I live in Colorado and have woke up the past few mornings to a nice little Fall tinge. Yes, the leaves are starting to turn and the barometer is starting to drop (why so quickly, I ask?). My evenings in sandals and cut-out booties are starting to take a back seat to boots and suede booties.

I know that in a few weeks I will see the white stuff and the sub 30 temps throughout my state. Thankfully, this Fall's boot trends are quite appealing for a change. Case in point: The Aquatalia Avery Boots By Marvin K. Fully weatherproof and made in Italy, these beauties even have a removable faux fur insole...perfect for keeping my little piggies toasty throughout the Colorado winter.

Available in black, brown (shown), chianti, you can find these Aquatalia Avery Boots for $425.00 at neimanmarcus.com.

Yes, it's a discussion for the ages...but it seems that we keep asking ourselves the question. Lord knows that their are designers out there specializing in combining comfort and style, but plenty exist that simply put comfort at the sake of style. So why do we do it?

Maybe it's the same reason that men don't ask for directions? Truth is, it is a complex question that delves in to the very psyche of being a woman. I for one have joined the millions of working women that don tennis shoes when commuting to work and then slip on my heels when reaching the office. And it never fails, just when I start to join the complacent army of women in tennis shoes, I spy a confident woman, dressed to the nines, wearing sexy three inch heels. My heart sinks and I swear-off wearing sneakers to work for the ump-teenth time.

So for us women, the answer exists among us all. It is truly all about how the women around us make us feel about ourselves...not what the opposite sex thinks. As for the reason they (men) don't ask for directions, well I don't think they even know.

Give Pain the Boot & Know Your Size:

• Designer Shoe Sizing and Conversion Tips: Part 1
• Designer Shoe Sizing and Conversion Tips: Part 2
• Christian Louboutin Sizing Guide
• Manolo Blahnik Sizing & Fit Tips
• How To Shop For Big Feet
• Five Rules Of Healthy Shoe Shopping

Aside from the 80's Michael Jackson song reference, we absolutely love the "Beat It" Platform Pumps from Alejandro Ingelmo. The criss-cross straps combined with the metallic stamped croc pattern make us want to "beat it" to the gym to get our legs in shape.

You can find the Alejandro Ingelmo Beat It Platform Pumps for ($755) at www.shopbop.com.

A few days ago, we found a pair of lovely "red bottom booties" at a steal ($399) from the folks at Downtown Gal Shoes. And once again, we must submit to our desires and succumb to yet another Christian Louboutin find for the "Shoe Of The Day".

These stunning Christian Louboutin Blue Patent Decollete Pumps with silver lined heels are to die for. You can find them on sale at Downtown Gal Shoes for $399.00.

By the way, if anyone knows a good therapist...

At a recent promotional appearance at Bergdorf Goodman's second floor, Manolo Blahnik was on hand to greet fans and satisfy the womanly desires behind his famed blue pumps from the Sex And The City movie. "My duty in life is to entertain," the shoe designer stated as he blew kisses to the audience.

When asked about next seasons designs, Blahnik said he would unveil even more feminine looks, including "lovely slippers, which you will love," he gushed.

Ok, I can't stand the suspense!! More feminine looks, lovely slippers...I would trade my lunch for a sneak peek at these goodies!!

A while back we penned an article on our favorite ankle booties from this Fall Season. And while these lovely Christian Louboutin Suede Booties are from last year's Fall collection, we sill love them the same.

You can find them at a fraction of the retail price ($760.00 Retail) for $399.00 at Downtown Gal Shoes.

Don't forget to check out the Christian Louboutin Sizing Guide to see what size you should wear.

As we did last month, we are highlighting a shoe collection from the folks at FantasticToe. 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: JayPEll
Favorite Shoe Store: "Stuart Weitzman Boston, MA"

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...
"Just goes to show you that you can never have too many boots!"

Her collection includes six pairs, and runs the gamut from the versatile, weatherproof Stuart Weitzman booties to the knee-high Italian leather boots by Isaac. The Stuart Weitzman booties are the workhorse of the collection; they're weather-proof, so they can withstand all kinds of New England weather, yet they're still polished enough to go from work to evening. In fact, she buys, and wears out, a pair of these boots every winter.

For dressier occasions in the winter, her water-proof Aquatalia knee-high boots are perfect: the studs and elastic weave up the side give them a bit of an edge, and they look great with skirts and tights; they are also super-comfortable. To go even dressier, the fabric Donald Pliners with the silver badge on the back (so sexy!) and the never-worn Italian boots by Isaac both fit the bill. Less practical (but no less gorgeous!) are the brown Bruno Magli booties: at 3-1/2" (without a platform), the heels just don't permit everyday wear. Nonetheless, they are one of her favorite pairs of boots, not least because she got them on sale for the never-seen price of $99.

It is very rare here at Shoeflair when we ALL instantly fall in love with something that comes through our door. Such is the case with the Moreschi Alba Ankle Boot. For those that aren't familiar with the Moreschi name, you most definitely should be. Moreschi, an Italian based company has its roots as early as 1946 making finely crafted, high-end designer shoes. The brand has stores from Milan to Hong Kong with a flagship located on Madison Ave in New York.

...Back to the Alba. We love the wonderful combination of the faux crocodile pattern and leather platform sole; the contrast of both materials is something to behold and seems to just "work" on the boot. The Alba comes in two colors, Platinum, Purple Passion (picture attached) and retails for $735.00.

You can purchase the Alba online at www.moreschishoes.com or from one of their retail stores.

Over at about.com, we stumbled across a funny, yet revealing little quiz you can take to find out which style of women's dress shoe you are inclined to wear.

The 10 question quiz ranges from such questions regarding your favorite type of dessert (uh, Creme brulee) to your favorite car (Mini Cooper) to your favorite movie (Heathers). While somewhat whimsical, the quiz actually was dead-on with my favorite shoe style: Mary Jane Platform. Unfortunately one of our other writers found herself in the "Comfortable Loafer" category, even though she doesn't own anything without heels.

The quiz takes less than a minute and is a nice little distraction from the daily grind. You can find the quiz here.

Back in March we reported that Taryn Rose was stepping down as President of Taryn Rose International and was off to start a new company called Millie Rosas.

While that was back in the Spring most sources suspected she would launch the company and associated styles in the Spring 2009 collection. As it is a bit early for Spring '09 collections to be formally announced, we haven't heard a peep from Taryn or anything more about her new venture, Millie Rosas.

Interesting though that we noticed all of the social media ventures that her former company put together around tarynrose.com have been all but abandoned. For example, Taryn’s Page. This social media marketing element was similar to a social networking page profile. It included a blog, pictures and a “Talk to Taryn” email link. The blog was updated with recent news as well as helpful information for Taryn Rose customers, such as recipes for relaxing foot scrubs. Over time, the blog turned into a “flog” (fake blog), with undated posts, no comments and very few entries. Today, the blog has been completely removed, replaced with an “About Us” section that inspires no interaction and requires little to no updates on the part of the company.

Additionally, the Taryn Rose MySpace Page. The company delved into social networking by creating a MySpace profile for the Taryn by Taryn Rose line. The profile offered visitors a photo slideshow of the shoe line as well as personal information about the designer. Visitors could add Taryn as a friend, send messages and post feedback to her site. By January 2008, the MySpace page was down to only three friends, with no links to the company website or comments to the profile.

Only time will tell--what and when, Taryn will once again grace us with her fabulous designs and comfort driven footwear. For now, we can only guess she is tied-up in contract clauses and red-tape with her former company.

You might remember back a few weeks when we wrote about the contest to re-design Dorothy's iconic ruby slippers. Well, we know one thing, if Dorothy was a diva and had a choice, she surely would have picked these Pink-Sequin Heels from Manolo Blahnik.

You can find them for $299 with free shipping at Downtown Gal Shoes.

Without a doubt, purple is the shoe color of the fall season. What's nice about purple is that it's much more wearable than some of the brights we saw this past Spring, but it's also one of those season-less colors. Style permitting, you can easily wear purple shoes year 'round.

We absolutely love the Kate Spade Hera for its elegant refinement and cute bow "embellishment".
You can find them at zappos.com for $322.

We have always loved the intricate, and simple styling of Olivia Morris flats (especially these beauties), but we have to give a nod to her design sensibility regarding these Didi Biker Boots.

We can't figure out why we like them so much. Normally, we shy away from anything with the word "biker" in the style title, but these look, just so "elegantly edgy".

You can pick them up for $651.00 at www.net-a-porter.com.]]> http://www.shoeflair.com/2008/09/boots-with-an-edge-olivia-morris-didi-biker-boots-1.html http://www.shoeflair.com/2008/09/boots-with-an-edge-olivia-morris-didi-biker-boots-1.html Olivia Morris boots Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:44:14 +0000

We have always loved the intricate, and simple styling of Olivia Morris flats (especially these beauties), but we have to give a nod to her design sensibility regarding these Didi Biker Boots.

We can't figure out why we like them so much. Normally, we shy away from anything with the word "biker" in the style title, but these look, just so "elegantly edgy".

You can pick them up for $651.00 at www.net-a-porter.com.]]> http://www.shoeflair.com/2008/09/boots-with-an-edge-olivia-morris-didi-biker-boots.html http://www.shoeflair.com/2008/09/boots-with-an-edge-olivia-morris-didi-biker-boots.html boots Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:43:58 +0000

Good news for Ugg lovers in San Fransisco, the company opened the door to its first store in its home state on lovely Sutter Street last month. As a flagship, the store will stock pretty much everything including footwear, handbags, outerwear and cold weather accessories.

"The San Fransisco store is the newest application of our global retail program providing a 3-D experience for the Ugg customer", stated company President, Connie Rishwain. "The store is laid out along subtly curved lines, and our material finishes are soft and refined, drawn from the feelings associated with the brand."