pic taken from here
Today marks the 125th birthday of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. You have been such a great influence in my style! Thank you for popularizing the trends that has now become classic staples: the LBD, quilted handbags, tweed jackets, capped-toe ballet flats, and my absolute favorite, stands of pearls. Now, I just need to work on adding a real tweed jacket to my wardrobe and I will be all set!
Are you a fan of Chanel?
As mentioned here, G & I went to the outlet mall after the vineyard tour. It was Virginia State Tax Free Weekend and we thought we would go check out some stores. I was only interested in purchasing scarves for Fall but I left empty-handed as I didn’t see anything I particularly had to have and the prices weren’t that enticing to me either.
G is a fan of the Bass Outlet, so we went in to the store. I have never heard of Bass until I saw G’s wardrobe with their clothing and footwear and was unaware that they had women’s wear as well. We wandered to the women’s section after G was done and I found myself looking at a pair of classic cap-toe ballet flats in black on black and a beige on black. They were very reminiscent of Coco Chanel and I asked G to do the math for it while I tried looking for a pair in my size. I found a pair in black to try and they were comfy and fit snugly. I however, liked the pair in beige but the only one in my size was a display and the sales assistant couldn’t find it’s missing half. Oh well.. the universe is telling me to not buy any more shoes, I guess.
Since I couldn’t stop thinking about it, I decided to call the other outlet store in VA the next day and voila, they had in my size and the color I want! I ordered them over the phone and the total came up to $29.93 ($2.95 for shipping). The original retail price was $89.95 and it was on clearance for 70% off.
The shoes arrived yesterday and I love it! While I am rarely a fan of patent leather, these were minimal and it goes well with the beige. The in-sole is well-padded and very comfy. They do however require some breaking in as the rubber on the back hurt the back of my feet after a while. (I have since been stretching them out with a shoe tree and it is much better on my feet now.) For $26.98, these man-made material flats are definitely worth it and stylishly chic in my books!
Are you a fan of cap-toe shoes?
On average, I buy at most 5 pairs of shoes in a year as I’m more into clothes than shoes. Thus, when I buy two pairs of shoes almost back to back, it’s a splurge! (although, not really in this case). I have in the past tried on Sam Edelman’s shoes, but could never quite justify the price and as such, I didn’t give it any more thought. However, when I saw the Trina on Chocolate Cookies & Candies’ blog post and later on Wendy’s Lookbook, I decided to order two pairs to try (black & nude). I ordered them from Neiman Marcus as it was one of the few places that still had the black Trina in my size.
Initially, I was hesitant with the Trina as I thought the metallic heel looked tacky, but when I finally saw it in person, that definitely wasn’t the case. The metallic heel is actually very subtle and blends in very well with the gold hardware on the sandals.The in-sole is also well padded making it very comfortable. For retail at $100, they were still pretty expensive to me, but thanks to my American Express rewards, I was able to redeem a $50 Neiman Marcus gift card to fund the sandals.
It was also befitting as the pair of ZARA sandals that I have is already showing wear. I bought them on sale last Summer and I love the classic simple look of it. Alas, the back leather strap on the left sandal is already stretched out and I didn’t even wear them all that much!
The other pair of shoes, the Felicia, a classic pair of ballet flats were purchased with the Nordies’ gift card which I received as posted here. I had retired my previous pair of gold ballet flats and have since been searching for a pair at a reasonable price. These were $59.90 on sale and it’s a total score when I didn’t have to pay a dime with the gift card!
Like the Trina, these are very well-padded as well and the slight rubberized back hugs the feet. They are quite comfortable by far, although I have yet to wear them out just yet. I plan on adding soles to the bottom for more grip and to make the flats lasts longer. The bare soles that I have noticed on Sam Edelman’s shoes are the only drawback by far. Otherwise, they are comfortable and well-made. Needless to say, I’m now officially a Sam Edelman convert!
Every so often I like to go window shop at the high-end departmental stores i.e. Saks, Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus to check out the latest and sale items they have in store. I haven’t been to the high-end stores since my birthday at the end of May, so I decided to hit them up today as I was curious to check out the new Fall/Winter collection items. Specifically, I wanted to check out the new Marc Jacobs scarves and bags and of course Chanel is a must! Heh. However, the Marc Jacobs scarves weren’t in store yet and there weren’t many bags from the new collection on display either. I did however, checked out the gold and bronze reissue colors for Chanel’s Fall Act I.
Here’s what I wore for my window shopping trip…
I also tried on the new Ferragamo bow ballet flats which was lovely but the leather was rather stiff. I think I like the Varinas a bit better coz they fit snugly and I didn’t want to take them off the last time I tried it!
As I browse around, some of the Sam Edelman shoes captured my eyes. I didn’t try them but I like these two pairs and would probably check them out come sale time!
fauxionista 