As a wardrobe stylist I love experimenting with fashion. Browse my closet and you'll see the stash is far from ordinary...prints and textures galore, shoes in every color, MAJOR statement jewelry.  I'm in my glory when I dig in and start throwing looks together...the more novel the better, most of the time.  However, there is one basic I can't get enough of.  The color black.  Black pants, black leggings, black dresses...it's pretty out of control.  And I know I'm not the only one.  My grandmother, who's chic in Chanel at age 90, is one of my style icons.  She wears plenty of color, looks lovely no matter what she wears really, but she swears by black as the ultimate classic.  Nothing more elegant she insists...she will always go back to this time and again.  And I wouldn't dare argue with her.  Which brings me to my current conundrum...boots.  Boots are my number one weakness when fall rolls around.  I always manage to spot about a hundred styles every fall that I wouldn't mind getting my hands on.  Seriously.  My wishlist is a million miles long, and there's plenty of color to be found, but there's also a lot of black. To help visualize the current scenario, I created two collages.  One depicts the black boots and booties I already own. The other depicts a good size sampling of the styles I'm after.  As far as I can tell, there's enough variation between these shoes to justify every single pair if I really wanted.  But you tell me...is it just too much?  Is there a tipping point, even for black?  To be fair, I wear every single pair of boots in the first collage.  Several of them are winter staples for me, and I absolutely love them all.                 

Boots I Own (clockwise from top left): Paper Fox by ShoeDazzle cut-out booties, Report Signature over-the-knee boots, DV by Dolce Vita cut-out booties, Irregular Choice hidden wedge boots, Report Signature buckle booties, and Steve Madden platform booties.

Boots I Like (clockwise spiral from top left): Miz Mooz 'Minnie', Guess 'Anavey', French Connection 'Mabel', Steve Madden 'Gadget', Jeffrey Campbell 'Tish', and Matiko 'Julian'.

From left to right: Chinese Laundry "I Spy" for $110, DV by Dolce Vita "Coral" for $129, and Steve Madden "Cinch" for $129.

Okay so...I'm dying for a pair of deep oxblood booties to rock this fall.  The problem is, there are just too many options out there, hence sometimes I tend to want more than one pair of shoes in seemingly similar styles.  In this case, I've managed to narrow it down to three, and I think I might know which pair I'm leaning towards, but I'm not convinced. This is where you come in!! Help me decide. Which pair do you like best? Which would you buy for yourself? Considering that the quality and price point are similar across the board, this is purely a question of style.  Hoping to nail this down and make a purchase asap, even today if possible.  So please, please let me know what you think. Comments are appreciated and will absolutely factor into my decision :)) 

To be perfectly honest, Jessica Simpson does cute shoes.  Stylish and affordable...and better quality than many brands with a similar price point.  Not to mention, when it comes to wedges and platforms, JS shoes are among the most comfortable I've tried.  Her shoes have been a personal favorite for years now, though I tend to prefer the spring collections...always great color combos!  I was super excited a few months back when I blogged about the emerald green Thunder platform.  If it was any indication of spring shoes to come, I knew I'd want more than a few styles...and sure enough, here are some of my top picks of the moment.    

To kick off the first of my "new" blog entries, I decided to start with a well publicized personal obsession - shoes. Serious Shoe Love will be a series chronicling my top picks from a variety of different brands and designers. I'll mostly stick to affordable price-points, though I imagine some ultra-luxe styles will find there way in every now and then.  While there's no harm in knowing what loveliness designers are up to, I want the majority of these shoes to be within reach for most people.  That way, if you spot a pair you love, you can actually buy them!