Little Darlings

Flirty flats and the Orient’s Happy Shoe hit the streets from Rome to Rodeo Drive. Flats embellished with buckles, bows, flowers, and pearls are our Little Darlings.

  
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Ugg It Up

The ubiquitous Ugg has become the season’s cover-up...from head to toe. From comfortable clogs to bodacious boots, platforms, thongs, and even sneakers. Across the pastel color palette, it’s the comfort shoe of the season. And that au courant clog—it’s chunky and clunky. This season clogs come in fleece, nubuck, chamois, felt, leather, corduroy, and suede.

Note the Ugg hat and handbag found in L.A. stores this season.

  
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Diva Drama

Bling’s the thing. More is More...and Mo’ Better is the best. Decoration adds drama. Embellishments add emphasis to that all-too-sexy toe cleavage.

  
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Rodeo Rose

Rodeo boots and decorated moccasins ride off the range right onto downtown Main Street. Look for those trail-blazing fringe boots, too.

  
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Top to Bottom

Ready-to-wear from the streets to our feet. Menswear patterns—tweeds, herringbones, and houndstooth -- Corduroy, velvet, and satin. It’s a fabric story with fabulous flirtations. CBS News’ The Early Show previewed Fall shoes as Vintage Chic. The stand-out shoe... Tweed Pumps...a trend taking a classic menswear fabric, adding detailing and embellishments, and turning all this into a lady-like Fall accessory.

  
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Decade Dreaming

Let your footwear fantasy take you on a 20th century memory lane adventure. The 20’s with round toes and thicker heels. The 30’s with egg-shaped toes and glam trims. The 40’s with peep toes, platforms, or wedges. The 50’s...be a girly girl with pointy-toed pumps, slings, or sassy saddle shoes.

  
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Flower Pin

Flower Pin. They’re all over the place; they’re in every fabrication. From leather to wool..., from chiffon to silk. And they’re being worn from head to toe. Floral hair clips to clip-on shoe candy.

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Leg Warmers and Hosiery

Leg Warmers and Hosiery. Variety is the spice of life and most of us have been without pantyhose and trouser socks for many a season. Well, now your major issue is not “if”..., but “which”. The assortment is endless.

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The Poncho

The Poncho, cape, cover-up, or shrug —one size fits ALL. Macy’s Online has them on sale for as low as $14.99. Or choose prim & proper capelets. It’s the reinvention of the “oh-so-last-season’s” pashmina. Buy them in fabrications from wool to cable knit, from fur to glamorous glitz. Wrap yourself like the gift that you are.

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Brooches

Brooches. Wear them alone or in clusters. Glittery and glamorous. Luxurious and lavish. Raid your grandmother’s jewelry box. The treasures lie within. And if Lady Luck isn’t in your corner and Granny sold that costume stuff in her last yard sale, then head for the Second-Time-Around shops, Goodwill outlets, flea markets, etc.

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Tie One On

Tie one on. Sarah Jessica Parker strikes again with her sexy looks in the Gap ads. Silk men’s neckwear loosely tied at the neck and worn as a necklace. Slip one through tweed trouser belt hoops, and fasten with a matching flower. Wear one over an open-neck striped shirt or tuck inside a menswear vest. It’s a ta-dah look!

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Jewelry

Jewelry...bling’s the thing! Get a flutter over earrings—long, dangling earrings. The chandelier trend continues and is the number one item in the accessory world. Bedecked and bejeweled in layers of stones at the neck make you the princess that you are.

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Pearls

Pearls…, pearls…pearls, in all the colors you can find. At the neckline, buy a new strand with a black grosgrain ribbon attached. At the wrist, select one with a camellia. And for the waistline...simply layer them on.

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Tweed

Tweed—the fabric of the Fall season. Hats, purses, belts, bows, and flower pins.

Tweed Chanel boucle jacket. FIDM Fashion Fact: Put this with sheer or silk tops. If that’s too risqué, buy a few tweed accessories, i.e. flower pin, thin belt, sophisticated purse, or special shoes.

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Handbag Heaven

Handbag heaven. Arm candy galore. Mock croc. Fuzzy wuzzy. Snake charmer. Royal retro in purple. Exotic animal-printed hair calf—cheetah and zebra. Embossed exotics—alligator, lizard, croco. Textured and pebblegrain surfaces. Bronze metallic washes over leather. Envelope clutches.

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Beyonce, Usher, Rod Stewart

Did you catch The Fashion Rocks event created by Conde Naste Media Group?

Ohhh myyy…if you didn’t!

Part performance, part magazine and part museum exhibit. What a celebration of the relationship between fashion and music.

Performed live at Radio City Music Hall on September 8 (the start of New York Fashion Week), it aired September 26 as a primetime two-hour special on Fox Network.

Just in case you were otherwise occupied for both dates, a collector’s magazine supplement was included in the subscription copies of the October issues of 12 Conde Naste and Fairchild magazines including Vogue, W, Vanity Fair and Cargo.

And if you’re not a subscriber, you’ve still got another chance. There will also be a month-long exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum in Cleveland.

Indeed, Fashion Rocks!!!

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John Lennon Shoes

Nike Corporation recently announced that it has received permission from Yoko Ono to make shoes named after her late husband and ex-Beatles band member John Lennon.

Just-Style.com reports that “the shoes, which are in the same style as those worn by Lennon on the cover of the infamous Abbey Road LP, will have lyrics from the hit Imagine printed around the toe area, a self-portrait of the legendary musician on the side, and Lennon’s autograph on the heel”.

Manufactured by Nike’s subsidiary Converse, profits from the sale of the shoe will go to charity.

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Hilton Heels

Did you hear the latest? Star News recently reported that hotel heiress Paris Hilton is about to add “shoe designer” to her resume.

Yes, she’s already one of the richest young ladies on the planet. She’s a reality – tv star, an actress, a singer, and a perfume creator. Guess that’s simply not enough for a young blue-blooded diva.

It’s been reported that Hilton is signing a deal with Skechers to design her own shoe line.

Will Princess Paris become the next Shoe Designing Diva?

Stay tuned...

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Shoe Diva Sarah & The Gap

Gezz…did the Gap ever score a big one. Sarah. Sarah?

Yeah, Sarah of Sex and the City fame. The Sarah who created Manolo Mania. Sarah Jessica Parker. Remember her?

Well if you’ve been tuned into any network in the past month, you've seen her displaying her sense of style…but this time with The Gap’s Fall print and tv campaign. Tagline… “How Do You Wear It”.

Watching multiple images of her move to Lenny Kravitz, Grammy-nominated song “Are You Gonna Go My Way”, I’m amazed that her major fashion statement looks so much better than affordable ready-to-wear.

But then again, we all could probably look that good if we were loaded down with the reported $10 million worth of bling from jeweler Fred Leighton.

Little things like that can do a lot for a basic $30 pair of jeans and a shrunken sweater.

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Declining Sales???

Ohh plezzz!!!

Footwear sales ailing the last few years? I think NOT. I’ve most assuredly done my fair share to keep the footwear manufacturers deep in black ink. And I know that you have, too.

But… a recent New York Times article quotes Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for the NPD Group, whose figures indicate that we’re simply not spending enough.“

It’s been 3 years of declining sales for both men’s and women’s dress shoes. In 2001, the combined men’s and women’s dress shoe business was $5.5 billion. The next year, it dropped to $5 billion. In 2003, it was down to $4.2 billion.

Ladies. Uhh and of course, gentlemen. Start your engines. Work with the industry. Jump start the economy.

Let’s go out there and buy more shoes.

Fist-pumping...YES!

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TV Turns to Tommy

Reality tv just won’t stop. Too many of us are addicted to the trials and tribulations of those crazy, just-like-us folks.

The newest arrival into the feverish Fall II schedule is fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger. CBS recently unveiled The Cut. It’s a contest series to pick a new clothing trendsetter. The winner among 16 contestants will have the chance to design a fashion collection under the Tommy Hilfiger label.

Reuters press releases say that “contestants will live together in a New York Soho district loft and test their skills in fashion design, sales, marketing and finance. Each week a Style Council will cut one from the group until a winner is chosen. The 13-week episode is expected to begin its run as a mid-season show.”

So while you wait for your big chance to design fashions, check out Tommy’s fabulous footwear www.tommyhilfiger.com.

Can ya make big bucks in the fashion industry? Well, suffice it to say that Hilfiger launched his first menswear collection in 1984 with button-down shirts and chinos. His products now generate about $3.5 billion. That billion with a lucrative “B”.

Important NOTE…the shirts were priced at just $70. Whatta man!!!

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Color

Wanna know what exact color you should be buying for this Fall and for next Spring 2005 and the next season thereafter?

Well check with the Expert with a capital “E”. And who’s that? It’s Pantone—the world’s authority on color.

Pantone predicts hot colors for clothes, accessories, and your home at least 18 months in advance of consumer consumption.

They look at what influences us worldwide—sociological, political, economic, and travel.

They study the obvious and the obscure.

For Fall 2004, they put together a palette of 10 colors that reflect 2 overarching themes in our lives -- [1] faith and [2] nourishing.

Their FAITH colors are Sunset Purple, Crimson, Limoges, Shocking Pink, Aqua Gray, and Pale Mauve.

The NOURISHING colors go from lighter Fall Leaf to the Dark Brown Pinecone. They’re hues you’ll find in nature.

Think chocolate. Breathe in and count to 5. Now tell me, don’t you feel better.

And if you want to be especially fashionable for Fall, you MUST buy green and purple!

For more information… consult the book The Color Answer Book by Leatrice Eiseman, Pantone Color Institute Executive Director.

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Reflexology at Home

Gadjit by McNaughton, Inc www.gadjits.com has some innovative products you’ve just got to see. Their line is called Sole Mates.

Scrub your feet clean without bending over. Soapy Soles is a foot-shaped pad that suctions to the floor of your tub or shower. Colors—cobalt blue, clear blue, lemon, raspberry, sea green, lavender, pearl blue, pearl silver. $14.99.

But Soapy Soles Elite is even better. It’s a 3-in-1 product that scrubs, massages, and stimulates your tootsies. It’s $19.99.

Sole Mate Bumpy has nodes or “bumps” that can be used for a reflexology home treatment to reduce stress and improve health.

An added bonus on their site is a page on Reflexology with a chart that shows what’s connected to what…from head to toe.

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Footwear Factoids

Running Shoes: Change them every 350-500 miles.

Walking Shoes: If you walk 4 miles a day (about 8,000 steps), change your walking shoes every 6 to 9 months.

Shoe Sizes: “37% of American women wear a size 9 or larger. In 1987, only 11% were in that size range” according to a recent study by NPD Group.

BTW, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis wore a size 10.

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