GoodShop & Give Back on Black Friday & Beyond

How would you like to pump up your Black Friday buying power and give back to nonprofits in need at no extra cost to you? Well, if you do click over to GoodShop before you hit over 900 online stores, you can take advantage of stash of coupons. It only takes a few extra seconds and up to 30% of your purchases will be donated to the nonprofit of your choice. (There are over 85,000 charitable organizations registered with the site.)

Trust me, I realize that this sounds suspiciously like a scam but my dance organization, Monkeyhouse,  has worked with this site for three years. Checks really do arrive each fall and somehow they are always slightly larger than we were expecting.  In fact, Monkeyhouse just received another Goodshop donation on Monday.  I am so encouraged by this passive revenue stream that I have personally offered to match all the money that Monkeyhouse earns through GoodShop in November and December.

GoodShop has teamed up with over 180 participating shoe stores, and they have got deals for you whether you are into stilettos, sneakers, or retro roller skates. For instance, if  you got inspired by Shoetube’s recent Tess Tuesday post,

you could cut $10 off a $100 purchase and send 6.5 – 8% to your favorite school, charity, or religious organization with GoodShop.

Or, if Wendy’s romp through nostalgia reminded you to revamp your running shoes, you could save 20% if you rush to GoodShop by 11/29/09. But don’t worry if you miss out on that deal’s deadline, there are several other coupons and they will always kick back 4-8.5%  of your total to a worthy nonprofit.

Even if you have got to get golf shoes after this week’s Quick Fix, you can support your favorite cause by swinging by GoodShop beforehand.

So hop on over to GoodShop and discover how easy it is to give this holiday season.

eBay Quick Fix: Classic Golf Shoes

Whenever I’m packing to visit old friends and family, like I am right now, I start channeling Katharine Hepburn as Pat in 1952’s Pat and Mike (he’s Spencer Tracy).

I’m pulling out all my nipped-in pants, blousey tops and and casual cardis. No matter what situation Pat gets into, including playing multiple pro sports, she looks pulled together. Her style is just the way my instincts wander when the potential chaos of a large family gathering is on the horizon.

The perfect shoes to walk me through all this can only be sleek, sturdy vintage golf shoes–possibly featuring a jaunty little kiiltie. No need to get too serious. It’s a celebration after all. Here are the top golfers on eBay.

Preppy brown and white size 6 1/2s from eBay store Sporting Goods USA:

Black and white saddle shoes (size 9 1/2) from eBay boutique fancywhat for $18:

Lady Fairway classic buckle shoes (size 8, $13) from eBay store Recycle, Reuse, Reduce:

And structured, vinatge Kenneth Cole NY golf shoes (size 7, $40) from Philly’s Finest Vinatge:

Sure these are a bit different. But they are also adorable and dignified. And for me fashion, like golf, is a game I take part in just to please myself.

eBay Quick Fix: Silver Lining

For anyone who needs a little silver lining now and then. I know I do.

Marc Jacobs peep toe pump, from the boutique AxelUSA. A 25% discount puts these lovelies at $225 (various sizes available too).

Classic, classy, 5″ heels from boutique The Vivid Room are going (in lots of sizes) for about $40; a perfect fit for the budget optimist.

And if you happen to be a lucky size 8 optimist, check out these low-heeled, 60s, vintage Pietro Nieman Marcus round toe pumps, selling for only $13 from Vanities Vintage. Want to thank me? Hug your friends, hang with your family, share your sparkle.

Red Boots Worth Blushing Over

Maybe Stiletto Warrior’s love of red leather L.A.M.B. was weighing heavy on the mind of the shoe shopper in my subconscious. I was on the L train last night and the woman to my right was wearing red leather knee-high boots that were so timeless and gorgeous and different that they seemed to be calling to me.

Their owner however, was engrossed in the latest New Yorker. I know what it’s like to be interrupted by a stranger mid-essay. It’s not pleasant. But the boots. I had to know where they came from. I resolved to wait until the last possible moment to bother her.

Suddenly, someone got up and the woman with great taste in shoes sat down. I was left standing. This exchange had seemed much simpler when we were eye-to-eye. Now I’d have to practically yell at her to get her attention.

I’m sorry to report, dear readers, that I lost my nerve. I left her and the boots headed further into Brooklyn without me. The second I stepped off the subway I regretted it, not only because I wanted the shoes, but also because I’d forgotten how nice it is to be complimented. Why hadn’t I factored that in?

Suppose she’d had a tough day and then I told her that those very boots represented a significant cultural revelation to our little enclave. Clearly, she’d go home feeling triumphant and share the story with her spouse, lover, or adoring, hot live-in housekeeper–who would then sit down next to her, slide the boots off with gentle hands and begin the foot rub of her life.

Wait, how had this become my fantasy? I snapped out of it just as I got home and searched for the best red boots eBay has to offer. This first pair is closest to the foot rub fantasy boots, but they’re all pretty fantastic.

Vintage slouch boots from boutique Nancy’s Next to New (starting at $25)

Cute cowboy boots (starting at $25)

Suede riding boots (buy now for $50)

Frye red leather shearling flat boots (buy now for $140)

eBay Quick Fix: Ankle Boots

Today I stopped denying autumn’s approach. Today my fall J.Crew catalog arrived. It’s a brief but magical time when I can layer cozy cardis over my cutoffs. Only one type of shoe completes the mood and will last straight through to next summer: the ankle boot.

For a lover of the rugged look, might I suggest these lace-up granny boots from eBay boutique Vintage and More:

And for the classic fashionista, saddle brown suede Ralph Lauren booties from Shoedresser boutique.

The High Heel Starter Kit

I recently celebrated a low key birthday (28). Even years do that to me. On odd years you can find me at a rooftop barbecue, backyard party or dive bar with everyone I have ever met, drinking rum and coke slushies. But even years are more contemplative. I stay in. I ponder.

So this year when I received a wonderful, interesting gift I had quiet time to decipher its meaning. It’s a Sephora “My First Makeup” starter kit. Inside are some very luscious cosmetics like Korres lip butter, Tarte cheek stain and Lorac bronzer.

To be clear, this is not my first makeup. I was a makeup early adopter, sneaking my mom’s eyeliner in middle school. And while the individual pieces were meant to be the real treat; the idea of getting a starter kit at this seemingly late stage in my cosmetic lifetime is immensely refreshing. Suddenly, I’m being given permission to start over. I cleared all the hard-caked mascaras and purple lipsticks from my big blue Samsonite makeup case and made way for my light and free new beautifiers.

Then I thought, how great would it be to get a high heel starter kit, just like this? It would have maybe five essential pairs of pumps, nestled side-by-side in a long velvet-lined box. It would be the gift to end all gifts. If I ever put one together, I’d go vintage, and these would surely be my basics:

Stuart Weitzman for Mr. Seymour silver 3 inch heels from affordable eBay boutique Maxfield P;

Eighties Yves Saint Laurent suede pumps with a platform front from In Your Closet NYC;

Andrew Gellar classic black alligator heels from Upscale Vintage Treasures;

Old Hollywood-style Nine West ivory peep toe pumps from Vintage Clothing/Collectibles;And the all-important lace-up 1960s spectator pump in a refreshing tan and navy combo, from the boutique Jantem 4 Manuels All That Glitters;

Ode to Reality Bites

I’m not sure if it’s the recession, the resurfacing of round sunglasses, or if just I wasn’t disaffected enough the last time I saw it, but I was way too into Reality Bites when it played at my park the other week. If not for the smoldering looks from Ethan Hawke and Winona Ryder, then definitely for the floral sun dresses and green wedge sandals worn by sweetly sarcastic Vickie Miner (Janeane Garofalo circa 1994).
The best part: All of the roughly 500 people watching emitted a collective groan following this gem from Winona’s character, Lelaina, “I was really going to be somebody by the time I was 23.”
It was Troy’s (Ethan’s) sweet response, though, that led me to make this loving polyvore set that night (click here for details on the goods), “Honey, all you have to be by the time you’re 23 is yourself.”

But what good are Vickie-inspired dresses and glasses without some shoes scored on eBay?

Fist up, green Christian Louboutin straw wedge heels:

I couldn’t NOT list these Chloe platforms:

and gorgeous Ritz dark wood sandals with carved side details:

Harry Potter: Beyond the Robe

So maybe when you think high fashion, you don’t automatically picture Professor Horace Slughorn strutting down Diagon Alley. But wizards know how to dress. They’re always having their robes professionally tailored and donning grand velvet confections underneath.

In the new Harry Potter movie (yes I am a superfan), they step it up. The Slytherins scuttle about the school in sleek black suits and shrunken jackets, with big leather handbags remnicent of Gossip Girl. The Quidditch uniforms are fitted and rather cool. And the campy, crazy and excellently evil Bellatrix Lestrange, played by beautiful Helena Bonham Carter, smolders in ethereal layers of black.

She wasn’t in as many scenes as I would have liked but with photography direction from Bruno Delbonnel of Amelie fame, her look did more than enough justice to her character, and made me want to go goth with gusto.

While I was too mesmerized by her wild hair and wicked spell work to really notice her footwear, here is what I’ve imagined for her (and for those of us who’d like to take a little fantasy into our everyday lives), all from the enchantingly affordable eBay boutique Fasionfixer Vintage:

Punk goth platforms;

Lace-up black leather granny boots;

Hot oxford cut outs;

And brown Roper boots for evil-doing lite.

Photo via.

eBay Quick Fix: 1940s Vintage Goodness

These black satin vintage peep-toe pumps by Daniel Green made me gasp. As in, I was sitting in a coffee shop when I found them and I made a gasping noise, and the guy next to me squirmed an inch or two farther away. They are insanely gorgeous and they remind me of this fantastic NYT Article, Recession Looks – 1940s and Now. The key to recession fashion, it says, is utilitarian elegance and these have got it in spades. They’re satin, they’re low-heeled but cut with such sensuous clean lines. They are also a size 5 1/2. I admit, if they were an 8, this post wouldn’t exist.

A Sookie Stackhouse Summer: As Seen at BARE Mag

To return the favor for the sleek summer trends piece the BARE magazine editors did for us, I let them in on my True summer shoe muse. Here it is, in case you missed it over at BARE’s blog.

My personal start-of-summer ritual always begins with a really pulpy paperback and ends with a light new pair of kicks. But after devouring the Twilight series in the spring, I was afraid nothing could top the vamp-induced trance I wanted to recreate on the beach. Enter Sookie Stackhouse, telepathic waitress, vampire-lover, and my fictional summertime muse.

Sure tons of people picked up Dead Until Dark, the first in a series of supernatural books set in sweaty Louisiana, ages ago, but I think now is the perfect time. True Blood, the HBO show based on the hot novels, is in the beginning of it’s second season, giving me the perfect excuse to immerse myself in page-turners, season one episodes and season two spoilers. I’m all about Sookie.

It doesn’t hurt that the adorable Anna Paquin plays her character, a petite blond with a penchant for short summer dresses paired with platform sandals, sling-back kitten heels and girly sneakers. All her styles are summer-y, sexy, and timeless, perfect for a gal with a civil war- era boyfriend. And well, perfect for another gal in search of summer shoes to take me through every situation of the season on a very tight budget.

With Sookie’s style on my mind I turned to a funky vintage eBay boutique with plenty of southern charm, Elvis Really Rocks. My top picks from this aptly-named store:

Bone peep-toe sling backs with a heel low enough for strolling but high enough to get some attention;

Red hot canvas Keds with a pebbled sole and braided trim;

Prim navy Hopsack tennis shoes with thick jute soles;

Rope and leather braided sandals with wooden heels;

Now I’m not so sure Sookie would go for these chunky, laid-back, 70s suede cut-out sandals. But they seem like sweet shoes for summer reading.

Photo via.