<p>I’ll wear bronze as a metallic, but can’t quite do gold or silver unless it’s nighttime or deep summer. Too many years of cultural training I suppose. The Anthracite Tod’s I could manage quite happily, however:). TY, alh, TYVM…</p>
<p>Collage1, Do these had too much heel?</p>
<p>[Blondo</a> Joannie | Women’s | Shoe-Store.net](<a href=“ShoeStore”>ShoeStore)</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions! My favorite, and more along the lines of what I’m looking for, is the Pikolinos although I don’t care for the ruching detail. I also feel most comfortable in a flat or very close to a flat. Have to pick up d now but will do some searching of this and some of the other brands mentioned.</p>
<p>Has anyone ordered from Pure Collection? They have beautiful cashmere sweaters and blazers, but the online store seems undiscovered in the U.S.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.us.purecollection.com/Clothing/Cashmere-Clothing[/url]”>https://www.us.purecollection.com/Clothing/Cashmere-Clothing</a></p>
<p>Thanks, PackMom & BunsenBurner.
It’s tough to get mom to try Zappos and hard enough to get her to do much of ANYTHING for herself. We were walking to the opera from dinner the other day when her shoes utterly broke and she had to stumble along with one shoe on and one off to Ross to get something to get by so we could proceed to the opera (two blocks further).</p>
<p>She isn’t positive what her actual size is because most things in HI are sold for women as Medium (B) or Wide (D) or Extra Wide (E or so). She’s not any of those, but has been getting by and never all that thrilled with her footwear (though she DOES like athletic shoes, since she can lace them up).</p>
<p>Will try Zappos & maybe we’ll have some success.</p>
<p>HIMom, Nordstrom carries Munro shoes (not sure if the one in Honolulu has this brand). If you find the style/size she likes, check 6 PM, the Zappos’ clearance site has the exact shoe - their prices are 40-50% lower. Right now 6 PM has mostly summer styles, but I guess you do not need boots in HI. :)</p>
<p>Thanks, BB! Am starting with Zappos, so she can try on a few different styles to get a feel for what actually fits & may be comfortable. Once we find some brands & styles that work, we can later shop for discount shoes. Just ordered 5 Zappos pairs & hope that at least one works for her.</p>
<p>Gourmetmom: Thank you! Lovely outfits! I am doing sweaters instead of jacket this fall. You, too? Are you going out to dinner afterwards? Will you change?
How do you decide what new items to add to your wardrobe? Do you get ideas from shows, in shops, magazines? Do you just feel it?</p>
<p>Sewhappy: Same question. Where are you getting your sense of what feels right fashion-wise?</p>
<p>Or anyone else???</p>
<p>If you have time, that would be fascinating to me. I hope that isn’t too intrusive and/or off topic.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Alumother: I can’t make it out of the house in patent after Labor Day. The metallics have never bothered me, maybe because the shoes don’t look evening at all? Your post is interesting to me though since, given a choice, I would always choose bronze over gold or silver. I had never considered there might be subconscious prohibitions at play. I am wearing white petticoats with black dresses this fall. Only possible because ladies in the past did it. Even if their petticoats didn’t necessarily show. I very bravely wore a pair of white pants during a short trip a few weeks ago. Although many women in the airport were wearing white pants, I felt so uncomfortable I thought I might have to change in the bathroom. It felt wrong wrong wrong. Won’t be trying that again anytime soon.
…
clogs and metallics - the more things change…</p>
<p>I wore my first pair of clogs in 1972, showing up Monday morning in homeroom to discover that over the weekend Carol had also gone with her mama shopping at a family owned dept store in a neighboring city and bought the same ones. And Sue and Tom had on new clogs in homeroom, too. (Tom could get away with clogs in the 1972 south, not only because we all wordlessly recognized his inherent fabulousness, but also because a very cool, extremely hetero European exchange student had worn them the year before.) However, we didn’t care about their clogs. Ours were special with very unusual heels. She begged me not to tell anyone who asked where they came from. I was very conflicted. Didn’t everyone deserve the cute clogs?</p>
<p>I wore my first metallic loafer/flat shoe in 1986, matched to an outfit I treated myself to on my first Mother’s Day. Having worn metallic sandals for at least a decade previously that wasn’t a huge leap. Also around this time I sometimes wore skinny jeans, flats, little jackets. Sometimes colored jeans.</p>
<p>The only thing that looks new under the sun to me (other than shoes/boots obviously designed purely for performing) is the Pradas with decorated heels. Does anyone own a pair?</p>
<p>At 56, my problem with trends is that I have seen and done it it all. Does anyone else feel that?</p>
<p>I’m really enjoying the discussion on here, feel as if it’s getting to a deeper level on fashion vision and instinct, not to mention regional influence.</p>
<p>Re: Metallic Shoes – I actually enjoy them a lot but tend to buy them at places like Target on the cheap and wear them in a somewhat whimsical mode to a certain tone of social event. My DH is devoted to a pair of Target flats from several years ago in a gold satin with Chinese glitter black markings. </p>
<p>Re: Dansko – I started wearing them back in the day when I was still doing a lot of ballet. Dancers, at least back then, adored Dansko. I had a pair of the brown leather clog Dansko back in 1980 or so and I still have them. They are very scuffed up but somehow feel just right still with a slouchy jean. So part of what I love about this shoe brand is their longevity. They are like a really well made boat. </p>
<p>The other issue with Dansko, in my view, is that it depends a lot on the size of your foot whether you are going to like how they look on you. I have really small feet (5 1/2) and flats look terrible on me. I think you need the long slim Audrey Hepburn type foot to look elegant in a flat. Conversely, Dansko can look pretty enormous on a larger foot. But I feel as if they look right on my absurdly small foot. </p>
<p>Gourmet, I DO like metallic shoes! Very much so. But the way some of the mom’s were incorporating them at the events I attended seemed off-key. Context is everything, I guess. And FWIW, I never did feel quite comfortable tramping around Cambridge in my Dankso’s when DS was there . . . In cold seasons I’d suffer in a pair of boots (which I hate to wear) and in warm I’d wear sandals or Converse.</p>
<p>I just can’t wrap my head around wearing Dansko clogs/shoes. Even though I have smaller feet they look so big to me. Love Tod’s! Also have metallic shoes. D2 has the cutest Tory Burch metallic flats…more of a pewter or gunmetal color…that she wears to work and on campus with jeans.</p>
<p>I remember envying gals who could pull off Danskos when I first saw them in the late 80’s. The minute I tried on a pair I knew they would never work on my then size 9 tootsies (now 9.5 after three pregnancies). Just. too. big. There was no way around it. I was slightly tempted when I saw the cherry red ones (I have a thing for red shoes), but thought better of it. Some things are going to be insanely cute on someone else, and I will appreciate them on another woman, but never work for me. I think recognizing that about ourselves is key to our own fashion sensibility. We have to ‘own it’ no matter what we’re wearing. That’s what makes me really notice a look on another woman…when she really owns it and it totally works for her. My Auntie is like that (my mom’s twin who I was named after). At 70 she still owns every look she wears. My mom will often try on the same outfit but even being her twin it doesn’t work for her. Auntie has attitude in her style!</p>
<p>I have to agree with those that feel they can carry a bronze, but not gold or silver shoe unless it’s a dress shoe. I never thought about it, but I did want a pair of metallic flats and remember all I could find was terribly bright gold for some reason. I knew I wasn’t going to be happy with that look and searched until I found a bronze pair that I get a lot of mileage out of.</p>
<p>Danskos may be regional? I never saw them where I lived in the NE. A favorite boutique here in the south has a whole wall of them, an unbelievable variety of styles. It is not a place where young women shop. I can’t find anything on-line that would suggest they are currently considered stylish, though lots touting their comfort.</p>
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<p><a href=“http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/travel/best-shoes-for-travel-ask-a-flight-attendant.html?_r=0[/url]”>http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/travel/best-shoes-for-travel-ask-a-flight-attendant.html?_r=0</a></p>
<p>OTOH - metallics are big this fall. Just google metallic flats and see all the blogs discussing them, all the high-end stores selling them.</p>
<p>[Chloe</a> Scalloped Metallic Leather Ballerina Flat - Designer Metallic Fashion 2012 - ELLE](<a href=“http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/chloe-scalloped-metallic-leather-ballerina-flat#slide-4]Chloe”>Designer Metallic Fashion 2012 - Stylish Metallic Makeup Clothes Accessories for Women)</p>
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<p>So True! And someone has to be the style setter. Someone has to be first to wear those metallic flats. With confidence. Or the Danskos.</p>
<p>sewhappy: You didn’t really answer where you get your personal sense of what looks right at Parents Weekend. Is it just an inner feeling? Maybe you, too, were told at a very impressionable age that metallic was only for evening? or a summer shoe perhaps? Or are you influenced by the media in some way? (Do you read Vogue, etc, religiously like me?) Or what women you perceive as stylish are wearing?</p>
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<p>hmmm . . . I don’t consider myself to really have a true personal style. Believe I’ll be perpetually evolving toward that till I’m in my walker, trudging along most likely Dansko’s.</p>
<p>Again, I really do enjoy metallics in shoes. I own several pairs and wear them. I just didn’t think the way it was incorporated by a few moms I encountered on campus worked too well. For one thing, two of them said their feet hurt and wanted to know what brand my shoes were! (Dankso) More to the point, I think, is that they didn’t incorporate the metallic shoe as well as Gourmet is planning with the rest of their ensemble. They were wearing cropped pants and their poor ankles looked cold in the autumn wind. Thinking back, too, they were wearing short jackets with the cropped pants. Somehow I think the flats would have worked better with a longer length jacket or sweater. ??? </p>
<p>I dunno. Maybe they were trendsetters and I just didn’t get it. Wouldn’t be the first time!</p>
<p>My fashion goal at the moment is to figure out how to wear scarves more effectively this winter.</p>
<p>I enjoy wearing flats–metallic or otherwise–and have concluded that, when wearing them with slacks, ankle pants can accommodate flats better than a longer, wider leg. Is this my imagination or do you agree? I am tall and don’t like to tower over others!</p>
<p>(I also like flats with crops/capris for spring/summer, but am not fond of those lengths during fall and winter. )</p>
<p>Agree with alh and especially her thoughts on being uncomfortable in white pants. Same goes for me. All that stark white below the waist seems to scream out at the world every time I try to wear them.</p>
<p>Similarly, I just can’t wear tall boots. I feel silly in them. As if I should have a horse nearby. </p>
<p>No accounting for this stuff. My DH will not under any circumstances wear a slip-on shoe. It offends something deep within him – shoes must lace up!</p>
<p>Someone should do a study just on our diverse attitudes about footgear. No doubt, it’s been done already.</p>
<p>I share the goal of learning to wear scarves more effectively. Such a good way to offer a bit of color to my face.</p>
<p>I found this video from Nordstrom to be helpful.</p>
<p>[How</a> to Wear 4 Scarves 16 Ways](<a href=“http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/scarf-video]How”>http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/scarf-video)</p>
<h1>6474^^I really think height makes a huge difference what you can wear. The length and cut at which my pants look “right” is going to be so different from someone who is taller, and what shoes look right with what pants will be different. (I am very petite) I can’t feel comfortable with a white shirt and black bottom unless I have a black sweater or jacket so that there is still a dark column from neck to toe. Otherwise I am too chopped up. I figured that out when I was in my 20s. Just because it looks beautiful on a model or the mom next door, doesn’t mean it will look good on me!</h1>
<p>edit: sewhappy: you do get I’m only uncomfortable in white pants after Labor Day and before Memorial Day? I wear them happily during the summer. Or on a winter vacation someplace tropical. Top to bottom white though, or under a black knee length or mid-calf or ankle length top or dress because of that same column of the same kind of color idea that I need. I like black to mid calf and white below. that works fine. that is what I was wearing on my trip. all linen - that’s another issue I’m trying to overcome. my outfit was an experiment for myself I failed. This week, when I go for a manicure, I’m going to try and get colored polish on my fingernails. It feels like I’m going for a face tattoo or piercing. I keep telling myself: nail polish comes off really easy. I’m really living on the wild side fashion wise lately ;)</p>
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<p>Horse people probably wear tall boots less time than the average woman.</p>
<p>Nope, not me. Can’t do white pants anytime of the year. Cream? Yup. Off-white? Yup. But not stark white.</p>
<p>Mysterious how we develop these fashion phobias. :)</p>
<p>I still wear Danskos, but not nearly as much as I did a few years ago, when I had a case of plantar fascitiis. The XP line, which is aimed at people who are on their feet all day is a definite upgrade and improvement over the Professional series. It’s more lightweight (by far), has better cushioning and arch support and better flexibility. It’s a much better walking shoe that it used to be and IMO one of the most comfortable out there. </p>
<p>The problem with clogs is that they are open and relatively narrow in the back. On uneven ground it’s easy to slip out and twist an ankle, which I’ve done. I used to wear them mostly to run errands, usually with straight jeans or cords. Have also worn them while touring overseas. Now I mostly wear them around the house if I’m going to be on my feet a lot. Wouldn’t wear them for a social occasion or on uneven ground. I have no illusions that clogs are a high fashion item.</p>
<p>Metallics are very current- not seasonal or limited to evening at all. There are many that aren’t over the top and have a more muted sheen. I have a pair of mid toned silvery gold loafers and wear them as a neutral. Cropped pants are seasonless right now, too - IMO they would only be off if the fabric were too summery.</p>