Soles of Summer

According to the calendar, the first official day of summer is June 21. According to the weather here in Florida, the first day of summer was sometime back in March. Either way, I love to usher in the coming season with some new shoes, not that I really ever need an excuse to buy new shoes. Here are four on-trend styles, some more aspirational than others, that will be coming soon to a closet near me:

White pumps:


Celebrities in white pumps via People StyleWatch

Hooray for the return of the single sole pump! I don't know about you, but I'm tiring quickly of the big, chunky platforms that seem to be everywhere. There's nothing more simple, yet sophisticated than a pointy-toed stiletto pump. White is fresh for summer and I'm not waiting until after Labor Day to rock them.



Christian Louboutin, $725





KamaliKulture, $99



Guess, $69.99

  Clear touches:

Via Firstclassfashionista.com

PVC/Lucite touches on shoes and other accessories were all over the runways for spring. As someone who often does my own pedicure, I think I'll go to the salon and get my callused heels and bunions professionally filed away before I slip into these.


Nicholas Kirkwood, $358




Jeffrey Campbell, $189.95




Naughty Monkey, $26.99

 Gladiators:

Via Fashionista.com

It was only two or three summers ago that I was wearing my ankle-high gladiator sandals with everything. I'm really enjoying this season's bolder, knee-high take on the gladiator. Some love the trend and others abhor it, but I'm firmly in the "must-have" camp.

Stuart Weitzman, $398

Ecote, $49

Ebay, $33.70

Stylish Sneakers:

Joan Smalls in Isabel Marant sneakers

Joan Smalls can make anything look good, but the wedge sneaker trend needs to be set aboard a raft, lit on fire and sent out to sea. Unless of course you've already spent $600-700 on your Marants, in which case, rock on. I, unfortunately, have literally worn my several-years old pink and black Converse down to the ground, so I need a cute pair of sneakers stat!

Lanvin, $407

Adidas x Jeremy Scott, $119.95



Converse, $69.95



Happy shoe shopping!

Creative Slumps (And how the Met Gala revived me)

So over the past week I’ve been in a bit of a creative slump. I haven’t been on any blogs and the thought of fashion in general just made me feel rather lackadaisical. I couldn't say what brought about that feeling, but alas there I was--fashion blogger with no interest in fashion.



How apropos.

Then on Tuesday night all the stars aligned, literally and figuratively, in the cosmos to reignite my fervor for fashion, and on the red carpet for the annual “Oscars of Fashion,” otherwise known as the Met Gala. This year’s theme was Punk: Chaos to Couture and that made for a very, shall we say, interesting red carpet. Some adhered closely to the theme, while others came dressed for prom or their wedding. Theme aside, I’m always here for capital F--Fashion! These celebrities are dressing up, but now I’m about to dress ‘em down. The following is my brief commentary and allow me to emphasize it's MY personal opinion:

Shoutout!

A few weeks I submitted some pictures from my post on stripes to one of my favorite blogs, The Fashion Bomb Daily, for their ongoing series showcasing how people are styling themselves in this season's popular trends. I can ecstatically report that my pictures were chosen so go check it out here: http://fashionbombdaily.com/2013/04/30/how-do-you-wear-it-spring-2013s-stripes-trend/!!

Thanks a million Claire!

Jumpin' Jumpin'

 I know y'all remember that song! Writings on the Wall was my album back in the (angst-filled teen) day.

 And speaking of throwbacks, there's no better piece suited to spring/summer than a jumpsuit. Which if you think about it, is the grown-up version of a onesie. I came into this world and was immediately swaddled in a onesie and 20-odd years later I'm back in one. The circle of life.

Sad Saks



Via Tampabay.com

And now for a bit of unfortunate local news, the Saks Fifth Avenue at Westshore Mall will be closing on May 4. It gets worse: it will be replaced by a Dick's Sporting Goods store. It gets even worse: there will be NO 'everything must go' sale because it's closing so soon. -__-

Get your overpriced, designer duds while you still can! (Or go down the street to International Mall)

St. Pete Street Style Stalking Saturday

I could have kept going with the letter ‘S’; I love alliteration, what can I say? This past Saturday, my cousin and I decided to mosey on over to downtown St. Pete and we ultimately settled at Acropolis for some strawberry-melon hookah.  What started out as two cousins simply enjoying a beautiful afternoon together ended up in some serious style stalking. Who knew the denizens of St. Pete were so sartorially inspiring?

When Emelle and her beau Jeff passed by our table I jumped out of my seat and immediately stopped them. Once they got over their initial surprise (and fear, most likely), they were more than happy to let me snap some pics of their totally coordinating, bohemian vintage style.

Pile on the turqouise! Great minds think alike.

We continued puffing away on the hookah pipe, when I had to jump up yet again to accost approach the ladies at the neighboring table. These girls were equally fabulous, yet fashionable in a totally different way and I couldn’t resist capturing their impeccably put together, designer-peppered looks.

Kate Spade, scalloped hem, pretty blue pendant? Yes, please!

Courrtney (above) and Lindsay (below) were great sports and I definitely want to be their new shopping buddy.

Right on trend in Tory Burch flats, fringed bag and tie-dyed top

Of course I can't leave out my cousin's fabulous ensemble (nor my own!) Miss Jessica was serving print-on-print fabulousness with her floral denim top and floral skinnies. Work!

I went athletic inspired again with a raffia baseball cap, denim bermudas and my new favorite silver pumps.

I'm thinking about making this a regular feature of the blog, but not before getting a real camera. Sorry for the iPhone pics, but when fashion calls you have to make do!



STUNT QUEENS!

By now these images, from Vogue Netherlands’ so-called homage to Marc Jacobs' past work for Louis Vuitton, have been passed around, dissected and torn apart by every blog worth its salt. I almost didn’t even want to comment, but ultimately felt I’d be remiss not to. In my opinion, the staff of Vogue Netherlands are some certified stunt queens and I might as well give them the attention they’re so obviously craving. I mean, who even knew Vogue had a Netherlands edition? Don’t worry, I’ll wait…

This is the only scenario that makes sense to me because given the recent spate of blackface in fashion and the consequent incensed reactions by, well, everyone with some damn sense, it is completely inconceivable that their editorial staff is ignorant to the complete impropriety and racism inherent in a spread like this. Right? Right?!

I was pondering this for a while and one of my initial thoughts was that the model, Querelle Jansen, isn’t necessarily accountable because she was probably just there to shoot and collect a check. But then I realized, as she was sitting in the makeup chair getting her face painted CHARCOAL BLACK and getting a “textured” wig slapped on her head (nice touch Vogue), she could have seen how wrong this was, had some integrity, and refused to do the shoot. On the other hand, I’m absolutely certain there would have been another model waiting in the wings to take her place.

Ultimately, Vogue Netherlands got the attention they wanted and they may issue some half-hearted non-apology (i.e. We’re sorry if you're offended), but when is the fashion industry going to wake up and get the message? This is legitimately wrong, and worse still it doesn’t even look good (she looks crazy!) Jacobs was apparently inspired by Josephine Baker and Grace Jones, so I can't help but think how lovely Joan Smalls or Jourdan Dunn, for example, would have looked in this editorial (with the help of some better styling too...*side-eye*). If you're listening Vogue Netherlands, which I'm sure you are, I suggest you close up shop for a while and ship the whole staff over to Italy to do an internship over at Vogue Italia because they always get it right.

Anna Wintour, come get your people.