Wardrobe Planning Hits and Misses Volume 1 Week 10

Last week I challenged my good friend, bad ass banker, and fabulous fashionista Laquita Passmore to help me plan outfits around shoes that I love, but rarely wear or only wear with the same outfits over and over again (see our Sunday Night Wardrobe Planning video on the Closet Reboot YouTube channel).  As a banker, Laquita tends to be even more conservative than me especially when it comes to colorful clothing so this was quite the challenge for both of us!  Luckily, my Rent The Runway shipment arrived in time to give us some extra options.  So let’s see how we did.

Monday was Baby Phat snake skin pump day.  I found the original receipt for these shoes in the box so I know they are almost 13 years old.  They are in decent shape probably

because they never saw a ton of wear, but I discovered when I put them on that the challenge of pairing them with the right outfit may not have been the only reason they didn’t get worn often.  Never the less, I did like the outfit we found for them – it’s one I’ve worn before, but never thought to put these shoes with – the colors actually work pretty well.  I had a premonition before I left for work on Monday that I wasn’t going to make it an entire day in these shoes so I packed my black Banana Republic ballerinas in my brief case and by about 3 pm, was very glad I did.  I’m thinking this was the swan song for these old girls – time to pass them along to someone with a narrower foot.

Tuesday was Via Spiga green sandals day.  These shoes are a little younger than my Monday pair, and have been worn even less, but apparently they are still past their expiration date.  I looked down about mid morning and noticed some separation between the sole and the upper shoe right near the front straps.  Within an hour, the whole front portion of the sole had separated and I couldn’t even walk in them.  A helpful client taped them and then found me some super glue which held through the rest of the day.  I did a little research on what causes soles to separate from the rest of the shoe and apparently the most common cause is heat.  Well, I live in a city filled with asphalt in an extremely warm climate so there you have it.  Still, I have older shoes that are in better shape (like my other Via Spigas that I wore last week which are the same age as my adult son).  Another theory I heard was that if you do not wear shoes, they can literally rot in the box.  Ew!  Anyway, I’m not sure these are worth the expense of being  re-soled especially since I don’t wear them a lot so this was probably their swan song as well.  At least I got to wear my Rent the Runway Sheer Mayflower blouse by Nicholas along with my sister’s beautiful mother of pearl Russian necklace.   Several of my YouTube subscribers and Instagram and Facebook followers voted on whether I should wear the blue Russian necklace, my long green crystal necklace, or both – the winning vote was “both” so that is the direction I went.  Thoughts?  By dinner time I decided not to push my luck with the super glue anymore so I switched to jeans and pumps.

My luck changed on Thursday and I actually loved everything about this outfit.  My shoes were comfortable and in good shape and I loved the way they worked with this Sheer Poppy Speckle Blouse by Derek Lam that was part of my Rent the Runway Unlimited shipment.  The blouse was so comfortable and I loved the way it fit!  And I was surprised by how well my white jeans worked with the shoes since the whites are slightly different.  I also got to wear the Solo Creations leather necklaces I got in Montreal.

Friday I wore my Steve Madden slides while I was running errands before a trip to visit friends in Cuero, Texas.  Once again, not the most comfortable shoes for running errands, but I think they would be fine for a lunch or cocktails.  My Boston Proper cotton shirt was very comfortable in the oppressive Houston heat, but by the time we got to Cuero, the temperature dropped a bit and I didn’t mind switching to jeans and equestrian boots for horseback riding with my friends.  It’s been several years since the last time I was on a horse, but Lucy was very gentle and I really enjoyed riding her.  This sweet pup and his buddy made friends with me too which was nice since I was missing my lab Sandy (AKA Closet Reboot mascot that likes to tip over my camera when filming videos).

I loved the outfits Laquita picked out, but I definitely learned some lessons about my shoes.  And, quite unexpectedly, Cuero ended up being a great place to shop so I’ll be posting soon about the wonderful boutiques we visited there.  In the meantime, check out this week’s wardrobe planning video where my friend and fellow Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health advisory board member Lori Ginsburg picked out her favorites from the outfits I’ve worn this summer.  Lori also added a few of her own touches – can’t wait to wear the rest of them!