Spring is for Shoes

...Well, perhaps not. In Texas especially, spring (and spring-like-weather) is more often associated with no-shoes than with. Even though the title of this post may be a bit "wrong," the shoes I've listed below most certainly are not "wrong." In fact, these shoes are espadrilles - i.e. made for spring. I love love love these shoes for the kind of perfect weather that is upon us down South! I want to pair these with structured, but summery dresses, light cashmere sweaters, and huge-brimmed hats... and a margarita on the rock.

Barca Soludos, $28

Found Here

Striped canvas and lambskin espadrille

by Chanel, found here

Lanvin Satin ankle-wrap espadrille, $435

Found here

Tom's Silver Morocco Women's Classics, $54

Found Here

Sardinia Wedge, $118

 at J.Crew

Love of the Day

It has been AGES since I blogged.  Chalk it up to trying to find a job and the madness of the holidays (to be perfectly honest, I've really been knitting up a storm. seriously, a storm).  These slippers are my current creative inspiration: Tom Scott's Harry Slippers by Creatures of Comfort are simply knitted perfection. $207 at the Cool Hunting for the Gap pop-up in Manhattan.  How I wish I could hop on a plane and pick a dozen of these up!

images from: http://www.projectno8.com/ 

Fashion Sunday: Shoes

Only 5 more weeks until bar results.  Yikes.  But, instead of dwelling upon November 5th and the significance of that date, I will think about shoes.  Shoes have never steered me wrong (ha).  In fact, shoes have brought great happiness in times of testing anxieties (see my May posts).  Today the focus is on shoes fit for my intern schedule, i.e. shoes that can go from days of standing to days of sitting and from days of driving downtown to days commuting on the train (with much walking involved).  Additionally, the shoes have to be black (or in the black family).  So with all those qualities in mind, I peruse the interweb:

Christian Louboutin Simple 70 Leather Pumps: $595

If only my intern salary (ha!) allowed for these.  This may very well be my first purchase after getting a job.  Swoon.

Same goes for these, below:

Jimmy Choo Gilbert Leather Pumps: $495

YES! these are women's shoes.  I'm loving the patent oxford look.  These are by Church's;

Patent Burwood brogues: $425

Cole Haan Air Swan Oxford Pump, found here: $225

Nine West Roothy Black Patent Oxford Pumps, found here: $79

Coach Adra Heel $168

I usually swoon for Coach heels, but these are the only ones I would contemplate buying from their current line.  Shame- they fit so well.

Tory Burch 'Amy' Pump in black: $250

Salvatore Ferragamo Femy Low Heels: $524

...and, a shoe to truly dream about and save one's pennies for:

Manolo Blahnik Patent Leather Mary Janes: $645

for real Swoon.

Art + Fashion!

Italian Architect Gaetano Pesce has created these shoes for the Brazilian brand, Melissa.

The Coolest thing about these seemingly henious pebble shoes is that you can cut away at the "pebbles" of the bootie to create anything you can possible dream of: flats, peep-toe flats, peep-toe boots, sandals, mary janes... and the list goes on with creativity.  

Apparently the entire Melissa brand is built on plastic shoes and famous collaborations (the Vivienne Westwood like is super-whimsy and fun).  Delightful for the vegan-fashionista in all of us.  Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a pair of these stateside or some of the others of the line:

Like these Melissa + Campana, or 

these Melissa + Vivienne Westwood

Not Just for Hippies.

The New York Times has just reduced to writing a belief I have held near and dear to my heart for the past 5 years: 

Birkenstocks are NOT just for Hippies (or lesbians).

In this article, Guy Trebay looks at all the ways these wonderful shoes can be worn and all the different kinds of people that wear them.  Characteristically worn by those who oft prefer to hug trees and drive volvos, Trebay tells us that Birkenstocks are now being worn by NYC fashionistas and many male celebrities.

Pause for Hooray!

Better yet, after Birkenstock execs saw that their shoes were gracing these kinds of feet, they got inspired to design:

“It was never a goal of ours at Birkenstock to be fashionable with capital F,” said Shelly Glasgow, the director of product development for Birkenstock USA. “But when we saw pictures of male celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Usher wearing Birkenstock products that we hadn’t in any way placed with them, we didn’t want to let that go.” And thus the company decided to raise the ante on design."

I've owned this pair since my romp in London and even though some friends, and others who had been a bit late on the fashion train, constantly mocked my wearing these shoes, I still wore them with a deep affection for their undeniable and classic style.

Visit the Birkenstock Website for more styles.  I think that these may be my next sandal purchase (Patent Black Sydney)

Thank you, New York Times, for bringing light to these sandals that every boy and girl should own!

Fashion Sunday.

Gooood Morning!  It's winter again here in the Cleve.  Last time we talked Fashion Sunday, it was way-too-warm summer... and now, winter.  I'm gonna miss this place.
First up on the fashion radar today is a little something for the men who read this blog.  (You know who you are).  Why should awesome shoes only be for the ladies?  Even though there aren't that many "fashion-forward" options for the boys, Tiffany Tuttle, of LD Tuttle has created these "unisex" sandals for the summer:

Read the Story about LD Tuttle at the T Magazine Blog found here. 

After seeing that Men's sandals can be cool, I found these other, v. many, v. cool shoes floating around out there in the interwebs, and at a fine-fashion retail location near you:

John Varvatos, "Mustique" D-Ring Thong Sandals, found here.

Frye's 'Lawson' Sandal, found here.

And, of course, the most perfect Summer Shoe EVER for men, the Classic Sperry Topsider.  This example is in a bit of an updated color, Navy.  Buy yours anywhere, or just click here.

Boys, I hope you enjoyed that post- Girls, there will certainly be more "lady fashion" in the coming week...  As well as several, SEVERAL posts about me freaking out as I face the move and pack up ALL my belongings to be put in storage during the worst 3 months of my life :(
Happy Sunday!

Luxe Fashion, Bargain Basement Prices.

I just read a great piece in Times today about vintage clothing and Manhattan thrift stores.

Deidre Schoo for The New York Times

It got me to thinking about the few great things I've purchased from ebay lately.
(Let me preface following story with back story... I never "ebay-ed" until a month ago.  I had heard some bad stories, hadn't really thought about it as an outlet for great things, blah blah blah.  UNTIL I was searching for the perfect Coach briefcase ONLY to learn that Coach no longer cares about sleek lines, vintage style, and great American-made leather-goods.  Seriously.  So, the only place I knew to look for a vintage briefcase was ebay.  I found one.  On that particular day, the auction for this particular Beekman briefcase was ending that evening.  I figured that if I staked it out and remained the high bidder I'd win.  False.  Apparently everything in ebay comes down to the last seconds.  And I even had a high reserve.  I wanted this (used) bag $300 worth.  Sadly, someone else wanted it $306 worth.)
Even though I was completely deflated and still sans briefcase, I attempted ebay again a few days later.  This time, I utilized the precious, oh-so-glorious "buy-it-now" feature and secured this AMAZING bag:

After this initial boost of confidence and retail encouragement, (and an expense check from the school) I ventured into the world of ebay once more for a pair of frye boots.  Although I live in Ohio now, I am a true southern girl with MUCH need for boots in the summer (skirts and picnics, duh).  After much looking over a few days, I found a pair of distressed frye harness boots originally sold at Anthropologie.  Even though they were a 1/2 size too big, I purchased.  And I fell in love.  They are hands down the greatest boots I have ever owned.  And I got them for less than 1/2 price.  In fact, I saw the same boots at Saks today for $250.00. (score.)  these are the lovies:

( I love them too much to only put one pic)

This post is simply to state that although the title of this blog is 'Abounding Luxe,'  Luxe, and great, GREAT pieces of fashion, can be found anywhere at any price point.  Search around for those little gem-of-a-stores akin to those in the Times article.  Embrace vintage and ebay and thrift!

Fashion Sunday.

Well folks, after sleeping for 12.5 hours, I figure I ought to do something productive.  I made a little eggs benedict for b-fast and am watching a marathon of Season 3 of 30 Rock while I ponder packing (and putting my life back together after the law finals tornado that ripped through my apt while I wasn't looking)... but before all that- let's embrace that it is now officially summer... how do I know this?  It's like a bazillion degrees in my 4th story studio apartment.  No really, a bazillion.

In honor of the bazillion degrees in here and the summer outside, let's talk some cute summer clothes:

swoon-fest ensue: A denim vest by citizens of humanity; buy it here:

...and wear it with cute dresses like this:

and this:

and this, yes, this:

and of course, topped off (bottomed off?) with an amazing pair of these:

...or something similar from my earlier blog posts.

Enjoy this lovely Sunday! 

Why I Shop Online...

...because then I can't feel the leather next to my foot and see the cuteness and know for sure that they will fit and be the most absolutely perfect addition to my closet.

After picking up my dress for Barrister's ball today (pics and stories to follow) I ran into Nordstrom's real fast because I was completely out of perfume.  Does the running out of perfume seem to sneak up on anyone else as completely out of the blue as it does me?  As I was there, I decided that I had already put off studying Criminal Procedure II for a few hours, so what was a few more minutes perusing through the shoes...

I'm an idiot.  Because I fell in love with these:

and these: 

and then these: 

There were of course others, but finally, and with much inner-dialogue, I was able to pull myself away from the shoe department and eventually departed with just my perfume.  I'm exhausted from restraining myself.  Time to start studying Criminal Procedure...

Study Break: I Break for Shoes.

I've moved on to Piperlime in my search for amazing shoes.  I need some good summer shoes, as my collection of shoes from living in Cleveland the past 3 years consists of boots, furry boots, and yarn boots (you are welcome for the purchases, Ugg).  As I plan for my move to Texas, I need some shoes (read: Sandals) to prepare for the 9-month-long summers.

Today, I'm in Love with these:

Matt Bernson's, "The Flash"

Cynthia Vincent's "Coco"

DV by Dolce Vita's Dylan

The best, BEST part about all the Sandals featured today is that they are MUCH more reasonably priced than other featured shoes on my blog.

Enjoy reading and GET those toes painted- It's gonna be a Looooong Summer!

Study Break: I Break for Shoes.

Bankruptcy had gotten far too convoluted for 8:45 pm.  

Trying to appear as the consummate "Study Warrior," (props to Brent for coining the term "Study Warrior") I still sit at my computer in the library staring fiercely into my screen and ever-so-often glancing at a book to drive those around me into a frenzy of stress.  But what I'm really doing- Shoe-Shopping.

I admit it... I've been into some pretty weird shoes lately.  Forgive me.  I think fashion is art.  I think kooky is beautiful.  And I think creative should be worn.

First Up: Camilla Skovgaard Chain-embellished Leather Sandals: 

A Little Luxe, a little Hardcore, a lot Amazing: Can be Purchased Here. I really need these for upcoming Law Prom.  They would go so well with my Navy Gown.  Hmm... 

Next Up:  OH MY HEAVENS I WANT THESE NOW, Chloe Multi-Strap Leather and Canvas Sandals; So bad ass. So great for everyday.  Sighs...

Seriously, this time- I'm actually considering emptying my savings in order to buy these... 3 years of Law School debt can go into default.  I don't EVEN care... Get them here.