I can’t be the only shoe lover out there to have gone through a rather elaborate punk phase in high school. My wardrobe mainly consisted of band t-shirts, hoodies and dark-wash Levi’s, accented always with a black (of course) corduroy messenger bag dotted by safety pins. I thought I was pretty awesome back then, as did all of my friends who dressed similarly.

I’ve long since moved past that sartorial stage in my life (I even dabbled a bit with the “sorority girl” look in college. Very briefly.), but I still look back at that period fondly. Punk was my first stab at creating a personal style, and I’m betting that whoever designed the Loeffler Randall Alice Safety Pin Flats has a similar story to tell.

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Certainly not me, that’s for darn sure.

I’m blessed and/or cursed with the muscular legs which many girls develop by play soccer for most of their young lives, which is great for almost everything except wearing boots. The more leg the boot is supposed to cover, the less likely it is that I’m going to have a positive try-on experience, let alone a purchase with which to go home. Thigh-high boots are clearly not the trend for me, but there has to be someone out there who can rock these, right? Well, maybe not.

According to my favorite sales associate at Jeffrey in Atlanta, plenty of women want to try on the faux-leather version of the Stella McCartney Thigh-High Satin Boots with nary a one able to get them fully extended. Some of those problems result from the inability to navigate the foot through the narrow part of the ankle opening, others are based on legs that are just too big overall. Either way, he’s yet to see a woman successfully don these boots.

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Botkier is a brand near and dear to our hearts. We cover them on both PurseBlog and PurseBlog Savvy often and have partnered with them for an exclusive collaboration bag! The brand has not let us down when it comes to handbags and now after delving into their shoes I found a new obsession.

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Even though Maison Martin Margiela tends to err on the side of simple and elegant (dare I say plain?) for their handbags, their shoes are magnificent. Case in point: these Maison Martin Margiela Work Moc Booties are clearly inspired by something not so glamorous, like clomping about in forests chopping wood.

The end product, though, is something that’s definitely glamorous – but in that ironic sort of way. You see, you can tell the shoes are made well. The stitching is immaculate, the leather is beautifully rubbed and worn, and there’s that additional black piping on the sole that’s so simple it’s perfect.

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More and more, I find myself becoming bored for with embellishment on the vamp of a shoe. Crystals, bows, rhinestones, ruffles, flowers…I feel like I’ve seen it all when it comes to toe adornment. Who knew that a simple change of location could perk me right up?

Well, apparently Guiseppe Zanotti did. Back-of-shoe embellishment has become increasingly popular in the past few years, and I think that the Giuseppe Zanotti Crystal Bow Pumps make two somewhat tired motifs (bows and rhinestones) feel new again, all by way of a slight geographical departure.

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If you’ve been a fashion fan for any significant period of time, you know that the times in which clothes, bags and shoes are released usually have nothing to do with what’s going on outside or what you might actually need to buy for the season. Despite the fact that it’s early July, we’ve been featuring a lot of boots and other closed-toe shoes in these parts recently, mostly because those are the new, cool things at most online retailers. We want to be timely, so we cover stuff as close to when it hits the internet as possible.

Except, uh, no one in the Northern Hemisphere is buying boots right now. Duh, we forgot. If you’d like to talk about some shoes that you might be able to wear right now and for several months ahead, may I suggest the Diane Von Furstenberg Opal Wedges?

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I found the perfect shoes to celebrate 4th of July! Behold the Christian Louboutin Maloko, not only a gorgeous shoe but also a shoe adorned in red, white, and blue.

Happy Independence Day from the TalkShoes team to all of you and happy 234th birthday America!!

A few days ago, I wrote about some genuinely scary DSquared Jellies. With a huge platform and a heel well over six inches, they inspired a bit of discussion in the comments about dangerous shoes and the ever-climbing height of the “high” heel.

Well, that got me thinking. It seems like even five years ago, “high” heels were as low as three inches, but I doubt anyone would consider that anything more than a medium heel at this point. As shoes get taller and taller, are there any fashionable heels out there that won’t endanger your ankles? The Fendi Cutout T-Strap Sandals are just what the doctor ordered.

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I’m of two minds about kitten heels. Part of me thinks it’s great when lower-heeled shoes become trendy because it makes trends accessible to more women, specifically those who don’t have lifestyles that allow them to wear heels constantly or regularly. The other part, though, thinks that the line that kitten heels create for a shoe is kind of odd, and a true heel or a true flat would both be more attractive than the mini-heel hybrid that a kitten heel creates.

If you’re going to go that direction, though, the Diane Von Furstenberg Lilly Boots aren’t a bad place to start. Finding a cute ankle boot without a sky-high heel can be difficult, and this pair fulfills a couple of fall trends while still being totally walkable.

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The answer to that question is yes, isn’t it? I thought so. I guess I’m ok with that.

I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around just why the Prada Clear PVC Sandals appeal to me so much. It’s not because they’re particularly luxurious – PVC and clear plastic are not luxe materials, no matter what Miuccia says. They might be interesting to look at, but they’re not the kind of thing on which I world normally consider dropping serious cash. But yet…I find myself oddly intrigued. What gives?

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