What’s your shoe buying criteria? (What I Bought #5)

Boring shoes no longer have a place in my closet. Practical shoes? Yes. Comfortable shoes? Yes. Boring shoes? Absolutely not.

It’s easy to gravitate toward the same style or color of shoes. I counted and it turns out that I own nine variations of the same black pumps (including those above). Now tell me, why on earth would I need nine pairs of black pumps? I can’t think of a reason.

So, I made a couple of rules for shoe buying, going forward…

1) Each pair of shoes has to have something unique and special about them. For example, the black pumps above have a glitter wedge (although you can’t see it in the photo). I’m a sucker for anything and everything sparkly, so that was special enough for me.

2) Shoes need to be more then just special, unique and creative. They need to be wearable. So when I buy shoes, I visualize the outfit I’m going to wear with them. I do a mental slideshow of my pants, skirts, dresses and blouses to make sure that a new purchase can be added seamlessly to my existing wardrobe.

Once a pair sizes up against this criteria, then and only then does it get added to my collection. I’m hoping this will keep me from buying too many silly shoes, or repeats of what I already own.

What’s your philosophy when it comes to buying shoes? Do you have your own criteria for purchasing?

Okay… Now on to the fun part! Enjoying new shoes! (I bought all of these over the past few weeks. All are from DSW except for the Aldo pumps, which are from the Aldo store in the mall.)

Mojo Moxy pumps with bows on the toes:

AK Ann Kline iFlex pumps in cheetah:

Etienne Aigner riding boots in brown with Steve Madden boot socks:

Aldo black wedge pumps with glitter wedge: