How I put it all together: an outfit to the Ballet

I know I'm not the only person who "saves" shoes (or clothes) for special occasions. I had just the special occasion recently. I knew what dress I wanted to wear, but was debating between two pair of shoes. In the end, I went for red to match the theme of the night.

These lovely shoes were a surprise eBay find. I think I've mentioned before, "strassed" shoes are decidedly out of my budget, but when these showed up million percent off retail online I decided to bite. Initially when I first saw them, I thought they might be kind of "eh" in person, but for the deal I got them for, I figured I could always make back what I paid for them if I didn't like them in person.

Well, as you can guess, I adored them in person -- but there was one issue. The seller listed them as having a 4" heel height, and when they came I could see they were very much 5"... without a platform. My experiences with non-platformed 5" heels has been that I cannot walk in them. I was pleasantly surprised when they arrived and I found them way easier to walk in than previous attempts.

Christian Louboutin Alta Rita Diam S/S 10

They look so tall, right? All in all, I'm glad I kept them, and even happier to have saved them for a lovely occasion: drinks with friends; then off to a local ballet company's performance of Dracula. The shoes were a big hit, and I felt they added the perfect touch to my outfit.

The dress was a huge discount find from Nordstrom. I love DVF wrap dresses and was happy to have this Svetlana in my collection.

Diane Von Furstenberg Svetlana in "Spanish Nights"

And of course, an obligatory "shoes in action" picture, as pictured with the gorgeous chandelier inside the performance space. I'm sure you can imagine the looks I got when taking the picture (obviously not taken *during* the performance).


Fit on these is small for open-toe, and especially small considering the pitch of the shoes. When I've tried 120mm shoes without a platform, generally I've had to size down a half to a full size. These are actually a half-size UP from my open-toe shoe size, and the length is just right. I have mild slippage with the strap at the ankle, but with strappy strips they were great. The comfort was actually very decent for the height. They certainly weren't slippers, but I wore them for several hours that night with no discomfort.