By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife
The upcoming party season (which begins for me tomorrow!) has most of us gals thinking about what we will wear. Personally, I always start with the shoes and get inspired from there. This year, I am NOT about to get another pair of black shoes. I already own a pair in every heel height and comfort level. But I am thinking of dressing up my heeled pumps with some sparkly shoe clips. We’ve seen the high end designer shoes get embellished with all manners of adornment. But I’m not into paying $895 for a pair-of-party-shoes-that-I’ll-only-wear-a-couple-times (for example).
It’s gonna [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor

I have boots in my closet that I have worn for years. Basic black and brown with basic heels. They’re always right there, on the edge of being fashionable but they have never quite gotten there. Until this…!
The two trends I have noticed this fall are ankle boots, which I have, and fur. Lots of fur accents, coats, shoes, vests and so on.
Donna Salyer’s Fabulous (faux) Furs has the cutest Fur Boot-Toppers to give my ankle boots just the right update. You can go either wild  or tame, either option adds an eye-catching accent in [...]

The Succulent Wives are taking a little (very little) time off this summer. While we are still actively working on bringing you new content and ideas every week, we have also decided to bring back some of our favorite posts from the archives, those that are still timely, relevant, useful and that deserve to be revisited. Thanks for allowing us to recharge. We promise that we will be coming back with more new ideas and recommendations for cool stuff than you’ll know what to do with…
By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor

Last year I combined my two favorite passions in one [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
You would never believe it, but I’m actually NOT a shopper. I have never been one of those people who feel that going to the mall is a great way to spend the day. To me, large chain retail stores, including the discount stores, serve one purpose only – to sell me something that I specifically need, in which case, I try to buy that item online. I am far more interested in discovering little towns full of quaint shops while on vacation and I certainly get excited when I find a unique treasure. This [...]

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife
Just like any other perfectly normal, healthy, emotionally well-balanced woman, I have a thing for shoes. Do NOT ask me how many pairs I have. That is completely irrelevant to this conversation.
I know you understand. There are so many reasons to love shoes. They can elevate a seemingly blah outfit to one that begins new trends. They can make you feel like can conquer the world… Comfort? Pfffftt… No kingdom was ever conquered on the basis of comfort. Or walkability factors.
But, most of all, I’m quite certain that women love shoes so much because they are [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Okay, I know this is going to sound vain but I want to look my best for my upcoming high school reunion. It is like Facebook – we want to be seen in the most positive light.
It will be 32 years since I have seen most of my high school buddies and I am really looking forward to this reunion of us all turning 50. Part of me wants to reconnect with some of my long lost friends and part of me is just curious to see what people look like and to know what [...]

We know the joke: “You’re unique. just like everybody else“. But joking aside, we still like to think that we are unique. Which is why at The Succulent Wife, we always like to feature lots of indie and artisan businesses. Because when we shop with them at least we know that the stuff we buy is NOT like everybody else’s…
And, that goes for shoes too. Probably, especially for shoes. And so, we love this company… Shoes of Prey.
Shoes of Prey is a site that allows women to custom design their own shoes. Pick from a variety of heel heights and [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Just because it is raining outside does not mean we can’t still have great style. Gone are the days of galoshes and plastic raincoats of yester-years (thank goodness).
We proved that last year when we wrote about the Pop-N-Go Rain Scarf. Now it is time to rethink raincoat as a more stylish, yet practical, outerwear solution.
The RainRaps are such a garment. In fact, Rainraps are akin to  fashionable lightweight, water-resistant, reversible pashminas.
They come in four colorful combinations and are the perfect fashion accessory that can be worn all year round (in winter, over coats to “waterproof” [...]

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife
I’m dating myself (at this point, it can’t be avoided), but I remember my dresser drawer full of silk, satiny scarves in the 80′s and 90′s. Always the perfect accessory to perk up that otherwise drab business suit (yeah, I used to wear suits to work, even with a silk cravate in the mid 80′s. Scream!). And then, fashion scarves were gone. Until recently. Scarves have made a major comeback and I’m sooooo pleased.
Seriously, what’s not to love about a scarf? Besides their ability to enhance almost any outfit and to add color, scarves are our [...]

We’re girls. We love the movies. We love the Academy Awards. Well, not really. We put up with them because we get to watch Hollywood glam for three (four?) hours. And, mostly, we get to do lots of backseat driving stylin’.
Just as we did last year, we thought we’d have some fun and gather ’round some of our favorite contributors to put together award winning (yes) looks for a few of the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominees.
Interesting note: each of our contributors chose her own nominee and was given no instructions on how to style her. And this [...]