I don’t know why I feel the need to apologise for a neutral look, but I do. Yah, I know how silly that sounds…. The simple fact is that I’ve tried wearing this skirt with colours both vibrant and muted and it just look all kinds of wrong. This skirt simply looks so much better when paired with neutral earthy toned colours… so there it is, and luckily I do have a pretty big collection of both pale and dark, drab putty-coloured stuff to mix it up with.
So to answer some comments from yesterday, did I buy myself any shoes when in Tokyo, well the truth is that sadly I did not (cue chin wobble with brave choked little sob.) and why not? So it may not be obvious from my photos, but I am fairly tall, and with very big feet, and the women of Japan are obviously all petite and with dainty little feet. And after asking to try on about three or four pairs of shoes that interested me and being told in each case that sorry, but these do not come in “showboat”, (not in those words obviously, the sales assistants were all unfailingly courteous and polite, but that was the general message being conveyed here…) I just gave up and lived vicariously through Cassie as she happily tried on and rejected and narrowed down the fabulous array of footwear available to her ladylike little feet. The good news? Craig’s shoes actually do fit me, so I just possibly might dare to sneak off with them once in a while…
So yeah, perhaps I should have just swallowed my pride and asked to try on some of the menswear selection? What would you have done?
Details:
Skirt; skirt “d” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, but Natsuno Hiraiwa, silver grey crepe: to see this skirt styled in 6 different ways go here
Top; Country Road
Scarf; a souvenir from Venice
Sandals; Vincenzo, from Soletta shoes
Bag; Gucci
Sunnies; RayBan
Nail Varnish; Fools Paradise, BYS
Personally I think neutrals are more stylish and elegant than lots of vibrant prints. Less is more.
I agree with Gail. Less is more. Plus neutrals can always work no matter what's in style at the moment. They will always work with everything. Bummer about no shoes… not sure if I'd look in the mens section but actually, a lot of womens shoes seems to be very masculine right now…. oxfords for example.
(PS… my word verification is "buclers" which totally sounds like a style of shoe don't you think? "madam, how may I help you?" "Yes hello, I'm after a pair of Buclers please". )
I think your outfit is very stylish.
And about the shoes… my sister, whose feet and slightly smaller than mine, had a very similar experience in South Korea. I'm not sure what I would have done. I guess it would all depend on men's styles on offer but my usual shoe-choices are quite girly…
By the way, you may not have seen the comment but I did reply to your earlier post about the glove sew-along and posted about it on my blog.
Oh no! I didn't even think about the possibility of shoes not fitting! But if there were men's shoes that I liked, I definitely would have tried a pair on. I love shoes. And to say they came all the way from Japan, in my suitcase no less, well that would be hard to pass up 🙂 Anyway, neutrals are always classy. You look relaxed and easygoing. Fabulous color on your toes!
"showboat"
I am still laughing – a great way to start my day. BTW – I too would have had to ask for the "showboat" size. Carolina
You look fab, as usual.
That didn't even occur to me! Sounds like my hubby needs to go there to shoe shop, he has itty bitty feet for a man. There's not much difference between boys stompy and girls stompy, though… You should definitely have checked out the mens! 😉
Neutrals are good. Sometimes you feel the need for colour, and sometimes you just don't.
Until I had kids, I had the opposite problem here in Texas, in that my feet were too small and I only had pink flowery shoes or shiny patent leather buckled shoes to choose from in the little girls section. I felt much better about wearing boys shoes which looked much nicer in my opinion.
I think you really suit neutrals, so don't apologise! I like them on other people but they don't really suit me. Black is my neutral!
Shame about the shoes, but your husbands are very cool – I am sure you could rock them!
Oh Carolyn, don't worry at all, I didn't think you were critisizing in the least bit! I just feel dumb I hadn't realized that chocolate named "Kinder" would be German. (I may or may not have taken a year of German in high school.. ha!) But no need to apologize at all! I didn't take it you were critisizing. 🙂
Oh man, definitely know what it's like to have to deal with the big feet issue. Why do all of the amazing shoes seem to come in small sizes? So annoying!
How awesome that you can wear that skirt 6 different ways. Now that's what I call versatility.
Oh well. I would have been disappointed at first, but then my natural frugality would have kicked in. And I would have thought (eventually) how nice to have the money still in my pocket to spend on something even better and more fabulous later on. And what luck that Craig's fit you. I bet you will carry them off amazingly.
I love neutrals. I think one has to be more creative with them even, it is a higher level of sophistication maybe? Love the nail color!
I've been known to wear a pair of men's shoes.
I wear size 41 european or size 10 U.S. I am sure I'd be in the showboat category and I can imagine being reluctant to call that out. I would have tried to overcome that, though, cause they have some seriously awesome shoes. 🙂
You look lovely, btw. You always do. 🙂
I think the mix of the different neutrals is a great combination.
Loved your shoe post. They have some really wild styles there.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I'll have breaking news on my blog on Monday.
Your neutrals look lovely. Personally, I think non neutral hair does great thinks for muted tones in clothing.
I cannot buy shoes in Asia either. My feet are too wide, even if my size is allegedly available. I used all my shoe money for fabric instead, much more satisfying!