How to Choose the Perfect Shoes for Prom

You have finally found your perfect (Faviana) prom dress. After days of researching and trying on multiple styles of prom dresses, you ended your search with the most beautiful, jaw-dropping dress you have been dreaming of since middle school. Now all that is left is for you to show it off at pre-prom, right? Wrong! Now you must begin your search for the perfect prom shoes to pair with it. Before starting this search, make sure to snap a picture of your dress to bring shopping with you so you can refer back to details of the beading, color, or lace details so you can assure the perfect match.  Keep reading for tips to pick the perfect prom shoes.

Glam or Sophisticated?

Now you can start shopping! First, consider what your dress looks like. Is it super glitz and glam or simple yet elegant? That question is a huge factor when picking out your prom shoes. If you went for the glitz and glam type of dress with sparkles from your neck to your ankles, you may want to keep your shoes less elaborate to ensure you do not take away from the dress or even worse, clash with the dress. This shoe can have a single strap around your ankle and be just what your dress needs. If your dress is on the plainer side without too much sparkle, do not be afraid to choose a pair of shoes that will really pop and add some glamour. Remember, it is all about balance.  This shoe can be a fully dazzled pump, or maybe super strappy and shiny. You will still have that sophisticated, chic look you wanted but with just a dash of flash. If you feel your dress is right between glam and simple, then i would really reccommend that you pay particular attention to the color of your shoes as that can be a deal breaker if they don’t match the dress perfectly.

Choose Your Color Wisely!

The second factor that will arise will be contemplating the color choice. Personally, I would always recommend a neutral color. This will allow your dress to blend with the shoe instead of being forced to go together. In addition, you can get a lot of re-wear out of these shoes because you will not have to worry if the color will match because neutral goes with everything. Neutral colors include (but are not limited to) silver, gold, black and nude. If you are set on matching the color to the dress exactly, be sure to bring a color swatch shopping with you. Even though the shade of blue on the shoes looks identical to your dress in the picture, it does not mean they will match up in person.  Also know that if you really want to match your shoes to your dress exactly, then you can always choose a shoe what is made out of fabric and have them dyed to match it.  Many bridal stores offer this service.

Height Matters!

After finding a pair that meets all the above requirements, the last step is to make sure the size of the heel is good for you! Remember this is going to be a long day and let’s be real, your feet will probably hurt post-prom. Even if you are used to high, high heels, think about the length of time you will be on your feet. You also want to make sure you can walk and dance comfortably! Remember not to get discouraged while shopping. After you find your shoes, you are one step closer to prom night.  Next step, jewelry!

Wedding Shoe Shopping Tips

Next to the search for the wedding dress, looking for your wedding shoes are one of the hardest things on your to do list. You might have to sacrifice comfort for style. You might have to choose comfort over style. You might have to choose price over comfort. Or you can go on the quest for comfort, style and price as most brides do. Expect to do a lot of shopping and expect a lot of frustration.

Wedding shoes are a once in a lifetime purchase. They are part of your wedding attire and will show when you take off your garter, so you want them to complete your look. Remember to budget in wedding shoes so you don't think of them as an additional afterthought expense.

Why are wedding shoes so hard to find?

Most retail stores don't stock them, they order them because its expensive to stock a lot of shoes that will go out of style or may discolor if they sit on their shelf for long periods of time. Most shoes will not discolor, but if they are cheap shoes with glued on satin, the glue may yellow and give the shoes a yellowish color.

Wedding shoes are special occasion shoes and the demand isn't the same as a flip flop or pair of cute boots.

Wedding shoe buying tips:

Shop early and keep your options open. Shop so that you have your shoes in time for alterations because your hem length on your dress is dependent on the size of your shoe heel. You may need to buy the shoes before you order your wedding dress if you are having your dress ordered with your hem length.

Some brides decide to wear a color to match the accent on their wedding dress. If you decide to do color, make sure you wear color accents in your jewelry to tie it all together.

Don't rule out leather shoes. There is no rule that your wedding shoes have to be fabric. Fabric shoes don't breathe like leather and don't stretch like leather.

Look for a shoe that supports your foot and ankle and that you can stand and dance in for long periods of time.

If you choose a heel, look for a shoe that has padding in the ball of the foot so your feet don't start to burn and hurt.

Strappy shoes can cut into your feet after standing a long time and cause blisters.

Feet will swell as the day goes on. Buy them large enough to accommodate dancing and happy feet. You can put in a comfort gel pad and take it out as your feet swell.

Buy shoes that you can wear all day. Taking off your shoes at the reception looks tacky and will make your dress too long. You risk falling or tripping if your dress is too long, not to mention having your feet stepped on with your dance partner.

There is a huge difference in quality in wedding shoes. Price doesn't always indicate quality. Sometimes you are paying for the designers name. Sometimes you are paying for silk shoes versus satin or polyester fabric. Some of the same shoes that are unaffordable in silk can be ordered in a less expensive fabric so you have the same look at a more affordable price.

If the shoe rubs your foot, pinches or feels like it won't bend, don't buy it.

If the shoe is too big at the heel of the shoe, see if adding a heel pad will make a difference or try a shoe size down. If you walk out of the shoe, don't buy it.

If the shoe is too narrow, don't buy it, you will be miserable. Some wedding shoes come in wide widths, some don't. If you wear a very narrow width, it may be unavailable except in the most expensive custom shoes. Consider buying a leather shoe if your foot is very narrow.

After you buy your shoes, make sure you break them in. Wear them around the house with a pair of socks to make them comfortable. If they have a leather sole, make sure you take them to a shoe shop to have a non skid pad put on the bottom so you don't fall. Bring along some self adhesive moleskin to the reception that can be applied to the part of the shoe that is rubbing so you don't get blisters.

The Cone Heel Is Back for Fall—Meet Its Inventor, Maud Frizon

The fulcrum of this fall’s trendiest footwear isn’t a chunky platform or a rakish stiletto, but a throwback cone heel. This upwardly swelling support, revived by Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent and Isabel Marant, was first popularized in the 1980s by Maud Frizon, a French shoe designer whose sophisticated creations and personal glamour made her an all-round style star.

Though Frizon and her husband sold their namesake company in 1999, the legacy of the brand is still active on many levels. Sarah Jessica Parker cited Frizon as an inspiration for developing her own label, and the French woman’s designer roller skates predate this season’s YSL novelties by decades. The outsize careers of Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin also largely adhere to the template set by Frizon’s runaway success, of which some of the markers were a castle in the Loire Valley, a Deco-filled Manhattan pied-à-terre with wraparound windows, and a helicopter license—all catnip for journalists. “Not since Cinderella has a woman caused as much to-do about shoes as Maud Frizon. Not even Imelda Marcos,” gushed The Miami Herald in 1986. Five years earlier, in 1981, Andy Warhol dedicated a diary entry to stalking Cher at Frizon’s Upper East Side boutique, a popular outpost of the era’s “get set.”

Danielle Maud Frizon’s shoe story began in 1941, when she was born in Paris, to a French father and English mother, with a special attribute: “I have,” Frizon once explained, “a perfect foot.” From a young age Frizon was shoe obsessed. “It’s a sickness,” she told People in 1980, “and I’ve never been cured.” A tall brunette with sculpted cheekbones, Frizon started modeling after high school, parading for the likes of Christian Dior, Jean Patou, and André Courrèges. She also showed shoes for André Perugia, the famous bottier for whom her first husband, François Villon de Benveniste, worked. On the phone from France earlier this week, Frizon explained that it was while touring shoe factories that she thought she could do her own collection. “My inspiration was really to see the workmanship and how they made the shoes,” she said.

Concept became reality in 1969 when, on the Rue des Saints-Pères, Frizon and her second husband, Italian shoe manufacturer Luigi “Gigi” de Marco, launched their namesake line of handcrafted shoes. Brigitte Bardot is said to have been a fan of Frizon’s high red leather boots that worked so well with leg-baring minis. From the start, color and materials were central to Frizon’s aesthetic. “I have no rules about shoe design,” Frizon said in a 1979 interview. “I just love everything bright. I feel the same way about dressing. There should be no rules. Everything is so much more fun when you mix.” Perhaps it was this open attitude that attracted fellow Left Bank habitué Sonia Rykiel to ask Frizon to design runway shoes for her collections. Claude Montana, Azzedine Alaïa, and others would follow suit, making Frizon’s label closely associated with fashion and trends. “Having been a model for the haute couture in Paris,” Frizon told me, “I had this background of couture, if I may say.”

As magical and eye-catching as Frizon’s shoes were, they were never frivolous despite their decorative aspects. Although the designer said that an interesting shoe must have “something a little bit crazy about it,” she was fixated on craftsmanship. “For me, shoes are an architecture,” said Frizon. “I have always had with all my shoes a preference for the heel. [And] the cone heel for me was really something interesting. It was like an architectural project. With a classic pump [the cone heel] is perfect, because it takes all the importance.”

5 Tips for High-Heel Lovers This Fall

Fall fashion has made its way from the runway to the streets. Sky-high heels that were part of Fashion Week are now trending as today’s look. There is no doubt that heels can complete an outfit, but what about the pain? There is an old adage that without pain one cannot achieve beauty. I think our feet may disagree on this one.

Whether it is to complete work attire or for fashion, heels make legs look longer and leaner and boost a woman’s height. High heels change standing posture by causing an increased arch of the back, pushing the pelvis forward. This causes the calf muscles to tighten and shorten. Some of the catwalk movements are actually the body trying to compensate for the changes in gait your body needs to make during the walking cycle.

According to the American Podiatric Medical Association, wearing heels three inches or above on a regular basis can contribute to shortening of the Achilles tendon, the tendon in the back of the leg, causing tightness and chronic pain in the calves. Other issues such as neuromas, hammertoes and bunions can also result from long-term wear. Gait changes may also lead to knee, hip, and back pain and can even accelerate arthritis in these joints. With that knowledge, still some cannot ditch the heels, so what can be done?

1. Choose the right size shoe. As simple as it sounds, the shoe needs to fit. Make sure there’s some space from the longest toe and the shoe. When shoe shopping, buy at the end of the day when your feet are already swollen. Also, look at your width of your feet. I see too many women with wide feet cramming into a narrow shoe. This will help avoid bony changes and damage that can lead to bunions, neuromas and hammertoes.

2. Break them in. Wear socks at home while wearing shoes for a few hours, or use shoe stretchers. Wear shoes that give, that are made of leather rather than synthetic, so they can stretch.

3. Cushion inside the shoe. A gel cushion in ball of the foot (also known as metatarsal padding) can do wonders! Moleskin can also be used on bony areas of the foot to protect from friction. Unfortunately, this discomfort won’t do anything to alleviate the calf, knee, or back pain that results from posture changes caused by wearing heels.

4. Switch it up. Change your shoes throughout the day. Wear heels only for periods of time and give your feet a break.

5. Wear a platform and find shoes with a thin rubber sole. Choose wedges over stilettos, a lower heel over sky-high, and one that encompasses the ankle, allowing for more support.

For the time, heels are here to stay. The good news for women is that the physics of high heels are now being more closely studied. Biomechanics as well as gait changes are finally being considered in shoe development. Let’s hope this will lead to a shoe that looks killer on the runway, but that does not kill our feet!