freestyle75

Nope, not really. Not even with those shoes (non-heels) that I wear regularly to work. With my regular shoes (Oxfords style), I bring them to the shoemaker in London, who will exchange the sole and heel, polish out any scratch marks on the leather, install a new inner sole and a pair of new shoelaces and buff the whole shoe all over to a great shine. After that treatment, they look like new and are good for another 2-3 years of use.

I think that caring for your shoes plays a big part in how long they last for you. I use wooden cedar shoe-trees in all of my non-heeled shoes, stuff out my heeled boots with the paper that they came with and use boot shaft shapers for my knee-high boots. With the custom made heels, I even asked my cobbler to create custom made shoe-trees that fit the shape of the shoe perfectly.

Custom made shoe-tree for custom made heels. The only thing that I need to get fixed on that pair are the scratch marks at the back of the heel.

With heels that have an unprotected leather sole, I always let my cobbler install Vibram rubber soles first. These can be easily exchanged and will protect your shoe from wear. I even got the same in red color for my Louboutins.

Freshly installed Vibram sole (front part of sole) on my newest pair of A.F. Vandevorst boots.

But caring isn't limited to the sole / heel. You should regularly remove and dirt from your shoes, using e.g. a horsehair brush.

Then wipe your shoes with a cloth to remove any remainders of dirt. If the shoe hasn't received any kind of treatment for a longer time, it's also smart to use some leather conditioner that will replenish the leather and make it softer again. After wiping again, you can then start to use shoe polish. I really like the Burgol shoe polish made of palm wax, which can even be used for water polishing, which gives an almost patent leather like glossy effect. Finally, a special brush, such as the Yak hair brush made of Tibetan highland yak hair, is very helpful to achieve a perfect shine.

Couple of basic things from my shoe cleaning box: Horsehair brush (top left), shoe polish applicator brush (top right), Yak hair brush (middle), Black Shoe Polish (lower left), leather conditioner cream (lower right).

I can't quite make it out in the picture, but are you wearing a belt over the turtleneck?  I think it would look good.

Thanks - and ... no, just the turtleneck - I guess that's some dust on the camera sensor in the picture (need to get some sensor cleaning swabs for my smaller APS-sensor camera - only got the regular 36x24 sized camera cleaning swabs here for the second camera body).

But you are right, something like a scarf of something similar could add to the outfit. I own a couple of scarves but wear them very seldomly. Don't know why - I just never feel *that* cold around my neck

Rainy day today, so I couldn't take a photo on my balcony.

I bought a leather leggings from Balenciaga back in June 2014 and never managed to find the time to shorten it, which I finally did this morning.

Personally, I always wanted to go out and about in an "all leather" outfit at some point in time (similar to this one), meaning biker jacket, leather leggings and cool heels. Okay... I didn't put on a biker jacket, but the leggings + wedges alone push the envelope very much IMHO.

Funny and at the same time disturbing: Nobody really cared - as always these days in a big city.

Wedges by Jil Sander, Leather Leggings by Balenciaga, Turtleneck sweater by a no-name online retailer, Dufflecoat by Burberry.

"He wanted to live life in such a way that if a photograph were taken at random it would be a cool photograph. Things should look right. Fun; there should be a lot of fun and no more sadness than absolutely necessary."

David Nicholls, One Day, 2010

Apple's iPhone currently is the number 1 camera on Flickr - beating SLR and compact camera models. Nowadays, there is a camera everywhere. A camera to take photos with, or even an HD camera for movies - all in one's pocket.

You might also be on a surveillance tape without you even noticing. If you wear heels, you will have to accept that people may take a picture of you and post it somewhere on the net. The only recommendation I can give: Smile. And if you are in a movie, try to walk gracefully :-)

Also reminded me of Freddie Mercury right away.

To be honest, just wearing boots that are knee-high, have such a pointed toe and stiletto heel with an otherwise "normal" outfit would be over the edge of what I am currently bold enough to wear.

But even IF I would be bold enough to go out in such thigh high boots (and yeah, these look cool), the whole picture has a very much gay-ish vibe to me. It's the combination of too many clues... the slicked down hair, the mustache, the women's jacket (very short as a whole / looks like the sleeves are 3/4 sleeves - never seen a men's jacket with this, although I really like the jacket), the cropped shirt that is clearly a women's shirt (the neckhole is too wide for a cropped guy's shirt), the (probably golden) necklace, as well as the jearns that is cut too high to the torse IMHO...

Nope, not for me... especially not in the city where I live, which is known to have a high share of gay people living here - don't want to attract the wrong gender

Cool boots and cool sales assistant. Sometimes I wonder why at least some of them do have such a hard time selling heels to a guy. After all, when they treat you well, you may return and buy more, so that's more commissions for them.

Then there are those sales assistants that really try to be friendly, but are totally overwhelmed by a guy buying - oh my god! - heels.

At Harrods in London, I looked around a few years ago and found some Acne booties I had seen online before. I asked the sales girl whether she had them in UK size 8, which she had. I found them to be a bit large, so I tried the next size down. She complimented me on how the boots would look, all in all very cool. But her hands were shaking when she put them back in the box and went to the cash register, as she was so nervous.

Lucky for me, the box was too big for my suitcase, so I unpacked them in the hotel one day before flying back. Then I noticed that she had put the left shoe of the bigger size, and the right one of the smaller size in the box...

Drove back to Harrods, had VERY much difficulty getting the one boot in the right size exchanged (the girl wasn't there that day), and went back to the hotel with two fitting boots. All in all, the "exchange" experience messed up the whole sale for me - but looking back, it's a funny story.

Enjoy your boots, they look really nice!

@NewfieGuy: Don't get me wrong, I am very much supportive of men in skirts.

Sorry.... BUT... I've seen these types of startups so many times. Utilikilt (http://www.utilikilts.com/ ) also wanted to promote the idea of a skirt for men. Still exists, but I don't know how many kilts they are selling. At least they aren't bankrupt yet. Why not just go into a store and buy a women's skirt?

Or... if it needs to be a "guy" skirt...

... sewing is not THAT hard. And sewing skirts is among the most basic tasks when learning to sew (ok - the zipper may take a bit longer for a beginner, but it's still doable). Besides... I don't see much difference in the design he proposes and a very basic skirt from fashion store chains like H&M or Zara. Looking at his design, it's not terribly complicated. This is something a novice could put together in about a week's time, starting from 0 (no prior sewing skills).

Why not try making one on your own?

I learned sewing by buying a sewing machine, taking something old (that fit me well) apart, sort of "reverse engineering" the cut (and by taking it apart, learning how it was built), and putting together some new piece with my own fabric based on the pattern of the old piece.

It's not hard, it just takes patience. If you had the patience to follow this guy for a year, you probably would also have the patience to learn to sew

Sunny day today, so I thought I should take a better quality picture on my balcony (hard to look into the camera against the sun).

Here everyone is celebrating Carneval , so I was a little more bold today - actually, I wasn't that much more bold, it was just that today some people dressed up, so it felt pretty much "normal" wearing something that is not the usual combo. Still, especially some older people stared at my outfit, while all other people on my way didn't even take a second look.

Tommy Hilfiger suede wedge boots, thermo-tights (it's still cold here), self-sewn Neoprene skirt, BOSS wool turtleneck, Aviatic wool blend jacket.

 

Update: Figured it out, Saint Laurent Bottine Buckle Booties.

@Rockpup: Nice boots. Personally I am not a big fan of the pointed toe, but I like the buckles. My YSL (wedge) boots run a tad small, about half a size (I only got one pair from YSL). Did you have the same experience with the Bottine Buckle Booties?

I really like this time of year. It gets dark very early, it's rainy and cold... so plenty of time to do some sewing on the weekends.

I just finished another skirt - one of my favorites that I wanted to do for a long time.

I stumbled upon the skirt type when I saw a video documentary on one of our company's management workshops. They had some footage on how great the meeting was and were also filming a couple of employees walking to one of the conference rooms...  and there it was: The perfect black & white skirt (some girl was wearing it, I don't know her). After seeing the video, I went online and tried to find a similar one. I was lucky, I think I even found the exact model (see here). Shipping from US to Europe is always a hassle (customs), and I also wasn't sure about the length of the skirt.

Here's the original:

So I first started looking for some black and white fabric in a couple of fabric stores. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a fabric that would have some (as we say in Germany) "stand" to it, which means that the material is strong enough that it will flare out a little to the hem.

In the end, I used what I already had lying around - Neoprene fabric. I carefully sewed together bars of black and white fabric, developed an idea on where i would place pleats on the skirt...

... and finally put all of it together.

Front:

Back:

Top with an elastic fabric band:

Inside lined with non-static, light poly-something material, seam finished using the Hong Kong type binding method with a satin strip:

Now imagine this with knee high black boots, a black turtleneck sweater and an ivory check scarf (I bought that scarf in December) that fits the white of the skirt. Nice outfit

BTW, for those who wonder whether sewing this skirt was cheaper than buying the original... naaa, it wasn't. Zipper, Neoprene fabric, elastic band, satin binding strip, lining... this easily adds up to the same price as the original one. But it was fun to make and it fits perfectly

First time snow fell where I live this year - so I thought it might be nice to wear the skirt that has been sitting here for a few weeks now (waiting for exactly this kind of weather). I didnt't feel like wearing knee-high boots + leggings this time, so I searched the net and found quite a few people wearing this kind of skirt over jeans, so I did the same thing.

Black top with zipper at the back - made by myself from a Cashmere/cotton blend, Boss shirt, Tom Tailor Bootcut Jeans, Moncler Skirt, Moncler heeled boots.

Went grocery shopping this way. An old man waiting in line at the cash register made a face like he wanted to say something to me ... but kept it to himself in the end...

@Amanda:

Forgive me my ignorance... and I was already starting to wonder what you do for a living - in Scotland. You know, when I think of Scotland what comes to mind are jaw-dropping scenery, castles, bagpipes, men in kilts, crappy weather, my Burberry scarf (made in Scotland), Royal Bank of Scotland... and probably more crappy weather. But other than that, I was really wondering what industries are residing in Scotland.

"We're currently having an issue with the thumb cuffs that are to be mounted on the toe box" -- I am slowly getting a grasp of what industry we are talking of

Sorry, I just couldn't resist. I am in a joking mood today.

The answer to your question is: 42.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aboZctrHfK8

... and Steve, you are right when you say "but not their man"... it's sad, but true.

I bought these Jeffrey Campbell "Mercer" boots back in 2013 because of their look. Liked the polished leather and the chunky heel - but was close to sending them back to the store, as they were the only pair I own that smelled "chemical" (I have no other words to describe it) when they arrived, mainly from the plastic/rubber sole.

I put them on my balcony during summer for a couple of weeks till the smell faded away. Did your boots also came with that strange smell?

From a quality perspective (just my personal opinion), Jeffrey Campbell shoes are overpriced. Produced in China, cheapest leather (at least my cobbler said so when he had to replace the zipper that stopped working after just using it three times (I was basically stuck in my boots and couldn't get out, as the zipper wouldn't move).

I like some of his creations (e.g. Hbic), but that was my first and last pair. Yes, even I get tempted to buy another pair every now and then, but then I look at these again and refrain from ordering...

Thanks for all of your answers. @mlroseplant: The knit is quite heavy, and my other sweaters do not feel as "tight" as this one when wearing them, so I might just not be used to it being a bit more narrow. My worries became less when most of you said that it looks ok (but is not worth the price). Well.. as I said, I really like it... and I have decided to keep it, despite the price tag. 

@TBG / mlroseplant: I've written an essay on my shopping habit that probably will show why this resolution is a good one in my case: Confessions of a shopaholic

After I read Buzz Bissinger’s shopping addiction story quite a while ago, I started questioning whether I do have a very similar problem. My new year’s resolution 2015 has to do with this, which is why I am posting the following text here – along the line of Buzz’s story.

In the last 6 years, I’ve bought fashion items for close to 172,000 US Dollars. It’s a secret that I’ve shared with no one I know in real life. I am 39 years old, work in a middle management position, single, seriously love fashion - and I am a shopaholic.

I am a new breed of shopper. It’s in rare cases that I still go shopping in a “brick & mortar” store, as they call it. How could I go to such a store anyway? – My usual working day is about 13 hours long, I also work on the weekends, but I try to have at least one free day a week, mostly Saturday. I don’t have much time to buy offline. My job has something to do with online stuff, so naturally, I buy online.

I open up my email inbox. I do have three accounts – one for my family & friends, the second one to keep track of the things I order and the third one for newsletters and other not-so-important-stuff. I get 20 – 30 emails from online shops around the world a day. Marketers always wonder which day of week is the best to send out email newsletters; in fashion, every day seems to be the preferred day of online shops. Neiman Marcus informs me about the “EXTRA 40% off Online Clearance Today Only!”, Mr Porter chimes in with “The best of the sale: up to 70% off”, while Burberry wants me to discover their Fall/Winter collection 2015. Aww… nice, they even offer to add a personalized metal badge to the coat with my name on it. Matchesfashion announce that these are the final reductions – no reminder necessary anymore, I’ve already placed my order last week.

These are just a few of a dozen online shops sending me emails with discounts today. End of season sales, private sales, VIP rebates – there is always something you can save. And it seems to be getting crazier with even steeper discounts every season, for those who want to wait.

That’s why I prefer to buy online – it’s cheaper, it’s quicker, and you have more variety to choose from.

I do have a browser plugin that creates thumbnails of my bookmarked websites and updates them every 24 hours. I do have my 25 favorite German online stores on one tab, another 25 within Europe, and another 25 in the US. Another 30 or so thumbnails lead to online shoe stores around the globe, and if I don’t find things directly, there is always polyvore, shopstyle and farfetch to do metasearches for those shops that aren’t already on my radar anyways.

The browser plugin shows previews of each site which are updated frequently - never miss a sale...

Sometimes, I also get vouchers that can only be redeemed offline. Like the $50 birthday voucher I got early April last year for a local luxury fashion store where I ended up buying a 200 USD Kenzo sweater (minus $50) and a $2,600 Belstaff leather jacket. Both of which I don’t really need, but which look very cool. Originally, I just wanted to pick up a suit I had bought 8 weeks ago which needed to be altered.

I have an addiction. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t take drugs, but I am addicted to fashion. I do get a high from extraordinary fashion pieces, tailored in an unusual way, made from fine materials or whatever the reason might be to buy whatever I am buying.

It started in winter 2009, after I had spoiled a pair of trousers when walking through deep snow. I had wondered why men weren’t allowed to wear knee-high boots like women, which would protect your trousers and could be cleaned more easily. In my search, I discovered snow boots, luxury snow boots and finally THE knee high equestrian (riding) boots I just had to get - at a shop in London that was selling a pair of 900 GBP Ann Demeulemeester equestrian boots, made from the most exquisite leather I had ever seen. I had never ordered something so expensive online, and especially not from a retailer outside of the country where I live in, which is Germany.

I didn’t know which size would fit, so I placed an order for two pairs of boots in two sizes at a total of 1,800 GBP. The delivery message I got at work read “parcel left at front door”, which made my heart drop, but luckily, my neighbor had picked it up and stored it safely.

The boots that started it all: Equestrian boots by Ann Demeulemeester, fall/winter 2009 collection.

These boots were really nice, but I had seen another pair from Dior at the same website, which I also liked. At that time, I still thought of items above 500 USD as real “investment pieces”, so it took me another month to finally place the order for the Dior pair I had seen.

For me, this opened up Pandora’s Box. So far, men’s clothing had been kind of dull. The local shops carried the usual high street brands, but nothing spectacular. After I had found this one shop, I discovered that online luxury shops were booming. It seems that I wasn’t the only one in Europe facing the problem not to live close to London, Paris or Milan. Luxury brands suddenly were just one mouse click away.

I own 123 pairs of shoes and boots, sixty-seven trousers & jeans, thirty jackets, sixteen coats and ten skirts last time I counted. Now probably some more. Some of the stuff is men’s, some is women’s. I don’t care. What was deemed impossible for men to wear 10 years back is now no problem anymore, but women’s fashion is still much more exciting.

Looking at runway pictures, I became bolder in my choices. Rick Owens created heels for men, so why shouldn’t I be wearing them? Looking at pictures of Charles Guislain wearing wedges or models like Andrej Pejic – why can’t I be wearing something like that?

Some call the creations of Gareth Pugh "Luxury gothic" - Paris Hilton wearing his 2011 f/w season coat (left). 3,000 USD men's version of the same coat I ordered at an Italian boutique (right). 

While I wear suits to the office, I revel in my fashion freedom outside of work. I have had my phases of the goth-type of look (Gareth Pugh, Rick Owens), extreme posh phases (e.g. Burberry coat with mink fur), and still enjoy gender-bending when wearing heels, knee high boots, skirts and other stuff like coats or jackets that are tailored much more narrow (my tailor will take out any bust darts if necessary). I generally enjoy to have the freedom to express whatever mood I am in. When I dated women 5 years back, I always tried to look “normal”, i.e. how you would expect an average guy to look like. No heels, nothing edgy, but dressed nicely. Maybe a bit too nicely, as it got me nowhere – except for women who were after my money and enjoyed being invited to wherever I would take them. So far, I haven’t found anyone who would share my fashion-craziness and would be understanding when it comes to wearing heels or a skirt as a guy.

Call it midlife crisis, but I finally don’t give a f*** anymore what people say.

If I really want to find a soulmate, she should like me how I really am.

When I changed jobs and had to move towns, I moved into a bigger penthouse apartment. “Here’s the master bedroom, here’s kid’s room #1 and here’s kid’s room #2”. “Nice”, I replied, “that will become my walk in closet”.

Walk in closet. As it was too small to keep my shoe collection, I am using part of my study room to store my shoe collection (not shown)

It was the first time I actually saw all the things I owned in one place, even though even this space became too small after just one year. I own items from Acne, Alexander McQueen, Alexander Wang, Ann Demeulemeester, Balenciaga, Belstaff, Burberry, Christian Louboutin, Comme des Garcons, Costume National, Dior, Escada, Fendi, Gareth Pugh, Givenchy, Jil Sander, Kenzo, Lagerfeld, Lanvin, Marc Jacobs, McQ, Michael Kors, Miu Miu, Moncler, Paco Rabanne, Paul Smith, Prada, Proenza Schouler, Ralph Lauren, Rick Owens, Sergio Rossi, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent and Zegna – just to name a few of the more well known brands.

Shoes I wear more frequently are stored in my walk in closet. The lower four levels are drawers that can be moved in order to easily access the shoes in the second row. 8 pairs of business shoes are kept separately in my entrance hall.

I enjoy wearing the things as much as hunting for them – there’s hardly anything I haven’t managed to get my hands on, even if it takes dozens of phone calls or emails to boutiques around the globe to get a certain item. I have ordered items from the US, UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Italy, Poland and Russia (Russia was most unusual, as the shop didn't accept credit cards. I had to transfer 600 USD in single 50 USD transactions over several days via a Russian Paypal clone). For those rare occasions where I wasn’t able to buy runway pieces, I’ve created them on my own (I’ve mastered sewing), producing perfect replicas of e.g. a Gareth Pugh shirt with appliqués that wasn’t produced in my size.

When I started buying the more expensive stuff in 2009, I started keeping track of what I bought on my computer. I don’t need to track my grocery shopping or my rent – I know where most of my income is flowing into: Clothing and shoes, my shoe collection alone at 56,000 USD.

Ask me for any type of clothing, I have it “in stock”. I don’t need anything of what I am buying. Still – I find myself browsing style.com each season, looking at magazines like L’officiel or GQ style for the latest fashion pics, browsing my favorite store websites or fashion forums when it’s rainy outside and I need a break.

One guy posted a picture of a Rick Owens shearling leather jacket in a forum, with a simple comment below it: “This one is gorgeous.”

5,700 USD shearling jacket by Rick Owens.

At work, I am the most rational, analytical person. At home, this part of my brain seems to go into sleep mode once I hit the fashion spot. I saw the picture and had to admit: It really is gorgeous.

I have to have this jacket. No. I don’t need it. I already do own plenty of leather jackets. But not a single shearling leather jacket. But enough warm jackets. Shutting off rational brain part NOW.

Probably it’s sold out anyway. Google is my friend. 30 minutes later I found a shop in London that advertised exactly this jacket on its website.

Can I afford it? 5,700 USD. Wow. I will probably end up broke when I am a retiree, but at least I am dressed well. Hmm… I am not sure what size I am. Order two sizes and send one back? 11,400 USD on my credit card… don’t like that idea. When is my next stay in London? Two weeks from now.

I ended up calling the shop to reserve the jacket for me. Not buying, just browsing, right?

I extended my London business trip by one day with the sole purpose of sightseeing. Just kidding.

The analytical part of my brain helps me to put together a map of my favorite shops in London, optimize my shopping spree and spend the maximum amount of money in the shortest timeframe possible. In just three hours after the last meeting had ended, I’d spent 2,500 USD on a bag, a shirt and a scarf. No, I probably shouldn’t have visited the store with the Rick Owens jacket, but then again, they were so nice to reserve the jacket for me.

Probably the jacket won’t fit anyway. Or I don’t like the leather, or how the fur inside of the jacket feels like. Maybe it’s too small or they have sold it already. I probably will think about this jacket for the next months if I don’t try it on at least.

I visited the store – it was still there. And it did fit. No, it didn’t just fit, it fit like they took my measurements and tailored it just for me. The leather is… amazing. The shearling fur is just the way I imagined it. The sales clerk started his typical sales talk, but I didn’t need any convincing. I really wished it hadn’t been so perfect.

Of course I was added to the email newsletter by the sales clerk, who handed me his business card. “Call me any time you see something you would like”. 15 minutes later I left with a large bag and yet another leather jacket in my collection. The melodic chime of a text message on my iPhone told me that Amex just put another charge on my credit card.

Happy and sad at the same time, I drove back to the hotel. I got the jacket! I don’t need the jacket. I should have saved the money. But it’s a cool jacket. Ok, this was the last item, I am putting a hold on fashion shopping. This was back in September.

Not that I would really need additional jackets... 

The pause I originally intended to take on fashion shopping lasted for 11 days. Till I had another meeting in a different European city where I still had a 15% voucher for shoes that you normally do not get reduced anywhere. Anywhere! Really! After that, of course I did some more shopping, always buying “the last item” after which I would supposedly stop.

Like in any addiction - the more I buy, the sooner the craving starts again. Sometimes I already start looking for the next item although I did not even receive the one that is still underway.

I worked on a budget calculation for a full Sunday, starting at 8 in the morning. When I finally was finished at around 9 p.m., I treated myself with a pair of boots I had my eyes on for a few days.

I’ve shopped online in the most unusual locations and situations, e.g. placing the highest bid on an ebay auction during a board meeting WHILE talking to the CEO; placing an online order while commuting to work in my car (entering another bit of information into the order form whenever I had to stop in the traffic jam); ordering a pair of designer trousers via phone while driving on the Autobahn at 140 mph (I know my credit card details by heart) or “remotely” shopping by getting snapshots sent via WhatsApp by the sales clerk.

Modern shopping at an (offline) designer store: Sales assistant messaging pictures of items, ordering via WhatsApp.

My friends don’t know about this addiction. They notice that I seem to have quite a large collection of different clothing items, but they (luckily) don’t know the price tag. Shopping as such also doesn’t have the same stigma in society as drinking or smoking. I shop, therefore I am.

I joked with one of our office assistants that I have shopped way too much during sale, to which she replied that she even hides some of her purchases from her boyfriend in order not to get into trouble. Lucky me, I don’t need to hide my stuff from anyone.

The longer I was buying within this luxury world, the more “normal” it became to buy a pair of 700 USD boots, 2,000 USD jackets or 1,200 USD leggings. Some of the items I would buy even though I would rarely wear them. How often do you see a guy in Marc Jacobs biker boots, black Balenciaga leather leggings and an Alexander McQueen sweater that is so long it almost looks like a dress? – maybe during Fashion week, but not in your local grocery store. Hunting for an item and adding it to my “collection” sometimes was more important than actually wearing it.

Six years after I bought my first designer piece, I noticed that the thrill is not the same as it was back then. There are some “guides” on “the basic wardrobe items a gentleman should own”. I own them all. Basic, intermediate, advanced. Not only the men’s items, but sometimes even the women’s ones.

Shirts.

Belts.

Ankle boots in black with no heel? Check. Ankle boots in black suede leather with no heel? Check. Same with low heel, cuban heel, mid-sized heel, high heel, stiletto heel? Check. Same game with knee high boots? Check. In brown? Check. In cognac color? Check.

Jeans. Slim fit, regular fit, loose fit, palazzo, bootcut, flared. In various lengths to accomodate my different heel heights. The other pairs are kept in plastic boxes, as I am missing additional storage room to hang them as nicely as these ones.

It becomes harder and harder to find something really exciting out there which I don’t already own in some form or shape. And to be honest: The high I get from receiving that one particular item gets lower and lower.

Trying to put a hold on my fashion shopping addiction is one of my new year’s resolutions. I still have my list of items from 2014 that are on sale now which I am buying (last item has just been dispatched from the online shop), but after that: Full stop.

Is my resolution going to drive me nuts? Probably so. Same happens when you quit smoking.

Six years back, I didn’t have this addiction, so it is time to get rid of it. With the amount of clothes I own, I should be able to survive a year of no shopping.

Thanks for your answers so far - maybe I should rephrase a bit: Do you think that it looks ok on me or do you think "hmm, looks too small" / "guy wearing a girl's sweater" when you see the pic?

I absolutely know that this thing is probably produced for 20 bucks somewhere, and that it's totally not worth the price. BUT... my new year's resolution is not to buy any clothes/shoes in 2015, and this is the last remainder of the 2014 shopping list that I absolutely wanted to have. I like the way the knit has the different lines, the zippers and the assymetrical cut. I've been looking for something like this for quite a while now... no more shopping after this one.

Hi,

I need your advice.

I stumbled upon I sweater that I fell in love with from Alexander McQueen... women's side of the store. When I visited London, I tried the "Large" version, which was way too small. They only produce it in XL in their largest size, so when it became available on sale this week (down from around 1800 USD to 900 USD), I bought it online. Tags are still attached.

Thing is... it's a tad too small. Not so much too small that you couldn't wear it (at least my brain likes it so much that I might imagine it to be wearable), but ... oh well *sigh*... I really want to keep it, but then again, I am not sure whether it looks kinda awkward. As I really love it's style so much, I might just imagine it to look right. 

So I took a picture of the original (see also here) and me in the mirror. Would you keep it?

I own 111 pairs of shoes total, thereof approx. 70~75 pairs of heels. 67 of these are shown in the pic. All those shown in the pic together are worth approx. 35K USD... (as Mrs. Bradshaw said: "“I like my money right where I can see it: Hanging in my closet"... well... probably standing in my closet to be correct) one of my new year's resolutions is NOT to buy further shoes and rather save some money to buy a house... it's all about priorities...

Amazing pair! I can see why you ran after them for such a long time!

More pictures?

I uploaded a dozen pictures into the user gallery. Took them with my iPhone 4, so it's not a stellar quality, but it should suffice to see how the boots looks like. You can view the pics here. Enjoy!

Finally, after placing a preorder at Belstaff that was cancelled, after looking for them in London, after missing the last pair in US size 11 at Saks, six months after first seeing them I placed an order for my all-time favorite boots in size 10 in the sale at Shopbop (Store pics, see here). They were delivered by DHL, and as I wasn't at home at that time, my neighbour accepted the box... and went on vacation. He just came back, rang the doorbell and handed me over my parcel with a "happy new year"

I already own the suede ankle boot version, which runs a bit larger than usual, so my hope was that a size 10 would still fit. What can I say? - It does!!! And it just doesn't fit barely, it fits really well - like I could walk a mile in those boots! Definitely a keeper. I am so happy, you can't imagine...

On September 18th, I was in London on a business trip which I extended for another day to do some shopping. I always look for shoes, so I visited Selfridges, Harrods and Harvey Nichols... I am not sure at which of the three stores I shot the left picture, but I found a really nice pair of A.F. Vandevorst boots that I liked. Unfortunately, they weren't available in my size. The store clerk looked them up in the system, but no store had them available in the size I needed. I searched online, but could only find them up to size 40 - I normally buy 41, so they were a size too small. I stopped my search.
 
While browsing the December sale items, I found them (after using a promo code) at a whopping 59% off... just ordered them
 

Left: Picture I took with my Iphone (retailing at 740 GBP), right: the ones I bought at 300 Euros. Very cool :-)

The other pair that I ordered (also today) is one that I have desparately tried to find in my size, but had no luck at all.
I saw these first in one of the season's collection shots from Belstaff, and they immediately went on my "must buy" list. I called the only store that Belstaff has in Germany and pre-ordered them in my size - already in July. The store told me they would arrive in late August, then they called and said September, finally they said that they made an error and that this style was not available.
I visited the Belstaff store in London, they didn't know that style. I emailed Belstaff, they wrote back that this style was "an older model that is no longer in the collection"... funny though they feature a picture of an old collection's item in one of their runway pics for the current collection.
I finally found them at Saks.com in size 40, emailed saks.com on the size 41 who replied that they had this size in the offline store in New York, but again, when they checked, it was only size 40.
 
In the meantime, I bought the shorter ankle-boot version (shown in the post here) made of suede (which IS the current collection), which is also very nice and even runs a bit larger than what I would expect from a size 41. Soooo.... today in an act of despair, I ordered them in a size 40 - a size smaller than I usually wear - with the hope that they will somehow fit me with all tricks that there are to make them slightly bigger (ice bag trick, cobbler, wearing with thick socks, etc). After all, they were on sale in the US, but adding the European customs, they are nearly the same price as they would probably have sold them in the EU anyway. It's just one of those boots that I really, really wanted to have.
 

The boots that I tried to find in size 41 and finally ordered in size 40 - I hope that I will be able to stretch them out.

Yup, same here. One time I was waiting for a parcel to arrive with UPS - at the place I used to live I was always first in line, with the delivery taking place around 9 in the morning. I have moved to a different city and hoped that it would be the same. 9 a.m. - nothing. 10, 11, 12.. nothing. 3 p.m., nothing. The online tracking said "out for delivery today". I called UPS and they told me that the delivery may take place till 7 p.m.

At 6:57 p.m., the UPS guy rings my doorbell... to deliver a pair of boots that didn't fit in the end. Oh well *sigh*... the joys of online-shopping

I just ordered my first two pairs of overknee boots - they should hopefully arrive somewhere at the end of this / early next week. I plan to use them together with the outfit I posted under "skirts", so basically the end of the boot isn't visible anymore. For me, it's an experiment - I would probably not wear over the knee boots with skinny jeans because of the connection with Pretty Woman.

Something I haven't shared here... one of my hobbies is sewing stuff.

I recently discovered the following picture of a gray neoprene bonded wool-skirt. The neoprene results in the skirt flaring out a bit more when worn:

It's by J.W. Anderson and sold out everywhere (and was quite expensive at around 800 USD). As I had bought some neoprene fabric in London a few weeks ago (in black), I thought that this might be a fun skirt to put together.

Here's the result:

Front:

Back:

For a full ensemble, I also built a top from the same material:

Back:

Combined with suede wedge boots and a regular men's shirt it really looks quite cool