Study of Shoes and Stilettos

Nine West navy blue patent leather Mary Janes. I found these lovelies at Nordstrom Rack and fell in-love immediately. I love patent leather, I love Mary Janes, and the fact that these were BLUE instead of the expected black…sold!

I have wanted to hem this skirt since I bought it, but it just hasn’t happened yet. Today was the first time I tried belting it and on my 40 minute lunch break I received three separate compliments. Perhaps belting is the way to go instead of hemming? Thoughts?

I do not own anything this minty green color, but when I saw the snakeskin belt for $1.00 at a thrift store I couldn’t not take it home (this is a recurring problem with me, I’ve found). When I saw the minty-green J. Crew bracelets on sale I had to have them (see it again? The shopping problem?).

The Details

Navy v-neck T: Ann Taylor
Magenta cardigan: B.P. by Nordstrom
Gray full skirt: Ross/TJ Maxx find
Navy blue patent leather Mary Janes: Nine West
Minty green snakeskin belt: thrifted
Pink necklaces (2 worn, one looped twice, one knotted): no idea…
Minty green & silver bangles: J. Crew, Bohme, Tiffany
Light blue glass ring: Ann Taylor Loft
Dangly disc earrings: Street vendor, Mazatlan, Mexico

**This post is part of Kayla‘s 21 Day Challenge, Layer Accessories. Check out the rest of the participants in the Flickr group here.

Navy blue suede sandals with silvery metallic accents, by Seychelles

I tried these lovely suede heels on last fall and fell in-love immediately.  I initially thought of the as more of a “wintery” shoe, what with the suede and the metallic and all.  But I was quite pleased to pull them out for a summery ensemble!  I am more and more convinced that with the exception of snowboots and flip-flops, most other shoes don’t have any rules about what season you should or should not wear them.

This is one of my go-to dresses, it’s jersey so it travels well, is appropriate for pretty much any situation, and the graphic navy-and-white print is a fantastic base for a dozen different color combinations!  Turquoise and magenta?  Yes please!

See me trying to pile on the fun jewelry?  I bought the ring from a beach-vendor in Mazatlan, Mexico last Christmas, and the bracelets have been accumulated from a variety of x-boyfriends, gifts, travels, and shopping trips.

Sandals: Seychelles
Navy and white graphic dress: Ross
Cardigan: B.P., Nordstrom
“Love” Necklace: Forever 21
Turquoise Ring: Mazatlan, Mexico
Bracelets (from top): Turquoise bracelet (Chinatown, San Francisco), Silver bangle (Bohme), Silver chain (Tiffany), Silver balls (Gift my sis-in-law made for me), Silver/Turquoise Bangle (Bohme),

Navy blue patent leather Mary Jane’s with 4-inch heel and almond-shaped toe, by Nine West.  I found these beauties at Nordstrom Rack for half-off of half-off.  I ended only paying $15.00 for them.  And they’re blue!  And shiny!  And look at the fancy, strappy bit on the heel!  Swoon!

I love shopping at Nordstrom Rack, I love that my feet are not an average size so there is always something fabulous there for a great deal.  (Size 10 is far from average, yo.)  I had a hard time finding navy, patent leather Mary Jane’s that are available right now…but I think you’ll see that these are just as fantastic.

Madden Girl Sursey Pump ,Navy Patent ($39.95)
(Available in a bunch of other colors as well!)

Nine West Reptile-Print Rocha Pump, Navy Patent ($54.11)
Navy! Patent Leather! With a reptile print! Triple love!

United Nude Modern Mary Jane, Navy ($134.69)
I can’t get over the structure of these heels! I don’t know a better way to describe them, but they are fantastic!

ALSO!  Remember to enter to win a FREE pair of Lucha Shoes! Contest entry and details are here. Contest is open until March 18.

This week I’m posting all about party shoes, the ones I rarely wear but still are so beautiful I get butterflies in my stomach when I think about them. See other party shoe posts: pink satin peeptoe heels, and silver sparkly strappy sandals.

Aqua-teal strappy evening san,dal covered in rhinestones with 4-inch heel.  These lovelies also came from my beloved Nordstrom Rack.  I love the diagonal strap, and the little rhinestone-encrusted flower on the toe, and the saturated color.  These would be perfect with a silvery gray dress, or a black pencil skirt, or jeans and a sparkly top.  Oooh!  Or hot pink!!  Oh man, these would be fabulous with hot pink!  How often do you get to wear bedazzled aqua shoes!?  Not often, sadly.  I must do something to fix that. (And I’m seriously crushing on the hot pink + aqua

There are not many aqua evening shoes around the interwebs, but here are a few heart-stoppers.

Luichiny Gettin Hitched Sandal, Teal Satin ($32.92)

Charles by Charles David Wisper Sandal, Turqouise ($63.22)

Luichiny Gal Lop Sandal, Teal Satin ($68.95)

Navy blue suede pumps with 3.5-inch heel and square-ish toe.  These were a hand-me-down from my favorite aunt, they are Italian made and a classic regardless of that Elvis song.  Looking around the Interwebs, I found this navy suede platform pump and  this lovely pointy-toe version from Nine West,   I also really like these brighter royal blue suede pump from ZiGiny.

Hello?  Is this thing on?  I would first like to thank the gaggle of guest posters who filled in for me while I was away.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it!  I would also like to thank pinksuedeshoe for babysitting things here in my absence, best twin ever! (Yes, she’s really my twin.  Don’t freak out.)  I’d like to thank the Academy….wait.  No.  That’s not right.  At any rate, I’m back!  I spent a lovely week lounging in the sun and exploring the Mexican Riviera!  I managed not to take a single picture of my feet, because apparently the combination of tropical sun, absolutely no responsibility and a lot of fresh pico de gallo and delicious burritos will make me completely lose my head.

Espadrille/deck shoe in navy and cream stripe with thin rubber tread by French Sole.  I’m pretty sure these shoes are ambidextrous, or whatever it’s called when there isn’t a right shoe and a left shoe…there are just two shoes.  I have switched them up a half-dozen times and I can’t figure out which one, if either, is supposed to go on my left foot and which on my right.  Whatever, I love them.  They are comfortable and soft and over the course of the last week were well loved and often worn.  I’ll get back to “real life” today and tomorrow; you know, an 8-5 job, tackling the medium-sized mountain threatening to topple across the room, grocery shopping and vacation detox, but for now I’m trying to fend off the icy cold another day by shuffling around the house in these soft, stripey shoes.

Seychelles Little Owl Sandals in navy blue suede and silver metallic leather, with 4-inch heel and peep-toe.  I have been looking for some navy blue footwear for several months now and when I accidentally slipped into Nordstrom yesterday I had no intention of even buying shoes.  But they were having a sale.  And as I scanned the racks of discounted shoes my eye zeroed-in on these beautiful suede and metallic heels.  I audibly gasped.  And when I tried them on it was all over, they simply had to come home with me.  What?  They were on sale! Besides, they go perfectly with my dress.

Toe Nail Polish: Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Nail Polish, Floral Taffeta

Make sure to enter my giveaway for a FREE pair of Muckboots!  Contest is open until December 15, 2010.

 Navy blue Chuck Taylor’s from Converse.  Saturday’s in December are always a little crazy and today is no exception.  Grocery, mall, play with niece, movie…and it’s hardly noon yet!  Gotta love Chucks, I want them in every color.  (Current count is yellow, pink, navy blue, red and plaid.)

Western Chief striped rain boots in navy and white.  The leaves have fallen and are covered in slush, instead of tromping around in suede or peep-toes, I decided to don these delightful stripey boots with purple tights.  This particular striped boot is no longer available, but I have been lusting over some of her cousins, specifically the ones in black and white houndstooth, or the retro floral print.  Really, it would only make sense to branch out in the rain boot department, right?  (Of course right!) (Nevermind that I live in the middle of the desert.) (Hey, we get snow here!  That’s wet and rain boot worthy!) (/end extraneous parantheticals.)

Colin Stuart for Victoria’s Secret, pointy-toe stiletto with 4-inch heel in aqua patent-leather. I found these on a fantastic clearance sale for less than $20 dollars and bought them without a clue as to how to wear or style them (I don’t usually say things like “How do I style these shoes?” but I just watched three back-to-back episodes of Project Runway and my vocabulary is all skewed in favor of Nina Garcia). Today’s ensemble was a gray skirt, black-and-white striped T, light blue cardigan and hot pink patent-leather belt. Perhaps a little Barbie-ish, but I loved it.

These particular shoes are no longer available, but these aqua stilettos are just as fabulous. Shiny aqua vintage Ford pick-up sold separately. (Editor’s Note: There is absolutely no photo editing on the above photo, I am still delightfully shocked at how similar the color of the truck is to the color of my heels. Love!)