[polly_esther]

Ok, going in the way-back machine to bklynhermit's comments on the stodgy bastard circa 1983 look just totally reminded me of a game my friends and I used to play called "Crazy Man, Old Man, or Belle & Sebastian Fan" - in that stark raving mad, wisdom of the years, and many man-hipsters seem to share the same fashion sense. The gist of the game was to guess what category the person was based on how they looked from behind.

Carry on.

[speedy]

Misspissed, have you tried Paraboot? They make a women's line. Sedate but not dowdy, and definitely rubber-soled. They're French shoes, so you won't be able to find them all over, but you can Google the web site (Paraboot.com, I believe) and should be able to find U.S. retailers. Not cheap, but damn well made shoes.

Would they let you wear navy? Handsomer than either black or dark grey!

[misspissed]

oh good lord, i could NOT, would not ever work clothing retail (only if it were the last job on earth would i even consider it)

i work for a conservative luxury goods company. we all have the same uniform (guys and girls) of a black or dark grey suit with either a white button down or black shirt. at least i can wear the same stuff the guys do, minus the tie.

we are encouraged to wear rubbery soled shoes (so as to not mess up the floor and for safety when climbing the ladders) but i have a hard time finding shoes that have a decent looking upper and don't look like nun-shoes.

[bklynhermit]

i once had this terrible retail job for this evil fashion victim women's clothing store (they actually BRAGGED about being the place where a lot of Carrie's clothes on Sex in the City came from!).

we were required to wear delicate pointy 3-inch heels. seriously. i used to get in trouble for wearing shoes that weren't 'fashion forward' enough, AKA too practical and comfy.

i quit after 2 weeks. cannot take clothing retail. that's where i put my comfortably shod foot down. two weeks after that i found me a nice job in a bookstore where, aside from a no sneakers rule, i was very happy.

[doodlebug]

It seems like whenever I go out now, I see leggings everywhere. And they aren't necessarily new, faddish leggings. They are leggings people have dragged out of the bottom of their dressers because now they think they're back "in" again. Or worse, they have never stopped wearing them!

I have to say, I was pretty late in giving up my leggings, but I wouldn't be caught in them now, unless I was exercising!

On shoes...I am very lucky to work in a feminist organization. I could wear neon orange rubber clogs or acid green high tops to work, and it would be ok. Until I worked there, I used to be ashamed of my big flat feet, because I could only find plain (if I was lucky) or ugly shoes/boots. Then I discovered that in feminist circles, ugly shoes are encouraged! I ran out and bought army boots! (Of course, the trade off for working in a feminist organization is that the pay sucks.)

[misspissed]

hmmm....i unfortunately can't get away with wearing sneaks to work. i will occasionally wear patent leather doc martens, but that's as far as i can push the "fun shoe" envelope.

i am so jealous of my male coworkers. THEY have no problem finding comfy lace-up shoes. all the women's shoes out there right now are open-toe, wedge sandals. while very cute, i can't wear them to work. i haven't found a pair of sketchers or anything remotely comfy yet professional-looking i can get away with! GRRR...it sucks.

end rant.

[pepper]

i have the double buckle "babette" style. they KILL my feet. fekking awful shoes.

[whammy_bar]

I don't know if they'd stand up to standing that long (ha ha -- stand up to standing ). My approach to retail was to wear black rebocs and have black pants hanging over the laces and polish them so they more or less looked like shoes, and I was behind a chest high counter checking computers in for repair so I could get away with that.

I have one leg shorter and I could stand to lose 30 pounds, so pretty much nothing was going to make my feet okay at the end of the day

[misspissed]

whammy, so the black ones are comfy, it is not just my imagination?

you've just sealed the deal for me. since i work retail, i am on my feet 8-10 hours a day. i need comfortable shoes that won't chop up my feet. i get paranoid sometimes buying shoes for work, because trying them on for 10 minutes doesn't really compare standing up in them for hours.

today's CoF:
just when you thought it couldn't get any worse....a man muffin-top!

guy wearing a pair of jeans about 5 sizes too small (not low riders), and all sorts of flubber was squeezed up and noticeable through his also-too snug tee-shirt.

oh so-not-cute.

[whammy_bar]

I am indeed talking about the marcelle dansko's, and I got BOTH the black and the red. And there IS something uncomfortable about the red ones, believe it or not the black ones fit different than the red ones! The red ones are super cute, and sometimes I even go dancing in them, but they DO seem like cheap construction and if i wear the red ones at work all day they effin' kill me.

I keep the black ones in my desk to wear at work and that's okay... weird.

I just bought them both instantly cause I wanted new cute shoes and every single store I went into no matter how cheap or expensive was full of ugly colored mocassins with ding dongs all over them, or else heels, which just won't work for my bone config, honey...

[whammy_bar]

msgoofball -- Whoa! that's getting a little too "Clockwork Orange"

[dayglowpink]

Big muscular bodybuilder type guy with a shaved head, power walking with the arms pumping, wearing no shirt, pale blue slim fit jeans, big puffy white basketball sneakers, a fanny pack, and a towel hanging off the back of his pants. Eek!

[herculesgirl]

Wow, Msgoofball, I'm picturing some bizarre cross between The Warriors and A Clockwork Orange...

[msgoofball]

sat. i again saw loads of cof's at the renn faire...but on my way home, in the suburbs, i saw 3 skater boys zoom past, all in black and white, complete with face paint and big mickey mouse gloves...little bowler hats too....odd odd odd....

[bklynhermit]

without the biker jacket, i would say i think i know that guy.

the stodgy bastard circa 1983 look (aviator glasses, front facing newsboy preferably LEATHER, pleated pants and old man sneakers) is THE THING right now among my friends in the art gallery scene. shirt should preferably be a short sleeved button down with a tie, with 'members only' jacket or sweater vest.

[pixiedust]

I have been on a cruise for week...which seems to be an excuse for people to pull everything out of thier closets that they would normally never wear in public....for good reason! I saw so many things and thought of this thread! But what really sticks out is this family at dinner the night we went to Jamaica. Everyone of them from grandma down to the youngest baby was dressed in the same hawaiian print shirt..mom even had a full dress of the stuff. It was like a horror film!
Making honerable mention would be the lady in line in front of us getting on the boat...around 70...muticolored shirt with flowey sleeves and sequins, bright pink capris,florescent color flip flops with a palm tree making up the thong and huge clear plastic earrings in teh shape of a shell!

[llamas]

At the mall this weekend: 30s-ish skinny, nerdy-looking guy, dead ringer for Kip Dynamite, wearing a newsboy hat facing forward, aviator glasses (not sunglasses), pleated khakis, and black walking sneakers.
With a heavily chained/studded black leather biker jacked. mreh?

[lowredmoon]

today downtown, crossing the street:

nice-looking, well-groomed older/gray-haired woman dressed in allover green. lime green skirt, some sort of green shirt, kelly green overshirt/jacket. with white socks and black clogs.

and a necklace made of chili peppers.

wtf?

[amazonprincess]

oops, it was khaki highwaters...went back thru archives. gettin' my CoF's confused

[amazonprincess]

I posted about a lady wearing bright blue (not quite royal) Danskos with too short mom washed out blue slacks and some kind of not coordinated socks but I can't remember details now. It was more about the highwaters and off socks(and the Hawaiian print shirt combo).
I actually love my danskos! I just bought a pair of black professional clogs because with my painful foot condition I had no somewhat dressy shoes. They feel great. And I love my birks too. Guess I'm kinda a shoe COF'er but I'm ok with that.