Hans Grueber is the August Heel Shield Giveaway Winner.  Hans please send an email to info@theheelshield.com to claim your prize.  We would like to hear from you soon.  Thanks for being a FB Page Friend! 

When I saw this email, you know I got scared – I don’t know if this new trend is my velvet from before.  (Reminds me of the commercials that say:  “this is not your (fill in the blank – mother’s, grandmother’s, etc) _____________ velvet.”  Or, if someone has really come up with a GOOD velvet. 

Well, this is the lead picture and I have to admit – this is quite an outfit. This coat is a forest green velvet lined Crocodile Stamped Draped Robe by Giorgio Armani for a measly $10,000. And, the ruched panel forest green Giorgio Armani dress is a mere $4500. After looking at this outfit, I got excited – maybe the designers have been able to make velvet really wearable.  So, I click on the picture and I am taken to the BG website to some designer selections displaying their velvet offerings for this season.

Velvet, is velvet is velvet. 

Here is a little something about one of the things Glamfoxx.com does  -  Shoe ReHab (The Before and After of Shoes)

 
When your shoes are a victim to physical wear or environmental abuse, Shoes of Imagination from www.glamfoxx.com is the perfect Rehab Shoe facility to bring your old, weary, dull shoes back to life.We carry a wide range of custom designs to suit a variety of budgets and tastes. Some of our customers refurbished shoes are shown. Why not look in your closet for your favorite old pair and send them to us. We will bring them back to life with a bright new look that you won’t put in the back of the closet again. Please  email  (desiree@glamfoxx.com) us and let get started on your own “statement shoe.” 

THANKS TO GLAMFOXX for providing this posting on information about how to bring your old favorites back to life.  Unfortunately, Glammfoxx is unable to bring shoes damaged by UNPROTECTED DRIVING showing the signs of DRIVER’s BLACK HEEL SCUFF back to life.  Get your heel shields and protect you new and old shoes! 

Rupert Sanderson Fall/Winter 2010

Posted by Heel Me at 2:42 AM Labels: F/W 2010, Rupert Sanderson

In a moment of madness Rupert Sanderson decide to resign fom a disastrous career in advertising in order to become a cobbler. He graduated from Cordwainers College at East London and during the summer break of the two year course, Sanderson rode a motorbike to Italy to visit as many shoe factories, tanneries and last makers as he could. He worked for Sergio Rossi and Bruno Magli.
In 2001 founded his eponymous company after returning from working in Italy. His philosophy is “less in more”. He avoids augmentation and fous on how to perfecting the line, volume and material to flatter and lengthen the leg which makes women feel sexier. His inspiration derives from the materials themselves: from the sensual curve and silhouettes of the lasts and heels, to the quality and finish of the best leather and fabrics. To compliment his obsessive passion with the Italian craft of shoe-making, every pair of Rupert Sanderson shoes is named after a Daffodil.
In 2008 he and Colin McDowell founded Fashion Fringe Shoes, with the aim of discovering and nurturing a new range of design talent.
At British Fashion Awards was awarded was awarded Accessory Designer of The Year and in 2009 was also awarded Accessory Designer of The Year at the Elle Style Awards. This award was voted for by the public as well as an industry panel and stands to highlight Rupert’s rise in the fashion world.
Since Autumn/Winter 2009, Rupert Sanderson has designed the shoes for Karl Lagerfeld’s main line collection.
He owns two shops in London. One in Mayfair and the other in Knightsbridge. and his shoes are available in over 100 department and specialist stores in fashion capitals around the world. In March 2010 Rupert Sanderson opened an Asian flagship store in Central, Hong Kong, followed closely by the opening of his first Paris store and press office located in the Palais Royal.
In his new collection Fall/Winter 2010 plays with traditional techniques like broguing and making them relevant for today. The colour palette for the collection celebrates winter: berries, midnight blues and blacks, with subtle metallics and a scatter of poppy brights.

Design for Karl Lagerfeld AW10

Design for Karl Lagerfeld AW10

Design for Karl Lagerfeld AW10

Since I saw the first Reebok Easy Toning Shoe commercial, I have been intrigued by the different shoes available.  And, the athletic shoe manufacturers have also been intrigued with the idea and the creation of their own product for this market.  Sketchers, New Balance, Champion, Dr Scholls, to name a few, all have their own natural waking shoe for easy toning. 

I have written a couple articles about my experience with the shoes; and, I have also joined some other blog sites to find out what other people thought about the shoes.  Following are some unedited comments:

THE GOOD

I bought these easytones this weekend. I walked around in them all weekend and I can definitely tell the difference in my thighs and ankles today (not a visual difference, but I can feel that they are working a little harder than normal) I LOVE these shoes. They are super comfortable, and they are kinda like walking around on BOSU balls they do take getting used to, but you’re not going to trip and fall on your face or anything. I highly recommend them. They are fun to walk around in, so if they encourage us to be a little more active because our shoes are fun (and not to mention, they don’t look retarded like the sketchers shape ups!) then go ahead and buy yourself a pair! You can even go as far as to create your own design and have a totally original pair through the reebok website.

THE BAD

I cycle and swim regularly, also stretch and do yoga, got the Easy Tones to walk around in at work about two months ago, thought they would be fun to wear. For the past month, I have had severe leg cramping in both legs, it has been so intense it frequently wakes me up at night. My lower leg muscles also felt as though they were burning throughout the day. I thought it was from the cycling so I backed way down, the cramping actually intensified, I also slowed down with the swimming. I did not even think about the shoes until last week when a yoga instructor told me it sounded as though my feet were the problem. I immediately quit wearing them and within two nights I was sleeping again. The worst pain was in the muscle above the ankle on the outer side of each leg. I am just one opinion, however, it was great to be able to ride my bike 55 miles yesterday and know that was not the problem. NO more Easy Tone wearing for me!

THE UGLY!

I’ve had mine about two months…I walk about 3-4 miles a day 5-7 days a week. Bad news is both shoes have already gone flat. At $100 I am disappointed. I just can’t afford shoes that only last two months.

So the jury is still out on the shoes.  I have changed my Avia Avi-Motions for Champion Natural Walking Fit Flop knock-offs for the summer – trying to keep from having a farmer tan on my feet.

Have you heard about Loubi’s Angels.  Well Christian Louboutin has created his own version of Charlie’s Angels and of course they are better shod.  So, what do you think of these Over the Knee boots.   If you are ever in need of a little attention, all you would need to do is throw on a pair of these Christian Louboutin boots and you would have a non-stop attention getting outfit! 

Don’t forget to use your Heel Shields when you drive in these – no way you are going to take this boot off in the front seat of the car to protect it from drivers black heel scuff.  Heel Shields slide on easily whiles seated in the car and slide off before you exit the car.  Much easier than changing shoes even if you could.  Joan Rivers carries her heel shield with her when she travels and knows she is going to be driving – she loves her Chanel’s and her heel shield.

Selena is on The View to promote her new movie and her clothing line.  She is wearing the classic Christian Louboutin Black Peep Toe.    Jacque Reid was a guest host and she had on the best shoes for the day.  Hate that I have no idea whose shoe she was wearing.  Elizabeth Hasselbeck had on a pair of her reruns in black. AND, Whoopi had a black shoe on one foot and a white shoe on the other.  I guess I am going to have to look at the beginning of the shoe to find out what that was about. 

While watching The View  I received an email from Shoeaholics Anonymous Shoe Blog  showing  Selena Gomez in another Christian Louboutin Peep Toe. I would say Selena Gomez is definitely a Christian Louboutin fan. Selena Gomez is a beautiful young woman with lots of class and GREAT taste in Shoes.

The name of her line is Dream Out Loud and the clothes are available at K-Mart.  Just like Selena, the clothes are age appropriate.  The line is definitely affordably  priced – including the shoes – $5-$40.  Check out this dress that looks like a three piece outfit for only $16 and this tunic with a necklace also only $16.

Wishing the best to you Selena Gomez and to your new clothing line for young girls!  A clothing line created by a celebrity that everyone can afford!  Let’s get behind this one and keep Selena’s Dream Out Loud  line around. REMEMBER Steve and Barry’s the store that strived to only sell affordable clothing that ended up going out of business.  We don’t want it to happen AGAIN!

Have you ever wondered how people can walk in six and seven inch heels?  Well in actuality, even though the heel height might be recorded as 6 or 7 inches, the real height may only be 5 or so inches.  So, what that says for us regular girls, who ONLY want to wear a 3 to 4 inch heel,  IS that we can still get the HOT shoe by buying the shoes that have the covered  or hidden platform.

Take for example this shoe by Brian Atwood.    The heel height is listed at 4 3/4 inches.  However when you take into consideration that the hidden platform is 1 1/4 inches the heel height is actually 3 1/2 inches.  And if that is still too high, you can probably ( have to take it to the Cobbler to be sure) take off the size of the heel cap to lower the shoe another 1/8 inch.   So you have a beautiful shoe that looks high but really isn’t.

This Christian Louboutin is another example of the hidden platform affect.  The height of the heel is listed at 5 inches.  The hidden platform is 3/4 inches giving you a heel height of 4 1/4 inches.  Take away another eighth of an inch for the heel cap and you are very close to a 4 inch heel, which is very wearable (meaning your feet should NOT hurt).   

So when you are looking at the latest styles, keep in mind that you can wear a higher heel and you can keep them looking their very not scuffed best by getting YOUR  Heel Shields.   Remember Heel Shields were designed  to protect the beauty of YOUR shoes from the damage caused by UNPROTECTED driving.  NO MORE DRIVERS Black Heel Scuffs when you use the best shoe protector for drivers – HEEL SHIELDS. 

Since we have to get ready for the upcoming seasons long before the next season, here is a preview of a great look for this winter.  Now, do we  spend our shopping dollars on Fall and Winter stuff now and miss out on the summer sales?  Any way that you look at it this is quite the snow boot (by Christian Louboutin and only $2095) – even though it will probably never see any inclement weather.  Unless of course you own Heel Shields.  Because, with  heel shields you can protect this boot from wet winter car mats (wearing only on the days after the sidewalks have been shoveled)!

Since I have an awful tan on my feet from wearing golf shoes, I wanted to try the fitness flip-flops so I can get a better tan on my feet.  So, I looked at the various shoes, the original Fit Flops, Sketchers Tone-ups and Champion’s Fitness Spring Sandals.  I decided to buy the Champion’s since my daughter would beg me  for a pair until I got her a pair.  So, I got the Champion’s because I could get the two pairs for the price of one pair of the others. 

I think they are comfortable and she really likes hers. BUT,  I got a blister when I went for a long walk.  I didn’t think I was walking fast.  Since the blister burst, I can’t wear them for walking right now.  AND, my feet did hurt a little the next day. 

So, the jury is still out on these shoes.  Wonder if Sketchers or Fit-Flops want to send a sample to see how they compare against the Champions.