DesignerShoes.com

Office Shoe Wear

I am often asked if I wear the shoes we sell- quick answer YES ! I am a complete shoe fanatic. I have over 300 pairs with about half still unworn. I buy shoes when I am having a bad day, when I feel fat, when I am having a great day and when I feel skinny. Shoes always make me feel good and always bring me out of a funk. Working in an enviroment where you are surrounded by shoes all day can be overwhelming. One could disappear into our warehouse and try on shoes for hours at a time. (SSSHHH- I have done this-sorry Barbara ! But I do consider this « work », especially for fit testing purposes!) Since I work in an enviroment where shoes are everywhere, I started taking a close look at my colleagues' shoe preferences and what they were wearing to the office everyday. It seems that they too have a sickness for shoes. Kristen who has an edge to her, favors PF Flyers and has been wearing the Center Lo in black. and Barbara wears her purple jacket and blouse with the Center Lo in purple silk, which is gorgeous ! I fell in love with the PF Flyers Center Lo in Ivory . They are so pretty with embroidery and sequins. I haven't worn them yet but I take them out of the box to look at them often. This past summer, Tery and Nance wore the Sherene's by Naturalizer. Nance has them in both yellow and orange and Tery wore them in navy . I loved the Walford by Naturalizer and the Couture by Bella Vita (orange, fuschia, silver and black ).   I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Swift by Hush Puppies . I am actually wearing them right now. I have them in both the black and the silver . They are so comfortable, look great with jeans and are a terrific walking shoe. Drop us a line and let us know what shoes you wear to your office- we would love to hear from you ! Nancy Walls Merchandising Guru DesignerShoes.com

 

ShoeNews: Tall Women in the White House!

Hard to find sizes: Narrows: 9-12  •  Mediums: 10.5-15  •  Wides: 6-15  •  Extra-Wides: 6-15

Oblique by Moda Illume by Moda Minoa by Moda Sade by Moda Quanta by Moda Frequently Asked Shopping Questions • All FAQs • Shipping & Costs • Return & Exchanges • Privacy Policy • Terms of Use • Lifestyle Collections • Backorders & Waitlists • Wide Sizes Down to 6WW • Size Conversions • International Shopping • Lost in spam filter • Update your shoe size info Ask the ShoeLady Fashion Tips   Tall Woman In White House ! No matter what your politics, we know you are shopping with us because you have a hard to impossible time finding your size in a regular shoe store. Now we are going to have one of us become one of the most watched women in the world! Michelle Obama is 5 ft. 11 in. tall. We don't know her shoe size yet but we're betting she's one of us. We are looking forward to fashion designers finally recognizing the needs of stunning, dynamic, stylish women who can't always shop "off the rack"! ******************************************* Found Shoes It's inventory time at DesignerShoes.com. We found a lot of old favorites that for some reason (gremlins in cyberspace?) were not showing up on line. We are working on getting them back on line this week. The names come first, then the photos. Keep your eye out for some great deals! Dani Black is up today. ******************************************* Special Offers Moda: Take 20% OFF any Moda style shoes. 3 days only, with code MODA1115. (Sizes 11-13) Stock Up : Order $400++ and save 20%. 3 days only, with code BUY400. (Good on regularly priced shoes only.) ******************************************* ON SALE! HOT$$ DEAL: This department's shoes are 40% off! We rotate shoes through this department randomly every couple of days. BUY 2 - SAVE 20%: This is another regular feature on the bottom of our home page. We rotate the styles about every week to 10 days. SALE Department: We have two major sales each season, in July and in January. But there are terrific buys in this department throughout the year. ******************************************* SHOENEWS: You receive this email with some special offers and information. But if we don't have your size and width information in our SHOENEWS files - you are missing some great deals for your special size. Please update your information here to include your size and width. Also, be sure to let your email provider (AOL Hotmail, etc.) know that you want to continue to get email from this address: designershoescom@email.admail.net. ******************************************* Shopping Tips: We've got some favorite new places for you to check out: www.DailyGrommet.com - At noon everyday there is a new, fun, unique special deal that these master shoppers find. www.Kimmeron.com - Getting married? Beautiful handcrafted jewelry with top quality gemstones, wedding rings, bridesmaid gifts, earrings, necklaces and more www.ForgottenSizes.com - Fabulous collection of brand name fashion clothing in hard to find sizes for both men and women. Plus sizes and tall sizes are great! ******************************************* THANKS for choosing to shop with us!

© Copyright 2006 Designer Shoes  www.DesignerShoes.com  1.888.371.SHOE(7463)

CITY WALKING

CITY WALKING I started thinking the other day about living in the country versus living in the city and how it directly effects our shoe shopping habits. If you live in the city, you probably work in the city as well and might walk or take public transportation. If that is the case you may buy shoes that are easy to walk in and can get you from work to going out. Some of my favorites are from Soft Style which is a division of Hush Puppies . This brand has really updated their styles in the past few years and look adorable but feel amazing. The Gabriella is so fashion forward with its wonderful color palette, you may even want more than 1 pair. Another great style by Soft Style is the Sabina . This great style looks more expensive than it is and can be worn for walking to and from work as well as a night on the town. Another great style is by Amanda . The Out of Line shoe is a flat that can be worn dressy or casual, won't break the bank, looks good with jeans and is comfortable. But, I have to admit that my personal favorites are Couture and Vera by Bella Vita . Since I do take public transportation in Boston ( bus, subway and then another bus), I need to make sure that I can run to make a train or bus and also need something that looks pretty. The Vera, I love in blue velvet, which looks killer with dark denim jeans and my favorite Couture is the black patent which is just a classic look. Sure, I love to wear heels and do on occasion, when I drive but that seems to be mostly on the weekends. And since the weekends at my house are casual, my work shoes work just fine. Let me know your thoughts. Do you drive to work ? Walk to work ? Take public transportation ? What shoes do you wear ? And do you keep a stack of shoes to change into under your desk ? Nancy Walls Merchandising Director DesignerShoes.com

 

 

Boots of the Season

 

With the first falling leaves, boots always come to mind for fashion forward woman. Boots can be worn for fashion or function and more recently both. With that in mind, some of our favorite boots of the season at DesignerShoes.com are from Ayla. These fabulous boots are also calf friendly for those of us who have larger calves or as we like to say « athletic legs ». You can order the boots according to the circumference in inches of your calf. The sizes go to 12. We really love the styles Verona and Manhattan. Each style has several calf sizes which can accomodate up to an 18 inch calf. Thank-you Ayla for thinking about women who leave a large footprint and have a larger calf! Patent leather boots are so hot this season. Our favorite's come from Sofft. The Fara has a baby doll toe and shimmers in patent with a contrast French piping. This is a great boot to wear with tights. Another favorite is the Metropolitan, also by Sofft. It is the perfect city walking boot. And can be dressed up and down. Let us know what your favorite boots are from seasons past or present. We'd love to hear from you. Nancy Walls, Merchandise Director DesignerShoes.com

Fall for Suedes at DesignerShoes.com

Hard to find sizes: Narrows: 9-12  •  Mediums: 10.5-15  •  Wides: 6-15  •  Extra-Wides: 6-15

Candra by Sofft Wren by Bella Vita Angela by Soft Spots Sade by Moda Freeda by Sofft Frequently Asked Shopping Questions • All FAQs • Shipping & Costs • Return & Exchanges • Privacy Policy • Terms of Use • Lifestyle Collections • Backorders & Waitlists • Wide Sizes Down to 6WW • Size Conversions • International Shopping • Lost in spam filter • Update your shoe size info Ask the ShoeLady Fall for Suedes It's officially Fall. What better way to welcome the season than a new pair of suede shoes. We have some wonderful color choices for you too. This season's great colors are plum/ purple and all shades of grey. We also have black suedes which look so elegant, and those rich brown suedes so yummy you can almost taste chocolate when you see them. Some are even print suede, like the Wren in bronze by Bella Vita. We've picked some samples for you on the left. If you want to search for yourself, be our guest! Here's a tip: sometimes, but not always, the word "suede" is in the style name of the shoe. On the upper right corner of the home page there is a box that says "style name search:. Type suede in the box. Click GO. It will take awhile. When the screen opens, it will inclued every size and color of shoe that has the word suede in the name. Too much stuff! Narrow it down. Type your shoe size or shoe size and width in the appropriate search boxes at the top of the page. ******************************************* OPRAH We're so proud! OPRAH magazine called to ask our advice about shoes for wider feet for their October issue on looking gorgeous when you aren't thin. Check out page 130 to see our recommendations. We also are mentioned in SHAPE and GOOD HOUSEKEEPING. ******************************************* ON SALE! HOT DEAL: This department's shoes are 40% off! We rotate shoes through this department randomly every couple of days. BUY 2 - SAVE 20%: This is another regular feature on the bottom of our home page. We rotate the styles about every week to 10 days. SALE Department: We have two major sales each season, in July and in January. But there are terrific buys in this department throughout the year. ******************************************* SHOENEWS: You receive this email with some special offers and information. But if we don't have your size and width information in our SHOENEWS files - you are missing some great deals for your special size. Please update your information here to include your size and width. Also, be sure to let your email provider (AOL Hotmail, etc.) know that you want to continue to get email from this address: designershoescom@email.admail.net. ******************************************* FALL PARTY SHOES Shop for Dressy Evening Shoes! Take advantage of a 5% OFF offer on all our (regularly priced) SPECIAL OCCASIONS brand dressy shoes. Use the code SPECIAL in the coupon code box. Jessie by Special Occasions *******************************************   THANKS for choosing to shop with us!

© Copyright 2006 Designer Shoes  www.DesignerShoes.com  1.888.371.SHOE(7463)

Shoe "Facts" and Quotes for Women Who Leave a Larger Footprint

These are some of the Shoe Lady's favorite quotes about shoes, shoe fitting and finding hard to find size shoes. She's collected these over the years working with shoppers at DesignerShoes.com. Please add your own favorites to the list!

 

•  30.4% of all women's shoe sales in 1998 were size 9 and above.

•  75% of Americans will experience foot health problems of varying degrees of severity at one time or another in their lives.

•  Women have about four times as many foot problems as men; lifelong patterns of wearing high heels often are the culprit.

•  The average shoe size for women over the age of 35 is 7.5. The average shoe size for women under the age of 35 is 8.5. Women's feet are getting bigger.

•  “How tall am I? Honey, with hair, heels and attitude, I'm through the damn roof.” RuPaul, entertainer

•  The American Podiatric Medical Association says the average person takes 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day. Those footsteps add up to about 115,000 miles in a lifetime -- more than four times the circumference of the globe.

•  There are about 13,320 doctors of podiatric medicine actively in practice in the United States, and they receive more than 60 million visits a year from people with any number of foot ailments. Yet that's probably only a fraction of the number of foot problems. Mostly, say podiatrists, that's because many people have the erroneous notion that their feet are supposed to hurt.

•  “The journey of a thousand miles begins by finding your shoes.” Lao Tsu, 1 st century BC Chinese philosopher

•  About 19% of the United States population has an average of 1.4 foot problems each year.

•  About 60% of all foot and ankle injuries, reported by the United States population older than 17, are sprains and strains of the ankle.

•  Bunions tend to be hereditary, but can be aggravated by shoes that are too narrow in the forefoot and toe.

•  “The only coherent fashion statement I can recall from the entire women's movement was the suggestion that Mrs. Cleaver, Beaver's mom, would - on the whole - have been a happier woman had she not persisted in vacuuming while wearing high heels.” Molly Ivins, political columnist

•  Ingrown toenails are frequently caused by improper nail trimming, but also by shoe pressure, injury, fungus infection, heredity and poor foot structure.

•  Neuromas, enlarged benign growths of nerves, are found most commonly between the third and fourth toes, and are caused most often by tissue rubbing against and irritating the nerves. Pressure from ill-fitting shoes or abnormal bone structure can create the condition as well.

•  In a Gallup Poll, 37% of women surveyed said they would continue to wear high heels even though they did not find them comfortable.

•  “If you rebel against high heels, take care to do so in a very smart hat.” George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright

•  According to a recent American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons survey, 66% of Americans reported that their feet hurt on a regular basis, and their top self-treatment is changing shoes or taking shoes off. Doing nothing or just living with the pain was the choice of 18% of the respondents and only 7% sought the care of a doctor.

•  Bunions tend to be hereditary, but can be aggravated by shoes that are too narrow in the forefoot and toe.

•  “Our ability to accessorize is what separates us from the animals.” Clairee Belcher, in the film “Steel Magnolias”

SHOENEWS from DesignerShoes.com 9/11/08: CLOGS SPECIAL

Hard to find sizes: Narrows: 9-12  •  Mediums: 10.5-15  •  Wides: 6-15  •  Extra-Wides: 6-15

Clogs Pink Ribbon by CapeClogs Peace Symbol by CapeClogs Kozmic by CapeClogs   Bella Vita Diane by Bella Vita Carmine by Bella Vita Wow by Bella Vita   Frequently Asked Shopping Questions • All FAQs • Shipping & Costs • Return & Exchanges • Privacy Policy • Terms of Use • Lifestyle Collections • Backorders & Waitlists • Wide Sizes Down to 6WW • Size Conversions • International Shopping • Lost in spam filter • Update your shoe size info Ask the ShoeLady Clogs Special This is a day when many of us in the USA and around the world are remembering those who died 7 years ago. But all over the world we have people dying too soon from disease or war. We may wear our hearts on our sleeves. We may wear T-shirts speaking to our politics. Now we can choose shoes to signal our hopes. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. We have a great clog to remember this cause. A portion of all sales are sent to support Breast Cancer research. Our hope for peace is year round. We have a new clog commemorating this goal, tool. Order these or any of our clogs by Monday, September 15 and save 10%. Use the code: CLOG15 when you order. We have several great new styles in our trunk show too, including black patent with a heel strap option, a soft white leather with a white cushion sole and some spring floral prints. If you order shoes that are part of the "trunk show", either because of the size or the style, we expect to ship them by early November. The last date to order trunk show shoes for that delivery is September 15! ******************************************* Bella Vita Bella Vita has some wonderful fashion shoes with great quality leather and suede materials - PERFECT for career wear. We love their strappy sandals. But for lazy Autumn strolls around town, we can't do better than the Diane loafer or the Carmine mule. These look like classic Stuart Weitzman styles but at less than half the price. They come in a great range of sizes and widths too. Right now you'll see them featured on the bottom of our home page. Buy two pair - ANY colors they make in those styles - and you'll save 20%!. But don't wait. The computer randomly switches new styles into that space every few days. ******************************************* Also On Sale! HOT DEAL: This department's shoes are 40% off! We rotate shoes through this department randomly every couple of days. BUY 2 - SAVE 20%: This is another regular feature on the bottom of our home page. We rotate the styles about every week to 10 days. SALE Department: We have two major sales each season, in July and in January. But there are terrific buys in this department throughout the year. SHOENEWS: You receive this email with some special offers and information. But if we don't have your size and width information in our SHOENEWS files - you are missing some great deals for your special size. Please update your information here to include your size and width. Also, be sure to let your email provider (AOL Hotmail, etc.) know that you want to continue to get email from this address: designershoescom@email.admail.net. ******************************************* Moda's Arrive We love this brand. We love that the designer, Berna Kieler, is one of us - a size 11. We love to be able to offer you a wide range of styles in sizes 11, 12 & 13. ******************************************* Fall Party Shoes Shop for Dressy Evening Shoes, new for Spring 2008! ******************************************* We wish you peace and health as we start the Fall season. THANKS for choosing to shop with us!

© Copyright 2006 Designer Shoes  www.DesignerShoes.com  1.888.371.SHOE(7463)

Shopping for Shoes AND CLOTHES that FIT!

Because www.DesignerShoes.com specializes in "fashion shoes for women who leave a larger footprint" we hear a LOT of stories about how hard it is to find anything fashionable in sizes other than size 7 to 9 medium.  And because the economy is weak, shoe manufacturers are worried and they are making even fewer shoes than they used to, and cutting the most in the already hard to find sizes. 

Nevertheless - we persevere.  Bella Vita, Gywneth and Samanta and our other brands have done a great job over the past season. No one is going to go barefoot if we can help it. 

One of the comments we hear most often:  "Now that I've got shoes that fit, can I get pants that go to the ground?!"  This comes from our tall ladies who are tired of getting comments about "dressing for a flood" because their slacks and jeans only go to their ankle bones.  Our "plus size" shoe shoppers have more choices but they are scattered across a variety of smaller stores. 

We suggest for both our tall and plus size sisters.... and for their brothers ... a brand new website with a terrific collection for both men and women of tall and plus (men like to be called BIG) size fashion clothing.  Check out www.ForgottenSizes.com.  You can search on the left through departments for pants, jackets, dresses, tops, evening dresses, lingerie and more.  There are items for maternity wear and extra fun stuff like jewelry, beauty products, perfume and handbags that don't require sizing.  And they even have shoes.

Now you can find pants that go past your ankles, fit around your waist and make you look good!

The Shoe Lady

Shoe Story: Sheri at the Club

I wear a size 13, so I cherish my shoes, especially the really cute ones.  There was this one pair of black Van Eli boots I had a few years ago, gorgeous!  Since their inception, Van Eli has always made some version of these each season, but in my opinion, they’ve never topped this design.    These boots were made of a black micro-stretch fabric which fit simply perfectly around my wide calves.  Up until that season, I had never owned a pair of boots that fit my wide calves and didn’t look like waders.  These were sexy!  And the heels, perfection!  They were a sleek three inches, and the backs had an s-like curve that gave the boots that extra pop of sex-appeal.  Needless to say, every time I wore them, I imagined myself as this pseudo-dominatrix goddess.  To put it plainly, these boots boosted my confidence and brought out my inner diva.  Well, one Friday night, my boots, my little black dress and I decided to venture out with friends to my favorite reggae spot.   It was me, my girlfriend Sharon, and her friend Ray.  I never usually dance at clubs, and when you have a pair of boots this sexy, who needs to?  Thus, I sashayed over to the bar, purchased a cute cosmopolitan and confidently perched at a seat conveniently located between the bar and the dance floor.  Let me take a moment to expound upon this aforementioned “seat.”  At first glance, it was a normal, harmless, elevated, black bar stool, no biggie, right?  So I thought…who knew it was going to be this diva’s demise.  Okay, so I was perching on the stool, sexy and confident with my cherished to-die-for boots.  Because the stool was rather high, I placed both of my feet on the steel footrest that encircled the bottom of the stool.  However, I didn’t simply rest my feet there, I anchored my feet to the stool by hooking my s-shaped heels around the back of the footrest to ensure my feet weren’t going anywhere.  Smugly perched on my stool in my fabulosity, I became entranced by the reggae beats pulsating rhythmically through of the club.  All of a sudden, out of absolutely no where, I felt my body slowly plunging forward, and although everything happened in a split second, I remember thinking to myself, “Okay, Sheri, you’re about to take a nose-dive in a club in front of more than two hundred people, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.”   Was it the Cosmo? Was I swaying to the music too hard?  What in the world was causing my body to fall forward uncontrollably?  Desperately, I tried to unhook myself from the footrest in an effort to save myself, but those #@*$% s-shaped heels had me fastened to that stool for dear life!  Needless to say, I crashed to the floor, face-first, in front of more than two hundred club goers, and even when I hit the ground, I had to literally pry one of my heels from that stool.  Why just one of my heels, you ask?  That was because the other one had popped off the boot and flown backwards into the nether regions of the club.    When I finally got up, dusted myself off, and regained my composure, I didn’t know if I should stay there and suck it up, acting like I never fell flat on my face, or slink out of the club like the embarrassed pseudo-diva that I really was.  Bravely, I decided to suck it up despite the riotous laughter of my so-called friends.  I figured I’d laugh with them, act like it never happened, and continue to enjoy my night of reggae.  Yeah right!!  Not more than three minutes later, just to add insult to injury, one of the tallest, best-smelling,  most gorgeous men in the club walked up to me and said in a voice as mellow and cool as jazz said, “ I think this is yours.” In the middle of his big strong hand was, guess what, that #@*$% s-shaped Van Eli heel.   It was then I decided to leave.  Defeated and humiliated, me and my boots hobbled out of the club, knowing we weren’t coming back.  And that is my most embarrassing footwear moment.  Sheri

Shoe Story: Jamie's Wedding Shoes

I have always been tall and finding clothes and especially cute shoes for my tall self has always been a chore. I met a man about 7 months ago, who I am getting marred to June 14th, and he was online searching for tall women's shoes and ran across this site. I am 6'4 and wear anywhere from a size 11-13 depending on the make of the shoe. We only had a month to plan for our wedding so finding a shoes was starting to get stressful for me until he told me about this site and picked out a pair that he liked (WITHOUT A HEEL). I love to wear heels but didn't want to be taller than him that day. Long story short I got a pair of shoes, the didn't fit right(too big), I sent them back and should receive another pair shortly. The service is great and if you have any questions, just email them and they are always quick to get back to you. Thanks Designer Shoes.
 
Jamie