sandals by ‘Hot in Hollywood’

Report Signature’s ‘Dita’

Okay, I’ll admit, the last is more of a faboulous sky blue, but what’s the point if all of my shoes are the exact same shade?

Anyway, while I doubt any of these shoes from my collection are still available anywhere but the retail aftermarket, there are still a huge number of fantastic turquoise options for you to choose from right now.

Among them:

Christian Louboutin Double Platform Knotted Mule $895 at Nieman Marcus

Christian Louboutin Glitter Peep Toe Pumps $725 at Nieman Marcus

Stuart Weitzman Turquoise Embellished Strappy Sandals $395 at Saks.com

And, for the slightly more budget-conscious:

Jeffrey Campbell ‘Downtown’ Bootie $139.95

Poetic License ‘Kiss and Tell’ $94.95 at Nordstrom.com

Tory Burch Reva Jelly Flats $95 at Saks.com

Steve Madden ‘Saahara’ $49.95 at Nordstrom

And, for the extreme frugalista:

Montege Bay ‘Oscar Bow’ $16.99 $12.99 at Payless.com

Montego Bay ‘Marissa’ sandal $19.99 at Payless.com

So, will you be on the hunt for the perfect turquoise footwear this year?

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UGG Australia recently collaborated with a number of popular designers in the 7th annual UGG Art and Sole (Charity) Auction with proceeds benefiting the St. Judes Children’s Hopital.  According to the St. Jude’s website, this event has raised more than $315,000 for the hospital to date.

From the UGG’s website:

In 2005, UGG® Australia decided to use St. Jude as the primary charity for every annual Art & Sole celebrity boot auction. Each year select high profile artists, actors, and musicians are asked to hand design a pair of Classic Boots to auction off on the brand’s homepage during a fourteen day period in December. All of the proceeds are then donated to further the research for St. Jude. Last year, the 5th annual auction raised more than $105,000. Celebrity participants included: Liv Tyler, Miley Cyrus, Eva Longoria, Matthew McConaughey, Ellen DeGeneres, Martha Stewart, Jessica Simpson, Sharon Stone and many more.
Details

Each participant that agrees to design a pair of UGG® Boots is sent an art kit which includes everything they need from paint to sharpie markers. When finished, each celebrity signs each boot and a headshot before sending back to us. Then the auction begins!
About St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis, Tennessee, St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world. No family ever pays for treatments not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay. St. Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its fund-raising organization.

This year’s designers included Manolo Blahnik, Betsey Johnson, Reem Acra, Giuseppe Zanotti, Rebecca Minkoff, LaROK, True Religion, Stuart Weitzman, Christian Siriano, Lauren Moffatt, Thomas Wylde, Chrome Hearts, PPQ, Zang Toi, Rebecca Taylor, Erin Wasson, Jenni Kayne, Miss Sixty, Leanne Marshall, Pamela Roland, Carlos Falchi, Eugenia Kim, Chloe Dao, and Rafe New York,

My favorite was the flowers and butterflies offering from LaRok (Final bid $2100)

But, the biggest winner for St. Jude appears to be this strappy, studded boot by Rafe New York which ended it’s bidding at $2750.

Final bids on the boots varied from that just-shy-of-3k high-bid down to a more modest $500 for these Thomas Wylde’s skull-themed boot:

Now, let’s play a game!

How many boots can you match to their designer without peeking at the auction link at the top of this story?

Answers are listed after the break below.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Stuart Weitzman has some pretty holiday shoes, and one that just looks precarious. The heel is nothing but a stake.

The Avalon, Stuart Weitzman’s big holiday shoe pictured below, is $355.

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Some of you may remember that back during the Spring 2009 runway shows I developed a bit of a crush on these Marc by Marc Jacobs openwork granny boots. Something about them just clicked for me.

Marc by Marc Jacobs ‘693556′ lace-up sandal $384.97 at Amazon, $412.46 $549.95 at Endless.

Marc by Marc Jacobs ‘693185′ lace-up bootie $197.98-$495 at Amazon & Endless (depending on size/color combo)

Now, I have theoretically had time to gain some little bit of emotional distance from these shoes. After all, the Spring 2009 MBMJ runway show was over a year ago.  Alas, granny-boot lover that I am, these have not lost any of their hold on me.  Unfortunately, finding a way to actually purchase a pair of these will involve the moon and stars coming into the correct alignment along with positive shopping signs and portents evidencing themselves in my favor ….. or perhaps just continued careful budgeting, having good luck hold out on issues like car and home maintenance expenses, and a hoping that a size 7 1/2 will remain in stock until I can honestly say ‘this is the pay period it can happen’.

However, if my budget remains tight enough that the MBMJ’s remain an impractical splurge, I will keep the following shoes in mind as acceptable, affordable alternatives.

First we have these hardcore knock-offs from Type Z:

Type Z ‘Ritchie’ pump $81.50 $95 at Zappos.

No challenge figuring out where the inspiration for these came from…….

There are also some less literal (copied) interpretations of the openwork style that are also very cute. And, if they go on super-sale, they could become near-irresistible.

These ones are my favorite of the bunch…they are seriously vying to knock my MBMJ crush down to a number two slot. How fickle is my shoe love now?

Linea Paolo ‘Vie’ $86.90 $129.95 at Nordstrom.

I am totally digging on these and they are on equal crush footing for me on a strictly visual basis. They do have the MBMJ’s totally whipped on price, though, to this involuntary penny-pincher.

(If you like these but are not on a budget like me, you might also like these Cynthia Vincent ‘Maddox‘ sandals over at Endless.)

Other contenders for my attention are styles by Stuart Weitzman, Pour La Victoire, Dolce Vita, Type Z, and Elizabeth & James. But, I’m still liking the Nordies and original MBMJ’s the best … so, I will probably not be bookmarking these others.

Anyway, I suppose I will just have watch the sales – and also my budget…nothing new there.

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