"Um, they're... bright."

One pleasure of mine that my mother has never understood is brightly colored and/or patterned shoes. True, she was an adult from the '70s through the '90s, when shoes were practical, neutral, and matched most things in your closet, and you had about 3 pairs. Same goes for purses. Those were also decades of practical, matchy-matchy fashion in which no one mixed patterns, everyone's belt matched their shoes, and hardware always matched the jewelry.

Terrible, I know.

Perhaps it was the wild shoe-fetish fantasyland of "Sex & the City," or maybe it's the easier access to runway shows and designer fashion because of the internet... but either way, it's safe to say that many of the fashion rules of yesteryear no longer apply. And thank heavens, because a bright bag, punchy heels or big colorful statement necklace dress up an outfit with very little effort. As long as you don't combine all three!

So I am home in Westport this weekend to visit the family, and I came home from shopping with many items my mother loved, but when I pulled out my on-sale, apricot-yellow round-toe flats, and told her how fun and springy I thought they were, I got "Um, they're... bright. What on earth are you gonna wear that matches that??"

So even though I've tried to take dear Mummy on shopping trips and convinced her to just try a multicolored shoe, a polka-dot pump, or a bright red sandal, she's always going to go with her stand-by shoe colors of black, brown, tan and gray. But that doesn't mean there's no hope for the rest of us! Spring is a great time to tell everyone, "Screw this wind and rain business. Spring is here. I can prove it! I'm wearing yellow shoes!"

Here are some of my favorite yellow shoes on the interwebs, all at semi-affordable prices:

Sperry, $74.85



rsvp, $99


Ralph Lauren, $108.95


Pierre Dumas, $49


Mystique, $139


BCBG, $110


Anne Klein, $78.95