August 2008 Archives

In continuing our self-help posts, we thought we would offer a little fit advice for those that succumbed to the skyscraper heel trend that flew through the fashion world this summer.

What to look for when shopping for high-heels:

• The Right Padding: Look for padding under your heels and the balls of your feet to absorb shock and add comfort.
• Materials That Breathe: Choose breathable leather or suede. Avoid synthetics, which can increase perspiration.
• A Little Flexibility: The ideal shoes will flex at the balls of the feet, not at the arches. To test: try on the shoes and raise up on the balls of your feet; the shoes should not bend.
• A Supportive Back: Sling-back shoes or shoes with backs are better than those without. Backless shoes force toes to work too hard, which can create blisters or irritate hammertoes.
• Shock Absorption: Shock-absorbing rubber soles are best if you pound the pavement all day or stand on a hard surface for more than a few hours.

Story courtesy of Health.com

We at here at Shoeflair are constantly are on the look-out for tidbits that help our readers with their shoe shopping experience. With all that we write about the latest and greatest styles from exotic designers the world over--finding the perfect it shoes, only to have them reduce you to a puddle of crying-bandaged goo is something we try to avoid.

With that said, we found this great guide on Health.com that really says it all:

• The later, the better: Your feet swell to their largest size as blood pools in them by the end of the day, which makes this the best time to shop. Go to early, and you risk getting a pair that'll be too tight.
• Get measured every time: Pregnancy, weight gain, and age can cause your feet to lengthen and broaden; your arches can change, too. Also, if one of your feet is bigger than the other, buy shoes in the size of the larger foot.
• Try them on: Sizes differ by brand (and even within the same brand). Ask the salesperson to bring your normal size as well as a half-size larger and smaller.
• Go with your gut: You'll know within minutes if a shoe is right for you. If it's even a bit uncomfortable now, it will feel exponentially worse as time goes on.

Conscious about our current state of the U.S. economy, we have written a bit about how to save money and still get that fabulous pair of shoes you want. While it is still isn't super easy (and you may have to make a few minor concessions), certain online "boutiques" have specialized in offering high-end designer shoes at jaw-dropping prices.

One of those boutiques, Downtowngal Shoes, has existed primarily on eBay with incredible pricing and a huge assortment of previous seasons collections of Ferragamo, Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, Lilly Pulitzer, Prada, Tod's and many other "top-shelf" designers.

Today, DowntownGal Shoes & More announced the opening of the company’s latest effort to offer men’s and women’s high-end designer shoes at some of the lowest prices found online anywhere. With a fresh new look and edgy branding, Downtowngalshoes.net, was launched with extreme discounts on all Kate Spade designer shoes and Diaper Bags.

Even besting their eBay pricing, Downtown Gal Shoes, is using the site to offer shoes at anywhere between 50% - 80% off retail pricing! We can't wait to see what other goodies show-up on their site over the next few months.

Click here to browse the inventory at Downtowngalshoes.net

We here at Shoeflair have always been fans of the timeless classics like the driver and ballerina flat that Tod's creates. With that said, we have always been a bit curious about the history of the company.

So, here is your Thursday morning history lesson:
Started by the Della Valle family in the 1920's, the family grew out of it's basement and expanded the workshop by turning it into a factory by Doro who also started manufacturing shoes for American department stores in the 1970s. The son of the owner, Diego, brought in innovative marketing strategies in the early 1980s, kept the handmade manufacturing process and went on to create brands named Tod's, Hogan and Fay.

To this very day, all Tod's and Hogan are handmade right in Italy very near the original workshop located in the Le Marche region. In a time where a surprising amount of Italian designers only assemble their shoes "in country", Tod's has stuck to tradition while creating timeless hand-made classics.

To see a nice tour of the entire Tod's Italian handmade shoemaking process, click here.

To shop the largest selection of discounted Tod's & Hogan online, click here.

These days their are a lot of ways to find what you are looking for out here in cyberspace. Search engines, rss feeds, comparison shopping sites, site aggregators, blah, blah. Trust me when I say, we here at Shoeflair have seen it all. The unfortunate thing about a great deal of these services is that they don't provide the comprehensive collection that we want.

Enter NyMag's aptly named, the "Shop-A-Matic" shoe thingy-ma-bobber. While it lacks price comparison features that one might be used to, it more than makes up for it regarding breadth. Wanna see the latest fall collections? No problem....you will see them all (while sorting on price, color, and type).

We easily found the pair of beautiful Satine Booties by Balenciaga. From here we can go search for better prices.
If you haven't checked out the "Shop-A-Matic" by New York Magazine, check it out here.

A season ago, we were telling you about the BenjiBox for storing your winter wonders in a nice see-through "drawer-box".

With summer on it's way out, its time to start thinking about shoe storage again. While the BenjiBox is great, we found the lovely Shoebby (shoe-bie) that is pretty much the same thing at much less. You still get the same clear, solid plastic construction that is great for stacking, but the decrease in cost is an added bonus.

When compared to the 5 piece set of the BenjiBox, the same set of Shoebby's is around $2-$3 less AND available in the US (the BenjiBox ships from Australia). If you go with the 10 pack, you save around $10 comparatively and you receive a free box.

This Summer has seen an interesting fusion of new, old, and completely different. I think many of you will agree, some of the sensibility of shoe design has gone out of the window (see our post tomorrow on "Trends We Loathe"), but for the most part, this Summer's collections provided a breath of fresh air to a few tried and true designs.

Here are a few of the new trends we liked over the past few months:

• Cage Heels: Our favorite trend from this Summer. We love the way these look with a pair of tights or scoop.
• Super High Heels: Some may disagree with us on this trend, but we think the Super-high trend was dead-on. What a better way to show-off your summer tan and the hours spent in the gym!
• Gladiator Sandals: Probably one of the trends that was close to being over-done...seems like everyone was "modding" existing sandals with straps and ties to achieve the look. With that said, the range of options well suited the bargain shopper to the distinctive diva's with deep pockets.
• Pointy Toe Heels: Yes, this trend made the list...just as we were about to add it to the "loathe" list, we remembered how extremely versatile this style is (we still have a pair of Prada pumps for back in the day). Over the years, it seems like the pointy-toe remains just on the fringe of high-fashion acceptability.

After recovering from our recent exploits wearing the latest skyscraper heels, we like to ease into a comfy pair of flats that still retain a little flair for our diva-like-tastes.

We hit the local boutiques and found the Ferragamo Varina, Car Shoe Shantung, and Kate Spade Pebbles were top of our list.

• Salvatore Ferragamo Varina ($430); www.neimanmarcus.com
• Kate Spade Pebble Flats ($328); www.katespade.com
• Car Shoe Shantung ($375); www.nordstrom.com

The Christian Louboutin Passementerie Pump made its debut a few months ago, but we still can't take our eyes off of them.

If you are looking for a romantic twist on your classic Louboutin, check out the Passementerie's at neimanmarcus.com for ($1,125.00)

For the past few years or so, we have quietly been watching the small, London based Behnaz Kanani grow and grow. Now, word is that the label is readying to launch her luxury brand in the U.S. this coming Spring 2009. The collection will consist of 27 styles of peep-toe heels, hand-carved wedges and curved-heel stilettos.

We love her use of different materials such as calf, alligator and lizard skins with ultra-skyscraper heel heights..truly a uniqueness that will find a nice home here in the States. Retail prices will range from $1,300 to $1500, with exotic styles commanding as much as $4,000.

If you can't wait until the Spring and happen to be visiting London, stop by Harvey Nichols and pick-up a pair of these Roya's.

A Christian Louboutin Clothing Line? For those of us in love with Christian Louboutin's designs, don't expect the designer to "crossover" and apply his creativity to clothing anytime soon.

In a recent interview with Stellamagazine, the "Wizard", stated, "Not interested. I was approached to be a clothes designer [once]. I said, 'Are you crazy, why would you even consider that?' And they said, 'Well, you have a name.' There are so many good designers, so why would I put my name on clothes when I never wanted to do it?"

Instead, his focus lies firmly with footwear. "I think that's where the difference between my shoes and other shoes - I constantly recast, look at them, reshape. It's not only a design, it's a shoe. Meaning, if it has to be corrected 10 times, it will be corrected."

For all of us at Shoeflair, we applaud Christian. I can't imagine the industry pressure he faces to extend his brand into all areas of fashion. A single-minded focus only benefits all of us Louboutin Lovers.

Boots, boots, boots...it must be that time of year again! From peep toes to leather-trimmed cutouts to slingback styling, this year's ankle boot collection dare to be a little different from years past. Wear them with an opaque tight or under slacks for an instantly updated look.

We love these three stylish choices from Manolo Blahnik, Sigerson Morrison and Tory Burch:

• Manolo Blahnik Cutout Bootie ($785); www.bergdorfgoodman.com
• Sigerson Morrison Belle ($345); www.piperlime.com
• Tory Burch Lucille ($450); www.toryburch.com

Starting this month, we are partnering with the folks at FantasticToe to highlight a user "collection". For those that don't know, FantasticToe is a place where shoe lovers of all kinds can go and add "collections"...or a photo gallery of their favorite shoes to share with other shoe lovers.

Collection Owner: ShoeJunkie
Collection Tagline: "When in doubt, buy footwear"

You can see the whole collection at: www.fantastictoe.com . If you click View/Rate on the Favorite shoe, you can page through the whole collection, and read all captions, using Next/Previous buttons.

FantasticToe Says...
"I think this is a great collection for a few reasons:

• It spans a lot of years -- the oldest shoe (the nude pump, back in style this year) is 25 years old, the newest is from this season.
• The collector thinks of it as a collection, she's not just randomly buying shoes. E.g., she's bought shoes all over the world (similar to how someone would collect art or any collectible), part of the reason the shoe is important to her is that it is a memento from a particular city or vacation.
• Lots of different styles are represented, from flats to platforms to slides to pumps
• She's funny! She jokes about buying plaid shoes in spite of an aversion to plaid that dates from her parochial school days; she calls her flats with the gold bug on the front her "Ode to QA" (which is funny if you're a techie), etc.

Cage Heels are showing-up in everyone's end-of-summer/early fall collections. Continuing the skyscraper-heel trend from this summer, "Cage Heels" look fantastic with a pair of tights and a colorful Scoop.

We found 3 of our favorites available now:

• Report Signature Glenna ($214); www.shoes.com
• Klub Niko Edie ($210); www.shopclubniko.com
• Sergio Rossi Cristina ($595); www.sergiorossi.com

In the past we have written a great deal about the fit and sizing of women's designer shoes. Although we have penned much-a-do about U.S. sizing variances between the designers, we haven't provided a clean - generic International Sizing Chart.

For all of you that have written to us on this issue, here ya go!