I know it’s hard to pack away that strapless sundress and those sunny sandals, but guess what–autumn is just around the corner! The end of summer is always bittersweet, but I’m getting butterflies just thinking about fall fashion.
This time of year is perfect to incorporate personal style by adding light layers and unique accessories. Try mixing textures in your look to keep it interesting! Classic neutrals with bright accents add the right combo to strut back to school.
Fall is in the air with a new season of shoes, fashion, colors, trends and excitement! Overwhelmed with so many new and daring styles, I find my self thinking of Audrey Hepburn and her timeless, classic look.
I came across this quote from her: “I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people’s minds is not in my mind. I just do my thing.” Audrey’s “thing” included the simple, yet brilliant, mixing of menswear button-down shirts, the neck scarf, capris and skinnies, turtle necks, that little black dress in all our closets, and the flat… Ooh, the flat — how we at LRL adore you.
Take a look in your closet, do you see any flats in your shoe collection? If not, let us help you have an Audrey day with our great selection of flats from Bronx, OTBT and Fluevog.
Let’s all channel our inner Audrey and get our flat lovin’ on.
On gloomy, grey days like today, I find myself daydreaming about my life in another place, another time…
I’ve found the fashionista website, Polyvore, to be a super fun tool to bring those daydreams to life. It lets you group items together in a magazine-stylist themed layout to tell a visual story.
Like the story of my romantic life in gay Par-eee, where I munch on macarons and croissants while sipping champagne and listening to accordion music all day long:
Or, the story of my life where I’m a futuristic cyborg turned 1920s fashion-forward librarian superhero:
With the 4th of July just around the corner, everyone is starting to plan that big barbecue or camping trip. Me? I’m planning the perfect outfit, and what better way to keep the sun out of my eyes than with the Reversible Newsboy Cap?
A super lightweight cap from San Diego Hat Co. that gives you the option of wearing it with polka dots OR stripes. And since it comes in black, grey, or blue, you’re sure to be able to get one that is just right to pair with that perfect summer outfit.
Salt Water Sandals have been the perfect addition to the selection at LRL this season: they evoke memories of childhood and feelings of carefree fun! So, we decided to have our customers enter photos of themselves wearing their Salt Waters for a chance to win a free pair.
Be sure to vote this week by “liking” your favorite photo entry on our Facebook page. Each person can only vote one time for their vote to count, so be sure to view them all. Votes must be in by midnight on Friday, June 4th, and the winning photo will be announced on Saturday, June 5th. Best of luck to everyone, and thanks for voting!
With summer just around the corner, we at LRL have got sandals and summer wear on the brain. But before we kick off our winter boots, we need to transition our winter piggies from frozen to fabulous! However, a salon pedicure eats into our shoe-buying budget, and we can’t often justify that. That’s why we’ve gathered essential pedicure tips so you can give yourself a salon-perfect pedi at home. Check out our step-by-step guide that will get your feet ready for all the open-toe shoes summer has to offer.
STEP 1: SOAK
Fill a tub with warm water (we use one like this, since it’s easy to tote around) and add two Gilden Tree Revitalizing Foot Soak Tablets. Relax and enjoy the woodsy scent while you let your feet soak for 10 minutes for easy removal of dry skin and calluses.
STEP 2: CLIP
Now that your feet are moist and soft, it’s time to trim your toenails. Cut each nail evenly, making sure the clippers are always angled in the same direction.
STEP 3: FILE
After clipping, dry off your toenails before you start filing to avoid damaging them. Then, gently file from beneath the nail. Choose a uniform shape, but avoid going too round to avoid ingrowns.
STEP 4: CUTICLES
Spritz a bit of EO’s cooling and soothing FootSpray into your nail beds and let it sit for a minute or two. The tea tree oil in the spray will soften cuticles and acts as a natural antiseptic.
Using a cuticle stick at a slight angle, push cuticles gently back to nail bed. Carefully snip any extra dead skin around nail with a cuticle trimmer.
STEP 5: EXFOLIATE
Using circular motions, rub a generous amount of Gilden Tree’s Exfoliating Foot Scrub into feet and calves, giving extra attention to dry, rough areas.
STEP 6: CALLUSES BE GONE!
For an allover silky-smooth feel, use a callus-removing Terracotta Foot Scrubber to double over any leftover spots of dry, hard skin.
STEP 7: BRUSH
Use a natural, gentle scrub brush to give your feet one last cleaning round of exfoliation. Drain tub, rinse feet, and spritz your EO FootSpray all over calves and feet. Heaven!
STEP 8: MOISTURIZE
Rub a generous amount of EO’s Revitalizing Leg & Foot Lotion into feet and calves, massaging toward your heart in a circular motion.
STEP 9: HEELS
If you need to pay a little extra attention to your heels or other rough trouble areas, apply a dab of Gilden Tree’s 95% Shea Butter Balm to penetrate deep into crevices and cracks.
STEP 10: PREPARE FOR POLISH
Before adding color, you’ll need to remove leftover moisturizer and any old polish from your toenails to ensure a clean application. Rub each nail with a cotton ball or pad that’s soaked with Peacekeeper Cause-Metics Eco-Easy Nail Polish Remover (it’s free of acetone, alcohol, and petrochemicals, but tough on polish!).
Place a toe separator on each foot to keep your paint job perfect and make it easier to walk around with wet toenails.
STEP 11: POLISH
Apply two even coats of polish, making sure the first is completely dry before applying the second. Finish with a clear topcoat for extra shine. Remember, summer is the time when you can pick fun colors you wouldn’t normally wear!
STEP 12: MAINTAIN
Your hard work will last much longer with a bit of maintenance. Apply a fresh topcoat every few days to keep toes shiny and color bright. Massage foot lotion all over feet and calves before bed, and keep problem areas in check with your shea butter balm.
We’ve added some fun new styles from Luichiny to our ever-growing assortment at LRL. The Tell All (pictured above) is sure to add some heat to your summer (not to mention really fun tan lines)!
5-8pm: PRIMP, SHOP & SIP
We’re hosting a trunk show of local leather goods by Sown Designs. Plus, enjoy complimentary mimosas and buy one, get one half off all shoes!
Pick up a map that lists exclusive sales, beauty services, refreshments and giveaways happening all over town!
8pm: PARTY FOR A CAUSE!
A Benefit for Womencare Shelter
Enjoy a fashion show, live music and entertainment, tasty food, drink specials, prizes and more at the Wild Buffalo! Amazing goody bags with first 300 tickets.
We’re very excited to add luscious, jumbo-sized lip balms from Peacekeeper Cause-Metics to our selection at LRL! It’s the first cosmetics line to give all of its after-tax, distributable profits to women’s health advocacy and urgent human rights issues. Peacekeeper builds a bridge between extraordinary women in the land of plenty and extraordinary women who, by chance of birth, don’t have our resources or opportunities.
Peacekeeper:
is a slave-labor free company.
offers fair wages to their employees here and overseas.
does not use any products that have been tested on animals.
is 100% vegan.
Now THAT’s something we want to support (and our lips have never been softer)!
Before Blahnik, Louboutin, and Jimmy Choo, there was Beth Levine. Born a Long Island farmgirl in 1914, Levine moved to Manhattan in 1938 and took a job as a secretary/shoe model at an upscale footwear manufacturer — an experience she used to learn how shoes were made and how they might be made more comfortable. Together with her husband, she started a shoe company in New York in 1950 under his name, Herbert Levine. Their first collection had only one style: the “Femme Fatale,” a graceful ankle-strap with a deep-V vamp and delicately round buckle, a bestseller offered in many colors and fabrics over the years.
Considered the “first lady of American shoe design”, Levine was the first woman to become a successful shoe designer in a male-dominated industry. She introduced mules and stilettos to the American market and is credited with introducing boots as fashion footwear rather than inclement-weather gear. Her designs were known for being both practical and whimsical — drawing inspiration from everything around her, from auto racing to the 1969 moon landing.
Levine’s innovations are across the board: “stocking shoes,” which combined shoes and tights for a long unbroken line; flip-flops with Astroturf insoles; and topless “No” shoes worn by gluing directly to the feet. Levine once described her designs as shoes that “nobody needed, but everybody wanted.” A true visionary, she was honored in 1967 and 1972 with the Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award, and was the only shoe designer ever to win the award twice.
Levine’s exquisite footwear was worn by stars like Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minelli, Barbra Streisand, Marlene Dietrich, and Cher; favored by designers like Halston, Oscar de la Renta, and Geoffrey Beene; and collected by Azzedine Alaïa and Manolo Blahnik (who deemed Levine “to shoes what Eames is to furniture”). Her most famous design was Nancy Sinatra’s white “Made for Walkin” go-go boots.
For the first time in the U.S., over 100 of Levine’s designs can be viewed at the Bellevue Arts Museum’s exhibition, “Beth Levine: First Lady of Shoes.” Broken up into themes like “Flora and Fauna” and “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” and originally organized by the Dutch Leather and Shoe Museum, the show combines a retrospective of her work, along with photographs, marketing materials, and advertisements.
The exhibit will show through June 6: $10 general, $7 students/seniors, free for members and children under 6. The first two Saturdays in April, BAM will also host Get Crafty Saturdays: Shoe Art from 1 to 3pm ($2 materials fee, free with admission).
