Center City Shoppers, Rejoice!

Good news, Center City fashionistas!  We have two new stores just open that promise to be chock full of good deals: the Century 21 at 8^th and Market, and the Nordstrom Rack at 17^th and Chestnut.  Aah!  We’ve been waiting for so long!  Let there be much rejoicing.

Can’t make into the actual stores yet?  Well, they still have websites.  Here’s a pair of shoes from each store to whet your appetite!

Ooh, sexy.  The Dorado by Carlos Santana is sleek and unusual: blue faux suede over the toes and at the heels, and black faux leather up the front.  The heel is 3.25 inches high, which is positively reasonable—it looks taller than that, somehow.  Yours for $55 (44% off) at Nordstrom Rack.

How gorgeous are the Gyrolynn by Modern Rebel?  The warm brown leather upper.  The shiny studded gold links up the front.  The cork wedge, that’s 4.5 inches at the heel and one inch at the platform.  SO lovely.  Also available in black; your choice for $35 (65% off) from Nordstrom Rack.

These sweet little shoes are the French Leopard Print Loafers by Isaac Mizrahi.  It’s the details that make it for me: the tiny black trim around the foot, and the bow at the toe trimmed in gold.  So pretty!  Yours for $72 (42% off) at Century 21.

Ooh, fun.  The Set in Stone by Chinese Laundry are such a beautiful Bordeaux color, aren’t they?  Not your average fall boot.  The buckle on the top and the layering detail on the shaft are nice touches, and the warm woods of the three-quarter-inch heels are a nice addition.  Yours for $70 (50% off) from Century 21.

What are you waiting for?  Go explore!  It’s a new world out there!

That Tingly Feeling

I hope one of your New Year’s resolutions is to keep your feet happy and healthy in 2014 (all the better to enjoy your shoes!).  We all know that high heels can throw us out of whack, but did you know the wrong pair can pinch nerves in your feet?

(I should remind you here that I’m not a doctor.  I’m a Shoe Fairy.  Take that as you may.)

This has happened to me, to deputy shoe fairy Cayce, and I’m sure to some of you.  You’re at a party, dancing the night away for hours in gorgeous high heels—maybe like these!

The Spycee by Steve Madden clocks in at five inches tall (with a one-inch platform).  Five inches of rhinestones, that is!  And five straps up the front to boot.  Normally I’m not a fan of aurora borealis crystals, but I sort of love this.  I can’t even imagine what they’d look like on a dance floor.  Yours for $75 from Macy’s.

But after a few hours in your fabulous heels, maybe when you go home and take them off, you realize your toes are all tingly, like they’re asleep.  When I was in my heels for twelve hours at my brother’s wedding, I found that the three small toes on my left foot were numb.  And they stayed numb for several days.

The culprit?  A pinched nerve.  This happens most often when your toes don’t have enough room, the heels are too tall, or both.  Those beautiful Steve Maddens look like prime culprits for both.  Also called a neuroma, there are many symptoms:

• Feeling numb or tingling.
• Feeling pain in the foot, which can radiate outward from the source.
• Twitching or feeling weak.
• Feeling like the foot falls asleep, or feeling like pins and needles.
• Swelling or redness.

Most of those symptoms will go away in a couple of days, if you wear shoes that give your toes enough room.  If it doesn’t go away after that, there are a few other options if you see a medical professional:

• Special padding at the ball of the foot may change the abnormal foot function and relieve the symptoms caused by the neuroma.
• Anti-inflammatory drugs and cortisone injections can be prescribed to ease acute pain and inflammation.
• Custom shoe inserts made by your podiatrist may be useful reducing symptoms and preventing the worsening of the condition.
• If all else fails, surgery which removes the inflamed and enlarged nerve can usually be conducted on an outpatient basis, with a recovery time that is often just a few weeks.

But a way to avoid all this is just sticking to lower heels on those occasions when you need to be in heels for a very long period of time.  That’s two inches or less.  Like these!

The Gabriel by Isaac Mizrahi has a 1.5-inch heel—in gold!  Look, it’s shiny metallic gold.  There’s a touch of the metallic at the back of the ankle, too, and the trim around the foot opening, but the rest is glitter!  Hooray for glitter.  The gold is $130, but the pewter version is $100—but it doesn’t have all the special touches of the gold.  Check them both out at Zappos and decide for yourself.

So take of your toesies and have many years of happy heels ahead of you!

National Dog Show

I don’t know how it is with you, but I know I always end up watching the National Dog Show on Thanksgiving while I finish up the pies at my parents’ house.  All those pretty pooches… plus it takes place in our own backyard, did you know?  So I get a little kick out of having my neck of the woods projected from the tiny TV in my parents’ kitchen in New York.

But if you want to know who wins before everyone else does, you can go see it in person!  This weekend!  Tickets are ridiculously reasonably priced, and you have your choice of days—Saturday or Sunday.  So why not go and watch champion-level dogs parade around the Oaks expo center?  I can just hear the dulcet tones of John O’Hurley now…

Leading off in the terrier group is the Scottish Terrier.  Often called the Scottie, this dog is best recognized for its distinctive profile and hard, wiry, weather-resistant outer coat in a black, brindle or wheaten color.  Its beard, eyebrows, legs and lower body furnishings are traditionally shaggy.  Like many breeds in the Terrier Group, Scotties are small yet strong and known as fast, alert and playful dogs.

Aww!  The Scottie Dog is a pump for Scottie-lovers, all right—a handsome little guy decked out in a red polka dot bow tie adorns the right shoe, and the leash trails off to the left shoe.  (There’s a polka dot bow over there too!)  And three hearts, just because.  The heel is just under four inches—and look, do you see the print on the back of the heel?  It goes all the way down the sole!  Yours for $118 from Irregular Choice.

Next up, we have the non-sporting group.  First, we have the Standard Poodle.  The Poodle, though often equated to the beauty with no brains, is exceptionally smart, active and excels in obedience training. Poodles can be a variety of solid colors, including white, black, apricot and gray, but never parti-colored.  The breed comes in three size varieties, which may contribute to why Poodle is one of the most popular breeds.  The Standard is the largest.

The Zarek by Isaac Mizrahi New York is chockablock with poofy Poodles!  White on black, with little pink eyes and noses.  Plus, it’s in the smoking slipper shape that’s so hot this season.  Also available in a sort of red paisley; your choice for $78 from 6pm.

Up next in the non-sporting group is the Boston Terrier.  Truly an All-American dog, the Boston Terrier is a lively and highly intelligent breed with an excellent disposition.  Conveying an impression of determination, strength and activity, he is short-headed and compactly built, and must be black, brindle or seal with white markings.

That is the distinctive black-and-white face of the Boston Terrier, all right!  And just look at the little hearts in his eyes.  This shoe is both graphically pleasing and makes my heart smile—a pretty rare combo!  If you’re not into dogs it also comes as black-and-white cats… or if you are an equal opportunity pet lover, you can get the pair that’s one of each.  Find them at DHgate for $15.

Even if you’re allergic, you can get behind these dogs!

Sales this weekend:
Aerosoles: Fall boot sale-- up to 25% off select styles
Bakers: 40-50% off all boots
Lord & Taylor: Online only-- save 25% on regular and sale shoes
Macy's: Holiday preview-- save 20-30% on select styles
Nine West: Buy 2 pairs and get 20% off (web only)
Nordstrom: Save up to 40% during their half-yearly sale
Payless: Fall boot sale!  Up to 40% off

Workplace: Business

The last stop on our tour of workplace footwear is the professional workplace.  This would be something like law—somewhere where your wardrobe should impart confidence and competence, but never frivolity.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t be stylish!  It just means that you can’t show up in a courtroom looking like Elle Woods.  (Yes, Legally Blonde lied to you.  I’m so sorry.)

But try these!

The Draper by Mojo Moxy is classic, sophisticated, and (yes!) a little fun.  The white and burgundy combo is a little unusual for this type of shoe—it also comes in white/black, white/gray, and white/royal, but they look a little costumey.  It also has a T-strap and a four-inch heel.  They run small, so order up!  Yours from 6pm for $70.

OHMYGOD, I love these.  The Carli by Adrienne Vittadani is so much more than just a classic black pump—those swirling cutouts at the toe are sort of awesome.  I also love the shape of the toe, and its 3.75-inch heel is very reasonable.  Also available in what they call beige, but is actually is sort of a lovely glowing rose color—your choice for $99 from Macy’s.

The Agalia by Isaac Mizrahi is a beautiful pump: a nude, pointed toe body, accented with a bow-accented strap in black.  It is ridiculous how much chic that bow gives to this shoe, and I heart the blush-and-black combo (though it also comes in black with gray).  A three-inch heel finishes the look.  Find them at Lord & Taylor for $135.

Suede.  Kiltie.  Tortoiseshell.  Navy.  The Suede Kiltie Pump by Prada has everything needed for a traditional work shoe, but in a fashion-forward way.  Because of the chunkiness of the three-inch heel I would wear these with pants and not a skirt in the professional workplace.  Also available in black with a black buckle; your choice for $500 from DSW.

So thus ends our tour of footwear in the workplace!  I hope you’ve found it helpful, and (as always) I hope you’ve seen some shoes you love.

Sales this weekend:

Call it Spring: Extra half off all sale

Lord & Taylor: Extra half off already-reduced shoes, or 15% off regular-price shoes with code SAVINGS

Macy's: Extra 25% off clearance

Nordstrom: Anniversary sale

Steve Madden: Sneak peek!  30% off new fall styles