STYLE FOR UNDER $100

another cute place to get styles for under $100: urban outfitters. the production values are not top-notch, but for a quick and cute fix there are a few styles that can get you into the zone. a low kitten heeled slingback with a beguiling ruffle and pointy toe--try the pink and gray striped jersey version rather than the plain black leather for a more tongue-in-cheek approach. and a very outre navy patent pump with a lime green heel and bow with lacing up the back -- again you have to wear these with a certain sense of irony since production isn't the best but for a fun night out with a pair of jeans and an old rock T, why not?

THE FLIP FLOP PHENOM

is there a connection, i must wonder, between the demise of our economy and the flip-flop phenomenon. perhaps people no longer care since they will never be able to raise their standard of living as the american dream slips further away. so they think what the hell? why try? why NOT wear flip-flops.

no longer a SCANDALE but merely a cultural malaise

snaking it's way stealthily across our society. today AGAIN the flip-flops with the suit in midtown. and my dear, since you did have your name embroidered on your LL Bean tote, I will address you directly. My dear, Laurabelle. How about some nice pink ballet flats? or perhaps a low slingback with a kitten heel in a shiny patent? you'd still have the low heel comfort factor, yet you'd look neat. we wouldn't be critiquing your pedicure. life would be joyful again. you wouldn't be contributing to a cultural downfall--instead you'd be lifting us up with your shoe vision. doesn't that sound nice?

why why why can't uber fashion shoes be also comfortable?

in nyc where women walk many miles a day, comfort can be an issue. i dont mean to sound dowdy, but it's true it really is. so i ask this question constantly. why couldnt prada just put a tiny bit of cushion in the ball of that shoe, or why sigerson couldn't come with the thin rubber soles already put on them so we don't have to do it? why couldn't blahniks just a tiny thin layer of space age super cushy foam in the place where your heal meets shoe? i mean alternatives like birkenstocks are NOT the answer. no no no. and now, and now it seems my mild obsession with comfort and fashion has been answered (can you answer an obsession- not sure but it seems like the proper construction for now). found a pair of uber fashion sandals that feel like someone molded them to my feet. they are as soft and as comfortable and as fashion as it gets. the brand is called CYDWOQ and they make these beautiful things from all natural and recycled materials. and they are gorgeous. the pair i bought have a tiny tiny kitten heel that appears to have been fashioned out of some kind of bone, and a giant leather daisy on top that is sculpturally molded, and they feel like kid gloves on my feet that have become tired and weary of battling the pavement in pain. it is the one bright light shining through my dismal three days in the hamptons. a beacon of hope. a revolution perhaps. miu miu. manolo. jimmy choo. frissoni. time to tune in people. get with the program.

the weekend and the venue

where one MIGHT THINK one would be able to wear the below mentioned navy and white ferragamos, (memorial day weekend, sag harbor) is, I am discovering, a place where more appropriate attire would really be waist high rubber fishing boots to wade through all the RAIN that is pouring down and insulate yourself from the DAMP COLD inside the house. i'm not bitter, no. nope, not me. don't know what you are talking about.

and so what weekend is it?

yes the one we have all been waiting for--it is memorial day -- that magical day when white shoes enter again into our consciousness (until labor day, of course). oh what sumptousness to flaunt my navy and white vintage ferragamo pumps--let's see i'll be in sag harbor and i can just see them with my knee high gathered jeans. or maybe my longer blue cult jeans and black cashy sweater. or even my new meg kinney jade wrap dress. hmmm, just to entertain the possiblities is so satisfying.

i hear sacco is having a little sale cette week-end.

which if you remember was one of the places i cited as a possible replacement for the inexpendable $200 and under pair of shoes with style, while we wait out tootsi pluhound's little mishap of a buying season. wouldn't be cute to get a cute pair of boots for $100 or less? something dreamy in this cold downpour of a spring we're having.

DESPERATELY SEEKING SHOE-SAN

ok i am quickly going to become one of those wierd people that put ads in the village voice like, if you are the cute punk-rock guy i saw standing on the corner of C and 3rd on thursday morning drinking your coffee and had on a low-slung black leather belt with studs, please contact me at xxx-xxxx. EXCEPT: mine will be like this: if you are the overly makeupped girl with the yellow louis vuitton bag talking obnoxiously on your phone on the corner of A and 9th sunday at around two pm, with that awesome pair of ballet flats that were light peach with a floppy and deep peach grosgrain bow tied ever so casually, can you please contact me and tell me who makes those.

it'll be like desperately seeking susan, except it'll be desperately seeking shoes, and without the heist sub-plot or the cute scene at the end where madonna cuddles with her man in the movie theater eating popcorn.

trauma-scandale in midtown.

scandale number 1:
if you absolutely feel you MUST wear comfortable shoes with your suit, please please at least buy some cute pumas, do not wear your running shoes that you wear to the gym. do not wear white leather reeboks with white scrunchie socks. you CAN change your look with lovely a pair of red and navy pumas (try the women's california) and a cute pair of girly socks. there is no need to feel like demi moore in about last night, no no no.

scandale number 2:
full suit with brown open toe orthopedic sandals. ok, yes i know people have foot problems, this is not a reason or excuse to harken julius ceaser with your footwear, espeically when you insist on a full suit get up to go with. just go to rockport and buy some nice tailored flats with orthopedic support and feel happy again. please.

had a great chat with judi rosen

designer and owner of the good bad and the ugly in the east village. she slipped some heels on my feet that i have to say, were just sumptuous. the first pair of fully comfortable and fully fashionable high high heels i have tried on. these were in gold, and a little too outre for me but there are apparently more on the way in lovely lavender leathers and teal snakeskin. a woman after my own heart.

was in the south this weekend

touring with jjappleton and fam, and was quite an eye-opener. loved the slow pace-- didn't love the biker week in myrtle beach or the intense flag waving (including confederate) of course. but the music was good--especially that cover--go jj! and you gotta love the fans. corky, betsy and all of them!

SCANDALE! yes I saw it again this very morning in the lobby of a midtown investment bank that shall remain nameless. a woman, wearing a full suit and pink FLIPFLOPS. she had a guilty look on her face. she knew and yet stil persisted. this is a prime example of your shoe choice having an impact on your self-esteem. when you know it's wrong, it makes you feel bad inside.

right on target.

yes it's true target has shoes. and worthwhile ones at that. for $14 you can pick up a pair of blue suede beaded slides (perfect for around the house, not good for city streets) , or some rather outre plastic brown faux-dr scholls meets miu miu heel sandals. who knew?

another, more upscale version, of the cheap cute shoe is jcrew. had some excellent ballet flats with an exquisite little pointed toe--but not tooo pointed--for under $100. yes it's true. capitalism is good for some things.

went to a screening of "dissident"

last night at tribeca film festival. a brilliant documentary about oswaldo paya, a cuban petitioning peacefully for democratic reform in cuba. we swilled chardonnay at the tribeca grill and watched the story of a very ordinary man petitioning for what seem to us to be simple freedoms: freedom of speech, free enterprise, free elections. and in that room full of reporters and politicians and filmakers and writers and wealth and education, we heard his voice as he called from cuba and told us to speak out. a room of privlegeded listening to a room of a person who has had his entire network of peaceful revolutionearies thrown in jail by fidel. and yet and yet. sometimes i think, do we really have those freedoms here in america/ especially right now? the patriot act scares me. i wonder sometimes if i should even post anything political on this blog at all. and then i hear oswaldos voice saying tell them, through your art through whatever means you have. so i write it down, post it here.

ferragamo phenomenon.

(even though those words start with different letters, they sound the same! i think there's a name for that.) anyhoo, been seeing a little crop-up of what i call the return of the italian grandma-ma. (since my dear friend & arbiter of all things happening, jason campbell is so unequivocally against the ferragamos, that's what he has termed them, the italian grand-ma ma shoes). been seeing one particular style popping up on hipsters near and far these days. the ferragamo classic patent leather flat. with jeans, with a skirt. i've seen red and brown and of course the pair i own, black for spring. the little squarish heel and rounded toe, yo just can't help but feel perky and efficient when you wear them. and of course now, even hipster.

NEW SHOE TRENDS

been seeing lots of interesting little shoe trends bubbling around (afoot) these days. one that constantly appalls me is the wearing of FLIP FLOPS with suits. take a subway up to midtown on any warm morning and be prepared to be scandalized. for what you will see are perfectly attired, well-put together women wearing full suits (pants and jacket or skirt and jacket ensemble) paired with rubber flip flops. now I fully realize that flip flops have invaded the mass market and the east village as acceptable summer around and about wear, which is practical and normal, especially for manhattan's dirty summer encrusted streets, but ladies. please. we do not wear these same battered foam things on our feet when we go to our very important investment banking jobs in midtown. notcie none of the women who are MD's are wearing these. note to self: those who advance, do not wear flip flops.