WSJ shoe betch is totally our sole mate
| Posted Apr 3rd 2008 2:40PM by Cat Lincoln
Filed under: Accessories, Style in the media, Shoes, Celebrity Style
Today the Wall Street Journal is running the inspirational story of Meghan Cleary and her brave efforts to keep more than 100 shoes organized in a typical shoebox NYC apartment.
We love this woman as much as we love the original Shoe Betch. She so gets it. But of course she does. Meghan makes her living writing and speaking about shoes. She is a "shoe expert." Job envy alert!
Meghan's book, The Perfect Fit: What Your Shoes Say About You came out in 2005 (new and used from just $7.64!) and she has a website. In fact, on her website you can down load podcasts and read about her show, Shoe Therapy, on Home Shopping Network.
Granted, it's not currently listed on the HSN Program Guide, but that stuff changes all the time. I'm sure the demand created by the WSJ story will be a clear mandate to the folks at HSN.
Let's get to the important stuff: Meghan's thoughts on shoes, both rationalizing and organizing.
Work the cost per wear. As any shopper worth her Louboutins knows, a shoe is expensive only if you don't wear the crap out of it. To calculate the Shoe Sanity Ratio (SSR), divide the Pure Shoe Cost (PSC) by the number of times you will wear them over the course of their "lives," which gives you the Adjusted Shoe Cost (ASC).
The lower your ASC, the higher your SSR. And if you didn't follow that, you don't love shoes, betch. Megah recommends spending the most on shoes you can wear several times a week.
Shoes as art. Sometimes, even with creative accounting, you can't get your SSR high enough to rationalize a shoe purchase. Plan B: decide that the shoes are so beautiful, they are an investment in art.
Meghan once used a pair of Dries Van Noten slingbacks as a center piece, and displays other evening shoes around her apartment. You know that's a big hit on girls' night, although we do wonder if this decorating approach could have the same libido-cooling effect as an overabundance of cat collectibles.
Think outside the closet. We're big fans of Ace Hardware solutions, and so is Meghan. She propped a 9' ladder in her foyer, and hung 15 pairs of stilettos on it. So much better than an umbrella stand!
Crazy talk. Like any visionary, sometimes Meghan's ideas are hard to swallow. Like breaking in heavy leather shoes by running the faucet over them and wearing until the shoes dry. That is such crazy talk we almost couldn't even repeat it. Yeesh!
All this shoe chat is creating insatiable cravings. Let's get some shoes! And if you want to sing along, the lyrics are here. Enjoy!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-03-2008 @ 3:47PM
M.E. Williams said...
I am shamed to admit that I used to own 72 pairs of shoes.
I did not have the excuse of being a shoe-related journalist.
They were mostly not high-end, of course, but many were cute.
Now I'm down to about 20-25, and ready to get rid of half of those. It's not that I want to have fewer shoes, it's that I was tired of the ones I had. I'm actively on the prowl for more... (just not, like, 50+ pairs again).
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4-03-2008 @ 3:50PM
Kristen said...
I really like the ladder idea ... now I just have to convince my husband that a ladder full of shoes in his office is a great idea!
SHOES, Betch! Is that a compelling argument?
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4-03-2008 @ 4:01PM
cat said...
There is *no shame* in having lots of shoes! It's the mark of a cultured and developed sense of style.
Have you seen the surprisingly cute alice + olivia line at Payless? Normally I try to avoid the vinyl (unless I "need" some white cork wedges, then it's all about synthetics) but I'm tempted to go try them on!
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