Clueless: Piperlime shows me what I'm not looking for, Moxsie something I didn't know to look for

Piperlime, from the mass-market behemoth behind the Gap and Banana Republic, likes to send me promotional emails. Always heavy on Rachel Zoe and style-less shoes worn by dental hygienists who just don't care anymore, they remind me how much I prefer Amazon's targeted promotions.

Today, I thought they might have sent an email promoting something that actually appealed to me. I had to look past the prominently-featured cargo leggings, but there it was: faux-fur boots. I can't say that I'd seriously been in the market for fur boots of any kind. But I do have a fondness for faux fur, especially as opposed to real fur. Unfortunately, not all of these boots were what was advertised.

Under the Faux Fur heading were several pairs of sheepskin boots. For those unaware, sheepskin is made from the skin of a sheep. The real skin of a non-faux sheep. Sad. So sad that I had to buy a pair of boots from another online store. Yup, I had to buy them.

On the other end of the online shopping spectrum is Moxie, the place to buy fashion from independent designers. While browsing their site, I stumbled upon their clever and carefully curated themed collections. This one is inspired by the movie Clueless. Brilliant. I never would have looked for that, but there it was and it made me smile.

Plyushkin My Buttons

This week's challenge: to select 4 pairs of shoes, and 16 articles of clothing to donate to Nashville flood victims. Doing good while assuaging a near obsessive fear of compulsive hording.

People in need, need the things that we don't actually NEED. Give via:
Nashville Salvation Army
Soles4Souls

Bless Her Heart, Barbie Has Fat Ankles

Anytime someone makes a remark about Barbie's body it's a scandal. Is she too thin, too fat or too curvy? It's enough to fill one's hollow plastic head with all kinds of body-image issues. So, of course, when a spokesperson for Christian Louboutin suggested the poor dear had the dread "cankles" people went nuts. The thing is, though, he's right.

It's important to clarify that fat ankles do not equal fat. Barbie is clearly not fat. But, let's be honest, her body is somewhat oddly shaped, her feet less than elegant. I know Barbie's figure well, as my sister and I both served as her personal couturiers for much of our childhood. We never attempted to make shoes, but even with Jem on the scene if you really wanted to dress your dolls like Debbie Harry you had to break out the scissors and safety pins.

Barbie's feet are absurdly small for her body and shaped in a way that not only makes it impossible for her to stand without assistance, but also makes one wonder if Mattel is run by a bunch of wacko foot binding enthusiasts. They just seem wrong. I think this is what compelled me as a small child to chew the heck out of the misshapen things. Was I teething at six? Maybe. I think I was subconsciously rejecting or trying to fix those ridiculous feet. They are deformed and they make her ankles look even bigger.

Barbie's ankles are a too slim head-on, too wide in profile mess. If someone with as much reverence for a woman's foot as Christian Louboutin wants to improve things I, for one, approve.

This is not a shoe blog

From the Balenciaga runway

It's Fall, 2007 and everyone is wearing frightening bondage shoes: grandmothers, preteens, the Good Humor man.

Well, not really — these are the shoes of designers' fantasy. When they do trickle down to the mainstream, as they sadly and inevitably must, they will do so as laid-back leather slides and mules with a few studs, or a carefully placed D-ring. These will be a very tame, but infinitely more frightening shoe. Young mothers will wear them while shuttling the kids to school, you'll see them in the line at the coffeehouse, their Polo shirts and poplin pants oddly juxtaposed with spiked and grommeted summer sandals.

Imagine an Ann Taylor blouse with spandex, "fashion" denim and vaguely S&M slides at your local Starbucks. This is what we have to look forward to.

Truly dedicated followers of fashion won't wait for the watered-down reprisal. As the weather gets colder, they will be swapping their comfortable ballet flats for platform art shoes bedecked in straps and spikes. This is a great time for independent fashionistas to go for the truly subversive: sensible shoes.

Yes folks, I'm talking patent leather t-straps, loafers, Wallabees, 'Scholls sandals. Wear them, or else.

Clothes Horse

Eternal nothingness is OK if you're dressed for it. -Woody Allen

How many pairs of shoes does any woman need, really?

The glib answer is: enough. How we define "enough" is the hard part. Recently I've been trying to answer the troubling shoe question myself.

Even though most women can justify every item in their closets — to themselves, at least — in a short sentence, we are still left with feelings of guilt over the size of of our respective clothing collections. Perhaps that's good. When so many people go without the most basic necessities, collecting anything can be troubling. The consumer guilt we feel might actually be healthy, just a way of whacking ourselves with the ruler of prudence, saying "enough Imelda! children are going barefoot."

This brings us back to qi, and thoughts of how all these "things" interfere with energy flow around our homes. I've been thinking a lot lately about the Collyer brothers, and the contents of my closet. Maybe the first step to better qi flow in my home is clearing out the place, throwing out the old to make room for the new.

I've always liked old things, or, I should say, appreciated them. As a child, I spent every summer at my grandparents' house, a one-story summer home which was surrounded by pine trees and filled with vast quantities of everything. Art supplies, heirlooms, closets of film reels and vintage dresses. In my grandfathers' workshop I watched him fix old typewriters and TV sets, just for fun — he was a retired engineer and professor. After one summer with him I had learned the names of every item in his tool box, how to use a grindstone, and all about the infamous recording devices of the Watergate hearings. Certainly a lot of information to take in at five years old, but despite my shrinking brain I still seem to have room for memories of these informal lessons.

It's a fact: I have too many hats, and too many hobbies. It's so much harder to be a renaissance person today, without the country house and servants. Sure, I need the 14 pairs of dinner gloves, the 60s car coats, and all those eyeglasses. But, I also need a handmaiden to attend to them all.

Until then, with Rubbermaid and heavy heart, I will try to make the right choices, to find salvation in small bags for Goodwill.