2017: Year of the Shoe

Disclaimer: I bought a lot of shoes in 2017. Like, a lot. And I watched Sex and the City, so that maybe didn’t help.

We all have those trends that we swear we will never try. We see them on celebrities or on the runways of Fashion Week, and think “I would never wear that.” And chances are you won’t, because the price is way more than you could afford. But the trend slowly trickles down the fashion pipeline to be adapted by designers who are more affordable in price. And as you see the trends appear more and more frequently in different stores as tone-downed adaptations of the originals, the trend starts to grow on you. And you finally decided to bite the bullet and jump on the trend bandwagon. Because honestly, if you can’t beat it, buy it.

Other times, we have trends we fall in love with right away. We see them, and immediately know that that is what we need in our closet. It might be a color, silhouette, or fabric. But whatever it is, it sparks our interest. And even if it’s bold, we feel as though it was made for us. While I will 100% admit to needing some time to let trends grow on me, I would like to think that for the most part, I see trends, and fully recognize the fact that that’s where the fashion train is headed, and I need to jump on board. This is especially the case with shoes. Now, I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I collect shoes, because that would entail me never wearing them. But, ask anyone who knows me, and they will probably tell you that I have more shoes than any normal person needs. But, as a true Carrie/Charlotte (if you know, you know), I don’t think it’s possible to have too many pairs of shoes.

For me, one of the 2017 trends that I had very mixed emotions about was furry shoes. Between the furry slides and sneakers, I felt unsure. But then, as I was exposed to them more and more, the sneakers with the furry pom poms began to grow on me. When I began to try on different pairs and seriously consider copping myself a pair, I was still hesitant; not because I didn’t want to like them, but because there was just something I didn’t like. I slowly realized that on some styles, the pom poms were too large in relation to the actual shoe. As I was about to put the dream to rest and accept that perhaps the fur-less shoe life was the life for me, I found the perfect pair. They were as toned down as any furry sneaker can be. They were fun, furry, and fashionable.

Shoes: Steve Madden

Top: Anthropologie

Jeans: J Crew

If furry shoes were something that I was hesitant to try on, mules were the complete opposite. Between mules and slides, I was fully ready to embrace the trend. However, when I talk slides, I mean the loafer style ones. Mules became the perfect shoe for summer and fall, and could be worn with almost anything. I fell in love with these blush suede loafers that were part of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. The color is neutral enough that it goes with a lot, but is still in the blush family. The bow detailing on top also literally wraps up the perfect pair of loafers in a nice little bow. Overall, this trend was one I needed no convincing to take on, and neither should you.

Shoes: Louise et Cie

Sweater: Madewell

Jeans: FRAME

Lastly, I learned that sometimes you need to make your own trends. I don’t know if it’s exactly possible to single-handedly bring slingbacks back, but they kind of have their years where they fly under the radar of the shoe world. That is, until you find a totally cute pair in a beautiful color. The moment I saw these, I knew I needed them. It wasn’t necessarily because slingbacks were all the rage. It was because of the color. And the chunky heel helped. And the fact that Sam Edelman can do no wrong in my eyes. Sometimes you just have a feeling about something. With boys, with conversations, and definitely with shopping. And I just had a feeling that if I didn’t buy these shoes, I would have the opposite of buyer’s remorse: not-buyer’s remorse (not my most original work, I know).

Shoes: Sam Edelman

Top: J Crew

Jeans: Joe’s Jeans

Looking back on the year, I cannot say that I regret buying fun shoes. In fact, I don’t think I will ever say that. Unless they don’t fit, but that’s a different case. Sometimes, you have to find your thing that makes you, you, and for me, that’s shoes. As with all fashion, they’re a great way to express yourself and present who you are to the world. 2017 truly was a great year, full of new experiences and adventures, new friendships, new discoveries, and new shoes. Here’s to 2018 being even bigger and better!

XOXO, Chloe

Stylish and Starving at Twenty Something

A goodbye letter to 2016

For me, 2016 could have been over a long time ago and I would have been grateful. It was a year that was uncharacteristically difficult in my personal life, and it was also a year that sucked for the world. I won’t deny that there were some good things that happened, however sometimes when I would try to look for the good, I felt like I was clinging to anything that I could possibly grasp; in comparison to the bad, the good just seemed so insignificant. I don’t know if I’ve finished processing all that happened in 2016, and I think that learning from the bad experiences and being strengthened by them will continue for years to come as I process why certain events happened. But I guess that the best way to understand the past is to reflect on it, and I hope that by writing about what I have learned, maybe I can discover more. And I sure hope that 2017 will be much better.

The best way that I can describe my 2016 is that it started by knocking me over, and every time I tried getting back up again, I was pushed back down. So honestly, all I’m looking for in 2017 is to be able to stand on my own two feet. My dad losing his job and an unforeseen breakup was how I began the year. These events were followed by discovering that my grandma had cancer and my dog had congestive heart failure. I spent most of spring semester getting over heartbreak, and just trying to make it through to summer. During the summer, things got a little better, but towards the end I spent every day worrying that I wouldn’t get much more time with my dog. Fall came, and I thought that maybe the new school year would bring more positivity to my life; instead, things got worse. Being heavily invested in her campaign, Hillary Clinton’s loss felt like a personal one. Additionally, my dog had to be put down without my being able to say goodbye to her, and my grandma also passed away from the cancer. In retrospect, 2016 was a year of great loss, and loss isn’t really something that I have dealt with much before, which made it even more difficult for me to process everything.

While my personal life was marked with pretty large losses, I can’t deny that there were rays of sunshine every once in a while. The biggest highlight of my year by far was seeing Beyonce in concert; I may have cried five times, but they were definitely tears of joy. Both of my parents also got new jobs this year, which was another positive note. I gained the courage to begin my own blog, which is something that I am so happy that I chose to pursue (thanks for reading it, ily). I also got elected to serve as Chapter President for my sorority, and although my term does not begin until 2017, it definitely gave me hope, and it became something to look forward to. I also recognize that overall, I am lucky. I have wonderful friends in my life who love and support me. I have amazing parents who encourage me to pursue my passions, and believe that I am truly capable of anything. I get to attend college and dance every day, and I am even in the process of becoming a certified yoga teacher. Although the small victories may have seemed insignificant at times, I do think that they are what helped me get through 2016.

If I’ve learned anything this year, it’s that you have a choice about how you look at your life. You can choose to focus only on the negative things, you can choose to focus only on the positive things, or you can choose to recognize both. We all have days where we just want to focus on the bad things, and that’s okay (God knows I had plenty of those days this year). But really what’s best for us, is to recognize all that is going on in our lives; there is space for both the good and the bad if we let ourselves recognize it. One day, when I was in a rather bitter mood, I decided to make a list on my phone of all the crappy things that had happened to me in 2016. Once it was complete, I looked it over, and I cried. But then I realized that looking at the shitty things I had gone through wasn’t going to make them unhappen, and it wasn’t going to make me feel any better. So below the list of bad things, I made a list of good things. The list of good things took me a lot longer to write, and there were significantly less things on the list, but I will say that writing it made me feel better. It made me feel proud that even in a state of negativity, I could still recognize that my life wasn’t all bad.

I found a piece of writing near the middle of 2016, and it was something that really stuck me. It’s a poem by Rupi Kaur, and it reads as follows:

Now in reading it, I don’t think that I have learned everything that 2016 was meant to teach me. I think that I still need time for reflection. I need time to understand why things happened the way that they did. But I do think that my year has changed me as a person; it has made me more independent, it has made me more appreciative of the little things, and it has made me realize that life involves change, and you have to be ready for it whether you like it or not. I know that I am still healing from many things that happened this year. Some of them came full circle for the better, such as my dad losing his job, and then getting a new one. Others, came full circle for the worse, such as my dog being diagnosed with congestive heart failure and then having to be put down. And still some events gave me no closure, especially my breakup. But as I am healing, I am growing. I am becoming a stronger individual; I am becoming all that I am meant to be, and more.

So as much as I hated 2016 and I don’t think that I will ever come to appreciate it wholly, I can at least look forward towards 2017 with the hope that it will bring a bigger and brighter future. I look forward to 2017 hoping that I will continue to find myself and grow. I look forward to 2017 hoping that I will learn from the past. And I look forward to 2017 knowing that I deserve to be happy, and I hope that 2017 is a year of pure happiness. As C.S. Lewis said, “There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”

Goodbye 2016; you were not that great, and not very fun, but you did make me resilient, so I thank you for that. And on that note, hello 2017!

XOXO, Chloe

Stylish and Starving at Twenty Something

Sending my love to my grandmother, Margaret Sekhran, and my little bugaboo, Daisy. I miss you both dearly, may you rest in peace.