New Daily Feature: Two for the Road

When I was in junior high (or was it high school?), I used to painstakingly record every outfit I wore each day. It was my way of making sure I didn't repeat an outfit (quelle horreur!) and to keep track of what I had in my closet. I just remember that I owned something like 27 black skirts, of which I think half were from Express or the Limited. I was a typical mall rat in my teen years, always scouring the sale racks for bargain finds. I also worked at a small boutique called Trends (now since closed) in my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA and was able to add to my budding fashionista closet with my 30% discounted purchases.

While I was always a clotheshound, I was even more of an accessories fiend. I loved handbags and of course shoes. I mean, who didn't adore shoes? I was lucky enough to have a career that afforded me a way to get paid for my addictions. It was like giving free heroin to a heroin addict and then on top of it giving them a salary to boot. How I ever quit my job, some people still don't understand. But for me, I have a lifetime of memories...both in my mind and in my closet.

And it was while on a long drive up to Minneapolis this past week that I thought of a new daily Troc Talk blog feature: Two for the Road. I've decided to come out of the closet, so to speak, with all my amazing fashionable treats in the form of bags and shoes and wear them one-by-one until I have no more repeats to show. Originally I was going to wear a different shoe and bag every day but realized that with my new favorite boots from Seychelles that just arrived at the shop, I didn't want to not be able to wear them again for like 10 months! (Yes, I'm starting to think I have enough shoes that I could wear a different one every day for 9-12 months...). So now, instead, I will be blogging my daily shoe and bag combos until the combinations run out (which statistically I figured out would almost be never!), so realistically it will be until further notice (we'll see how long it stays interesting...). It's a little reminiscent of Julie & Julia, where a blogger cooked a different recipe every day from Julia Child's cookbook for 365 days. I'm just cooking up outfits...and let's just say already it has forced me to come up with new items to wear with the accessories I have chosen for the day (depending on what I have to do, the weather, etc.).

The Two for the Road feature will have a little story about the bag or shoe and how it ended up in my closet and why I haven't tossed it out yet...

Date: 9/16/09

Bag: YSL Muse in leopard

Shoe: Christian Louboutin iridescent metallic snakeskin kitten heel pump

Worn with: NY & Company white button down shirt with vintage skinny navy belt with gold/silver metal buckle from Neiman Marcus, navy Prada silk/cashmere cardigan, champagne beige silk ruffle tiered skirt from Vince

This bag was given to me from the YSL PR department as a thank you for an editorial credit I gave them for the "Downtown" style. It was right before I was heading into Fashion Week in February and I was super excited. It was the IT bag (many editors had it in black, brown or cream leather) but I loved that mine was unique in the leopard print. I knew this would be something I would always keep -- a classic. I paired it today with these Christian Louboutin metallic iridescent snakeskin kitten heels. These were a loaner pair I snagged while hobbling in Paris because my own Louboutins heel had snapped off. Since I was a sample size 37, the Louboutin PR gals loaned me these metallic snakeskin pumps. When I returned to the states, the girls said I could keep them. Ahhh, the memories.....