After Vegas, we headed further west out to Los Angeles.

Side note here to those of you that have been keeping up with this blog: (and if you do- thank you thank you thank you!) you might remember that a few weeks ago I went on a rambling rampage of rage against skinny jeans.  Well, talk about eating crow. Shortly after posting “In Her Shoes” , I found myself shopping for non-skinny jeans, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a beautiful pair of mint green and gray floral skinny jeans.  Although I was skeptical whether or not they’d actually fit, the colors were right up my alley, so I had to give them a shot. I tried them on, thought they looked 10x better than any skinny jean had ever looked on me (but wasn’t sure if 10x better still meant I shouldn’t be seen in public wearing them), so I went ahead and bought them and packed them in my suitcase. I had a trusty pair of bootcut jeans waiting on standby, and a few nights before the Oscars event I tried on the jeans along with a simple black top and asked my mom what she thought. A few of the first words out of her mouth were “great” and “slimming” which is a combination that I thought I would never hear used in the same sentence as “jeans,” and to be honest I’m not completely sure what else she said because I was suddenly in a hazy cloud of bliss knowing that I too can wear skinny jeans. Well, one fabulous mint green and gray pair at least. And no, I don’t have a full length picture of the outfit- as I said before, even though they were 10x better than all other contenders, still doesn’t mean I’m posting full-length pics.

Back to the original point of the story.

So we got out to Los Angeles on Wednesday, and used most of the afternoon to set up for Thursday’s events.

Oscar Event Table Setup

Oscar Event Table Setup

Thursday rolled around and it was non-stop all day meeting with celebrities, journalists, agents, and everyone else in the industry. We were all on the brink of laryngitis by evening, but I can’t tell you how awesome it was to hear everyone’s responses to the shoes. So many of the women we met with have to be in heels for hours on end for their jobs, and it was amazing for me to see them come over to our table, pick up the shoe, and immediately get the sense that our heels are unique. The conversations were usually some variation of this:

Actress walks over to our table and picks up a pair of the sample heels, studying them. Erin smiles.
Erin: “So you like heels?”
Actress: “I LOVE heels, but unfortunately they don’t love me back. These look like they might be different though.”
Erin: “They are.” (Proceeds to explain our comfort technology to them)
Actress: “And the colors- I LOVE these python printed leathers!” (Layla was far and away the most popular) “Where do you make these?”
Erin: “Italy”
Actress: “Seriously? I LOVE Italian heels!”

I posted some pictures from the events over on our Facebook page under the Album “Pre-Oscars Events 2013″ – be sure and check them out, you can even see some pictures of me in my skinny jeans!

The next day was spent tying up loose ends after the event, and more importantly, making sure I got my In-N-Out cheeseburger.  I have spent too much time hearing about these from everyone I know who lives on the west coast, and I was not flying back to Houston without trying one.

Julie and Erin at In-N-Out

I’m here to tell you- I’m a convert. Could have been because I was starving, could have been because the humidity was so low and my thus my hair was behaving so good, but whatever the reason, that Double-Double hold the onions but pile on everything else turned me into a life-size PacWoman. I devoured that thing like those crazy arcade game ghosts were chasing after me and the only route to survival was to eat everything in sight.  And extra points to In-N-Out for having shoestring french fries- thin and crispy and mmm-mmm good.

So that wrapped up our whirlwind week out west, and we’re already knee deep into new designs and styles that will start becoming available later this year.  Can’t wait to show you what we’ve been up to, but in the meantime I’ve got plenty to discuss with you all related to our current happenings.

Stay tuned.

- Erin

Recently we made a trip out west to attend some amazing trade shows and events!

First up was Las Vegas, where we got a chance to check out the new styles and trends at the FN Platform Shoe Show. We made some great connections, and during the show we also picked up a copy of the latest Footwear News, which contained this little article, featuring none other than yours truly!

Julie Lopez featured in Footwear News

There’s nothing like showing your feet how sweet they can feel! Don’t wait, draw your bow and dart right over to see our selected styles on sale! Your feet will love you for it!

Yesterday after work I decided to go shopping for some new clothes. I had a couple of reasons motivating me to buy some new clothes- 1) In a few weeks we are heading out to Los Angeles to showcase our shoes at some amazing events right around Oscar time and I want to be looking oh-so-Cali-chic, and 2) I’m not going to lie, I got pretty inspired by the outfits I put together for my 2013 Style Anywhere post. I’ve always had plenty of black and white in my closet, but after putting together the winter pink look, I wanted a pair of floral pants of my own.

So off I went, convincing myself that yes, 2013 would be the year my pear-shaped self would finally buy a pair of skinny pants. Or at least something other than wide leg or bootcut.

Thirty minutes later in the dressing room I was singing a slightly different tune, and that tune was “Oh my, me oh my, I hate these pants, dum da do da day” Not one to get bogged down by size, I gladly went up two sizes from what I normally wear, only to look in the mirror and see a huge gap around my waist, and the floral print had warped into shriveled flowers because they were so bunched up and tight around my thighs.  I came very close to using my purse as a bludgeon on the sales lady who told me “Those look so great on you!” when I realized it’s not nice to be mean to people who clearly have no taste.  She was wearing similar pants, and they looked even worse on her.  My rage turned to pity.

The moral of this story is two-fold: 1) maybe skinny floral pants aren’t made for girls with big thighs, and 2) thank goodness for shoes.

- Erin

It’s no longer necessary to torture ourselves just to look good at the office.