Fashion Disaster

I love heels. Heels are glorious. But I am still trying to find a happy medium between heels and flats, since I now live in a major walking city (Chicago). I used to be able to “wear” heels for 12+ hours a day, but that’s because I didn’t used to actually have to walk more than a block max between my car and my office, or vice versa. I am still trying to find the magical heel that lets me walk half a mile to the train and back, and around the glorious city of Chicago.

I managed to catch part of Stacy London’s new show on TLC yesterday, “Shut Up! It’s Stacy London.” Stacy London is, of course, one of the hosts of the ever-popular show (and one of my guilty pleasures) “What Not to Wear.” On it, she talked about her love for heels, but the need for a heel that is truly comfortable–not just “less uncomfortable” than other heels. That’s when she interviewed boutique shoe designer Kristen Lee.

Kristen Lee apparently uses materials in her heels that are lost on other shoe designers, such as memory foam foot pads (this in itself mystifies me enough to be willing to pay nearly anything just to try them), as well as rubber soles on some shoes. Stacy London herself put them to the test and wore them for 14+ hours on a shoot. But she’s also put the shoes to the test on two “heel virgins,” women who rarely (if ever) wore heels. The heel virgins claimed that they loved the heels and could run around in them all day.

If this is true, I will personally fund Kristen Lee’s retirement.

Has anyone tried them? It appears as if one shop in Chicago carries Kristen Lee shoes, and I will be making a pilgrimage as soon as I can to check them out. I’d love to hear some personal experiences though, because it’s really hard to believe that such a shoe can exist.

Any other “comfortable” heel recommendations?

Igigi is one of my favorite plus-size online stores. They offer a pretty decent selection of dresses, tops, skirts, and pants for women sizes 14-32. I even once almost modeled in a fashion show for Igigi a couple of years ago that ended up getting called off due to some freak miscommunication with planning.

So when Igigi contacted me and asked me to do a garment review for Fashion Disaster, I was excited! I was sent the Catalina Plaid Dress to check out and write my experiences for you guys.

I thought it looked adorable in the picture, and I love wrap dresses, so I went into this with an open mind. When it arrived, I was pleased with the pattern and the vintagey feel. It’s made of a “bias cut plaid crepe,” according to the website, which is different than the typical jersey material that most wrap dresses are made out of. I liked it.

However, when I pulled it out, I discovered that it was not a real wrap dress–it’s faux-wrap. I suppose I should have known this by noting the (lack of) mention on the product page about it being a wrap, but by the design, I just assumed. This made me hesitate, because I tend to have a smaller waist than most plus-size stores account for, which would be easily taken care of by a (real) wrap because then I could control how tight it is around the waist. Not in this case.

One thing I liked about it not being a real wrap was that the V-neck was sewn, and sewn relatively high. I’m no conservative girl, but in the wrap dresses that I already have, the V ends up going very deep, and I have a lot of cleavage. Sometimes, it’s nice to just have a little more coverage in that case, and this dress definitely delivered on that front.

Then I put it on. I’ll avoid being too wordy about how it worked out:

• It fit “okay” in the waist–could have been a little more fitted, but wasn’t horrible
• Way, way too long for me. The dress fell at roughly my lower calf area, and I’m 5′10″
• Skirt was kind of billowy–a little fuller than I’d have liked

When it came down to it, this dress looked downright matronly on me. I was tasked with wearing the dress out in public to an event or something, but I have to admit that I couldn’t. I just didn’t feel hot in it. Sadly, this dress just did not do it for me.

I played around with pinning the hem up a bit to see if it could be improved, and I honestly believe that it can. If the hem could be taken up to fall at the knee or just below, I think this dress could be transformed from matronly to modern. Take it in a little in the waist and we might have a winner.

For $75 from Igigi, I would probably not buy the dress as it is now, but with a few alterations, might consider it. So, if I were to give it a score on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the best), I’d give it a 4 with the potential for a 6.

The first post I ever made on this site was about capelets, something that I’d secretly been lusting after for months. Well today, I happened to be at the Lord & Taylor on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, which is currently having mega-sales right now to clear out inventory since they’re moving to another location.

Lo-and-behold, all outerwear had huge markdowns. My boyfriend got a soft, brown, $500 Bernardo lambskin leather jacket for 70 percent off–about $150. If any of you guys out there are interested in a really nice leather jacket for really cheap (relatively speaking), seriously, hit up Lord & Taylor on Michigan Avenue or pay one of your Chicago friends to go there for you.

But even better yet, the womens’ department has the same crazy discounts. I was checking out the outerwear department when I came across this black cotton/cashmere (YESSSS! Cashmere!) capelet! For 70 percent off! Originally $400, discounted to $120.

No one is happier than me right now.

There won’t be much to this post, but I just came across this cute little nerdy heart necklace from Sweet Tooth Designs:

It’s made of sterling silver and is not too nerdy as to put people off, so I officially <3 it (see what I did there…). Unfortunately, it costs $75, which is a bit rich for my blood.

The necklace is part of their smiley charms collection, which I think are a bit too nerdy to wear out in public with a straight face.

As I’ve spent a fair amount of time lately helping a male companion shop for a new wardrobe, a post I came across on StyleDash seemed to be particularly appropriate to mention here. The post is Five items every guy needs. What are the five items?

1. Nice khaki pants
2. Solid colored t-shirts
3. Quality black suit
4. Brown shoes
5. Boxer-briefs

Go ahead and read the linked posts for explanations as to why these are essential items. While I agree that all guys should have the above five items, I think limiting the list to five in this case might not be a good idea. The list is is, of course, assuming that guys already have stuff like black shoes (especially to go along with that quality black suit…) and hopefully other types of pants besides khakis.

But hey, it’s simplistic and does the job. A few that I’d throw into the list–perhaps they are too obvious, who knows–include:

1. Black shoes
2. At least one button-down white shirt (you’d be surprised at how many guys don’t have this)
3. Black pants (could be a casual fabric, like black khakis)
4. Non-white socks!
5. A black belt and a brown belt

My resident male also adds:

1. A navy or charcoal suit, for less serious occasions and variety
2. A good pair of walking shoes that aren’t gym shoes

Anything we missed?