If the Shoe Fits…Buy It!
What’s a fashion & style blog without an entry about shoes? What prompted me to write this one is my new boss at work, who has yet to wrap her head around just how significant my shopping habit is, says to me “I LOVE your shoes. How many pair of boots do you have?!?” As I marvel at my bronze leather BCBG Girls cowboy boots, I reply “A ton…my collection rivals Imelda Marcos” (yeah, REAL original quip there). The fact that I can’t wear stilettos or pumps fails to limit my choices in footwear. In fact, it makes me strive to be more creative in search of comfortable wedges or sensible, yet unique sandals on my shopping adventures. I definitely do not fall into the Carrie Bradshaw category of shoe collecting. I have yet (and probably never will) feel that it’s ok spending $500 on Louboutins, Blahniks or Choos. On top of that, these insanely overpriced footwear are uncomfortable to boot! (no pun intended) Do you know how many pairs 5 benjamins can get me with my shopping prowess? I’ll stick to my Aldos, Nine Wests, & Mizrahis (the Target kind), thank you very much. As more and more retailers recognize that women and shoes are like men and football, a bunch of sites have popped up recently with some great features catering to the love of shoes. Sites such as Piperlime.com and Endless.com aggregate hundreds of well-known and well-respected brands of shoes for women (and men) to browse to their heart’s content! What singles these sites out from the original shoe sites like Zappos.com or Shoebuy.com are the tres chic uncluttered style and format, giving new life to the usual stale experience of online shoe shopping. My absolute favorite feature that Endless.com has introduced (if not pioneered but truly perfected) is their product zoom tool. When you’re on a product detail page, and hover over the main image, a pixelated blue box appears that easily moves around. Instantaneously, an extreme close-up shot of what’s inside the “blue box” displays, showing every stitch, groove, rivet, or hardware that a cobbler (or is it a mass-producing machine now?) lovingly pieced together. I’m in awe when I surf this site since it’s really almost as though the shoe is IN my hand and all I need to do is find one of those panty-hosey half sock things to try them on. But alas, my bubble quickly bursts when I realize I need to type on my keyboard to actually end up with these in my hands…errr…feet. It’s ok, I can wait, and in the meantime, I just need to make some room in my shoe closet.
