Saturday, February 19, 2011

Spring Shoes: Au Naturel Styles Under $100

Softspots Pacific
I was at the hair salon yesterday, catching up on my magazine reading. (Oh, yes, and getting my hair done.) True confession: I'm a mag hag. I love reading magazines, everything from Elle to New Yorker to Coastal Living. February is a favorite month for magazine reading because the fashion magazines start reporting the spring trends. It's very encouraging. Outside, large clumps of dirty snow won't melt because it's bitter cold. But inside the cover of In Style, pictures of pretty sandals and thin, floral dresses assure me that warmer weather is on the way.

Yesterday, I was admiring all the spring 2011 shoes. Shoes and sandals are looking very au naturel for spring. The leather is nude, sand and brown, while the heels and wedges are made of cork, straw or wood. The Softspots Pacific slingbacks at the top of this post are a perfect example. They're $74. Below is a sample of other trendy styles, all for under $100. For this post, I'm focusing on lower-to-medium (no more than 2 and 1/2") heels, since really high heels aren't an option for most over 50 women I know. But there are plenty of 3" and 4" heels, if your feet can still take that sort of elevation. I've also included neutral colors--white and gray--since those are also "hot" colors this spring.


Naturalizer Javas

Naturalizer Javas
for $74




Clarks Elements Wellfleet Tbar

Clarks Elements Wellfleet Tbar
for $94







Blowfish Butter

Blowfish Butter
for $59




Okay, I'm cheating a little with these Blowfish Casita for $49. They don't have cork, straw or wood heel. But they're cloth and that's natural, right? I really included them because the multi-strap sandal is very "hot" this spring.



Blowfish Casita








Indigo by Clarks Plush Alpaca

Indigo by Clarks Plush Alpaca
for $90








Softspots Harmon

Softspots Harmon
for $64







Softspots Neima

Softspots Neima
for $74








Pikolinos Paris 7672

Pikolinos Paris 7672
reduced from $150 to $99









Softspots Ventura

Softspots Ventura
for $74




Steve Madden has tons of trendy sandals with very high wedges. This SEZER TAUPE SDE for $89.95 is one of the shoe makers' lower wedges. Click on the shoe and it will take you to the Steve Madden site, where you can peruse the other styles.

SEZER TAUPE SDE