Practical Fashion - Shoemageddon

So, I don't want this post to read like a girl's guide to lady stereotypes ("women be buying shoes!") Not every lady out there loves her shoes more than her man, the same way that not every lady can spell Manolo Blahnik or saw Sex and the City 2: Muppets Take Dubai.  Most women are too busy living life to care a ton about the shoes on their feet.

Me? I love shoes like the tweens love Justin Bieber. Call me a stereotype and I'll say, "What? I can't hear you over the click-clicking of my hot boots."

When I started reading books about the whole pregnancy thing, the one tidbit that immediately filled me with dread was that many ladies go up a shoe size during pregnancy - and stay that size forever. Sure enough, at about 5 months I couldn't get most of my shoes to fit for the life of me...and now, 6 months after the birth of my peanut, I'm one full size larger in the shoe department. 

I'd been cultivating a pretty sweet shoe wardrobe since high school so this was a horrible blow. After I sucked it up and donated my too small shoes to charity, I had a pretty big dilemma: how do you build a shoe wardrobe almost from scratch? I had to do something as I was wearing Converse every day and the weather was starting to turn colder.

The Issues

- needed to re-build a good chunk of my shoe wardrobe 

- did not have a ton of cash to spend

- did not want to compromise on quality (cheap shoes chew up my feet as a general rule)

My Solutions

I started out by making a list of what essentials I needed and then what nice-to-have pairs I was also interested in. I decided pretty early on that I wasn't going to worry about shoes to wear to work as I won't be going back there until the summer, and will have to buy new work clothes at that time. Doesn't make sense to buy shoes for a non-existent work wardrobe. I still had some shoes that fit (rain & winter boots, workout runners, sandals) so I focused on only what I needed. Here was my list:

Essentials:

- casual everyday boots

- knee-high dressy boots

- casual flats

- casual runners

Nice-To-Haves:

- dressy stilettos

- wedges

- ankle boots

- second pairs of any/all above

My husband is awesome and took me and the peanut on a trip to NYC in September. I took that opportunity to get 'er done and get me some shoes. I knew that if I just bought the essentials all at once I wouldn't risk impulse buying of shoes I didn't consider essential.  I also made sure to go with brands that I had bought in the past so I knew that the quality would be up to par. It took a few hours, but I left New York with everything I needed.

Once I had my essentials purchased, I decided to treat myself and buy a pair of stilettos. My plan is to pick up some wedges in the spring, and then I'll figure out what I need for work in the summer. I still miss my old shoes, but with some planning I'll have a killer shoe wardrobe again in no time. Fingers crossed!

XOXO
Emily

Jimmy Choo boots photo via net-a-porter.com