Blue note (long).

Jenni NZ

This is the third pair of my recent shoe order after throwing away 4 pairs of sandals. These are more of a fantasy and it’s a bit stupid. You may know I love Art Deco dress-ups. Over a decade ago, 2014, I went to Art Deco Weekend. At a fair I bought these vintage gloves. Very few pairs of gloves fit my tiny hands. At the time I was reading lots of fashion magazines (not much any more thanks to YLF). They had a section several years in a row on raceday fashion. Now with my strict upbringing horse racing and the associated gambling was very much frowned on. So in fact I have never, even still, been to a horse race. But I have had this enduring fantasy of finding blue shoes to match the gloves. Even though the gloves are not that great, a bit faded, I did dye them but without great success, not like Brooklyn has! I think in my imagination I was entering a Fashion in the Field competition. There is of course a fantasy hat involved.
I have looked idly for shoes for this for years! Finally found some, so pretty. I won’t really go to the races, but could wear to still the occasional day of work, or lunch out, or events. They are comfortable walking around the house, wouldn’t be for a long walk. So I think I am keeping. I thrifted a skirt for $10 the other day too. Outfit lab!
Pics 1-3 the shoes, and shoes with the gloves
Pic 4 new white top and thrifted skirt
Pics 5-7 trying with 3 of my summer dresses
Pic 8 with the old thrifted top from 2023 that I bought for the Haldi ceremony in Canada
Pics 9-10 less sure of these outfits with tees. Outfits maybe not dressy enough for the shoes.
Sorry I feel I have been hogging the forum lately! Keen on opinions on the outfits, no rush I know the US Fabbers will be busy. Happy Thanksgiving!

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1 week ago

Dressing

28 replies

Latest reply was from Carol

Sloper

Veteran

I think the shoes are very pretty!! They look nice with your spring and summer outfits. Maybe also try them with that outfit from a few days ago - the blue/white pants with the white (ivory?) top.

Here in the U.S., women also dress up for the Kentucky Derby in May. It’s fun to see their hats and outfits when the race is broadcast on TV. Very creative and colorful.

If you could find a pretty lilac hat to go with your gloves and shoes, they could be part of a fancy luncheon or Easter outfit. Or embellish a white hat with a big lilac bow or faux flower.

1 week ago

Irina

Veteran

Lovely blue shoes, Jenni. They work so well with your clothes!
My two cents - I’m not a fan of the outfit #10 due to extra fabric in the crotch area and tucked in style. The rest looks great to my eye.

1 week ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Those are very pretty shoes, Jenni! I especially like them with the skirt in 4 and your new top, and the dresses in 5 and 7 and I think they also work really well with the tee in 9. If you give those pants a press and roll the sleeve on your tee a bit a la Brooklyn I think you might have a winner juxtaposition, and since they are flat their dressiness is not overpowering. I often wear my flat dressy slingbacks with pants or even cropped jeans or long shorts.

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1 week ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I love these pretty and dainty pointy-toe light blue flats, Jenni! They look the most smashing-to-my-eye in outfits #4, 5 and 6!

The white pants in #9 and #10 - I think are the same pair? The rise is a tad high for their width. Hence, I see what Irina is seeing. Better in #9 with an untucked top - and to Suz's point, perhaps a little press will do the trick!

I'll add that the dress is #6 is absolutely GORGEOUS on you! KILLER, and my favourite dress in your wardrobe! Elegant.

Enjoy your wonderful new little Race Day shoes!

1 week ago

Sal

Veteran

Love the shoes and quite versatile I think!!

I think you will get enough wear from these.

I agree that the white pants are better with a longer top.

I had some light blue sneakers (they wore out) and whilst I don't really wear light blue they were surprisingly versatile.

1 week ago

Jenni NZ

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Thanks everyone. Yes, the pants (same ones in 9 and 10) do need a press Suz and Angie, and I am lazy. As I am not working much I am a bit slack with such things. Although I have time!
I didn’t like outfit 10 (to Irina and Angie’s point) when I photographed it. The bloused out pink top looks better with my white jeans. I am wearing it with shorts right now, it’s hot. I might yet get the top shortened as the forum suggested last year but was happy to wear for a while blousing it out. I still like the pretty bright colours of it.
Glad you like my shoes!
Thank you Sloper for hat ideas!

1 week ago

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Oh and thanks Sal. I hope to keep them a few years.

1 week ago

Runcarla

Veteran

To heck with the gloves, those shoes are *chef’s kiss*! You are so good with footwear.

I have the Naturalizer slingbacks in yellow since 2023, and get comments (positive) whenever I trot them out. FWIW, I’ve had an epiphany about footwear and have decided to make a concerted effort to only add light or coloured footwear (vs dark or black) to my closet going forward.

You are miles ahead of me in discovering this - whether it was a conscious decision or purely intuitive.

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1 week ago

Kate

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The shoes are lovely, Jenni, and so are the gloves.

1 week ago

Janet

(website)

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Those shoes are really pretty! Do you have more yellow in your wardrobe? The blue looks so nice with the yellow color in 8. Agreed with Angie that the dress in 6 is especially smashing on you.

My grandmother was the glove buyer, back when there was such a thing, for one of the lovely department stores we used to have in our area. When my mom passed away, my sister and I found an amazing collection of vintage gloves, mostly in new condition, tucked away in a box. We divided the collection in half and had fun trying them on. We have narrow but long hands and fingers, and some of those gloves were too small even for us! They were everything from cotton to kid, in all kinds of colors and lengths. I still have the collection in a tansu chest in our living room, where I keep my gloves too. I wear some of them from time to time.

1 week ago

Sloper

Veteran

Apologies for getting the color wrong! My monitor makes them look lilac, not blue.

1 week ago

Bijou

Veteran

Gorgeous and so fab with your dressy clothes - I love #4,5 & 6! I hope you get to wear these beautiful outfits during Christmas and New Year.

1 week ago

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Those are my kind of shoes! Great pick and they look great with the dresses.

1 week ago

Bonnie

Veteran

What a great match, the blue shoes and gloves were made for each other. The dresses you tried work perfectly with your new shoes.

1 week ago

Star (Lise)

Veteran

Well I immediately see them as being versatile. The juxtaposition thing can come into play here. Your outfit does not have to be super elegant, wear them anytime and let them be the star of the outfit. Like SUZ wears her silver slingbacks even with jeans (I know you don't wear jeans). Or CARLA and her yellow slingbacks. These have this possibility, and can stii be worn dressed up too. They will add some pretty to nearly any outfit. Love the dress in 7. I like them with all the outfits you showed.

1 week ago

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

The new shoes are beautiful! I hope you do create an occasion to wear them with the gloves. And perhaps a hat, as Sloper suggests. But they are also good for less fancy occasions, like what you mention. The shoes are so lovely with the dresses in 4, 5, and 6, and with the yellow tunic in 8. I also think they are fab with the tee in 10; I could see them with the tee and your white jeans that you like to wear it with.

1 week ago

lyn67

Veteran

Oh, these are some gorgeous shoes(esp. the texture) -I see that elf never rests!:-)) Great stylings here all and I find them versatile pls. wear them with everything, including the white pants and tees!
Loved the idea to find a hat in tone with the gloves and the shoes for future dressy events!
My fave of the haul is nr 7 -that dress is quite a different vibe to what I have seen you posted and looks so great with the new shoes! I imagine a darker navy or black sunhat and the gloves beeing held only in one of your hands to that for more sophistication!:-)
(Gloves can be a conversational piece, you can tell the story if you get asked, then play showing them up...people will love that at an event!)

1 week ago

cat2

Veteran

Great shoes! And perfect with the flowy floral chiffon you have worn to a couple of recent events. That says day at the polo to me.

1 week ago

Sisi

Veteran

Fabulous shoes and very pretty gloves! Can't wait to see you sport them, together with a hat, at a horse race or some other chic event!
I was also going to suggest to try the shoes with the ivory top and the white/blue patterned pants. I like Sloper's suggestions.

1 week ago

JAileen

Veteran

I really like your shoes. I like them especially in#8 and #9. If I didn’t have my stupid foot problem, I would be very interested in something like them.

When I lived in SE Texas, there was a racetrack nearby, in Louisiana. We went once, as part of a group event. Now I live in a state with lots of gambling. I don’t partake in any of it. Once I was meeting someone at one of the casinos, and as I walked by the tables, the dealers were calling me to sit at their tables. I told them I lived there. Oh! Never mind.

1 week ago

slim cat

Veteran

Very pretty shoes! I like #5, 7 and 9 the best - but all outfits are fun. I have a few items that my fantasy outing - some worn ones a year with joy

1 week ago

pirouette

Veteran

The shoes are so pretty well done for finding them. I like them best with your dresses. You look so summery we are here in puffer coats in the cold it’s refreshing to see someone in summer clothes.

6 days ago

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Back to comment. Hope US Fabbers had a lovely Thanksgiving.
Carla, I totally know why you get compliments on those yellow shoes, they just look special and fun. Thank you for saying such nice things about my ability to choose footwear. I always loved it but the good advice here on YLF and the advent of Styletread, Australian site similar to Zappos or DSW, with excellent filters and a truly enormous choice with lots of brands, made a huge difference. How I have learned to use Styletread is to maintain a reasonable Wishlist, usually about 8 items. I don’t get their emails as suspect they would send too often, but am aware of the times of year they have the biggest sales (Black Friday, Boxing Day and Easter) and login perhaps once a week. These pretty blue shoes I have been vaguely looking for since I started going on that site in 2016! Now that’s a HEWI, 9 years of vague searching to suit the gloves. I do mainly choose sale items as I have learned if I miss out on something there will be something else good in a while, and I am budget conscious even though I don’t actually have a budget. So maintaining the Wishlist helps remind me of what I like/am vaguely wanting, even though that particular item in my small size EU 36 may sell out. I am much more sensible about heel heights and comfort than I used to be, although never much of a high heel wearer I did used to wear some. I now maintain a shoe wardrobe of a number just under 40 pairs. I do still keep a few black pairs, including my most worn, my Skechers. I also do search and buy from other stores and sites, but more rarely. The fuchsia sandals are from an NZ store after a year of searching, it was Christmas 2 years ago and they were on sale.
What I have very long-windedly said here is that it takes dedication to be a Shoemaker’s Elf!

6 days ago

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Thanks Kate.
Thanks Janet, I remember about your grandmother being the glove buyer and think that’s awesome. Glad you and your sister got some. I inherited 3 pairs of dress gloves from Mum and have picked up 3 vintage pairs since, including these blue ones, a pink, and a cream. So I have at least 6 pairs I think, I wear mostly for Art Deco dress-ups. The only other person I know with hands as small as mine is my first cousin on Dad’s side. I also have a small number of warm gloves.
I sadly don’t have much more yellow, it is pretty with blue.

6 days ago

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Thanks Sloper again- no worries about the colour! Thanks Bijou,Jaime and Bonnie. I am keen to wear some of the outfits. Probably on Christmas Day I will wear my usual red with my new red sparkly sandals, but there are other days!
Thanks Lise, Sharan and Lyn. Glad 2 of you like them especially with the dress in 7 which is my 2018 maxi dress from Bali. I have tended to wear that with sandals but this looks a bit fancier I think! And my favourite sandals with it went to trash, they were also 2018 but quite wrecked.

6 days ago

Jenni NZ

Veteran

About the horse races or polo: I no longer follow my upbringing entirely although still don’t gamble, more because of the harm it can cause especially pokie machines aka one-armed bandits? And nowadays online gambling. However I do drink alcohol in small quantities which my strict parents also did not do. I can see perhaps J’Aileen that you wouldn’t be so keen on gambling! Maybe one day I would consider going to the Melbourne Cup for fun, to see the race and the fashion!
Some very good friends of ours went last year I think and had fun dressing up. But other than that we don’t mix with anyone who goes to horse races or polo, just not in that world. So it’s unlikely but possible.
Thanks cat2, Sisi, J’Aileen, slim cat and pirouette.

5 days ago

Lisa

Veteran

For the outfits I like 5, 8, 9, and 10 best. The new shoes pair really well with your wardrobe! And of course my matchy matchy gene adores how well they pair with the gloves too. What a lovely find!

4 days ago

Carol

(website)

Veteran

Great race clothes. And I hope you get a hat to go with. AND I hope you get to wear your race clothes.

I went to a Derby party years ago, and then a couple years ago, got a hat just to watch it at home with my boyfriend. Racing parties are a great way to go if you want to dress up, but not get all the way to the tracks.

Those shoes seem like a celebration of pastel, and so I like them best with the other pastel outfits.

1 day ago

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