Ok ladies, here they are. The 'other' black booties, which were actually the first black booties, in two outfits that I wore to work. As I mentioned the other day, this pair is throwing me a bit. While I generally avoid masculine footwear these were very refined so I thought they'd work for me. I actually bought them in spring but didn't wear them all spring/summer, finally pulling them out for their first wear just earlier this month.

#2, 11.05 - Probably too ambitious for the first outing with them, but my thought here was to pair with things that make me particularly happy (the culottes and the faux fur); it would have been well within my comfort zone to pair with tall heeled sleek boots, so flat masculine booties ended up feeling like a real stretch. Rich autumnal color palette of navy, rust, and black. Hair up to keep the neckline open for the turtleneck and furry vest, and cherry-pink lip gloss for a softer-stronger lip color. Doesn't show well in the photo but that little leo clutch is ponyhair so I've got lots of furriness going on there.

Newer: culottes, booties, clutch
Older: tissue turtleneck, faux fur vest, tights, earrings, sunnies

#3, 11.20 - Today I thought I'd be a bit less adventurous with the rest of the outfit. I enjoyed wearing olive with loads of white and bits of black this past spring/summer, and am also enjoying extending that concept over to fall/winter as well. This time I wanted to really minimize the black to help me get over the booties, so up went my hair; buttoned the shirt all the way up and pulled the collar out for a little preppy 70s touch. I rarely wear long earrings when my hair is up, but today I felt it needed a little something extra there. Finished with a deep rusty red-orange lipstick. I liked the idea of having the outerwear be black-and-white so I pulled out this faux fur trimmed black coat my MIL gave me over summer and paired with my little striped clutch.

Newer: sweater, booties
Older: silk shirt, jeans, earrings, coat, clutch, sunnies

#4/5 - Detail photos.

Objectively I like both outfits, particularly the second, but certainly felt much more out of sorts in the first. I'm not sure if that's due to me adjusting already or if it really was the outfit. More importantly though, I did find the shared components -- hair up, faux fur, retro sunnies, strong lipstick -- particularly interesting because they're all rather glam. I think that'll be the key for these booties for me, not that I'll need to pair with something necessarily girly but that I'll need to ramp up the glam. You won't hear me complain about that! What do you gals think?

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

PS: I got these at Forever 21, and am sure they are based on some designer shoes. Anyone know? (Denise?) I'm curious!