black booties (lyn)

My favorite winter ensemble, now that I am thin, is a black skirt, black tights, and black booties.  I remember this being the same look I loved in 1989 when I bought almost all my clothes at a little store in Soho called Morgane le Faye.  This store has since moved uptown to Madison Avenue and I can no longer afford their clothing.  But it’s their sophisticated downtown look that I still aspire to.

I have the black skirts and tights, but am missing the booties.  So today I go looking for them and find the perfect pair at Bloomingdales.  Well  actually, I find two perfect pair and am deciding between them.  Both are comfortable, and both look good.  And because it’s Friends and Family week, they are 20% off.

I ask a random woman who is taking advantage of the discount and buying about five pair of shoes. “Which do you think are better?” I ask.  “I plan to wear these with short black skirts and tights or bare legs?”  “Can I be honest, “ she begins.  I brace myself for what is to follow, expecting one of two answers.  Either, “At your age, you should be wearing Ferragamo and not little black booties.”  Or if not that, then, “Honey, I think your legs are not good enough for that style of shoe.”  But I’m wrong.  Instead she says, “I truly have no fashion sense at all.  Really.  I am one of those people who cannot judge what looks good and what doesn’t.”  She is safely dressed in a conservative green sweater and beige pants.  It’s true, she doesn’t seem to have much of a style.  But I think it’s so brave of her to make this admission to a complete stranger.

Another woman sitting nearby is buying a pair of boots that are stylish in a seen-in-Vogue kind of way, but are truly ugly.  The cuff folds over and covers the entire boot so all you see is the heel.  The boots look ridiculous.

I am on my own.  I choose the black suede pair by Anyi Lu.  I hope when I wear them they are as comfortable as they were today when I tried them on.  They never are.