Daily Stuff : Shoe Blog

Happy Birthday to Puma

Erin Souza — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:42:00 GMT

Puma hits the big 6-0 this year, and they’re celebrating not with Botox injections or facelifts. Instead, the iconic sports-slash-lifestyle company is embracing the accomplishment with an all-out bash — and you’re invited. Between 6 and 8 p.m. tonight, head to the Puma concept store (333 Newbury Street, Boston, 617.369.7091) for a 20-percent discount on your entire purchase and, of course, some birthday cake. The first 100 shoppers who buy loot worth $50 or more will get a free goodie bag, and a live DJ will spin throughout the event. Puma has withstood the rise and fall of disco, the birth of hip-hop, and the evolution of the track suit from workout gear to street-wear staple, to name just a few milestones. And as part of the company’s b-day soiree, they’ve released the “I Am 60” Decades Collection — modernized re-issues of some classic throwback styles from the 1940s through the ’90s. Forget party hats; pick up some party kicks. Get your name on the guest list at www.puma.com/bday48.

King Cole

Erin Souza — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:49:00 GMT

Sole man Kenneth Cole celebrates 25 years of fashion, footwear, and philanthropy with an inspiring read

Kenneth Cole is kicking off his company’s 25th anniversary not by throwing an all-out bash or decking out a pair of commemorative stilettos and selling them to the masses (though for the record, we wouldn’t be opposed to that). Instead, he’s rounded up 86 essays from some highly recognizable names (Bill Clinton, Elton John, Magic Johnson) and some lesser-known heroes and compiled them in Awearness: Inspiring Stories About How to Make a Difference, the net proceeds from which will benefit his nonprofit Awearness Fund to encourage volunteerism and community service. Not what you’d expect from a man who’s made an incredible living in “something often perceived as being questionably relevant, that being the business of fashion,” as he writes in the book’s introduction. But throughout his career, Cole has repeatedly proven that not only is fashion relevant, it can also be a catalyst for social change. And he’s used his place in the fashion world for good, chairing the Foundation for AIDS Research and serving on the board of HELP USA, the Sundance Institute, and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. I caught up with the designer after his Copley Place book-signing for a quick chat.

Q: You call the people in your book “agents of change.” Do you consider yourself one as well?
Kenneth Cole: I don’t, really. I just look for opportunities to add value to what I’m doing. I do to the degree that I can find ways to make everything we do bigger than what it is. I’m not sure it’s that different than what most people look to do. I think I’m just a little bit more persevering than others.

Q: One of your famous quotes is, “You can change your outfit or you can outfit change.” How do you think changing an outfit can outfit change?
KC: I think today, these are very tough times, so it’s hard to move mountains. But sometimes it’s a matter of how you’re looking and how you feel at the moment. Sometimes how you look affects how you feel. And it’s something that you can easily affect, and we’re here to help you do that.

Q: How has your social activism affected the way that you run your company?
KC: I do my best to make what I do the right thing to do. It’s hard sometimes, because at the end of the day, you have to make money and you have to answer to your shareholders and you also have to make an appropriate work environment. So we do what we can do.

Q: Considering that altruism is one of the themes in Awearness, it’s fitting that the book is out just before Thanksgiving. What are you most thankful for?
KC: I’m thankful that I can do what I do. I have the resources and the wherewithal to do projects like this.

Awearness: Inspiring Stories About How to Make a Difference ($25) is available at Kenneth Cole New York (Copley Place, 100 Huntington Avenue, Boston, 617.867.9580; 128 Newbury Street, Boston, 617.867.0836) and www.awearness.com.

Grr, baby

Erin Souza — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:09:00 GMT

It was with a bit of guilt and a great deal of trepidation that I took my near-daily spin around the Saks Fifth Avenue online shoe department this afternoon. Guilt because I can barely afford to pay attention, let alone buy another pair of shoes; trepidation, well, for exactly the same reason. And after a few clicks, of course, I found myself head-over-very-high-heels in love with a pair of Brian Atwood pumps.(I like to think shoe obsession is one of the very few loopholes of monogamy. That, and a very strange excitement over the arrival of the red holiday cups at Starbucks.) Leopard-print patent leather, a whopping four-and-three-quarter-inch heel, and a slight platform make these shoes worth lusting over. At $720, are they worth my share of a month’s rent? The jury’s still out on that one. But for now, I’m going to spend the remainder of the afternoon picturing myself teetering (I’d be almost average height in these things!) in these outrageously hot heels. Oh, and sipping my second latté from a snowflake-adorned red cup. Santa, can you hear me?

Giving MS the Boot

Erin Souza — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:49:00 GMT

The search is off. As I suspected, Leokadia owner Jessica Lynn had the perfect boot — a flat, casual, knee-high style in supple brown leather — at her adorable South End boutique. Bag in hand, I felt the buyer’s remorse set in just slightly — until I remembered that a portion of the profits on shoes sold at last night’s Hello Stiletto “Shake Your Booty” event will be donated to the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. Plus, shopping stimulates the faltering economy. It’s all about justification, right?
Thank you, lovely ladies of the Hello Stiletto Shoe Club, for providing lots of great footwear-ogling. A few favorites included a leopard-and-patent-leather wedge boot by Stuart Weitzman; a slouchy metallic-leather knee-high number (also from S.W.); and a pair of purple Puccis, the latter of which is available at Leokadia.

Shake Your Booty

Erin Souza — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:24:00 GMT

I’ve been on the prowl for some very versatile, impossibly comfortable, great leather boots for fall. I’m scouring the city (and the Internet) for a brown leather pair that hits right at the knee, doesn’t make me look too short (but some things just can’t be helped), and won’t cost me a month’s rent. Because, y’know, I need a new pair of shoes like I need a hole in the head.

Which is why I was pumped when an invite from the Hello Stiletto Shoe Club landed in my inbox. On October 9, from 6 to 9 p.m., the Hello Stiletto Boston branch is throwing a “Shake Your Booty” soiree at Leokadia — the little South End boutique that carries some big-name brands — to benefit the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. It’s a chance to shop the well-edited selection of shoes from Modern Vintage, Marc Jacobs, and Dolce Vita (to name just a few of the oodles of options), sip Champagne cocktails, and, well, shake your booty to the music of DJ Joe Mama — all while raising cash for a good cause. The only catch? You have to be a Hello Stiletto Shoe Club member before you can RSVP. Get on the mailing list by signing up at the Hello Stiletto Web site.

Here’s hoping this is the last stop on my hunt for the best boot(y) in town.

Bootie Call

Erin Souza — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:24:00 GMT

Last night I attended a swanky party at Saks Fifth Avenue to celebrate the store’s new facelift and to raise funds for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC). While the food (tiny but tasty hors d’oeuvres) was scarce, the drinks were flowing freely. And so was the fashion.

Besides downing a few glasses of wine and watching, mouth agape, at a hard-to-miss Madonna impersonator (the blasphemy!), I kept my attention fixed mostly on the evening’s footwear. And I couldn’t help but notice that a lot of the fashionable guests were sporting some very interesting things south of the ankles. Maybe it was a nod to the save-the-children theme, but I spotted more than a few feet clad in booties.

Now, I understand that fall is all about the boot, but the bootie trend confuses me. These ankle-high numbers don’t exactly past muster as boots, but they’re not quite shoes, either. And while they work well on mile-long legs in great little dresses, booties can be pretty mean to the average girl. Cutting off your leg right above the ankle does nothing for most women besides make them look like tree trunks. As much as I want to embrace the bootie, I just can’t seem to do it.

Am I the only one who doesn’t get the bootie appeal?