Shoe flash: Get it now! Outnet.com best buys!

Ladies..., are you ready to spank the plastic yet? These are just some of the amazing buys on Outnet.com, which I have just spied! Be quick though, these beauties will go in a jiffy!

• Elizabeth & James - Star ribbed leather sandal at 198 euros
• David Wyatt - currently loving these Baby Satellite pumps at 156 euros
• Sadly I wasn't quick enough to get my mitts on these Michael Kors 'Webster' suede ankle boots, they only have a US size 8 available now. 124 euros

Ok, in Euros it looks super pricey, in Pounds, not so bad, in US dollars, even better - the Liz & James sandals are $118! Hurry ladies!!!

Shiny New Studded love

Since I've been London - or Shopping Heaven, I've been trying so hard to not buy anything that I don't really need. It. Is. So. Hard!!!

Alejandro Ingelmo Thriller Booties £730

As you may know, Selfridges recently launched their Shoe Gallery - a place where I got seriously lost, lost into a deep, lusting trance enveloped in a journey into shoe paradise where all the seriously beautiful dreamy shoes are carefully stacked on velvet or glass, concrete or steel and even alabaster and silk displays. Divine!

Kurt Geiger Corso Heels - £220

I fell in love with some of Kurt Geiger's Fashionista collection and also Alejandro Ingelmo's shoes and boots! Anyhow, I think I did well walking away from such gorgeous things... until...


These babies caught my eye and I simply had to make a small naughty purchase whilst on Oxford Street. I love the studding details, the sparkly bits and the super cool Camilla Skovgaard's inspired serrated rubber sole - definitely essential when braving the dodgy pavements of Athens!
They're my new love, well at least for now!

River Island

I also did some experimenting and tried (being the operative word here), to do a cool purple manicure with gold tips, as per my post 'Nailing it' a while back. I didn't have any joy in finding the YSL Manucure range in the purple of gold anywhere, so I had to suffice with the bank friendly yet brilliant option of Barry M. Has anyone else tried doing their nails differently lately?

Have a rocking weekend!!!

Neat Trick: Making high Heels more comfortable

Call me crazy, but there comes a time when wearing in brand new heels around the home just isn't weird anymore. With wedding season continuing well into October for me, I'm going to be donning heels more often than hot dinners, but my problem now is the pain factor. I just Iuuuurve dancing, which inevitably means the pain will kick in sooner. I've not been wearing my sky scraper heels for some time now too... I just can't manoeuvre around Athens' San Francisco style streets and dodgy pavements (cue me tripping and wiping out), so these days I wear flats.

From Left top to bottom via Net-a-Porter:
Christian Louboutin Pigalle 120 Patent Pumps (120mm)
Charlotte Olympia Dolly Canvas Pumps (155mm high!)
Alexander McQueen Lace pumps (130mm)
Brian Atwood Drama Patent pumps (140mm)

Scouring the net I've discovered some great tips on how to make wearing heels more comfortable & how to get your shoe (if it's leather or suede) to fit better.

This tip is a bit weird but definitely worth trying as it is quite effective:
Tape your 3rd and 4th little toes together to make high heels more comfortable! You can use Scotch tape - bit difficult in this heat, or try fabric medical tape - I used a Elastoplast surgical tape. Genius! Note: This does work with some peep toe styles - just don't tape to close to the ends.
The science: Apparently at the base of the 3rd & 4th toes is where the nerve splits thus causing pain more easily particularly at the balls of your feet. Also, wearing high heels or ill fitting shoes causes the bone to rub against the nerve or place excessive pressure on the ball of the foot.

This neat little shoe fitting trick is for new shoes that rub, feel too tight and give you nasty blisters. This works best on suede or leather shoes and will not stretch or ruin the entire shoe, you'll see why in a mo.

Test drive your new shoes around the home for a bit to establish which bits rub your feet. Stick or wrap moleskin tape or even fabric plasters on the painful bits. You can either soak you feet in water, then dry them off, or just wet the fabric plaster. Slip into you shoes again and walk around a bit with the damp plaster and let your shoes mould & stretch over the damp plaster area. (You can do this a few times after the plaster has dried off a bit so that the shoe stretches a bit more to accommodate your feet). When you do wear them next, they shouldn't rub! Woopee!

Just make sure you're armed with some plasters or Compeed plasters if you're going out in heels! Right now there are so many companies cashing in on our pain experience, from Dr Scholls Party Feet products range to Compeed.

Here are some of the hot products to ease and make your heel wearing experience less painful:

Compeed - aka magic plasters, feels like a mini cushion on your skin, preventing/protecting your skin from blisters. If you do have blisters, this will help speed up recovery

Dr Scholl's Party Feet Range - awesome little gel cushions and sticky strips to help ease the pain on a night out in heels

So ladies, have you any cool tips to share?

Images via Boots.com
ref: Glamour & 5 inch & Up

Summer Breeze & Pretty florals

I know I sound like a broken record, but the heat in Athens has been reaching new highs, but thankfully, we had rain yesterday, followed by a cool, balmy and perfect evening. I've seen lots of pretty florals all over Blogland lately, from Fashion Butter to Jemima, so here's my little floral inspired ensemble.

I scored this little denim biker in the Pull & Bear sale recently and threw it
on as the night got cooler.

I'm still ummming and ahhhing over the new layout/look & colours, so will continue to play as i'm not overly convinced...

I Want This Job: Topshop Footwear Buyer

Girlies: I sooooo apologise in advance for my 2nd "I want this job" feature, this is going to be an almighty long but jam-packed post about everything you ever wanted to know about Buying! Enjoy!

We all know how fabulous Topshop is, it's the mecca where everyone, from fashionistas, celebs to teens & mums alike go to get their fashion fix without breaking the bank.
One of my oldest gal pals, Jo whom i've known since our days studying for our Fashion Degree has a job to die for! Shoes, lots of beautiful shoes get dumped on her desk, like everyday! Lucky her!
I've also added some additional bits in black - stuff like buying speak really.

Job Title: Shoe Buyer
Where do you work: Topshop Head Office, London

1. What do you actually do?

• Buy shoes for Topshop (TS), ensuring that we build a great range for our target/potential customers.
  

2. What's your general working pattern like?

• MONDAY - Go through the sales pack* and analyse last weeks sales. We generally look at each line and new reaction to see if we need to repeat (buy again)/move on (develop the style) or limit/review anything coming in that isn't working and monitor it's progress.
  
• * The sales pack is usually one big fat printed pack with all the styles in store or at the warehouse due for delivery into stores, including style/line numbers, colours bought, quantity (qty) bought, qty sold, how many weeks is left before product sells out according to average weekly sales and quantity bought.
  
• TUESDAY-FRIDAY varies depending on whats happening but we generally buy monthly and are constantly reviewing the range and adding in new key styles/colours that we need in quickly.
  
• Day to day I tend to be: visiting suppliers to see what they have, in meetings with design working on new developments, trawling the internet and magazines for inspiration, looking at the competition and shopping for new ideas, liaising with merchandisers re: quantity's/dates/price points and ranging, placing orders with suppliers, negotiating prices and dates, visiting TS branches across the country, in range reviews* with management, buyers' meetings looking at the trends and highlighting key items and fit sessions with shoe technologists.
• As a Buyer it is important to keep building relationships with potential/current suppliers as well as ensuring deliveries come in on time, being aware of all kinds of trends-reacting to them and what the competitors are doing in store - the team will always go Comparative Shopping (Comp. Shop) and produce a report to share with the team.
• * Range Reviews - working with the merchandising team, a review is compiled of the previous season/or months performance - so the products both best-sellers and worse sellers (Dogs) are analysed and reviewed to understand what the consumer liked and disliked.
  

3. Which other departments of the company do you work closely with?

• Designers, Press/marketing, Merchandisers & Store managers

4. What do you love about this job?

• The buzz when something comes in a flies out and the constant excitement/urgency of finding the next big thing. Also working with people that are so creative, passionate and proud about the product and the brand we work for.

5. Is it as glamorous as it sounds - Buying shoes?

• No! Its hard work...You have to roll your sleeves up and get involved whether its rifling through 100's of old dusty vintage shoes, shifting boxes and rails of shoes around the office to different meetings, spending all day in a factory or trawling round exhibition halls with thousands of shoe stands - it can be painful if you've woken up at 5am to get a flight then gone straight to a trade show!

6. Where have you travelled with this job?

• India, LA, Paris, Milan, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, New york....

7. What's not so great about this job?

• There's a lot of pressure (to constantly have and create newness) and you can't miss a thing so it can be tiring at times if you don't give yourself a break occasionally! There's also a lot of personal preferences and expectations you have to manage so you have to stand by what you think is right for the brand.
• In addition to this, the hours can be long, especially if you are preparing a presentation/range review (which needs to be agreed and signed off with management), or dealing with everything - last minute emails, deliveries etc before you have to go away on a business trip, the work load can pile up substantially, dealing with a late delivery (and the suppliers).
  

8. What core responsibilities do you have as a Buyer?

• To ensure the range is always new and sales are potentialised on key items.
• To push and seek the next big trend
• Plan the range with merchandising to ensure we meet our sales plan, target margins and that we offer a balanced range at all times with out going over the budget. Work out initial order quantities/colours to be bought in range planning.
  
• Critical Path - plan the key dates for product development, production and delivery.
  
• Manage Supply Base (A no. of qualified suppliers my team work with) ensuring we meet our targets in terms of quality control (QC), cost prices
• Manage Buyers Admin Assistant (BAA) and Assistant Buyer (AB) to ensure orders go on the system, deliveries are managed and on time and the general running of the department
• Ultimately to make sure our profits are up on the year and our markdown is kept to a minimum!

9. What trade shows do you visit/go to regularly?

• Micam, Lineappelle, Riva, Premiere Classe, Bread & Butter, WSA...

10. What skills do you need to be a great buyer?

• Have the ability to juggle 100 things at once and have your finger on the pulse at all times!
• It helps if you're quick, efficient, adaptable, enthusiastic, energetic, creative, passionate about the product you're buying, confident in your decisions, a good communicator, fairly good with numbers (analytical & strategical) and good at using your initiative

11. What advice would you give to anyone who wants to become a Fashion Buyer?

• Apply for a BAA role in a brand/company that you feel suits you and your style/personality. Get work experience or work in retail to get a feel for things.
  
• Be passionate about fashion, know your trends, push your ideas forward, aspire to buy those Mui Mui platforms (even if you can't afford them!), experiment with your own style and always think ahead.

Jo & team's Hot Picks
In-store/online now from top left-right:

• Spiral - Strappy peep toe heel £65
• Prima- Sling back clogs £80
• Saffron - Mint strappy heels £70
• Frances - Stud sandal £35

12. What's the salary range like from a BAA to a Buyer on senior level ?

• Hard to say, but for the lower end - starting around 16-18k for a BAA to 60k for someone at a more senior level
  

13. What's the career path like?

• It takes on average around 5yrs from BAA to become a Buyer if you work hard & are passionate about what you do.
  

14. How did you find your dream job as a Buyer?

• By looking in Drapers Record (Fashion Business magazine in UK) and sending my CV. Most brands have a recruitment page on their website so you can go through that.
  
• Just because a job isn't advertised (the fashion ones usually aren't by the way), contact an agency (who specialises in fashion) and sign up with them or contact the brand you see yourself working for directly and make sure you have a CV that is up-to date, ready to email/send the future employer. Having gone through loads of CV's myself (believe me, everyone wants your job or a BAA, BA, AB role) everyone usually starts with an introduction about themselves/personal statement. Whilst this is great, I also suggest mentioning what you have done for the love of fashion (be it organising a fashion show to raise money for a charity-you get the idea) in that first opening paragraph about yourself. That is something that usually catches my eye as everyone can be 'passionate', 'enthusiastic' about fashion and read magazines etc but are they really? What have they done to prove it?

15. Any other advice you'd like to share?

• Try not to lose your cool under pressure and always stand by your decisions. (Believing that a product will be a best-seller even if someone else can't see or share the same vision).

images via Topshop, Gossipless Fashion

Additional info:
Books/reading material:
Mastering Fashion Buying & Merchandising Management by Tim Jackson via Amazon

Agencies in UK:

• Drapers Record
• Talisman Retail
• Freedom Recruitment
• Success Appointments

Missed out on last weeks "I want this Job" feature? Click here for the low-down on Ladieswear Designer, Christine Macaulay.

Shoe Love: Fancy Footwork

I can't help but lust over gorgeous heels...

The Good

The Bad(ass)

These Camilla Skovgaars heels have sold out! :(

The Ugly

Even when you're browsing through incredible online boutiques, there's always a pair that are just plain awful (it's the high shine silver)... I'm sorry, but these Versace heels are just a bit too Striperella for me!

images via Matches, Net-a-Porter & Christian Louboutin

p.s. don't forget to enter a fab giveaway here if you haven't done so already!!!

Friday Best, weekly round up

Yay! It's the weekend!!! I'm going to try something a little different today, starting with this weeks what i call 'Best picks'.
Go: La Perla are having a sale - you heard it here first!!! Go Go go ladies if you're in London!

image via Vogue, Germany Sept 09

Sign Up: Calling all Designers right now Style Trek are looking for talent like you to join their site. Why? This is your opportunity to shine and is an amazing ecommerce platform for you to do your thang (with support and without the overheads)! It doesn't which country you're from, Style Trek are searching for the finest talent for their launch this Autumn.

If you'd like to be one of the first 50 designers selected for the site or become one of its Styletrekkers, visit the website to fill out the free, one-page application form. The deadline is 30 May, so hurry... Please share the love & this link & info with designers you know!

Buy: Barry M rocks, for me their one of the coolest places to find a plethora of colours, cosmetic-wise. Check out these awesome nail colours (and this is only a selection!) from £2.99 (Superdrug, UK)

Make: Over at Fashion Algorithms, Katerina has been getting crafty, check out this fab necklace she made.

Wear: I love all the pretty florals out there as well as girly with a twist fashion (see Jess Szohr for inspiration below) but, j'adore even more how you can toughen up pretty florals with a pair of sturdy booties and a khaki biker for those breezy evenings.

image via: here

Take one floral Playsuit, by Arden B (who also deliver to Greece).... and wear it anyhow you want to...

From top left to right, top to bottom:

• Cropped Denim jacket & Khaki 3/4 slv jacket by Topshop
• Floral playsuit by Arden B.
• Peep toe sling back wedge by Steve Madden (style:'Warrick') - I love these!
• Can't afford the stunning Alexander Wang 'Freja' boots? Check out these buckle boots (on sale now) by Dorothy Perkins
• Slouchy trinket boots by Dune
• Alexander Wang Freja boots as worn by Jessica Szohr above. Via Shopbop

Dangerously Delicious

Look at these pretty little lovelies! Delish aren't they? River Island have teamed up with young designer, Sophia Grace to create this special collection of fancy footwear. Love the cute bows, leopard print mix & of course anything pink!
I think this young lady will be one to watch over the next few years, it's high time Cordwainer's brought out new talent!


Next up on the delish list is this sweet little creation for my friends birthday! Hope she likes it!


This is my first attempt in making a layered flower with lots of petals, not bad eh? I so need to get some silver edible dust on those edges, it'll look even more prettier then.

Clogs are back!

Chanel Clogs £850

Holy smokes! Clogs are back with a serious vengeance. I remember the last time they really took centre stage back around 2004 (I wasn't around in the 70's) with a less serious heel but they could either be worn as slingbacks or mules. It was the look at school and only the cool kids bought the more expensive version with chunky heel, studding with adjustable strap. What do you think? Love or hate 'em?

Miu Miu Clogs £285

John Rocha Clogs £450

Hooray for High-street: Jones Bootmaker Clogs £65

The cool cat: Kurt Geiger Clogs £220, these bad boys remind me of how much i'm still drooling over last seasons Prada studded sling back platforms, sigh...

Katie Holmes footwear

Shoes by Jerome C Rousseau

Katie Holmes for the premiere film Valkyrie wear shoes by Jerome C Rousseau. Shoes and dress very nicely combines especially red color. Katie very beautiful and stylishly dressed for the premiere of her husband.