A Woman’s Footing – And How Her Fields and Picture Shape

 

She sets forth her path.

A woman initiates her footing.  She sets forth her path, undergoes the ebbs and flows of her days, and opens into her innate self. You can dream up her elements, but she will unfurl into her own nature.  And the soles beneath her shift the width of her days.  The field of her footing yields to her terrain – docks, park paths, resort terraces, cobblestones.  She lays out the picture of her days in urban, coastal, European, and Mediterranean.  Come with her to the canvas.

Coach Brynn Sandal (available at Macy's).

J. Crew long boxer short in oxford stripe, faded fuchsia.

Franco Sarto Blair Sandals, Beige Suede.

J. Crew Cosmo short in linen, smoked walnut.

J. Crew 6" Short in Gramercy linen blend, worn teak.

The Coach Brynn Round Toe sandal in chalk canvas is built for the day ahead and anchors the J. Crew long boxer short in oxford stripe, faded fuchsia.  The long boxer short in oxford stripe — fuchsia, blue, and white — hums like a tuning fork, its close vertical lines manifesting Gene Davis's vibrant colors and Bridget Riley's optical illusions.  It is the Saturday of a woman who walks the cobblestone streets living in a neighborhood that sets the currents — striding to the gallery on her way to the park, the park on her way to lunch.  Back on the path, the Coach’s ridged sole gives traction on park paths, warehouse floors, and concrete hardware stores – finesse without effort.  Franco Sarto frame the same form with a more structured hand — the crisscross leather strap, refined toe sandal – rooted in our ancient Greco-Roman culture. The Roman legionnaire crossed his straps as gladiators in an arena. The Egyptian slipped a post between his toes for the same. The toe sandal belonged to everyone then — pharaoh and foot soldier, priest and servant.  The beige suede Franco Sarto Blair and the J. Crew smoked walnut Cosmo linen short move in concert — Tribeca and Milan, two cities that dress with ceremony.  J. Crew worn teak Gramercy linen shorts find the Lake Como on the same Saturday.  Centuries after the Roman empire, the sole survived in women’s designer footwear, descended into the women’s sense, her taste, and her arena. 

 

The neighborhood that sets the currents.

Coach Holly sandal (available at Macy's).

Maje Rirsalino, Contrast Trim Dress, Ecru (available at Bloomingdale's).

French Connection Whisper double-breasted halter dress.

Lauren Ralph Lauren Striped Belted Twill, available at Bloomingdale's

AQUA Halter Mini Dress

The chalk Coach Holly quilted leather sandals are the crystal blue water at the Bahamas — emblem of serenity, under a cloudless sky.  Simply glide your feet in the slide – and be on your way at resort terraces, restaurants by the dock, a light promenade by the harbor.  And the white canvas, easy slide, and slight brass logo come with you to cruise decks, beach huts, outdoor concerts – pages shaped by your summer.  Maje Rirsalino dress in contrast trim, finds the Holly at a Paris déjeuner — Saint-Germain-des-Prés on a quiet Tuesday.  The soft, classic woman, Sagan's restraint in contrast hem, walks from the 6ème to the museum. The French Connection Whisper double-breasted halter brings her composed at Gagosian’s Mayfair by morning and native at Tribeca Greenmarket by afternoon — the Holly beneath it warm from its pleasantries in repartee with Hudson Valley farmers. The Lauren Ralph Lauren Striped Belted Twill wraps her at the Côte d'Azur, its origins in Brittany’s fishing villages and on Madison Avenue, claimed by Chanel for the promenade in the 1920s.  Leisurely authoritative, the sea ushered inland.  The AQUA Halter Mini’s square neckline traces the 1920s clean geometry of tennis whites, a sport that became a social occasion.  Breezing into the quietly storied bar in the Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle, she edges to her tippy toes cushioning her foot on the Holly's sole, drifting her gaze for good old company, champagne coupe in hand. In Capri, the white finesse breathes easy on her, the Holly dangles from the arch of her foot, swinging idly as she leans into her latest fling — hints of hyacinth rending the sky.  Parisian elegance, transatlantic form, coastal American ease rings in sea stripes (a conch shell held to the ear), the Holly rests with her and stays soft.  The quilted canvas and slim flat heel earn its architecture — versatile for any woman, yet poised for Monet’s garden, a Sunday afternoon at Giverny.

Bemelman Bar, The Carlyle (UES).

 

J. Crew Tropez Eyelet Short, linen

Free People Marsai Maxi Dress

J. Crew Cruise Drwastring Short, golden mushroom

Coach Jelly Slip-On Sandals, Candy Pink

Coach Jelly Slip-On Sandals, Sea Mist

Le Vieux Port (Old Port of Marseille), France.

Other times, she need not arrive anywhere; she simply fuses with the afternoon.  The American resort comes into focus on the French Riviera — J.Crew's Tropez Eyelet Short in linen, broderie anglaise white and delicate at the hem, the candy pink jelly thong soft between the toes.  She sips her citron pressé and gazes at the masts, harborside at Vieux Port.  East, the Aegean lay in the islands, ancient.  The Free People Marsai Maxi Dress cascades in dramatic ruffle, waterfall mist and flowing, the whitewashed walls behind her, the Aegean ahead — and the sea mist jelly fuses into one continuous wash of blue from hem to horizon.  Northwest by cruise.  In Tuscany, the J.Crew Cruise Drawstring Short in golden mushroom meets its landscape — vanilla jelly on cobblestone, sunflowers in the crook of her arm, gelato in hand, as a kit of pigeons scatter at her feet at the Piazza del Campo, Siena.  She is the carol; the afternoon, the curtain-raiser.  Wherever the Mediterranean takes her, she is quietly present with her surroundings.  She breathes into her days, at ease with her femininity.

 

Piazza del Campo, Siena (Italy).

Ralph Lauren Everley Sandals (available at Macy's).

J. Crew Carolina flare pant

And this woman is the meter.  She sets the tempo; the room takes her cue.  Because she has set the trail others can follow.  The J. Crew white Carolina flare meets the Ralph Lauren Everley slide with the precision of a dramatic classist decisive at the Tribeca gallery and gradual at Sag Harbor.  Only these are bolder, dramatic, and classic European minimalist designs.  Bold outlines, two-tone colors, and hard geometric edges – these were the stems of Mondrian’s works.  The geometric planes of Everley resolve like a minor key — precise, deliberate, the room quieted into attention. She steps through Tribeca weighted, allegro; Sag Harbor, gradual adagio.  The navy Everley shores the trouser like a bass note — heir to the melody.  The breakwater holds the weight of her step and memorializes it.  The blueberry patch keeps the hour she spent there and tilts its virtues.  

 

J. Crew Reverie Dress, Lobster & Seashell Print

Lauren Ralph Lauren Robby Canvas and Jute Espadrilles, Soft White.

The black or cognac Everley leather trim canvas slides can be paired with New England style J. Crew trousers or shirtdress.  Espadrilles wedged sandals – saddle brown, white sand, or midnight deck – are in unison with crisp striped midi dress. The Ralph Lauren wedge espadrille finds its Saturday in the J. Crew Reverie dress — lobster and seashell on cream, a New England coastal witticism worn with French insouciance, the jute heel carrying her from the farmers market to Pier 17, casting East River view wide. 

J. Crew. Cruise Short in Seersucker

 

Ralph Lauren Camaryn Nappa espadrille flat

The woman and the harbor forge music on the harpsichord.  The J. Crew drawstring or pull up shorts is the dock that bridges them — the plank where she steps from one register into the other.  The Camaryn Nappa espadrille flat is the semibreve beneath her, a sojourned whole note which sets the pace, an unhurried tempo that sails her spirit.  And she could sail her spirit in Sag Harbor or Newport, Portofino or Capri, Kennebunkport or Cascais.  And she stays along rested harbors, her only forwarding address — trailed by brick and cobblestone, profiled by the Federal houses, satiated by the oyster bar.  The coastal classicist wears black cotton poplin on a composed bay — the harbor, her repose; the weekend, her holiday.  The regatta classicist with seersucker shorts cruises past the weathered shingled houses, Federal vintage.  Camaryn Nappa Espadrille flats lend a soft classic, natural blend: part quiet luxury casual in the Hamptons, part unhurried educated in the West Village. 

 

Franco Sarto Oakes Square Toe Balleria Flats (available at Macy's).

AQUA Satin Wide Leg Pant, Black (available at Bloomingdale's).

Across the Atlantic Ocean, Milan begins on pavement —medieval-hewn, burnished, slightly uneven — and the shoe must answer for itself.  The urban classist carries her mornings in black Franco Sarto Oakes square toe ballerina flats, with its square toe and buckle strap.  The pair lasts through the gallery opening at ten, the editorial meeting at one, the elongated walk home where Navigli’s light at four in the afternoon is the star of the street.   The streets know her steps, receive it, and hold it.  The square toe has outlasted six centuries because its architecture lasted the day.   The cosmopolitan reaches for the AQUA's silk or satin trouser; the West Village American pairs it with J. Crew’s summer poplin in porcelain white.  They dressed without reentry to their closets.   The undying form and her gait outlast the centuries.  Her footing shores up her day on polished floors, swept streets, a taxi ride through the boroughs to her home.

Navigli, Milan.