Hi there my loyal fashionistas! The year is flying along and you could be excused for thinking I’ve been hiding in a cave and wishing winter away.
I’ve been so busy at the boutique, styling and running my eBay shop that I haven’t had a minute to blog. Now that spring has sprung, hello sunny Melbourne, I’m back on board.
The trans-seasonal shoe, and why it matters here
After slapping on a bit of fake tan last night, it was time to pull the pins out in these divine lace-up ballet flats. Find them at French Pony boutique in Brighton for only $59. Super comfy, and the perfect trans-seasonal addition to the shoe-drobe.
“Trans-seasonal” gets thrown around as marketing, but in Melbourne it is a genuine category, because we have roughly four weeks a year of weather that commits to anything.
A trans-seasonal shoe is one that works bare in October and with a sock or a stocking in April. That rules out most sandals, which look wrong the moment anything covers your foot, and most boots, which are unbearable the moment it hits twenty-two degrees.
A closed flat sits precisely in the middle. Bare feet in spring, thin socks in autumn, opaque tights in a cold snap. The shoe never looks confused about the season. Which is why, per dollar, a good flat gets worn more days a year than almost anything else in the wardrobe.
What to look for: a closed toe, a low-cut vamp so it still looks light in summer, and a colour that is not obviously summery. Tan, black, navy and nude all pass. White does not.
Four ways to wear flats without looking flat
The reason people avoid flats is that they think the outfit dies without a heel. It does not. The outfit just needs its proportions adjusted.
Show some ankle. This is the whole trick. A cropped trouser, a rolled jean, a hem that stops above the ankle bone. Bare ankle above a flat keeps the leg line running; a full-length trouser breaking on the shoe kills it.
Go higher on the waist. A flat takes a few centimetres off you, and a high waistband gives them straight back by lengthening the leg from the top instead of the bottom.
Keep the shoe low-cut. A vamp that sits low on the foot shows more of the top of your foot, which reads as more leg. A high-cut flat covers exactly the bit you want visible.
Let the lacing be the detail. Which is what these are doing. The interest is at the ankle, so the rest of the outfit gets to stay simple.
Aqua and white, and why fresh colours work in spring
I pulled this fresh aqua and white outfit together today for a yummy Thai lunch with a group of special school mums.
Aqua is an underrated colour and a very easy one. It sits between blue and green, so it goes with denim as happily as it goes with khaki, and against white it reads as clean rather than loud, which is exactly what you want after four months of charcoal.
The general rule for the first warm weeks: one fresh colour, one white or cream, one neutral shoe. It looks like spring without looking like you tried to announce it. Head-to-toe pastel is where this tips into costume.
If bright colour makes you nervous, put it on your bottom half or in an accessory rather than next to your face. The colour still lifts the outfit, and your complexion is not involved in the decision.
$59 is exactly the right amount to spend here
Worth saying plainly, because it sits inside a bigger argument I make constantly: some things are worth investing in properly, and a fashion-led flat is not one of them.
Shoes with a strong seasonal detail (this year’s lacing, this year’s buckle) date faster than anything else you own. Spending $300 on one means wearing it for three years to justify it, by which time the detail that made you buy it looks like a particular year.
The pieces worth spending on are the ones with no fashion in them at all: a good coat, a leather jacket, boots, a bag. Those look better at ten years old than they did new.
So: $59 for the trend shoe, and put the money you saved into the coat. That is the entire strategy, and it is why my wardrobe has a $59 flat and an $800 skirt in it at the same time.
How I have worn them since
Gorgeous flats, aren’t they? How will you wear yours?
So far I’ve paired them back with ripped white jeans and a boho top, which is the easiest version. They have also gone with a denim skirt and a plain tee, with cropped black trousers for anything that needed to look tidier, and (once it cooled off) with opaque tights and a knit dress, which is where the trans-seasonal claim earned itself.
(From September 2015. That boutique price belongs to that spring, though French Pony in Brighton is still where a lot of my favourite things came from.)
Whatever your plans this weekend, I hope you get out and enjoy the very welcome burst of warm weather. See you soon.
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love.” 1 John 4:16