I heart e-bay. A new (used) pair of Fluevogs:
I’ll sing in them at a holiday concert in the city.
I’ll wear them at parties.
I can put these on and feel cute and festive without doing anything much about my outfit. Black, some great make-up, big silver earrings, done.
Fluevog makes amazing boots so I know they’ll be comfortable even at 2.5 inches high.
Total bargain.
If they’re a bit big I can put in gel insoles.
And because I’m me, I can preach in them, too. That’s what you get to do when you have a congregation of progressive creative types.
Yes, I do know that many of you will find them hideous, garish and pimpish.
You have to know your own style and what you can and can’t pull off, and what you wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole. God forbid you would wear this with frumpy black twill pants or something with pleats. Or with a timid attitude.
I hope I can find a fitted velvet jacket to go with them. Something with great big silvers buttons.
Beautiful and very festive!
Shoooooooooooooooooooooooes . . .
sorry, didn’t mean to drool all over the internet . . . .
Oh, heck, the hard part is finding the jacket. You can pick up the buttons elsewhere if need be.
“You have to know you’re own style and what you can and can’t pull off, and what you wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole.”
It seems to me this is the same reason some people can wear Dansko Mary-Janes without them being “little girl” shoes.
I don’t wear Dansko Mary-Janes, but I do think that in/out pronouncements aren’t very helpful. You really do have to know your own style, personality, context and sense of fashion fun . . . and be appropriately critical about your role in a community and how others will “read” you.
These shoes are fabulous. Truly and utterly fabulous. Black is classic, the design is renaissance fun, the silver is amazing, and they can go with SO MUCH…. They’re like a fabulous scarf; the rest of the outfit can be really tame, but BAM, that ups the ante. THAT is how you accessorize.
And god bless you for having the cojones to buy SHOES online… I am far too paranoid about sizing to do that (except through Zappos, with their fabulous shipping & return policies). I’ll have to tromp down to the Boston Fluevog store to get a good sense of sizing first.
The reason I disagree, AWP, is because I make a serious study of these issues, and while I understand your defensiveness please trust that my analysis of why Dansko Mary Janes are *never* professional is based on a long and thoughtful consideration. It is also based on my looking at the foot wear of powerful, influential women and NEVER EVER seeing them in anything resembling a clog Mary Jane. I conclude, quite seriously, that Dansko Mary Janes now represents for me one of the massive misunderstandings of image and position maintained by clergywomen. For one simple example: while Michelle Obama could ostensibly wear something like my Fluevog boots and be seen as “funky,” her people would never allow her to be seen in public in Mary Janes. And neither should you wear them, ever, when you are representing the Church in any serious and important matter. Office days, fine. Anything else, not. Certain shapes have unmistakable connotations and it doesn’t matter whether we love them or they’re comfy or our context or anything else. The Mary Jane strap is a youthful, fun detail on a shoe – it has never been anything else. So, fine. But pair it with a darlingly rounded toe and it is child-like. Visual symbols are what they are. Don’t take it personally. Just understand what you’re wearing and take responsibility for it.
I pronounce that they are OUT. And I stand by it.
Those boots are gorgeous! They have led me in the path of temptation and I am breaking the 10th Commandment right now.
Lovely! I’d wear them in a heartbeat. Good purchase, sister!
Thanks for revisiting the Mary Janes matter. What say you, PB, to wingtip black pumps (3″ heel) in a Mary Jane style? I have a pair but I find I wear them infrequently. Does that strap almost always infantilize footwear? Thanks for your opinion. [Oh, they sound lovely. I think it’s the super round toe that looks really girlish. Yours sound sexy and vampy, which means that the rest of the outfit should be elegant and tailored. – PB]
playa playa…..
I’m really likin’ the pimpish-ness of those boots. Tell you have the black fake fur long coat and a good pimp hat to finish out the outfit and it will make my day! 🙂
Seriously though, those boots are great and I would never be able to pull them off.
I would not wear them in the rain,
I would not wear them on a train.
I would not wear them going downtown,
I would not wear them with preaching gown.
I would not wear them Sam I am!
BeeeuuuuTful!!!!
beautiful.. . . like old siver buttons or repousee silver.
You have to know you’re own style and what you can and can’t pull off, and what you wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole.â€
really ‘you’re’ not ‘your’? I understand it was a quick glitch but I still have to comment on it. [AUGH!!!! I HAVE BEEN BUSTED. I HATE when people do that. And now I am one of those people. Let me just put an unnecessary apostrophe here to complete my humiliation, and maybe some unnecessary “quotation mark’s,” too. There, killed two birds with one stone. – PB, chastened]
I wouldn’t touch these… with the 10 foot pole.
For me, chiefly, it’s the print. I do own a pair of Nocona Autry, pointed toe, black bullhide cowboy boots with the same shape of toe. I wear them to work my high tech job. With slacks, the decoratively stitch boot top is covered, if you
are standing up. [I’m curious to see how these will look in real life. They’re not my usual style but I just fell for them! – PB]
Somewhere I remember hearing that the wardrobe should not compete with the sermon. I can’t seriously believe you would wear these to preach. [Honey. You’ve never heard me preach. It’s not like ‘Oh, I’m so fab,” it just that there’s a lot of humor, a lot of charisma. I think I can claim those things at this age. – PB]
Marlene, I think we can presume that PeaceBang is such a phenomenal preacher that her sermons outshine these shoes. 🙂
(That was meant seriously, not snarkily – I really do bet that she’s just that good!)
[Let’s just say that I would not be upstaged by my boots! And thanks. 😉 – PB]
Oh, my. Those are supremely fabulous.
I have no doubt PB is a great preacher. I just wonder if no matter how awesome a preacher is, the clothes can become a distraction. Sort of like Lady Gaga…when I heard her songs on my kids radio, I found myself singing along and thinking catchy tune…then they showed me her videos and lets just say I wasn’t hearing the music anymore. (I know.. I’m a conservative 49 year old… and that’s why I love reading you PB, you push my comfort zone). – [I LOVE GAGA!! Just remember that the shoe is only seen in a flash now and then. From behind my pulpit, not at all. I am personally a lot more distracted by a frumpy looking pastor with bad hair, myself. 😉 -PB]
I love GAGA music, just not crazy about my kids watching her. And I agree about the frumpy pastor with bad hair!! Our female associate pastor wears classic black pumps when she preaches, but wears crazy (i.e red, open toe, stiletto, etc) shoes when she is in a supporting roll. She says the old men always give her an extra hug on those days. LOL
These would look fabulous with a black velvet jacket with silver buttons. Remember, the jacket doesn’t have to COME WITH just the right buttons; you can always remove the old ones and sew on what you like.