Every Clog Has Its Day

What's New? (as of February 29, 2012)

 

h, dear. I'm afraid it's another fallow day in new clog land. Not a lot to rave about as far as new releases go. I could carry on on a number of different topics. There's that pair of Sven clogs that I just got yesterday. Yummy doesn't begin to describe them. Then I just received the Lynnea clog boots that I featured last week at a end of season price that I couldn't resist. I also had some fun working with my shoe-loving friend Melissa photographing the rest of my clog alphabet. Now I have all the letters necessary to allow me to begin a day's blog with any word imagineable. Including "quixotic", "xylophone", and "zymurgy". (You don't think I will? You just stay tuned! Maybe that'll be my next blog challenge: all the clog alphabet letters in order for 26 straight days! Hmmmm. I'll have to give that some thought.) And I just ordered the exact same pair of clogs from a second retailer so that I could return their sale priced pair to the higher priced first retailer I bought them from. So there's a lot of churn and frenzy here behind the scenes at Every Clog Has Its Day. When you happen upon a spartan post such as today's What's New?, don't think my attention is wandering. I'm staying quite engaged with my own clog universe. Jumping in with both feet, you might say. But that's neither here nor there. The topic to be tackled is new styles of wooden shoes. And what does the market have to offer? Nada lotta. So I'm padding today's post with a batch of traditional Swedish clogs that merit a fresh mention, I think, because their price has dropped so precipitously. They actually qualified as new back in October, but the colors are so appealing, and as I said, that markdown is both awe and some. 

 

 

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1.  Darby classic low clog from Lands' End Canvas

Available through Lands' End Canvas (for only $29.97).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2.  Jolene clog from UGG Australia

Available through UGG Australia.

 

 

 

 

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3.  Pippy peep toe platform pump from Bertie

Available through ASOS.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4.  Maru pump from Messeca

Available through Piperlime.

 

 

 

 

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5.  Peep toe clog from Sergio Rossi

Available through Neiman-Marcus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[On my feet as I blog:  the Lynnea clog boot from UGG Australia.]

 

 

Sven Clogs: Roll Your Own

 

ow!", I said to my friend at Sven after she sent me their shearling boots to try out. "These are so great! I'm kicking myself for not getting a pair sooner." 

"I'm glad you like 'em," she replied. "They'll keep you comfy and cozy all winter. But what about a pair of clogs for summer?"

"Summer?", I spluttered, not quite comprehending. "You mean a pair of clogs to wear when the weather gets warmer? You want me to pick out another style?"

"Sure!", she wrote back. "If you're promoting our clogs, you have to have a pair!"

I was still reeling from the good fortune of having a sumptuous new pair of clog boots to tromp around a Chicago winter in, and now here I was having to choose another style from the vast Sven assortment. Somebody pinch me. I must be dreaming. Seriously, trying to choose just one clog design you like most can be quite an undertaking on the Sven website. Just pick a heel height (Low Heel, Medium Heel, or High Heel) and select All from the Show Per Page menu, and you'll see what I mean. Traditional clogs, sandals, Mary Janes, T-straps, open toed clogs, and more. How do you choose?

Never fear. I somehow rose to the occasion. As I browsed through the variety of possibilities, it dawned on me that Sven offers the opportunity to make a pair of clogs uniquely yours. Every shoe style listed offers a pull down menu to select a base color and color for the upper. I know it's right there on my computer display in RGB and white, but I still had to ask my Sven rep, "Can I order any pair of shoes in any color?"

"Yep," she replied and sent me an assortment of the Sven leather and suede color swatches.

Now my creativity was on the boil. Why just get a simple pair of clogs when I could have some fun and really dream up something different? I started scouting for styles that were made out of more than one piece of leather. That way I could mix and match leather and suede or different shades of nubuck. There were even choices in patent leather and printed leather. I fired up Photoshop and started varying the tints on various shoes to see what struck my fancy. And what I was intrigued by most was the possibility offered by the simple lace up shoe design: a toe covering upper with side panels that fastened over the instep. 

 

 

Astute shoe fans will notice that this shoe may share some similarities with a basic oxford at first glance. But you don't have to browse far on svenclogs.com to see that this style lends itself readily to interpretation as a saddle shoe.

 

 

And I took a good hard look at all the colors Sven had to offer and dreamt up the idea below:

 

 

It's the traditional saddle shoe look...rendered in an unexpected palette. I sent my idea off to Sven for them to take a look. When I received a reply, it said, "OMG OMG!! These will look great." So I left the rest in the capable hands of the Sven crew. But content hungry blogger that I am, I also asked my friend at Sven if she'd mind giving us all a look at the process of turning an idea in pixels into something on my feet. And was she happy to oblige! Scroll through and watch as clog bases and leather go from storage shelves to diecutter to toe stiffening to stitching to stapling to steaming to lasting to drying in the drying room to getting boxed for shipment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say, you'll be reading a lot of OMGs in the weeks ahead. These shoes look gorgeous onscreen, but in person, they're dazzling. May I just say that the people at Sven truly rock!

 

 

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[On my feet as I blog: I started the day with my Tunacha booties from N. Y. L. A. on my feet (showcased above alongside a surprisingly attractive style for a non-wood-soled shoe), but then when I got a message from my friend at Sven that said "Have you checked your mail today?", I soon found myself with something new to wear! OMG!!!]

 

 

The Blog That Never Was

 

 

ver wonder why this blog is called Every Clog Has Its Day? Back when my friend Meg was encouraging me to launch this site in the first place, the original idea was to focus on a different pair of wood soled shoes each day. And my rationale for that was simply that I wasn't sure I'd have enough images to properly illustrate my posts on a regular basis if I didn't try to pace myself. So long before What's New? and Saturday Flea Market and On My Feet As I Blog and Guy Day Friday and This 'n' That from Here 'n' There, I simply set out to post a picture of a different pair of clog every day. And the original artwork for this concept looked something like this:

 

 

The idea was that when you reached the main page, you'd click on the shoe box to see what shoes were featured that day.

 

 

 

And once inside, you could choose from previous clog images posted, high heeled wooden sandals that had been featured (on Saturdays, natch), or flat heeled clogs on Sundays. Hey, I was trying to keep the prospect of blogging from being too daunting. I also couldn't factor in that soon a treasure trove of stunning styles would come tumbling onto the internet and before long my posts would be awash with repeated phrases such as "wooden goodness", "so many shoes, so little time", and "OMG!"

I'm much happier with the direction that Every Clog Has Its Day took. Yes, it would have been enough to simply post a cool pair of shoes every day. But I'm much more satisfied having had the chance to get to know my fellow clog fans. These are unique shoes that we love. But not surprisingly, those of us who choose to wear them are quite unique, too. Thank you all so much for dropping by and giving me the chance to get to know you a little bit. The world feels a cozier and more inviting place knowing that you're clomping along in your own wooden soles in every corner of the planet.

 

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[On my feet as I entertained a blog reader:  by request, my No. 6 thigh-high clog boots made an appearance when Melissa and her Miss Me knee-high clog boots took me out to dinner. There was also some time spent in my Sven clog boots and her Certitude booties from John Fluevog. Yes, we do make a good bit of noise wherever we go, but I can tell you the noise of our footwear is usually drowned out by the sound of our laughter.]

 

 

My John Fluevog contest entry: phase one

 

 he other day, I stated clearly that I was flexing my creative muscles on a project I wanted to tell you about. And then I turned around and very rudely never said another word on the topic. Shame on me. That happened partly because other clog related news came crowding in and forced my own personal story off the agenda. But it also happened because I was reluctant to tell you about a contest I had entered before you'd actually have an opportunity to vote and show your support. But let me provide a little of the back story.

Around shoe loving communities such as ours, John Fluevog needs little introduction. His "unique soles for unique souls" are manufactured with equal parts leather, awesomeness, and love. I first fell under the spell of this Canadian footwear superstar around the time his Grand National boots showed up on the market. 

 

 

 

But then once he caught my attention, he kept me enraptured with style after style. Don't ask me to list them all here. Let's just say the outpourings of John Fluevog's inventive mind have never been off my footwear radar since. 

Flash forward to late last year. In December, I learned that the house of Fluevog was set to unveil a mind-blowingly amazing platform sandal called the Arc Half Moon.

 

 

Much drooling ensued.

But then in January, J. F. & Co. announced that they would be holding a design competition based on this shoe. Every so often the Fluevog folks invite their fans to create an image for a print ad for one of their newest styles. The rules are simple and straightforward:

 

 

 

Sound like fun? I thought so. And so have loads of other Fluevog fans. You can take a peek at some of the entries they've created in the Fluevog Creative Submissions Gallery. (Once you visit the Gallery, just hover your cursor over any submission to see it enlarged.)

 

 

 

So why all the excitement about a chance to be creative? Surely you can understand how the opportunity to bring something new into the world is a heady experience. But yes, I'll admit there was also something about the grand prize that caught my eye.

 

 

 

OMG! My name in print? And my feet in 'Vogs? What could be sweeter?

So I downloaded the design brief for the Arc Half Moon clog and got to work. And I knew I couldn't do it alone. So I turned to Melissa, my good friend and fellow shoe addict (picture Sid and Nancy with empty shoe boxes strewn around us) and enlisted her artistic abilities. We were out for dinner a few months back when she grabbed my black rolling writer and stunned me with a few deftly rendered sketches on the table top paper. I had a bright Idea for a finished image, but I needed her mad skillz to make my idea a reality. The design brief suggested entrants to work the phrase "Go through and amaze" into the image in some way. Seeing the portal between platform and heel on this shoe inspired me to envision an illustration that suggested the viewer do exactly that. Grayscale reality on this side. Multicolored magnificence on the other. Perhaps with an image of St. John himself overseeing all. Here's a roughly thrown together mock up I sent to Melissa to inspire her artistry:

 

 

 

 

Here's what she sent back:

 

 

 

 

I can tell you I was a combination of dumb and founded.

Well, I won't detail every little pixel nudge and color wheel decision we wrestled with, but I'm proud to say we finished our entry and created something we're extremely proud of. What's more, our friendship survived the experience! I invite you to take a peek at our artwork now that it's been properly uploaded to the Gallery for the Arc Half Moon entries.Please "like" it when you visit. Amassing "likes" is part of the process of getting our entry recognized. Then Mr. F. himself will select finalists for the ultimate stage of the competition.

 

 

 

So your "like" will mean a lot to us right now. But if John should choose our entry as a finalisty, your vote then will mean so much more! Please: support your local clog blogger! Just go to the Fluevog Creative Submissions Gallery and show us some "like". And if I should need more of your support later, don't worry! I'll ask!

Oh, and just to show off a little, here's a larger res version of our entry, "Our Father, Who Arc in Heaven".  

 

 

 

 

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[On my feet as I blog: I'm wearing a Tar Suede (aka blue) pair of Katja knee-high clog boots from Rockport. My pal, Melissa, is sporting her Warm Cinnamon lace up clog booties from Madewell.]