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~ Fashion Rambling of Amy, Bec & Caitlyn

ABCs of Style.

Tag Archives: shoes

Product Spotlight – Shoemint

14 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by Bec in Bec, Fashion Favourites, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

boots, fashion on a budget, handbags, heels, neon, Rachel Bilson, Shoemint, shoes, Steve Madden

Today I am sharing some of my favourite items available in the current line at Shoemint.

Shoemint is the design pairing of Rachel Bilson and Nicole Chavez with the shoe manufacturing experience of Steve Madden.

What I love about Shoemint is that they stock up to size 11 as a matter of course for all of their designs!!!! Shoemint also offer free shipping in both directions so you should never feel like you have to keep a pair of shoes that doesn’t fit or does not live up to your expectations. The prices are also really great (many shoes are around $50- $80) and with the strong Aussie dollar I don’t think you’ll find a better deal than some of the sales at the moment 🙂

Shoemint - Heels
Shoemint - Boots

Flats - Shoe Mint

Shoemint also have a great new range of handbags out incorporating this seasons’ neon trend:

Shoemint - Handbags

Check them out and let me know if you would try any of these styles

xox Bec

Fashion Challenge – Comfortable Shoes for Travelling

13 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by Bec in Amy, Bec, Caitlyn, Challenge, Collab Posts

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

comfortable flats, comfortable shoes for walking, comfortable stylish walking shoes, Crocs, hush puppies, shoes, shoes for walking, sketchers, supportive flats, walking shoes

Amy’s gorgeous mum has sent us the following question:

Good morning girls, I have a shoe dilemma! Soon I am going on a holiday, there will be an amount of walking…..not hiking or anything extreme, but city walking and exploring. I will likely wear 3/4 pants most of the time and am looking for ideas for comfortable shoes, that don’t look too much like a sport shoe, but that offer some of the comfort. Price is also a consideration…..haven’t got hundreds of dollars to spend. Any ideas, thoughts would be welcomed…many thanks

Firstly thanks for dropping us a line Tina! Secondly that is a really good question and it has made me consider something that I would never normally think about, you’ve pushed me out of my comfort zone.

One word – Crocs

Yes those Crocs… Now don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t be caught dead in the normal ones and neither should you however I recently saw a pair of these when I was walking around a convention and tried them on, I am almost ashamed to say how comfortable they were:

They are like Crocs in that they are durable and made of a material I am pretty sure you can hose off but they are unlike Crocs in that they are not as ugly as f#$k (Sorry for swearing Tina). In fact when I had them on I walked up to a friend who dislikes Crocs as much as me and asked if she liked my flats and she called them cute before she realised they were Crocs, then she said some swears and I had to buy her a coffee to make her forgive me for tricking her into liking Crocs even for a minute, she probably won’t be buying a pair.

There are some other styles out there that you can probably get away with wearing because they essentially look nothing like Crocs:

A wedge heel with a good solid grip on the world you could walk around all day in them with a casual outfit and then wear them with a cute dress at night. I probably wouldn’t get the pink pictured above but the black with a hint of silver looks a lot like a normal pair of black wedges.

You can wear these with jeans or even leggings if you want a sturdier boot. I found these looked very chunky on the shelf but when I tried them on I didn’t mind how they looked with long pants.

A wee little heel which is an attempt to combine fashion and comfort I guess. I found the toe a little rounded for my taste but then I am a fan of the peep or pointy toe.

The great thing about a pair of Crocs is that they hold up to wear and tear like almost no other shoe and in the past I would have said that it was because their sheer ugliness was repelling the scuff marks but these options aren’t so unattractive and to be honest might be a practical solution for a trip when you’ll be walking in multiple types of terrain.

Crocs claim to provide great support for your foot and the prices on the website seem reasonable, there is a chance you could get two pairs for about $100 (orders over $100 get free postage) which is pretty good value.

I’m not 100% sure I’m a convert but I won’t be quite so judgemental about the brand in general from now on and I hope it gives you another option to consider as well.

Amy

HEY MUM!!! 😀

Comfort and style USED to be hard to come by, but in now day and age you can find just about anything to suit your style while still being super comfortable when forced to walk for hours on end. Just ask current Amazing Race Australia Contestant Sarah who has convinced the word that her ‘Hunners’ are extremely suited for a brutal race around the world. Someone should have probably told her that a decent bra was smart too, but hey, whateves.

Sketchers are my favourite shoe makers at the moment when it comes to making sure you are at ease on your feet but still looking cool. If you know you are going to be walking LOTS try and avoid straps across the foot in order to steer clear of a foot that looks like a string ham by the end of the day.

Here are some of my favourite options from the sketchers webpage

All of the above shoes could easily translate into the average woman’s wardrobe quite easily and trick viewers into think they are just wearing your average ballet flats. Cool, if you ask me.

If you’re not a fan of the sketchers above because they are still a little too ‘sporty’, check out Hush Puppies kickin range (pun intended)! Sleek and stylish with the added comfort of freaking awesome cushioning to make sure you feel like you’re walking on clouds all day!

Check out the websites for these pages to find stockists (although Myer is usually a good place to start). Dont forget to wear all shoes in for a couple of weeks around the house before embarking on your big trip, blister are inevitable on new shoes and you don’t want to spend the first day of your trip resting your feet in a warm bath… Or do you? Hmmm.

So fashion lovers, what’s your go to comfortable shoe?

Love you Mum! Cant wait for yours and Dads trip to visit me! 😀

Lots of Love, Amy xo

Caitlyn

Hi Tina!

Thank you for writing in about comfortable yet stylish shoes for general walking around during the day.

Unfortunately the price of comfort can be an expensive one but I’m hoping the suggestions we come up with today are in your budget range and more importantly stylish enough for you!

I have generally sacrificed comfort and quality in the effort to spend as little as I can on shoes. This will not be the case for me anymore. I spent way too many years continually buying cheap flats for everyday wear.

I’m just going to come out and say it… I LOVE Ecco shoes!! My current Ecco shoes are by far the best pair of shoes I have ever own and still going strong. I think I might actually get a whole year out of them before they start falling to pieces.

The only reason why I bought these Ecco flats was because they were on sale and sadly I would not have bought them if they weren’t. The flats seem to be about $200 a pair which is a lot of money but if you’re lucky enough to get them on sale you can pick them up for around $129! Very fair price for comfortable, stylish, beautifully made shoes and so far it’s been 7 months going strong. That equals around $19 a month and I would be spending just as much on cheap shoes.

So here are some suggestions.

– Look for something with a thicker sole. I believe this will help with ‘shock’ absorption while walking.

– Definitely try and find some flat shoes with arch support for walking

– Allow yourself time to get used to your new shoes. Nothing worse then having your outing ruined by horrible blisters.

– If you get leather flats I would suggest to waterproof them simply because it will protect them further against water damage. Who knows what mother nature has in store for you!

Comfortable Walking Shoes
Comfortable Walking Shoes by icebubbletea on polyvore.com

Once again I hope our suggestion help today and have a wonderful time on your holiday. Hug your beautiful daughter for me, I miss her!

Caitlyn

‘That’s a Bingo’ – Fashion of Inglorious Basterds

04 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by ABCs of Style in Amy, Bec, Caitlyn, Movie Inspired Looks

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Amys Choice, Diane Kruder, Inglorious Basterds, Melanie Laurent, Quentin Tarantino, red, shoes, sparkles, speaking french sounds sexy, spelling things wrong is fun according to QT, tweed

I love Quentin Tarantino! Happy to declare it! I think he is a mastermind of great, if not slightly psychopathic, film. He is a genius! My favourite film of ALL time is ‘Inglorious Basterds’. I watched it. I re-watched it. and then I re-watched it again. I may or may not have taken sick days so that I could watch it a few more times. I love it.

Even the promo poster exudes cool!

For those of you who haven’t seen it (but should immediately drop whatever they are doing and go and rent it), it is set in Nazi-occupied France during World War II it follows a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers and coinciding with a theatre owner’s vengeful plan for the same.

One of my favourite scenes is when Melanie Laurents character Shoshana Dreyfus is being accosted by German Soldier and Hero Fredrick Zoller.She is atop a ladder changing the letters to her theatres title and is wearing wide legged tweed pants. IT IS COOL. It helps that Ms Laurent is absolutely stunning, but that aside, I wanted to re-create the look here for her casual set.

For most of her other scenes she is draped in a fabulous red gown. It is so unbelievably lady like. It shows no leg or breast yet still manages to make my jaw drop to the ground. The simple details such as the subtle peplum on her hips, certainly assure that this number is elegant! Here I have not created a perfect match but rather a way that a woman may emulate such a strong female character in the work place or to a nice dinner.

Melanie Laurent rocking *that* red dress

Au Revoir Shoshana

When not being stunned by Melanie, Diane Krugers character ‘Bridget Von Hammersmark’, a German actress who spies for the British, stuns all. Her costumes where elegant and very mature for they time they where in. Initially we are introduced to her while she is having a casual game of ‘Guess who’ with the German Forces celebrating the birth of a child. She is cool and cas yet somehow still amazingly elegant. Later in the film, she dons an lovely gown that had me WISHING I was a lady who attended fancy dinners and the like. Shoes are extremely relevant for her character, I hope ive done them justice!

Bridget Von Hammersmark

So, did you all enjoy the film? What characters would you take inspiration from?

Amy
xo

A film we agree on Amy, c’est magnifique! I love just about everything in the film as far as costumes go but this one particular look just made my jaw drop:

That is Julia Dreyfus and yes she has a leopard face on her head. She has a small role in the film playing the interpreter Francesca Mondino.

This is what I put together, it may be a bit over the top but frankly so is the movie. I say embrace it and let your inner animal out, especially if it ends up looking this damn fine.

I tried to echo that amazing collar with a lot of structure on the LBD I picked to be the cornerstone of my outfit. Then I added lots of textures and mixed a bunch of statement jewellery pieces to create something a little bit whimsical. The head piece was admittedly difficult to out do so instead I played it down a little bit in the hope of creating something that might actually be wearable.

Bec xox

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