The shoes make the (wo)man

Today, I went to DSW and saw at least 5 pairs of shoes that I simply could not live without. But, I didn't buy any of them. It's been 2 hours and I'm still alive, but I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to keep cheating death.

When I see a pair of shoes, like these Madden Girl funsies,
I immediately begin thinking of what outfits I could make to go with them. Because more often than not, my outfits begin with the shoes.

Sometimes, though, starting with the shoes just isn't complicated enough. I have to muddy the waters a little bit.

Like, last week, for example. I had just bought this new dark green nail polish (which I wanted to be more forest than emerald - when I wear it, I feel a little like I should be dying Dorothy's eyes to match her gown), so I wanted to wear shoes the next day to show it off. This limited my shoe collection first to peep toes (I've got quite a few of those), and second to shoes that would match green (not quite as many of those).

After I'd selected my shoes, I began to plan the outfit. Since these particular shoes are plaid, it takes a little more skill to plan around them. I have a great gold skirt that would match them perfectly...and then I remembered I was going to the chiropractor. A skirt would have made things a little awkward, I'm sure.

Well, switching from a skirt to pants made my job even tougher, as I'm not a huge dress pants fan, and I need to look professional for work. I did have two pairs that matched my shoes, though, so I set them aside.

Next, I had to pick out a top. Bearing in mind that I probably shouldn't wear a heavy sweater to the chiropractor, this narrowed my options to...one shirt. Which eliminated one of the pairs of pants. I grabbed some jewelry to tie everything together, and VOILA! My outfit was complete.

I tell you all of this only because I'm so often asked how I put my outfits together, and really, there's no exact science to it at all. Putting together an outfit is very similar to talking to men - just pick something to start with. Whether, as in the case of conversation, it be a sports team; a band; or a interesting tattoo, or, as in the case of getting dressed, nail polish; shoes; jewelry; or an actual article of clothing, you've just gotta start somewhere and continue to build until you have a date/great outfit!