You know the drill. You are on Team Heel if you have more heels than wedge heels, or if you prefer the look of heels. Vice versa for Team Wedge Heel.  

I love the look of wedge heels and absolutely wear the low heeled, non-platform versions. They are generally quite stable and look extra modern. But I’m going to bat for Team Heels for two reasons. First, I have more heels than wedge heels. Second, I prefer the look of thick stacked heels. To my eye stacked heels look dressier and slightly more elegant than wedge heels, and this works better for my style. 

Over to you. Are you Team Heel or Team Wedge Heel? Remember to tell us why and that you can pick a side even if you don’t wear heels. No batting for both Teams.

There are so many variations on the animal print shoe. From monochromatic, moc-croc leathers and subtle snake skins, to bold, high contrasting zebra, pony, giraffe and leopard patterns. Moc-croc and subtle snakeskin animal print shoes are easier to match up in outfits because they generally function as a solid colour. It’s the bolder animal print patterns, like these leopard and cheetah shoes, that require a little more thought. 

If you’re struggling with how to wear bold animal print footwear, follow these guidelines. Some approaches are obvious and classic, whereas others are more daring. Here are the pairing options:

Team Minimal

We’ll start by pairing bold animal print shoes with solid outfit pieces for Team Minimal.  

• Similar toned neutrals: Easy! Pick up the same colours of the animal print in your outfit.
• Blue denim and white/cream: These tones are always a good bet with bold animal print, and one of my favourite combinations.
• A different neutral: For example, wear black and brown animal print shoes with ink blue, grey or olive green. Wear black and white zebra print shoes with a brown dress. Basically, you can wear any neutral with animal print shoes. 
• Non-neutral colours: Keep the bottom neutral/denim and wear a solid non-neutral top. Or wear a solid non-neutral dress. Or wear a solid non-neutral top and bottom. Although this is not a must, extra outfit cohesion is achieved by wearing animal print shoes that bookend the colour of your hair. 

For the purposes of these guidelines you can think of highly textured items, like a grey furry vest or sequined top, as solids. The same goes for false plains like glen plaids.

Team Maximal

Team Maximal gets pictures because we need to show some pattern mixing options. You can go to town with these. It all depends on the level of your “daring-quotient”. Your two main pairing options are:

• A complementary pattern: First, refresh your memory on how to successfully mix patterns. The polka dot blouse below works quite well with both animal print shoes because they are in a similar colour palette. The polka dot also acts as the “dominant print”. Stripes and florals will also work. 

• A complementary animal print: My previous guideline was to wear one animal print item per outfit. We have moved on from that as hectic pattern mixing becomes more and more fashionable and on-trend. With this pairing, I prefer to see animal print tops (and dresses) matched with a different pattern of animal print footwear. For example, the leopard blouse below is paired with zebra or pony shoes. That way it’s not overly matchy-matchy. 

I’ve covered all these combinations in my own outfits at one point or another. Now that I bat for Team Minimal, I prefer to match my animal print shoes with solid pieces, both neutral and non-neutral. But I might sneak in the odd pattern mixed ensemble just for fun.

I think most of us go through our lives with a core set of style preferences — colours, patterns, vibes and design details — that we always enjoy. But we also find ourselves being drawn to completely new and different things on each leg of our style journey. 

For example, ever since I was very little I’ve loved bright red, white, apple green, pearls, denim, handbags, watches, silver and flat riding boots. As I grew older, my style preferences expanded to include most bright colours, polka dots, black and white combinations, military and equestrian designs, abstract florals, sheath dresses, button down shirts, rugged boots, specs and Chanel. 

I still love the things that I’ve been drawn to for most of my life. But over the last year I’ve noticed that I’m drawn to designs and patterns that I haven’t appreciated since I was a teen. In some cases, I’m drawn to things that never appealed to me before. 

I haven’t worn gold since I was a baby, and now I bat for Team Gold. I haven’t liked lace since the ’80s, and I just bought a black lace shirt. I’ve loved zebra and pony prints forever, but now I favour leopard and cheetah patterns. I’ve been a dress gal for ages, but this year I have enjoyed wearing trousers more than dresses. 

Your turn, ladies. Do you have a set of stylistic preferences that you are drawn to consistently? And have you recently noticed any changes in your own style preferences?

The sun is out, the weekend is long, and my mid morning cup of tea on our deck was extra special today. The reason? There is a fabulous story in the Seattle Times called “Seattle bloggers make their own fashion statements” and YLF is included. 

Janet Tu of the Seattle Times interviewed us for the story a few months ago. Janet had also attended a YLF clothing swap earlier in the year, and photographer Ellen Banner accompanied me on a short shopping trip with one of my clients.

There are two other Seattle fashion bloggers pictured in the article and they look great. Be sure to check out Abiola Akanni of Bora Bora Style and Carolyn Yuen of Hey Pretty Thing. Also look out for forum members Sheila, Julie and Aida in the photo of us walking through Seattle on gathering day. Super cool.

Big thank you to amazing Bei-Jing for being so patient during the photo shoot and for looking her usual glam self. Thanks also to Janet for writing a wonderful article and Ellen for taking fabulous photos (click on the online pictures to see them enlarged).

My favourite part of this article is seeing our YLF muse Rosie pictured with us (online version only) as we show The Times our site at YLF Headquarters. Of course, our little Jasmine is in our hearts and with us all the way.

Janet and I on 34th street in Madrona on the day of the photo shoot.