Haven’t you always wanted to peek into your friends’ shoe closets, asking them where they got their favorite pairs? Your loyally nosy shoe reporter wanted to, so she did. And I intend on poking around friends’ closets all over the five boroughs of New York and beyond, just to bring you the latest in shoe quirks.

My first friend in this series of posts is Kate, who is a working artist. She does beautiful, unusual sculptures as well as working in other media. So it was no surprise that upon my first visit to her home, she had some cool, funky shoes. Most of her pairs were vintage. Kate is an expert at secondhand stores. She needs shoes that are practical enough to walk around the city in, but funky and cute enough to represent her fun, sassy personality.

These Alain Tondowski’s are adorable and unusual.

The Italian-sounding name on these was unreadable except for the last syllable, “-aldi.” The name had faded from the inside of the shoe. I adore these. Interesting geometric pattern, great detailing.

Once again, you see the artistic interest in patterns and scale coming out in her shoe selection.

And with this shoe, through the beading, another pattern. She tends to choose low heel heights that are practical and comfortable, but still a little sassy.

I love the carved wood heel detailing on these:

Irregular Choice does it again! These shoes are somewhat Asian in shape.

The Nine West Spa Collection label on the inside of these was very faded. Who even knew that Nine West had done a Spa Collection?

And now, for the most modern pair. Marc Jacobs open-toe red patent cuties. Pretty much the same shoe as these ones listed online.

Now I think you should go rifle through your friends’ closets!

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I couldn’t take photos inside, but Amarcord has some absolutely amazing vintage shoes. This has long been one of my favorite stores in Williamsburg and the East Village, specialising in 40s to 80s European vintage (with especially good selections from the 60s and 70s). Prices are reasonable for designer and vintage merchandise. Go check it out, especially if you’re a lucky lady with smaller feet!

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So, Hubby, the kids, and I attended the inaugural year of Steamcon 2009 which was held October 23-25 at the Seattle Airport Marriott.

For a first-year convention, there were certainly a few hiccups, but most of those were a product of the small venue combined with unexpectedly large turnout. When planning a 1st-year event, the only numbers you can rely on are numbers for similar events, in this case, a normal first-year estimate would be in the neighborhood of 400 attendees. Over 1300 attended, and that is not including the number of people who showed up but were unable to get one of the extremely limited number of available day-passes.

Day-pass hopefuls roped a line around a large area of the atrium pool and waited hours for the chance at receiving a badge that would allow them to attend panels, workshops and gaming tables.  I suspect many without badges wandered the halls anyway and just soaked up the general atmosphere.  Can I even over-emphasize how important it was to pre-register?

Final reminder to self: Don’t forget to pre-register for next year at the earliest opportunity. Even with the convention organizers new hunt to locate a larger venue suitable for next year’s convention, it will likely continue to grow in size, so early registration will be vital!

Now, with that out of the way, was it fun?

Hell yeah!

This was absolutely worth finding a way to squeeze the price of registration and the two separate ticketed events out of our rather tight 2009 budget.  Admittedly, being able to get the room on bonus points helped out immensely.

So, hubby and I attended Steamcon as a sort of unplanned 18th anniversary gift to ourselves (though, what does it tell you that we both realized we had this anniversary coming up…. 2 days after it was past?).

Anyway, the kids were with us on Friday only as we got settled into our rooms (Grandma & Grandpa were working Friday, so we had a big family hotel adventure that day & evening), learned the layout of the hotel, checked out the vendor room, and bopped from panel to panel; generally getting a feel for the people and event as a whole. We dressed in steam for the entire event; shopping from our closets since our budget is closely controlled this year. An eclectic personal wardrobe made this less of a challenge for me than it might for others; vests, skirts, ruffled shirts, even a long cavalry-style coat made the trip to Seattle – just in case.

We were also able to spend time with friends we had not seen for years – a wonderful added bonus.

Highlights of the weekend:  Chatting with author Tim Powers while waiting in line at the coffee shop, watching my daughters get dragged onstage by Abney Park lead-singer ‘Captain Roberts’ with the sweeping phrase “Check out the awesome” in reference to their age and outfits,  wearing feathered hats without feeling even a wink self-conscious, and of course, just wandering around among all of the amazing and creative people.

(Abney Park’s Dread Captain Roberts…pardon the blurry focus, it was dark & a bit of a distance shot)

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, the one thing most Steampunks have in common is a do-it-yourself attitude that takes many forms but which also tends to cross-over with a Victorian aesthetic.  So, these are not cheap Halloween costumes people are wearing; they are truly one-of-a-kind fashion statements.

So, without further ado, just a few of the fabulous and fun people – and outfits – from Steamcon 2009:

(These ladies were so hot; it completely put to lie the idea many modern fashion designers have that you must be a skinny stick-figure to make clothing look good and that curvy women aren’t a worthwhile designer type.  I posit that it’s the impeccable tailoring and fit to an individual’s body-type that makes all of the difference…something that we are unfortunately lacking in today’s ready-to-wear culture.  Lazy fashion designers who can’t fit a gal with curves are also a bit of a personal peeve. Could you tell?)

(Check out those Fleuvogs!)

These are actually Born’s – here’s a detail:

And a close-up of those spats:

There were simply too many amazing outfits and people to show you in a single article. But, if you are interested in seeing more from me or others – particularly if you love boots and spats, I am posting all of my photos in an album on Shoeblog’s Facebook page for your enjoyment.

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God knows I can’t afford these vintage 40s swan blue beauties but I would love it if one of our lovely ShoeBlog readers would snap them up. You deserve them, dear reader. Call it your summer economic stimulus to work harder, and put on that pristine cream tweed suit with it.

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What lady’s closet is complete without some vintage pieces? Style.com, Vogue’s online presence, reports regularly on the trends to come. Fall 2009 will offer you the chance to go Lady Gaga in 80s candy colors, or continue the biker girl rage, or go in the direction of my favorite: Forties and Fabulous!

Do it up in a dignified tailleur, look for very classic materials like tweed and wool, add some fake fur in the form of collars or muffs, and go for elegant silks at night (crossing over into the boudoir trend). This is the perfect trend for economically strained times, because these classic styles will still be wearable when you’re 60. History repeats itself in fashion, of course.

Go here for more ideas.

For shoes, look for stylers this these gorgeous $195 beauties from VintageVixen.com.

VintageVixen no longer has these emerald beauties, but they’re a good guide for what you can look for: unique fabrics/materials, seductive colors, quality workmanship, comfort, detailing, straps, modest heel heights.

Other 1940s vintage shoes can be very practical and a bit dull, so look for vintage-inspired new shoes like these cutie pies, $49 at Plasticland.

For more info on 1940s shoes, go here.

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