a guide to orthotics-- pretty shoes despite foot problems

Hello there! Today on Devilishly Pleasurable we have another guest blogger, Colleen of Scrap and Run, continuing the series on shoes. For those of you who are new here or haven't been here for a bit, I ran two earlier features on shoes, one where I celebrated my collection of shoes through the years, and a guest post by Megan of Two Birds Boutique on indispensable tips on wearing your shoes all year round regardless of seasonal changes. That was the first time DP featured a guest blogger, and this is followed by Colleen, who dispenses advice for those of us requiring orthotics to deal with foot problems, allowing you to stay comfortable without sacrificing aesthetics. So often are we bombarded with images of the beautiful and pristine, yet the pursuit of fashion, style and beauty is not as straightforward for all of us. As Colleen puts it, her confidence has increased; and let's hope that you too can pass this information to your family, friends and colleagues who might be plagued with similar problems, spreading a little (shoe) love. . .

 

365 days of shoes-- how to wear ALL your shoes ALL year round!

Last week at Devilishly Pleasurable, I unveiled seven years of Dearly Beloved Shoes in my post To All The Shoes I've Loved Before. As a woman who finds shoes devilishly pleasurable (and making more time on my part for this site), I am launching a series of shoe-related posts. The following is by the lovely Guest Blogger Megan of Two Birds, dishing out her fabulous tips on how to maximise mileage on your shoes and letting them see the light of day all year round. Living in a country with four seasons? No problem! There's always a way out, and a stylish one at that. Not to mention, cost-effective. Life couldn't get better!

original image source here

It looks like it’s Shoe Week here at Devilishly Pleasurable…and I couldn’t be happier. Who doesn’t love shoes? They add to an outfit, sometimes even make an outfit. I have been known to plan a whole outfit based on just my shoes. They are probably my favorite accessory. But, here’s my problem – I live in Minnesota. About three months out of the year, it’s nice and warm – the other nine months, cold and colder. I have all of these beautiful summer shoes that I can only wear three months out of the year, and a ton of fabulous boots that I miss by the time summer rolls around. So I decided to think outside of the box, and luckily, fashion has been right beside me. I have found that there are so many stylish ways to wear “summer” shoes in the winter and “winter” shoes in the summer. I never have to store my shoes away; I can wear them year round!

to all the shoes i've loved before

Julio Iglesias crooned, "To all the girls I've loved before" in his sensual Latino way. My multi-love, wandering nature has been better reserved for shoes, where love is multiplied rather than divided. If like me, you've been gladly afflicted with the devilishly pleasurable trinity of love/lust/like with shoes for years, I'm inviting you to take a look at your archives of photographs and track your shoe evolution across the months, years, or even decades! I love 'longitudinal studies' like these, spanning across the years. .and hey, if you have a whole archive for photographs of shoes, this is the best time to showcase them proudly. You need no excuse to do that!

Some questions that are burning within me
1. How has your shoe taste changed over the years (heel height, type, brand, price range).
2. Are you ever torn between 'ostentatious decadent shoes' and 'more practical, everyday-looking shoes?'
3. Shoes or new apparel or ___? What wins out. Do spill!
4. Funniest shoe story?
5. How do you store your shoes?
6. Do you start dressing based on a pair of shoes? If so, how often do you find yourself doing that.
7. Who are the Shoe Influences in your life?

Do reply, whether as comments, or in your own blog posts. Vary these if you've answered similar questions (as have I in my post here) and tell it in your OWN narrative. Drop me a note, let me know, and link back. . and I will link you too! And here goes seven years of shoes. . .

links a la mode!

Hello all, I'm absolutely pleased that my first submission, Baby Steps to Better Blogging: Graduating to New Heights, to IFB's Links A La Mode has been selected. .

baby steps to better blogging-- graduating to new heights!

The emergence of the blogosphere as a considerable force needs no introduction. It used to be the question, how to be a better person, that philosophers such as Epictetus, Balthasar Gracian and Marcus Aurelis would meditate upon-- a contemplation that remains even more relevant today. Hyperfragmentation in post-modernity, however, dictates that separate, distinct pigeonholes of categorisations, and guides on how to be a better (insert title) abound. And so it is for fashion bloggers in this week's Friend Friday, focusing on the blogging process and evolution, best encapsulated as 'Baby Steps to Better Blogging-- Graduating to New Heights!'

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the devilishly pleasurable lair

Hello! Am getting more and more organised, but have been busy in the throes of finding work and what to study next-- confronted with the sole obstacle of status of international student that impedes me from the course of my choice. But not to dwell on such depressing things, I have been slightly happier lately. . and on an even happier topic closer to my heart, lo and behold I present to you The Devilishly Pleasurable Lair for now, photographed along various stages of evolution. I once read somewhere that The Mandatory House Tour that all house owners show you proudly is something that most people pretend to be politely interested in but actually detest with a vengeance; and I thought to myself that's one of my favourite things about going to others' houses. Perhaps I'm a nosey parker or just infinitely curious, but anyhows there are some clothes and shoes and the like featured here which might be of interest to fellow Fashionaholics. Otherwise, just take me as an exhibitionist. Some furnishings are temporary, desks have not arrived yet, and other nitty-gritty stuff to sort out, whilst we are trying to reconfigure the look to be more Bourdoir.  Yesh, I'm loving the way things are taking shape. . .

icarus grew oriental wings

tropical creatures reveling in boots and coats and capes

 

About a year ago before I left Sing, The Best Friend told me, "P I don't know how you can dare to leave your whole life and start a brand new life elsewhere". Because I wasn't intending to go back to live anytime soon. And because I'd never been to Europe before, much less England. Knew no one in England (D wasn't back in the country yet). Basically I was walking into unknown turf with a few luggages I was struggling with and five boxes of stuff to be shipped over (also because D said, "ship everything", but I shipped half). This February, Denise excitedly Skyped me about some scheme for work in England. Oh God. My best friend coming to live in England?? What could be better! March and April followed, she underwent interviews and called me up, "P I GOT THE JOB!". Mid-September came, and she landed in England for the first time too. About two weeks ago, I took a break from packing up my dorm room and boarded the train to Stevenage. It was certainly slightly surreal that we are both in the UK. "Why are you so dressed up?" she asked me "It's just the cape. And I'm meeting you I have to look good", I replied. "You know I was panicking because I was meeting you and my skirts are all being shipped over. I have to dress up to meet you too!" she laughed. And off we went for lunch and to celebrate her birthday with her colleague batch from Sing, before heading off to shop on our own and where I introduced her to English Cream Tea With Scones And Clotted Cream for the first time. As we walked to her temporary accommodation we were musing about how natural it felt that we were both on a foreign land and adjusted quickly. . and it just seemed very matter-of-factly that we were both here eight years since we've known each other. We then shopped online for furniture (since she's moving into her own first real place too!) and tried on each other's stuff laughing at how Becks & Suze it feels. You see, we both love the Shopaholic series, appealing to the vain frivolities in us, which we discovered when we were eighteen. Except we can never be sure who is really Becks and who is Suze-- perhaps a combination-- and I'm sure that neither of us want a Tarkie (although he looked surprisingly good in the movie).  She thinks D sounds exactly like Luke, which makes me laugh, and then I remembered reading something in Mini Shopaholic that sounds something like "Tarquin adores Suze so much [...] whilst Luke always looks at me with suspicion as though I am up to no good all the time. Which I am not." That sentence hit me hard. D always thinks I am up to no good-- I can't help having a cheeky face, it's been there since young!-- even when I'm just smiling whilst innocently shopping he'll tell his mom (who also thinks I'm cheeky. Oh God) I have something up my (non-existent) sleeves. We then proceeded to take loads of photographs, happy that we're both at last able to revel in coats and boots that we could only dream of and try for fun in Zara whilst living in tropical Singapore. . .

hello from brighton!