THE ECO STYLIST

Shoes, my love....

I'll go ahead and admit, I have too many pairs of shoes. So many, I'm not sure how many there are exactly? Under 100? My brother, my boyfriend and the guys who last helped us move, frown upon my museum of shoes. I get it, they are heavy, I won't lift them, no one needs that many shoes and they take up a lot of closet real estate. I consider myself frugal, as we all must be in these times, but I do love a nice pair of shoes to dress up and old outfit, preferably something made in Italy that I can wear for at least 8 years.

Some might say I have what's commonly referred to as a "shoe fetish". I call it more of a deep, passionate, ever lasting, love affair. Someday I hope to have just a fraction of a shoe closet to

keep my museum all lined up and pretty. They are too beautiful not to be displayed.

For now, I've decided to do a blog series on shoes. What are the best shoes for all occasions, who are the best designers, just an overall homage to shoes? This will take several posts obviously but let's start with a new evolution in shoe design, the car company Jeep owns J-41, an exciting new brand that I have worn! Then, we'll move on to one of my favorite designers ever, Minna Parikka.

Photo of Christina Aguilera by Douglas Friedman

My love of shoes began at an early age, with ballet slippers. I started dancing when I was around three. Of course one of my favorite things about ballet was the part where we wore special shoes and costumes. My Mom would pack us up and tote us down to Nordstrom to pick out the tiny, pink Capezio slippers. Later, I could hardly wait to graduate to satin pointe shoes.

These days, I've hung up the twinkle toes for some of my favorite designers. I keep a few pairs of what my friend Terry's Mom used to call "sit down shoes", for special occasions. Mainly my closet is full of two types of shoes, everyday shoes and fancy shoes. I don't look at price, so much as quality. How long will they last, as far as fashion and wear and there are so many places to find great shoes discount these days? I consider it a great investment. Will they go with my wardrobe? Are they comfortable? That is key, I refuse to look ridiculous trotting around in super high heels that I'm limping in by the end of the night. After all those years of squeezing my toes into point shoes, I'm done torturing myself. It used to be that the word"comfort", when you put next to the word shoes, was a licence to be arrested by the fashion police. Now there are so many awesome comfort brands, we will take a look at the best later. First, these beauties, have so many qualities I look for in a shoe. I think I'm in love...

Recently Jeep, yes the car company, launched a line of shoesies that are insanely comfortable and often cute called J-41. I found a pair of low, rouched ankle boots on sale this winter and have hardly taken them off since. The sole is even made of recycled tires and they use all kinds of vegan and other modern materials to construct the shoes. They are so comfortable and look nothing like a Jeep. You can still find them on sale on zappos.com,

We'll review some other favorite comfort brands, in later blogs. Now, let me introduce

you to my one of my favorite contemporary designers of all time, here name is Minna Parikka. Her company is based out of Helsinki Finland, like so many cool things these days. Her eye for design is impeccable. She's sold shoes and accessories at Anthropologie and specialty store around the world. She is truly amazing, here she is wearing one of her own bag designs.

Minna Parikka

I'm now looking at inspiration and design for Spring 2011 and I find so much whimsy and character in her design. Here are some of my favorites, of all time,