What NOT to Wear

Here in Italy the fashion is diverse, but tends to definitely land on the fully dressed all the time.  Some of the outfits I have seen while in the grocery store have been amazing, some shocking.  Often the skyscraper level high heel is shoe of choice.  I am often left wondering how they manage with all these cobblestone streets.

Molly and Mieran have been enjoying watching 'What not to Wear' with Stacey and Clinton.  They like to see the physical and personal changes that each person goes through.  It is a bit like a modern day Ugly Duckling, played out on YouTube.  They then love to critique my outfits and they love to quote 'Clinton and Stacey'.  On more than one occasion I have been asked, 'Is that what you are wearing?'  Clearly, yes, I am wearing it, what is meant by this question?  I may even get a 'Clinton and Stacey would like/not like that', or some other suggestion they have learned from the show.  Once I got told by Molly that my outfit was a 'to', in my head I heard '2', and I asked out of what, luckily she meant a 'to' wear versus a 'not to' wear.

There have been makeovers, on me, Finn, Pippa, really anyone who is willing is welcome to the 'Molly and Mieran' make over.  But seriously, check your self-esteem at the door because these two mini fashion critics can be ruthless.  They have picked up some good tips; things don't have to match, they just have to go or if you can't button the jacket, you don't buy it.  All fairly sound, I can agree.

My in house fashion critics, M&M often ask me, why don't I dress 'that' nice all the time, after they see me get dressed up to go out somewhere, that is not shopping or work.  Well M&M, though Stacey and Clinton may disagree, you can't wear high heels everywhere.  First of all, we live in the middle of an olive grove, I have to walk down 500 meters of dirt trail to make it to the village, secondly, I cannot run well in high heels and I have 4 children and a puppy and running is required and to be perfectly honest I don't find high heels that comfortable.  Now i am sure S&C would disagree, but unless they want to drop one of those WNTW credit cards off to me, I am not shelling out for the comfortable high heel shoes, I know they exist, but they are not cheap.  So, I would prefer to spend my money on some well made and pretty flats.

Where am I going with this blog post.  Well, last night I got dressed up for dinner out with some friends so I put on some heels, Molly and Mieran's favourite pick of my shoes. They are very comfortable, well made and pretty.  It was great, I felt good in them and I managed to wander down some cobblestone streets with out breaking my neck or ankle.  So this morning, riding my high of the high heels, I decided to wear them out to the  grocery store with M&M.  All went well, came home still feeling good.  We all headed out again for the girls'  dance rehearsal and I kept rockin' the red high heels.  The saying 'easy tiger' comes to mind.  As the afternoon wore on, and I was standing or walking about, I did not feel like I was rockin' anything but sore toes and a blister.  When we returned home i could not wait to retrieve my poor feet from the shoes, to enjoy the flat feel of bare feet on a cold marble floor, it felt strange and wonderful.

It can be fun to have my fashion advisors/critics around but not all advice is sound, and practicality must weigh in at some point.  And the good old saying less is more is definitely my advice when in comes to wearing high heels.