“Out of Style” Orange: The Color We Love to Hate Okay, it’s time to confess. I fell in love with Jimmy Choo when I was in Paris this spring :D This week for #SaturdayStyle (#SAS) we thought we would discuss “Ugly Chic,” which is really thinking about how standards of beauty can be broken up. I chose this shoe today not only because I haven’t done a shoe post in a while, but also because this is a bright orange shoe. I mean really bright orange. Why does this matter? Well, orange is actually listed in most color preference studies as the #1 least favorite color of women. (I’ll give out a prize to anyone who can name women’s top 3 favorite colors in the correct order) What’s more, there is only one color that men dislike more than orange, and that’s brown. Not only that, among both genders dislike of orange increases with age—only 57% of people 18 or younger cite it as a least favorite color, but 90% of people between 25 and 60 cite it as their least favorite color. This distaste for orange is often seen—or maybe unseen—in the fashion industry.  Orange is such a taboo color in the fashion industry that in 2010 when it was featured in a few collections it was listed as a “surprise break out hit of the season.” Perhaps we women in California think of Caltrans vests or prison jumpsuits when we think of orange and apparel together. But whatever it is, it is an unofficial secret that orange is, well—a fashion faux pas. However, when respondents were polled and asked to list qualities they associate with orange, the qualities they listed were overwhelmingly positive—bright, luminous, glowing, warm, metallic, autumnal, jovial, lively, energetic, hilarity and exuberance—which suggests, according to color experts, that dislike for orange may actually only reveal that the color is simply *“out of style.”* :D So I commend Jimmy Choo, a name synonymous with style and grace, for going out on a limb and crafting this glorious “Letitia” orange heel and showing that orange can be both sporty and chic at that same time.  Whad’ya think? Isn’t it time we made orange stylish again?

“Out of Style”

Orange: The Color We Love to Hate

Okay, it’s time to confess. I fell in love with Jimmy Choo when I was in Paris this spring :D

This week for #SaturdayStyle (#SAS) we thought we would discuss “Ugly Chic,” which is really thinking about how standards of beauty can be broken up.

I chose this shoe today not only because I haven’t done a shoe post in a while, but also because this is a bright orange shoe. I mean really bright orange. Why does this matter? Well, orange is actually listed in most color preference studies as the #1 least favorite color of women. (I’ll give out a prize to anyone who can name women’s top 3 favorite colors in the correct order) What’s more, there is only one color that men dislike more than orange, and that’s brown. Not only that, among both genders dislike of orange increases with age—only 57% of people 18 or younger cite it as a least favorite color, but 90% of people between 25 and 60 cite it as their least favorite color. This distaste for orange is often seen—or maybe unseen—in the fashion industry.  Orange is such a taboo color in the fashion industry that in 2010 when it was featured in a few collections it was listed as a “surprise break out hit of the season.” Perhaps we women in California think of Caltrans vests or prison jumpsuits when we think of orange and apparel together. But whatever it is, it is an unofficial secret that orange is, well—a fashion faux pas.

However, when respondents were polled and asked to list qualities they associate with orange, the qualities they listed were overwhelmingly positive—bright, luminous, glowing, warm, metallic, autumnal, jovial, lively, energetic, hilarity and exuberance—which suggests, according to color experts, that dislike for orange may actually only reveal that the color is simply *“out of style.”* :D

So I commend Jimmy Choo, a name synonymous with style and grace, for going out on a limb and crafting this glorious “Letitia” orange heel and showing that orange can be both sporty and chic at that same time. 

Whad’ya think? Isn’t it time we made orange stylish again?

1 year ago
“Toe Cleavage” —submitted for #ShoesMonday and a late submission to #SaturdayStyle on G+ Toe Cleavage: The Reinvention of the “Strappy” Sandal Yup, I said it: Toe Cleavage. Why? Because it’s one of the signature design traits of shoe designer, Manolo Blahnik, who rocketed to celebrity status when he became the designer of choice of Carrie Bradsaw, the shoe-obsessed protagonist in the hit HBO TV series _Sex and the City_.  In fact, Carrie Bradshaw is so obsessed with Manolo Blahnik, that in one episode, when she finds herself in one of the bad parts of town and comes face-to-face with a mugger, instead of begging the mugger not to take her money, she pleads with him not to take her “Manolo Blahniks.” She’d rather the mugger take her ring or even her watch than her favorite pair of strappy sandals. However, there’s a lot more to Blahnik than the strappy sandal. He’s actually a pioneer in the field of shoe design and is generally credited with reviving the stiletto heel in the 1970s when the market was still dominated by awkward platforms as well as refining the mule into a staple. But what we really want to know is what makes Blahnik’s strappy sandal so appealing to Carrie Bradshaw. Well, according to Blahnik, the secret is in the toe cleavage: “I’ve been studying the art of the shoe… for over twenty years. I know every process. I know how to cut and cut away here (the side of the shoe) and still make it so that it stays on the foot. And the secret of toe cleavage, a very important part of the sexuality of the shoe. You must only show the first two cracks. And the heel. Even if it’s twelve centimetres high it still has to feel secure – and that’s a question of balance. That’s why I carve each heel personally myself – on the machine and then by hand with a chisel and file, until it’s exactly right.” So now you know not only what the secret is to Blahnik’s strappy sandal, but also how to get just the right amount of toe cleavage :)

“Toe Cleavage” —submitted for #ShoesMonday and a late submission to #SaturdayStyle on G+


Toe Cleavage: The Reinvention of the “Strappy” Sandal

Yup, I said it: Toe Cleavage. Why? Because it’s one of the signature design traits of shoe designer, Manolo Blahnik, who rocketed to celebrity status when he became the designer of choice of Carrie Bradsaw, the shoe-obsessed protagonist in the hit HBO TV series _Sex and the City_.  In fact, Carrie Bradshaw is so obsessed with Manolo Blahnik, that in one episode, when she finds herself in one of the bad parts of town and comes face-to-face with a mugger, instead of begging the mugger not to take her money, she pleads with him not to take her “Manolo Blahniks.” She’d rather the mugger take her ring or even her watch than her favorite pair of strappy sandals.

However, there’s a lot more to Blahnik than the strappy sandal. He’s actually a pioneer in the field of shoe design and is generally credited with reviving the stiletto heel in the 1970s when the market was still dominated by awkward platforms as well as refining the mule into a staple.

But what we really want to know is what makes Blahnik’s strappy sandal so appealing to Carrie Bradshaw. Well, according to Blahnik, the secret is in the toe cleavage: “I’ve been studying the art of the shoe… for over twenty years. I know every process. I know how to cut and cut away here (the side of the shoe) and still make it so that it stays on the foot. And the secret of toe cleavage, a very important part of the sexuality of the shoe. You must only show the first two cracks. And the heel. Even if it’s twelve centimetres high it still has to feel secure – and that’s a question of balance. That’s why I carve each heel personally myself – on the machine and then by hand with a chisel and file, until it’s exactly right.”

So now you know not only what the secret is to Blahnik’s strappy sandal, but also how to get just the right amount of toe cleavage :)

1 year ago
“Crazy. Sexy. Cool.” —submitted for #ShoesMonday and also a late #SaturdayStyle

“Crazy. Sexy. Cool.” —submitted for #ShoesMonday and also a late #SaturdayStyle

1 year ago
“Rivet(ing)”  -submitted for #SaturdayStyle, which I curate on G+

“Rivet(ing)”  -submitted for #SaturdayStyle, which I curate on G+

1 year ago
“Black Friday — In honor of all the hijinks that are going to ensure in Union Square in downtown San Francisco today, I give you a lil’ sompin’ sompin’.

“Black Friday — In honor of all the hijinks that are going to ensure in Union Square in downtown San Francisco today, I give you a lil’ sompin’ sompin’.

1 year ago