[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
I’d go with a minimum 2.5" heel. Ankle strap or pump will work, and black is good unless you can find something that matches (which I don’t think you will). Check out Zappo’s. Order a half dozen pair and send the rest back for free.
http://www.zappos.com/n/es/d/722001024/page/2.html
[/QUOTE]
Hmmm, the only problem with an ankle strap is it REALLY shortens your leg, so with a mid-calf length dress, that might not be what you’re looking for…
I have really small feet and have to buy kids’ shoes – which are often girlishly cute but not sexily cute. But there’s a pair of kids’ boots over there at Zappos that are just dreamy. Just look. I want them.
Alice, those are just too cute! I really like Nightingale’s pick too.
Part of me really wanted to buy these for my boyfriend when I found them, because he loves birds. Yes, I know they’re not practical, but it just looks so cute to me. I’d love to be sitting near him and watching little birds hop up to him. It’d so make my day. I’d take a dozen pictures.
Can I show off my new suede boots here? These ones – knee high and I lurves them! 
[QUOTE=beanpod]
Does anyone mind if I sneak in with a request for advice? I bought a dress for a wedding and I’m looking for shoes to go with it. I’d like to get away with a nice ballet flat, but I think it may look best with heels. The dress hits me at slightly below mid-calf level. I’ll be wearing nylons with it. ETA: I bought the Black/Mulberry one.
I’m hopeless and I need recommendations for what style would look best with this dress. Black/patterned? What color if so? Flats? Heels? How high? (My shoe budget is as far under $50 as possible.)
[/QUOTE]
I’d definitely go with heels, and while black would be okay, I’d go with a gold or bronze color (or possibly pewter depending on the tone of that maroon).
Here are some examples I’m thinking of:
This is a little bling-y but fun
This is a bit minimal, but a good shape
A tiny bit ( :: cough :: ) pricy, but the general strappy look is cute!
[QUOTE=Maui Lion]
Alice, those are just too cute! I really like Nightingale’s pick too.
Part of me really wanted to buy these for my boyfriend when I found them, because he loves birds. Yes, I know they’re not practical, but it just looks so cute to me. I’d love to be sitting near him and watching little birds hop up to him. It’d so make my day. I’d take a dozen pictures.
[/QUOTE]
Oh, ka-yute! I want a pair! (I wonder if I could make my own.)
[QUOTE=BlueKangaroo]
Shoes are a problem for me. I like them a lot. See tons in the stores that I think are the cutest shoes ever. But I have no style sense. So what would I wear any of them with?
This is what I really need. A style show that isn’t for the people that are completely out of touch, crazy or such. A show that’s just for people who are “a bit frumpy” or “have only figured a few things out”. Like me. I didn’t have a TV until I moved in with my current roommate, but I’ve caught a few of these shows here and there. I didn’t learn a damn thing from any of them, except that I am far better off than many of the people on those shows. And yet still not good…
Cute shoes, though.
[/QUOTE]
I compliment shoes on others. My own shoe warddrobe is pretty dull - I don’t like them enough to invest the space or money in having a lot of shoes. But they are cute.
Which leads to situations where I’m in an elevator with my husband and I look at another woman and say “oh, those are such cute shoes!” And she smiles and gushes and gets out of the elevator and Brainiac4 looks at me and says “like you’d ever buy them.”
Thanks guys! I was thinking black with nice straps or texture. I’ll probably go with a mid-heel and no ankle strap.
I love those pewter shoes, too, zweisamkeit.
[QUOTE=Mahna Mahna]
Droooooooooool. Those are uber-cute.
I covet red shoes, but I can’t seem to ever bring myself to buying a pair whenever I’m shoe shopping - I end up with plain brown or black every time.
[/QUOTE]
Same here! I always end up drooling over the glossy red pumps and going with the plain, sensible, boring black flats…
The last shoes I bought were running shoes for working out in, so not high on the Cute Scale but, as I told a friend, ANY day you buy shoes is a good day.
Alarmingly, when I purchased these shoes, it was brought to my attention that I am now measuring a 9-1/2, rather than a 9, which I have worn since the age of 18. :eek: :eek:
Indeed, “eek” was my first reaction, and then when the dust settled, I of course told my husband that this is now my opportunity to BUY A WHOLE NEW SHOE WARDROBE!
Him: “I was wondering how long it would take you to realize that. taps watch … looks like it was about 30 seconds.” 
However, I do have a great giant closet full of shoes that I adore. It’s an awful situation to be in.
[QUOTE=Dangerosa]
I compliment shoes on others. My own shoe warddrobe is pretty dull - I don’t like them enough to invest the space or money in having a lot of shoes. But they are cute.
Which leads to situations where I’m in an elevator with my husband and I look at another woman and say “oh, those are such cute shoes!” And she smiles and gushes and gets out of the elevator and Brainiac4 looks at me and says “like you’d ever buy them.”
[/QUOTE]
Except for the husband commenting on the chances of me buying any given pair of shoes, I think I could have written this post.
The truth is that I could be willing to have the space to have shoes, but I don’t think I’m willing to spend the money to have the clothing to go with all those cute shoes. How I got the female “shoe” gene and not the female “clothing” and “fashion sense” genes, I’ll never know. My sister managed all three of them, and always looks good. And I know she got all of her stuff at really good prices too. She got those genes, and they skipped me entirely.
I suspect part of is that I can see an occasional cute item of any sort, and when I do indulge and buy that item, it sits around and does nothing. Because I have no clue when to wear it or how.
I have a gorgeous dark green, beaded and mesh shirt (it sounds tacky, but it’s not). Owned it for years, looks great on me, but I just can’t figure out how to make it work. Have a gorgeous pale green dress, the only full length dress I’ve ever found that fits my short self. Owned it for about four years. Worn it once, to a wedding last year. I was way over dressed/done. I looked like I was trying to upstage the bride, and I felt so uncomfortable and miserable.
Was it a daytime wedding, BlueKangaroo? If so, I can see why you’d be miserable. But in the evening – POW – you should have been killer.
OK, just because I am shoe-obsessed, here are my new running shoes. They’re CUTE! For running shoes.
OK back to your problem, BK. Be bold and go with it. You’ve got to get comfortable in your snappy clothes. Imagine yourself to be someone whose style you admire. Look at them more than you normally would (not in a weird stalkerish way … in a “getting used to this” kind of way). Then the clothes you admire on someone else will seem more familiar and “right” on you, if you’re used to seeing them!
I’ve got on this really flamboyant, gypsy-looking skirt today, with my Frye boots, and I love, love, love it. Ten years ago I would have felt sort of foolish, but I’ve embraced the Flamboyant Me. You wouldn’t believe the compliments I get on my bold clothes.
My most recent cute shoe purchases include:
Flats I splurged on these for myself in December… they were 40% off at Neiman Marcus, but still expensive.
Found these kitten heels at a high end consignment shop, for practically nothing, and they were hardly worn at all, maybe a few times.
These Chinese Laundry sandals on clearance at Macy’s for something like 12 bucks.
Well, the most awesome shoe purchase I made recently was my banana heeled woven platforms I bought in Vegas in November. A huge splurge but they’re the most awesome shoes ever.
I also got some burgandy platforms which were kinda different for me; I don’t have any other red shoes.
On the not as cute shoe front, I finally bought a pair of Uggs. Yes, they’re not attractive and make your feet look like big clogs but they’re so toasty for the really cold days.
My dressing philosophy is to find amazing shoes and build my outfits around them. I also believe in overdressing (as long as it doesn’t make anyone uncomfortable). Shoot, if I wore what everyone else does in Austin, I’d be stuck in jeans and birkenstocks. Bleh. I’d rather look eccentrically fabulous.
[QUOTE=tremorviolet]
Well, the most awesome shoe purchase I made recently was my banana heeled woven platforms I bought in Vegas in November. A huge splurge but they’re the most awesome shoes ever.
I also got some burgandy platforms which were kinda different for me; I don’t have any other red shoes.
On the not as cute shoe front, I finally bought a pair of Uggs. Yes, they’re not attractive and make your feet look like big clogs but they’re so toasty for the really cold days.
My dressing philosophy is to find amazing shoes and build my outfits around them. I also believe in overdressing (as long as it doesn’t make anyone uncomfortable). Shoot, if I wore what everyone else does in Austin, I’d be stuck in jeans and birkenstocks. Bleh. I’d rather look eccentrically fabulous.
[/QUOTE]
Those are both fabulous!
And a woman after my own heart. I’m also in the overdress to impress camp. And I build most of my outfits, especially for outings or formal events, around a killer pair of shoes.
[QUOTE=Ellen Cherry]
Was it a daytime wedding, BlueKangaroo? If so, I can see why you’d be miserable. But in the evening – POW – you should have been killer.
OK, just because I am shoe-obsessed, here are my new running shoes. They’re CUTE! For running shoes.
OK back to your problem, BK. Be bold and go with it. You’ve got to get comfortable in your snappy clothes. Imagine yourself to be someone whose style you admire. Look at them more than you normally would (not in a weird stalkerish way … in a “getting used to this” kind of way). Then the clothes you admire on someone else will seem more familiar and “right” on you, if you’re used to seeing them!
I’ve got on this really flamboyant, gypsy-looking skirt today, with my Frye boots, and I love, love, love it. Ten years ago I would have felt sort of foolish, but I’ve embraced the Flamboyant Me. You wouldn’t believe the compliments I get on my bold clothes.
[/QUOTE]
Ellen Cherry, it was a 2pm wedding with a reception at like 5 or 6pm. I was told it was formal, and I didn’t know the couple, I was there as a guest of someone else. It wasn’t a formal wedding, so I was over done. I looked hella good (pewter strappy sandals!), but I was so miserable because I was utterly out of place. I didn’t like the feeling that I appeared to be attempting to outshine anyone there, much less a bride I’d never met (or possibly met once, at a funeral a month before, I’m not sure). And it extra sucked because I had been wanting to find a place to wear this dress to for years. When you’re short, finding a LONG dress to suit you is really hard. Finding it on a college student budget, even strained, was so unreal I had to buy it. Now it’s been wore once, and I looked as good as expected, but wrong too.
I do have a friend who dresses in a style that’s just fabulous, but she and I have since moved far, far away from each other. I suppose I could get her to send photos every day, but that would cross the line into stalker.
(She once shaved her head the day before a visit, then got all done up in a purple suit and some awesome jewelry, and had a man stop his cell phone conversation at the airport with, “Hold on, I have to tell this woman how beautiful she is.” He then, apparently, proceeded to attempt to tell her that, and stutter all over himself. Every time I say I’m going to shave my head, though, I get very much shouted down by everyone around me. Except her, of course.)
Tremorviolet, I love those burgundy heels!
[QUOTE=TroubleAgain]
Oh, ka-yute! I want a pair! (I wonder if I could make my own.)
[/QUOTE]
I bet you could easily! Just take some old shoes you don’t mind getting covered in birdseed and use those. I guess to make 'em stick you could use a wash made of egg white. Brush egg white on 'em (making sure they’re clean) and then cover in seed.
Worse comes to worse, you could use peanut butter, but I dunno about peanut butter on your shoes.
[QUOTE=tremorviolet]
I also got some burgandy platforms which were kinda different for me; I don’t have any other red shoes.
[/QUOTE]
I want to have your fashion babies.
Those are so hot. I would stop you on the street to tell you that.
Must…resist…urge…until…after…payday…
tremorviolet, re: the burgandy shoes, if I can catch you, do I… ah, never mind, just day dreamin’
