One of my main problems with wearing flats is finding socks that don't show. The "no show" socks I currently have always cause more trouble than they're worth, they slip off my foot or parts of them still show on some of my fancier shoes. Do you ever wish you had truly invisible socks for your flats too? I was recently introduced to Flat Socks which do just that! They are like insoles for your shoes but in sock material and they're washer/dryer safe. This keeps the inside of your shoes clean and you also have sock-like protection. Their website says it all: no slip, no stink, no show and no sacrifices!
I bought a few pairs to try out, even one made of faux fur when I want to wear flats in Winter. Flat Socks come in two sizes small and large. I bought the small and was able to cut them, using their handy trim guide, to my shoe size. If your insoles come out you can also remove those and use them as a guide to get a perfect match for any pair. Et voilà! Invisible socks for any pair of shoes!
Depending on your shoes you may have to do a bit of extra fine tuning to get the invisible socks to fit in snuggly. I had to really finesse the cuts because the shoes are fairly skinny up front. So the socks I cut for them will probably be mostly for that exact pair. I cut another pair that fit into both my Chanel ballet flats and Joie animal print loafers. So depending on your shoes you can use a single pair of flat socks for multiple flats.
Initially, I was worried about not having something over my toes but it didn't bother me that the invisible sock was only on the bottom of my foot. This is also handy if your shoes are slightly too tight when you're wearing regular socks, as some of mine are. (Hey, if a pair of shoes is on sale I can deal with a tiny bit of discomfort.) I haven't tried them with heels yet, but I imagine it will be just as nice!
Here are a couple photos showing the difference between normal "no show" socks and Flat Socks. (The back photo is both no-show socks) I despise no-show socks that only have a little bit on the toe because they never stay on and always flop back and forth. So these are the only type of no-show I own, and they obviously don't work for shoes like this or ballet flats. That's where flat socks invisible socks come in!
Sweater: Abercrombie & Fitch
Jeans: FRAME 'Le Skinny de Jeanne' (Shopbop)
Animal Print Loafer: Burberry Prorsum (Net-a-Porter)
Bag: Purple Prada Cahier in Viola (Rebag via Vestiaire Collective)
Sunglasses: Ray Ban 'Emma' (Marshalls)
Jewelry c/o Aurate
*This post was made in partnership with Responsival.*
I'm a month late in posting this, but better late than never! I wore this on a very spontaneous day trip to Rhode Island for Valentine's Day. Long story short, Christian had a last minute video shoot for work in Newport so I tagged along and worked from the car while he was on location. Then we got to enjoy a nice Valentine's dinner in Newport. Only the second time in our six Valentine's Days together that we went out on the actual day. We like to avoid the crowds and higher prices, haha! The other time was our first Valentine's Day when I visited him in Missouri.
The morning started off very windy but by the afternoon it was nice and not super cold. Perfect for walking along Thames Street. We ended up having a late lunch/early dinner at Brick Alley Pub & Restaurant when Christian was done with work. Both our meals were very tasty and the inside of the restaurant was really fun! We almost ate at The Red Parrot, but since that's one of our usual spots we decided to mix it up.
Coat: Burberry Brit Wool Minstead Duffle Coat In Military Red via Marijane Boutique
Sweater: Burberry beaded owl knit (eBay)
Jeans: J Brand Maria High Rise in Purple Velvet (The RealReal)
Boots: Vince Camuto 'Davilla' (Marshalls/eBay, I have 2 pairs)
Sunglasses: Ray Ban 'Erika' c/o Shopbop
(Ignore the messed up bead on my sweater, I fixed it the next day, haha!)
This is what I wore for a morning/early afternoon of walking around Olde Mystic Village with Christian, my sister and her boyfriend. These boots are one of my favorite every day shoes. Ever since I bought them in 2014 they have been in constant rotation. So much so that I actually wore them out and bought a second pair. I still have the original and will wear those when I want comfortable shoes but they might get dirty/etc.
I was recently introduced to PowerStep insoles and learned that, because of my high arches, I may need supination insoles for high arches to make walking more comfortable and reduce the amount of wear on the outer soles of my shoes. I bought a couple pairs of supination insoles to try out and see if they help me walk better and stop me from putting extra pressure on the heel of my foot. I chose the "PowerStep Bridge Adaptable Arch Supporting Insoles with Energize Foam" and then the "SlenderFit 3/4 Insoles" to wear with "fashion" shoes.
I always enjoy walking around the shopping center, there's new things to see every time! We perused a few shops but my favorites are always the kitchen related stores. Christian and I had a ball tasting olive oils at Extra Virgin and honey at Sticky Situations. We ended up splurging and buying 4 different honeys - orange blossom (our favorite,) rosemary and blackberry honey plus tangy citrus honey mustard. We couldn't leave without eating so we grabbed some donuts from Deviant Donuts and pizza at Mango's Wood Fired Pizza.
Back to the supination insoles - I took a photo of both pairs of boots side by side and you can definitely tell by looking at the older pair that I walk on the outside of my feet. I'm excited to see how long these boots last now that I have insoles to correct my step. Unfortunately, the larger insoles I bought didn't fit into the boots as intended so I used the SlenderFit instead. Those easily fit in a lot of my thinner width shoes so I'll be swapping them between pairs as I need. The Energize Foam supination insoles will now live in my favorite Winter boots that were my Grandmother's. I've been meaning to get insoles for them for a while so that was a happy accident!
Outfit Details
Coat: Burberry Brit Wool Minstead Duffle Coat In Military Red (Marijane Boutique)
Sweater: Banjo + Matilda Trinket Embellished Stripe Sweater (The Outnet)
Velvet Jeans: J.Crew
Boots: Vince Camuto 'Davilla' (Marshalls)
Bag: Purple Prada Cahier in Viola (Rebag via Vestiaire Collective)
Hat: Ricefield Collective (no longer open)
*This post was made in partnership with Responsival. Thank you for supporting brands I feature*
Can't believe it's my last wardrobe update of 2022, wow! I did buy a couple things this month. One cheap, one not so much...
Christian and I took a walk through Marshalls while visiting his family in Missouri (I needed a taste of home, ha ha) and we each got a new Christmas sweater. They're both men's sweaters because I didn't like any of the women's options. Luckily they had a small for me! I wanted the same sweater as Christian, but they only had mediums.
I also finally visited Marijane Boutique in Guilford and splurged on a Burberry Brit coat. Earlier in the month I won an Instagram giveaway they held for a
vegan leather bag by Melie Bianco. It's a dead ringer for the Bottega Veneta Jodie bag that retails for $2650. (I had them ship it to me because I didn't know when I'd be able to get up there, turns out pretty soon, haha! Whoops.) Lydia works there so I've been meaning to stop by for a loooooong time! Christian and I were "just going to look" but of course I spotted this bright red coat and instantly had flashbacks of writing a dream outfit blog post in 2011 for going to the Christmas tree farm. It featured a Stella McCartney sweater (which I bought 2 years later on sale) and a coat very similar to this one. I'm also pretty sure when this coat originally was for sale I had it on various wish lists, but never bought it because of the price tag, even on sale. The 2022 version of the outfit came out pretty good!
Got a couple clothing gifts for Christmas too. A sweater to (hopefully) replace a super thin sweater I like to toss in my bag on Disney trips and other Summer destinations and a super fun coat from Anthropologie I've had on my wish list for over a year.
THE (modified) RULES
- Be mindful of purchases
- Quality over quantity
- Basics are best
MY PROGRESS
Clothes:
- Marc by Marc Jacobs cropped sweater ($12.50, retail $298, used ad money)
- J Brand Maria High Rise in Purple Velvet ($7.50, retail $228, used ad money)
- Current/Elliott "The Muscle" leopard print tank ($8, retail $75?, used ad money)
- *NEW!* Aspen Christmas Sweater in green via Marshalls ($7, retail $19.99 - similar sweater)
- *NEW!* Greylin Longline Shirt Jacket in purple via Anthropologie (Christmas gift, retail $178)
Basics:
- mīere the label "Frankie" knit sweater in Faded Black ($56.92, $32.15 if we omit shipping)
- Madewell Whisper Cotton V-Neck Tee in Spiced Plum ($2, retail $19.50, used ad money)
- Madewell Whisper Cotton V-Neck Tee in Sahara Sand ($2, retail $19.50, used ad money)
- *NEW!* Burberry Brit Wool Minstead Duffle Coat In Military Red via Marijane Boutique ($230, retail $995, used ad money)
- *NEW!* Everlane The Featherweight Alpaca Cardigan in Taupe Grey (Christmas gift, retail $80)
Shoes:
- Ancient Greek Sandals Kore of Berlin ($365, Shopbop gift cards + ad money + 15% off)
Handbags:
- *NEW!* Melie Bianco Drew Woven Bag in black via Marijane Boutique ($110 retail, giveaway win!)
Accessories:
- None yet
Activewear/Swimwear:
- Ryka "Belong" Walking Shoe in Plum Red/Burgundy via DSW ($26.58, $79.99 retail)
Gifted from Brands:
- Pearl and Gold Bar Duo Stud Earring - Rose Gold c/o Aurate
- Gold Bar Stud Earrings - Rose Gold c/o Aurate
- Gold Bar Stud Earrings - Yellow Gold c/o Aurate
- Janey Sport Sandal - Pewter c/o Aetrex
- Active Biker Short in Jungle c/o Dona Jo
- Adjustable Bra in Jungle c/o Dona Jo
- Urban Tank in Pitanga c/o Dona Jo
- Destination Aura Beaded Necklace in Marrakech c/o Aurate
- Endless Gemstone Station Necklace in Rose Quartz c/o Aurate
- Libby Comfort Clog - Tobacco c/o Aetrex
- Skinny Gold Hinged Huggie Earrings in yellow gold c/o Aurate
- Endless Pearl Station Necklace in rose gold c/o Aurate
- Lavender Jade Endless Gemstone Station Necklace in yellow gold c/o Aurate
Spent in December: $7
Spent in 2022: $90.50
Spent in 2022 - counting ad money: $717.42
I wore this the weekend before Christmas but pushed back the post since I had a couple "more Christmasy" outfits to share first. One of which features a coat I bought on this day! We hadn't done too many "Christmas" activities this year since we were in Missouri over Thanksgiving and the week after. I had been wanting to go to Strawberry Hollow Farm in Guilford for a while (it's supposed to be SUPER cute in Fall) so we made the trek up there to see what they had for Christmas. I ended up getting an adorable gourd moose.
After that we stopped at the Bishops Orchard farm market and bought some bagels and a Charlie Brown inspired Christmas Tree that was half off - can't beat $15! Since we were in Guilford I decided to finally stop by Marijane Boutique since I've been meaning to check it out for a long time. Lydia works there so it was fun to see her, the last time we saw each other was July....whoops! I ended up buying a gorgeous Burberry coat (that you saw last week!)
We finished our fun day by going to The Chowder Pot for lunch, one of our favorites - the honey butter bread is the BEST. On our way home we decided to do our grocery shopping too so we wouldn't have to leave the house again that weekend, haha!
I should have worn my sunglasses for these photos, the sun was RIGHT in my face. But I was trying to switch things up from my usual.
Vest: French Connection faux-fur vest (Marshalls)
Sweater: Everlane "The Wool-Cashmere Oversized Cable Turtleneck" in Surplus
High Waisted Jeans: J Brand 'Maria' High Rise in Supreme
Boots: Cordani (Roundabout)
Bag: Emm Kuo 'Calle Bahia' (Roundabout)
Coat: Burberry Brit Wool Minstead Duffle Coat In Military Red (Marijane Boutique)
Shop the post:
Some more photos from the day:
