Today I would like to talk about shoes that POP!

I would *like* to talk about shoes that POP! because these definitely do, but I can't because I guess I didn't notice that they POPPED! until I saw this photo. And frankly, looking at my chicken scratch notes, who knows if cute little Sarah Piazza told me anything about her shoes?

(Note to blog readers: If you see Justin and me out and we want to take your picture and your shoes POP!, do me a favor and say, "Hey, have you noticed my shoes? They POP!" Thank you. And now we will return to your regularly scheduled blog post.)

Piazza came to party with us at the Flyer's Best of Memphis party a few weeks back, choosing an almost-basic black dress that she got from Plato's Closet.

"I collect black dresses," she says. "You can do anything to them."

In this particular case, she has tied a scarf around her waist as a belt.

"I didn't like how loose it was. It was kind of boring," she says of the dress.

But add a belt and a warm-toned shoe and, voila! not boring.

Speaking of shoes that POP!, look at these.

And in this particular case, I actually got some information about them (though I'm sure through no fault of my own).

"Everything I'm wearing is ancient and put together at the last minute," Emily Halpern told me. "I wore black because I wanted to be understated."

The top came from Sachi, while the jean jacket is from the Gap. Those were paired with Uniqlo jeans and red Calvin Klein heels.

"It was fairly monochromatic until I added the shoes," she says.

They add a nice POP!, no?

Halpern also mentions a rule of fashion: Keep the classics in your closet, even after they've gone out of style. Her jean jacket, for instance, is about six years old.

"I like to hold onto things. For a while, they might not look good, but after some time, they work."

In keeping with today's general footwear theme, let's talk about Joel Halpern's boots.

We could also talk about Halpern's J. Crew shirt and uniqlo jeans, or the fact that Style Sessions is making an effort to be more inclusive of dudes, but let's talk about the boots.

He says he's had them for three years, and when we ran into him, he had just had them resoled that week.

"When you find a good pair of boots, you keep them," he says.

[I personally could not agree more. I've got a pair I've had since high school and you know that was a long time ago.]

Unfortunately, I cannot read my notes as to where he got these boots (Best of Memphis was kind of an anomaly. Usually my notes are very neat.) but he did say that they were one of the "biggest investments" he's made.

Last week was the Flyer's Best of Memphis party and I have to say, most of the attendees looked pretty damn good. Take Eryka Smith, for example.

(For more examples, you can check out the Flyer's Flickr set here.)

Smith is the owner of Crazy Beautiful, the winner for Best Women's Clothing Store for two years in a row. For the party, she and her friends all dressed in these cute, petticoat dresses from Hell Bunny.

"We like to step it up a notch," Smith says.

She paired the Hell Bunny dress with bling from Gasoline Glamour. But it's the petticoats that are the real stand out, pun fully intended. Smith says they're selling very well this fall.

"We've been selling them in the store to girls who are conservative and even they're rocking them," she says.

Speaking of stepping it up a notch, even Justin and I cleaned up for the occasion. Of course, we didn't stop long enough to have it documented properly. But I can assure you, when we stood still, we looked very cute.
EDITOR'S NOTE: p.s. Justin doesn't have any sort of offensive mustache, or any mustache at all. Just so you know. Unless he's grown a beard since I've seen him last. This picture is somewhat misleading.

You know how l love clothes with a story. This entry of Style Sessions is more like a saga, so bear with me a minute.

A few months ago, I happened to watch The Mentalist, and fell in love with both Simon Baker and the costume designer's use of three-piece suits sans tie. Hottt.

(Excuse me while I fan myself off for just a minute.)

I loved the look so much in fact that I wanted to find a slim-fitting, three-piece suit for the Flyer's fall fashion issue. Unfortunately, I was a little pressed for time this year and never came out up with anything.

At some point later on, I ran into the very charming Brett Magdovitz of Get Down and we started chatting, like you do, and though he is a connoisseur of the jumpsuit, he mentioned he owned several three-piece suits.

And then he said he would wear one to the Best of Memphis party. And I said that if he did, I would make Justin take a picture.

(To be completely accurate, Magdovitz didn't actually wear this to the party. He wore a Cuban shirt and some sort of pants, but I *might* have made him go home and change and come back. Maybe.)

"I'm bringing back three-piece suits and jumpsuits," he says of the two retro styles.

This was actually the first time Magdovitz had worn this suit (he accessorized it with an "Earl" belt-buckle, but you can't see it in the picture). And he would never have found it if he hadn't done a good deed.

He was driving near Highland and South Cooper one day when a hitchhiker waved at him to stop. He said he would give the guy a ride and the guy told him that he was needed to go to his best friend's estate sale. Apparently both the hitchhiker's best friend's mother and father had recently passed, and "there was all this unbelievable stuff."

Brett ended up getting a pair of boots, a hat box, and two other suits (This actually could be two other jumpsuits. My notes are unclear. What can I say? It was late in the party).