These Shoes

As far as style goes, I am an incredibly simple person. Daily, I wear jeans, a plain short-sleeved and solid-colored t-shirt, flip flops or flats, and maybe some earrings or a headband if I'm feeling particularly fancy. That's it. No makeup, minimal jewelry (save the necklace, watch, and rings I wear every day and almost forget about), and hardly a pattern or print in sight. Sometimes I think that this simple style is a curse; I look at fashion magazines and blogs like The Sartorialist and think, "Why don't I do that? Why don't I pair a great printed scarf with a sharp, tweed jacked, and a killer pair of heels?" Often, these questions are answered by remembering that a) I live and LA and it is 70 degrees out, b) I do not have $300 to spend on a jacket, c) my feet would kill me if I tried to spend all day walking around campus in heels, and d) I like looking simple, for the most part. I try to remind myself of the blessings of a simple style, and why I gravitate to it in the first place. I like knowing that most of the colors I have in my closet all work together (I'm heavy on grey, black, green, burgundy, purple, for the most part), that I won't ever feel out of place on my laid-back college campus, and that my basic style does a good job of reflecting my personality. At times, however, I do need to force myself to jazz it up a bit, lest I fall into an unadorned, unembellished, and frighteningly uninteresting rut!

Case and point, shopping with my mother yesterday. We set out to find an under-$100 black-tie dress for my cousin's wedding in May, not an easy task at that price. After trying on numerous dresses that were too pricy, to big, or not dressy enough, we were just about to leave the store when the clerk pulled out a simple navy blue gown. Immediately, my mother fell in love, but it took me a couple of minutes to be sure. The dress was strikingly simple. It was made of a jersey knit, had a wide neckline, and was fitted to just below the knee, where it was gored into an elegant fishtail that swung out when I moved. It was simple, but beautiful. I soon fell in love as well and shortly thereafter we were out of the store with that great dress in tow! Next, it was off to DSW where we went looking for a pair of high heels to replace the ones I bought nearly 4 years ago and have worn straight through. After trying on a couple of pairs of shiny, sparkly, yet all together blah heels, I stumbled upon this pair, and I was immediately drawn to them.

I tried them on, literally laughing because they seemed so out of character for me--bold, flashy, colorful, patterned--but I couldn't take them off, I liked them so much! So, after my mom pointed out that the reaction they got (a big smile across my face) was totally worth the craziness, and that my wardrobe could benefit from a little "pop," I am now the proud owner of these awesome shoes. :-) (For a better look, check out this page on the DSW website.) I like that they are a bit out of character, will add some fun to whatever I'm wearing, and just simply make me smile! And really, what more could I ask for?