03 May 2012

Shoe Story: Down with the Brown Part I

Most shoes are black or brown, and I know a lot of people who own one pair of shoes in two colors and switch off depending if they're wearing black or khaki pants. Okayyyy I think sixty pairs in we've established  that the one pair in two colors is not a system that is really going to work for me. Black is easy I wear it often, however brown is often less worn. You'll notice that some of these are not strictly speaking brown shoes. Pair 61 is the only pair I really wear all the time, I also think that the others suffer because when I want brown to wear with an outfit I tend to go for my cowboy boots before any of the other pairs.
60.) These G Series mules came from DSW and they are at the same disadvantage most pairs of mules are. These do work well with trousers that aren't too long and can handle the small heel. Its a shame I don't wear them more because the leather and stud detail is really nice looking.

61.) These Chinese Laundry pumps are another DSW purchase. I had actually seen a very similar pair of red pumps covered with small raw silk rosebuds with a much higher heel on a friend of mine from high school, she wore them with her wedding dress, I would include a picture but all of her photos are closely guarded by the photographers. I liked them and I actually have a red rode bud purse that matched them. When I saw these on sale at DSW I was excited because the taupe color is a great neutral and the heel hight is perfect. They are one of my most worn pairs and I always get compliments on them, they also go with just about anything. Not that I am big on practical but I feel like they go a lot further than the same shoes in bright red with five inch heels.

62.) American Eagle is a store I only occasionally wander into, there is a really clean one that is always empty at Mansfield Crossing that I wander into every year or two. I had seen a pair of knit moccasins in a Indian blanket pattern on a student and went there looking for them. I bought two pairs of them and these. They are a nice suede, but once got wet and shrank a little. I do still wear them however but they need to break in a little every time I put them on before they become comfortable.

63.) This was the first pair of this style that I bought, followed by the pink and gold pair my mother rejected. They come from Old Navy and are dually cheap in construction so I wouldn't ever wear them on a day I was out walking or shopping for extended periods of time. They also have no insulation so they don't even extend to being three season,

64.) These Seychelles came from Urban Outfitters at the same time i bought my green leather slingbacks. For a long time I didn't wear them because I had trouble adjusting to wedges as a look versus heels which I usually wore. They are a great whiskey color and a really nice soft leather. They have a lot of great detail and they work with skirts and trousers equally, which not all wedges do which makes them a real multi-tasker. I also remember substitute teaching an art class in these once where the assignment was for the kids to draw heir shoes and I drew these myself. It was supposed to be abstract colors, sort of pop-arty. Probably a year later I was talking to the teacher and she was doing the assignment with a new batch of kids and found mine in her old pile and she said something like, "well this kid didn't do the assignment right this isn't a shoe" and I happened to be wearing the same shoes and pointed out the braid and cutouts and other details so unlike ordinary shoes. A real piece of art.
65.) These Jones of New York shoes came from Macy's and are nice because they're patent leather which you don't often see in brown and they have the nice bow and jewel detail in front, but they're a little boring really. However there are certain skirts that I always go back to these for some reason, they also area  well made shoe and despite being around for quite a few years and many wears have held up remarkably well.

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