August 28th, 2009 by admin

Here’s a question for you all to ponder this weekend.

When does sassy become too much sassy?

Answer?

Never!

And so we thought this fine Friday we’d leave you with a few shots of our sassiest shoes–call it our sassy hall of fame.

Your job? Tell us which is the most sass-tastic!

Is it these double-fringe booties from Manimal?

These ‘Dahling’ Boots, by Faryl Robin?

Or these ‘Jack’ Flats, by Andrea Carrano?

Write in votes are welcome of course–so to the polls fellow travelers! And we’ll see you on the high seas!

August 27th, 2009 by admin

Here’s another binary demarcation: Sneaker people versus non-sneaker people. In our experience, sneaker people tend to wear almost nothing but sneakers, while non-sneaker people tend to..well I guess the name is pretty much self-explanatory on that one.

For instance. Ellen Degeneres, sneaker person…

 Victoria Beckham? Non-.

Seriously, seriously, non-.

In fact, she even wore wedges to throw out the first pitch at a Dodger’s game. See?

How ridiculous is that? We mean–How? Ridiculous? Is that?

The answer is, very. It’s very ridiculous.

But you know what’s even more ridiculous than that?

Being either one! Aligning yourself either way–with the nons- or with the all-of-the-times! We think it’s cool to keep ‘em guessing.

Because do you know what’s coming back this fall? With a vengeance?  

This…

 

And this…

And this…

Yes, it’s true, it seems that as we enter the twilight (see what I did there?) of the aughts, the 90s are upon us again.  

So why not wear a pair of cute kicks with your new flower print baby doll dress?

Like these ‘Hommie’ Sneakers, from Blowfish…

Or these Bensimon Les Basiques?

 

And don’t forget to check back with BFT as we head into September, because we’ve got a whole lot of sneakers on the way…

August 26th, 2009 by admin

Does anybody remember the last contest we ran? Where we asked everyone to send us cute photos of their pets and their shoes together? A la the great William Wegman?

Remember?

And do you know what absolutely no one  sent us?

A picture of their snake.  Which, if you think about it, is not exactly surprising. For one thing, there’s no real way to festoon a pair of rollerskates on a snake. (Don’t google it. Just trust us.) And for another thing, well, it’s hard to make a snake look cute. 

I believe Disney tried at one point…

…with less than spectacular results.

But (awkward segue alert!) do you know what you can do with a snake? That’s cute? And flirty? And fun?

You can wait until it molts, steal the skin its just shed, smooth out the edges, and turn it into a hot pair of kicks! 

Like these ‘Para Ti’ Sandals from Coco Belle…

Or these Exotic Kitten Heels, by All Black for Barefoot Tess…

And if snakeskin isn’t your thing, well who knows, maybe soon, someday, we’ll diversify…

 

Bear Foot Tess anybody?

August 25th, 2009 by admin

You know what we’re seriously not looking forward to this fall?

Jeggings!

Ahhhh!!!

My God! Why?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

But do you know what we are looking forward to this fall? Besides, of course, these things?

These things!

 

That’s right–pants! You remember pants, don’t you? They’re easy, they’re breezy, they’re functional, and they’re inevitable. So here’s our question:

What shoes do you wear with your pants?

Do you go the full Hepburn? And rock a pair of Remix ‘Spectator’ Wedges?

  

 

Or do you go with the pants and pumps thing, and slide into something like a classy pair of ‘Nita’ Heels, by Soft Style?

 

 

Obviously, we’ve failed to mention boots and sneakers and sandals. But not because we’re biased–never that (except for, well, the Jeggings thing).

No, the look is up to you.  What’s not up to you, unfortunately, is the shortening of the days, and the chilling of the nights, the falling of the leaves and the oncoming deluge of…the Jeggings.

But other than that, as far as we can tell, the possibilities are endless…

August 24th, 2009 by admin

There are two schools of thought when it comes to the first day of school. Or maybe there are just two kinds of people. The first works on their outfit all summer, laying the preliminary plans down on the bed sometime in early June, with the socks and the shoes and everything, and then they mix and match all the way into September, all the while searching for something that works–only to be known when they see it.

 And then there’s the second kind of person, who–well actually, who knows what they do? Do they just wake up on that very first morning and just throw something together? Ad Hoc? Impromptu? Whatever happens to be clean? Whatever’s handy? Whatever fits? Willy-nilly? But that’s–that’s totally crazy! Why would anyone do that?

We’re the first kind of people, through and through, and we can’t imagine it any other way.

And yet, even within that first school of thought, even within that first kind of people, there are yet two more schools of thought, two more kinds of people, and this, roughly, is how they divide themselves.

The first school says, why fight it? Why stint? Why pretend as if it’s not a big deal? Why not go all out?

While the second opts for a subtler approach, something classy and sweet, but somewhat discreet.

So which way do you guys go? Obviously, you’ve been planning all summer, but are you going to be brash or bashful? Sentational or subtle?

Tell us. We’re curious.

August 21st, 2009 by admin

Jackie O’s shoe size?

 

10!

And Michelle Obama’s?

  

11!

Audrey Hepburn’s?

10.5!

And Elle Macpherson’s?

 

12!

Tonya Harding’s?

    

Tiny!!!

We’re just saying….

August 20th, 2009 by admin

We all know about party shoes–they’re the shoes you wear to the party, duh, and they’re awesome and you’ve been waiting all summer for your one chance to wear them.  You know what we’re talking about.

But if you don’t, here’s what we’re talking about.

Party shoes! Get it? You wear them to a party, and it’s like you have another, even better party wrapped around your feet. That’s what we’re talking about. And being talked about is generally the point, right, when it comes to shoes like the Chie Mihara ‘Coalho’s above, or the Corso Como ‘Dodie’ Wedges beside them?

So we’re all on the same page here. Party Shoes.

But as R. Kelly says, after the party, there’s the after-party, and after the…well anyway, you get the point. So what then? What to do when your feet want to step down from the heels, but not away from the glam? 

Vending machines? It’s been tried…

But come now. Let’s be real. Let’s get honest. Let’s talk about the shoes we all keep in our bags, just waiting there, curled beside our lipstick, ready to be slipped on at a moment’s notice at the appropriate point of a party. Let’s call them our dancing shoes.

Like these Bernardo ‘Barney’ flats…

Or these, the ‘Tess Classics’ by Matt Bernson…

So tell us girls, what pair do you pair with the pair that draws stares? What flats and ballets do you like to keep hiding and lurking and tucked away while your wedges, stilletos and pumps go to work?

Tell us your secrets, lovelies, and you might just see a reward in return…

August 19th, 2009 by admin

So how come these are cool…

But not these?

 

Why these…

But not those?

Although we have to admit, these…

are pretty cool.

I know, I know, we really should be carrying the RollerClogs.  And I can honestly tell you that they’ve been on our to-do list for some time now. I kid! I kid! But the real question remains, namely, what pleasure are we experiencing when we slide into a pair of shoes that has existed, in some form or another, for thousands upon thousands of years? Like the ferocious pair of ‘Cleo’ glad-sands, by Cocobelle, seen above, or the Matt Bernson hotness just above them?  

Is it just the look?

Or is there perhaps some awesome and ancient gladiatress vibe, pulsing through the mists of time, all the way up to the soles of our shoes themselves? Tell me girls, when you rock a pair of strappy sandals, or a boot that goes all the way up to the knee and beyond–tell me, do you ever pretend to be, well, Cleopatra, for example?

Or even, if just for a day, one Cleopatra Jones?

 

 

I do wonder, my lovelies. And as they say, wonders never cease…

August 18th, 2009 by admin

Reading Julia Child’s wonderful and witty memoir My Life in France (one half of the inspiration for the new movie, Julie & Julia, which I’m sure you all know about) we found ourselves feeling a bit sorry for poor Julia, who finds her size 12 feet decidedly unchic in the only pair of shoes she can find in gay Paris—a pair of plain white canvas tennis shoes. 

   

 

Oh, but if only Barefoot Tess had been around back then to come save her!

 

If we close our eyes we can imagine her now, shopping along the Rue de Rivoli, poking her head into Boulangeries and Patissieres, all while wearing a pair of devastating ‘Betsie’ Wedges from Delman.

 

Can’t you just see it? Wouldn’t she be just thrilled?

 

And so we’re wondering now, what other famous tall women might have benefited from a little BareFoot Tess in their time—if only we had been around to save them?

 

Off the top of our heads, we can see Ingrid Bergman, standing tall (5’10”!) before a plane to Lisbon, in a pair of Loeffler Randall ‘Colette’ Heels, as Humphrey Bogart bids her the most wistful farewell of all time.

 

 

 

So who springs to the top of your heads, my lovelies?  

August 16th, 2009 by admin

This is what comes to mind, when I think of our new Blow Fish “Sass” flats. They are the perfect transitional style to take you from summer to the fall. In basic black and a whiskey brown, at $49.00 these flats are a must have. I almost forgot the best part, there are not just fashion right, but very comfortable.