Cat in Heels

Boots, winter and the office. That can be a tricky game to play. IMO this is pushing it. Boots are the perfect shoe to wear in the winter (assuming the ground isn’t covered in ice) and they can be paired with skirts and pants, and can make an otherwise boring outfit somewhat office chic. They can also totally derail an otherwise professional look, turning you into some kind of corporate America dress code nightmare. When it comes to boots of any height and work, stay away from heavy hardware. A buckle detail or exposed contrasting zipper is fine, but stop there. Unless you’re in a very fashion forward office, don’t wear things with chain embellishments, studs or both. This goes double when said boot is knee high. Speaking of height, be careful. An over the knee boot can be great with pants or skirts, but you want to make sure the skirt isn’t too short, and that the boot heel isn’t too high. I personally just stay away from over the knee boots because I’m short and curvy and l...

Anyone who has ever had a baby knows that it takes some time to get back to “normal.” And by time I mean I’m not entirely sure this is ever actually going to happen. Aside from the part where your body is pushed to physical limits you didn’t know were possible, there’s that whole weight gain thing.  If you’re one of those horrid women who bounced back in like a week without any changes, then screw you. Stop reading now and go somewhere and gloat. We are not friends. For the rest of you who are still with me on this quest to yoga my ass back in shape (seriously, what happened to my ass?) then welcome. You get it. In my total insolence and hatred of my new post-baby body I have been refusing to buy new clothes. I don’t like this new size and am determined to not stay here forever, therefore there’s no point in investing in clothes. As a result I am wearing the same 6 outfits all the time, none of which are quite my pre-pregnancy style. Luckily, I have my shoes. The magic ...

When I was in my 20s (and early 30s) there were always places I could go where everyone knew me. And by everyone I mean the bartenders, bouncers and the cast of regulars. I had my Cheers . Sure it was a heavy metal/punk rock bar that always smelled of cigarettes (even after the smoking ban in Chicago) and drunk-person sweat, but that was my scene and I loved it.  Now we’ve all moved on (thank you for keeping me updated Facebook), and it’s a very different place where people don't know me, but they do know my daughters. DSW . I bet you thought I was going to say something like the playground or Gymboree, Carters, or some baby music class. No, it’s DSW. I have gone in there so many times with my infant daughters they recognize me. I am being asked how to style difficult shoes. I’m told about promotions that aren’t advertised yet and about new shoes that came out. (The boot section is bananas right now for fall). Not my store, but close. Still, while I’m the one with the c...

Tuesday was David Bowie Day in Chicago. A new holiday we have bestowed upon the great man in honor of the new exhibit “ David Bowie Is ” at the Museum of Contemporary Art.   The show is a retrospective of his work in music and in film. While I wasn’t able to attend the gala that opened the show (because it was $3,000 a ticket), I did manage to find something I have been searching for. Red and white stripe onesies with feet. Baby goblin in the making. If I have to explain why this is so exciting to you, then you need to immediately put down the computer and drag your shameful self over to the television and watch Labyrinth on repeat until you understand why I bought two of them. My twins have one piece of art hanging in their room and it’s the Labyrinth movie poster. That’s it. No clever quotes about growing up strong or pictures of the family. Hell, I haven’t even managed to get pro shots of the little rugrats taken yet. But there is Bowie. The Goblin King s...

"Your boots had a pretty incredible time at NYFW!"  Fashion Week is kind of a dream among bloggers.  There’s a bunch who go and sit in the shows and give their opinion on the clothes, and ones who stalk around New York hoping to get a pic snapped so they can be on some street style blog. Yay for all of them. I have a full time career and twins. I have a daily routine that involves not getting spit-up on my work clothes. Apparently Fashion Week and I are not going to meet any time soon. On the other hand, my shoes have now made it to Fashion Week. Since going back to work and getting some semblance of a normal body back, I have been cleaning out my closet, much of which can be found on Tradsey (more going up all the time). My friend and hairstylist (and the reason for my Alterna addiction) texted me one day freaking out because she had the opportunity to go and do hair for a couple runway shows for Fashion Week. Of course she jumped at the chance and was desperately tryin...

A new shoe collaboration has been unleashed, and you better act fast because it's only here for a little bit. Haydee Oxford Gilt.com and Glamour magazine teamed up to bring a new capsule collection, Gilt Hearts Glamour . The 9-piece collection is affordably priced from $79-$129, and has everything from pumps to flats and booties available in a variety of colors and textures. "We wanted to translate the key fall trends in a way that was both stylish and wearable," said Christina Perez, Glamour's fashion development editor. "We worked with a variety of shapes, materials and colors to ensure there was something chic for everyone-no matter their style personality. That was important to us since so many different types of women read Glamour. We felt the synergies between the Gilt customer and the Glamour reader made Fabiola platform pump Gilt and ideal partner for this project." Gail Snake Embossed pump Personally I love the snake embossed p...

As soon as something is discounted I buy it. Seriously. If you ever want me to buy something then send me a gift certificate or coupon for some amount of money off that is a multiple of $5. The best month for this for everyone, is of course birthday month. Well, August just happens to be Duckie's creepers. I need to find these. mine, and while I am a year older (and a hell of a year that was) I have not gained any self-control when it comes to the topic of spending money because I get to save money. Just ask Ulta about the damage I did last night because I was promised discounts and a free birthday mascara (which they were out of). DSW is one of the many places that sends me a gift certificate for my birthday, knowing they’ll lure me in with $5 or $10 off. So of course I packed up the twins and went shoe shopping. One thing that you all need to know about me shoe shopping (as if you don’t already know) is that logic and wearability has very little to do with why ...

Deadly perfection I need to start using my iPad more. I bet I can nurse babies and type on my iPad. (You’re welcome for that disturbing visual). I also need to not be sick, which I’m not anymore, so that’s a good start. And if both babies would sleep through the night, then I’d totally have it together and write on a way more regular basis. I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in over 5 months. Now that I’m done with my excuses, let’s talk Louboutin. Unless you’ve been living under a rock you know that the shoe genius released a line of nail polish, priced at the pretty penny of $50 a bottle. Despite being the most expensive nail lacquer I know of, it is also sold out everywhere. I attribute this to a few factors: The bottle is totally bad ass and made of crystal The bottle top can double as a weapon. You can stab someone and then finish your manicure. It’s like James Bond toys for women. Everyone wants to own something Louboutin and $50 is just the price point where we can all...

I’ve decided the best way to live life post-baby is to simply pack the little droolers up (seriously, so much drool) and do the things I used to do. Except go to bars. Babies aren’t welcome in bars. Granted, packing them up is like an hour ordeal, which includes figuring out which of the three strollers to take (none of which are ideal), making sure there’s at least one extra outfit per baby, bottles, maybe a breastpump (and accessories), diapers, wipes, baby sling (because sometimes they hate the stroller), and I’m sure there’s other random crap I pack without even thinking of it. Nightmare heels by Iron Fist This weekend Husband and I packed up the girls and their little ruffle-butts and drove off to Flashback Weekend , a local horror movie convention. Because babies should totally be at horror conventions. It also gave me a chance to wear my Freddy Krueger shoes again, this time with the chance that Robert Englund would see them, because he was there somewhere. For the rec...

When I got pregnant everyone kept telling me how it was going to change my feet. How my feet would get bigger, or flatter, or both. Once in a while a little ray of light would come through and some woman would tell me that her feet didn’t change at all. Everything was the same as it always was and all her shoes fit even better than before she was pregnant. (Yeah, I made that last bit up). My new shoes need to be even bigger. I’ve decided the women who didn’t have any foot changes are either lying or were those horrid people who gain like 10 pounds and have that perfect, round, little bump that looks like the fake belly women wear in maternity catalogs. Being pregnant with twins I gained almost 50 pounds, my feet swelled, and my bump was more of a giant belly mound that expanded forward, up, down and sideways, threatening to crush me at every turn. Luckily, as soon as I gave birth I lost all but 5 pounds (muscle mass is a different story), my feet slowly stopped being all swol...

Since having the twins four months ago I’ve been busy. I’d love to blame that on why I haven’t blogged a lot too, but the truth is that since they were born I have struggled with my blog identity. How is Cat in Heels still the same Cat when she can’t go out anymore. What kind of adventures do my shoes have now? I go to work, and come home, and then play with babies (and by play I mean breastfeed with a little playing) until they go to bed. Then I say a prayer no one wakes up in the middle of the night so I can actually sleep and stay up too late watching movies with the husband. New shoes to fit my new, bigger feet. From where I was sitting the glamor of what was probably a pretty boring life to begin with, was gone.  Now I’m a woman with twin babies, who works full time, doesn’t sleep and has no clothes because I refuse to shop for my current post-postpartum body. Finally I came to the conclusion that you, dear reader, are here not necessarily because I talked about shoes,...

Gladiator sandals are still in style, and I am back to traveling for work. This means that I get to see all the fashion atrocities that people across the country (or world depending on the airport terminal) commit, including that of gladiator sandals. I am quickly coming to the conclusion that you should take a styling class before wearing them. Seriously...WTF? Last week I sat at Midway Airport in Chicago for an extra two hours while my flight was delayed because of the weather, previously delayed planes, or some kind of star alignment. (You never do know about those things).  In an effort to not think about the fact that I just walked away from my three month old babies for three days, I decided to instead focus on people watching (and talking in one unfortunate case when I got trapped listening to a lady tell me all about her delays and how her adult kids travel). The conclusion I came to while wandering around the airport (I was looking for a nursery or place to pump,...

For some reason I’m obsessed with peep toe booties, and yet, so picky about the way they look I didn’t own any. Finally I found a pair from Sophia & Lee that I did like. Black, peep toe with a sling-back (so they don’t look too blocky), lacing and a subtle texture to the shoe. They would look amazing with a pair of cropped cigarette pants, and give a little oomph to a fun summer dress (assuming I ever own such a thing). They were the first shoes I ordered after I gave birth to the twins and my feet were back to a normal size (although not my previous size). Then it turns out I didn’t leave the house for weeks on end because I had two newborns at home, so they basically sat in my room collecting dust. Then I went back to work. I love these shoes, but they suck, The first day I tried them on at work, I was so unstable I actually took them off and wore a different black shoe from my shoe drawer at the office. The heel didn’t look so high I couldn’t walk in it, but that was t...

The art world lost a great artist this week with the passing of Swiss surrealist  H.R. Giger . The man who created art from our dreams and nightmares, was perhaps best known for creating the horrific aliens for the beloved sci-fi horror franchise. McQueen shoes and a model of the original alien. I almost feel it can go without saying that my household is a huge fan of his work. So much so we have "Spell 1," a limited edition resin sculpture, hanging in a bedroom.  One of the things that always impressed me about Giger’s work was his ability to inspire others. His work was emulated, but also taken by artists and interpreted for their own work, citing him as the obvious influence. This is perhaps best (and most obviously) illustrated with Alexander McQueen’s Alien shoes from his 2010 line. With Giger’s approval Polish fashion designer Malgorzata Dudek created a line of clothing with Giger prints on it. Dudek's Alien inspired line. In 2013 Georgia...

Oh the things I do for shoes....  The other day I opted to take advantage of a massive ShoeDazzle sale and ordered a new pair of shoes. After agonizing over the size (because pregnancy was not nice to my feet), I opted for a half size larger and places the order. I then promptly forgot about them in the chaos that is being home with six week old twins.  This morning I got up, made phone calls, answered emails, all while nursing babies and bantering with Husband, who is endlessly bringing me glasses of water, and he expressed the desire for me to take 10 minutes to myself and shower. Although the actual request involved something about me smelling like a barnyard animal and how it can't be good for the babies or humanity in general.  Daily showers are a luxury, which all my mom friends told me and I didn't really understand/believe.  After wrapping up all calls and emails, and getting both babies to sleep, Husband busied himself and I ran upstairs to shower. Just afte...

Heel heights that are in vogue change yearly. For the last few years heels have been sky-high stilettos Denelle by Sole Society . with massive platforms. Some of them got so high they bordered on vulgar, being a height and design once only reserved for dancing when you can support yourself with a pole. This year heels have gotten a little thicker (more on that in a different post) and in doing so they have gotten a little lower. Once the standard, the newly named "mid-heel" is all over the place this year, and is much easier to walk in, and a little less scandalous than it's higher counterpart, even when in stilettos.  The mid-heel is the perfect shoe for the office, and can go seamlessly from day to night. Another bonus is that they don't have your feet pitched at an insane angle, so you can actually walk in them, and stand in them for more than an hour.  The mid-heel is also popping up on sandals for summer. From gladiators...

Yeah, I totally fell off the grid for the last few weeks. But I swear I had a good excuse. I was busy having babies. Ok, not the whole time, but I went into labor on Tuesday, March 18 and delivered two healthy girls mid-morning by cesarean section. Then there was the subsequent hospital stay, getting home and being totally overwhelmed. Crying jags, hormone issues, sleepless nights... Actually that's all still continuing, and probably will for a while. Luckily we have managed to get some kind of schedule established, and I'm thinking that furiously blogging between feedings is really the way to go right now. Meet Delilah and Scarlett. Now that I'm not pregnant for the first time in nine months, it's also time to dig through my closet and find out what happened to my wardrobe. I'm not quite in my own pants just yet (three weeks is a bit ambitious), but I can fit into some of my looser clothes, have lost a lot of the baby weight, and have managed to wear heeled...

Right now it's all the rage for brands to team up with celebrities for a special line of something.  Kristin Cavallari has a deal with Chinese Laundry for heels, Madonna brought Material Girl Nice lips, but she's hardly the first to do a bold lip. exclusively to Macy's, the new SJP line is only at Nordstrom, and Gwen Stefani unveiled her GX shoes only through ShoeDazzle .  No stranger to the celebrity lines, MAC has recently announced the celebrity face of their new partnership for the next round of limited edition cosmetics. And seriously I couldn't be more disappointed.  Oh, you thought this was going to be positive and about shoes. Sorry. It's about my second favorite love, cosmetics. Especially MAC, to which I am hopelessly devoted.  This summer MAC releases a line with songstress, and possible one-hit-wonder, Lorde.  I'll give you a minute to let that soak in.  The girl who looks like she's wearing drugstore lipstick that doe...

"Hello lover." The Diana pump is a must-have.  It's perhaps my favorite line ever uttered on Sex in the City, and it was to a pair of shoes. It's the line that summed up one woman's obsession with footwear and that runs through my head every time I see that "oh my god, can't live without them" pair of heels. Which is like every time I go shopping. Now, Sarah Jessica Parker has channeled her inner Carrie Bradshaw and her own love of shoes, and Nordstrom . released a line of shoes and handbags, appropriately titled SJP. And, while we all knew this was coming, now they're actually available at Sarah Jessica Parker made a stop at the Nordstrom across the street from my office on Friday, but due to the fact that I'm 36 weeks pregnant with twins, and haven't seen my feet in over a month (plus the swelling, not being able to walk a block, and so on), I had to skip my chance to meet her and the opportunity to try on the shoes. No poi...

The Oscars were Sunday and of course everyone was out in their finest clothes and borrowed jewels. The rest of us just sat at home in our yoga pants eating ice cream and dreaming about the day that we can wear normal clothes and see our feet again. Or just I did that.  They all get credit for not showing up in yoga pants. Seriously, props to Olivia Wilde, Kerry Washington and Elsa Pataky (who is carrying twins) all looked amazing with their bump. I also give Elsa credit for even leaving the house with that bump, let alone looking as amazing as she did (in Ellie Saab). I'm not sure when she is due, but I can only imagine it's soon because we're about the same size.  Really though, the whole night was not only about the dresses, but the shoes, with slits in dresses, heels were on display, and I must admit that I was surprised to see so many platforms. Maybe it's so they didn't have to get their dresses hemmed. I totally pulled that trick at my wedding,...