Kirabu & Kaylor by Jessica Bennett

The Naturals: Kirabu and Kaylor by Jessica Bennett show too much craft can be just enough.

Sometimes we just want to unplug. Working online day in, day out leaves us wanting something. Something like ... sunlight. Computers make us relive the paranoia of the '80s when the threat of world domination by aliens and computers was a thin disguise for those pesky Soviets. We spend an eternity in this phantom zone slaving away on the MCP and playing games with Joshua and dreaming of sweet revenge. Well, we agree that the only winning move is not to play, so let's take things offline for a minute and go native.

A favorite trend is what we, in this Luddite moment, are referring to as Offline Embellishments. These are the tribal stylings, wooden beads, craft-y DIY constructions and use of pre-Silicon Valley materials like wood, stone and metal for adornment. It's soothingly anti-mechanical and a delightful spectacle.

Not to mention a cinch to dress up.

Jessica Bennett leads the pack with two similar shoes, the Kirabu and the Kaylor. Unable to choose just one, we naturally chose both (our blog, our rules). These babies are a feast of over-embellishment. They don't read too much, they read plenty enough. They feel exuberant and fresh, light and maybe just a touch precious. In other words, perfect girlie shoes for spring.

Kirabu's deep blue denim looks great under a wideleg pant or even a cropped jean. The range of colors in the beading give you plenty to pick up in your accessories and outfit. And that peeptoe! So cute! We insist you pedi before wearing for optimum color possibilities. A four-inch stacked-wood heel is sculpted into a sweeping, narrow column that lends contrast to the fabric and beads, yet supports them by adding a touch of polish. Casual, but knowingly. Wear these to a street fest, Mardi Gras, a lecture on Mayan codices or a visit to the Smarties factory.

The Kaylor's beige upper and woven jute wedge sole just beg for a white summer dress with a floppy sunhat or anything to show off your legs and be happy about the warmer weather. The front is cotton webbing with a riot of embroidery topped with wooden beads. The slingback is made of nude leather. All of this perches vertiginously on a two-inch platform rising to a narrow four-inch heel. The embroidery - cobalt, magenta, ice blue - feels vaguely Hopi as though our kachina collection had been reshaped into shoes while we slept. These happy sandals feel close to the earth and far from the office.

We hope you understand our dilemma now. Two shoes, a brace of ways to celebrate the outdoors using the stuff you find outside, not indoors bound in the nutshell of infinite cyberspace.

Sarika by Calvin Klein

Off the Ssssscale: Petal snakeskin platform pump Sarika by Calvin Klein

Let's start with the obvious: this shoe is gorgeous. We see a lot of reptile patterns cross our floor and Calvin Klein, per usual, takes it to another place. The petal-colored upper with its easy contrast against the dark brown platform riveted us. (Compare it to the black to see how strong a difference a color maketh.) The silver leather lining works back to those surprise pops of color we've been harping on in recent posts. The overall color palette is soft and as ethereal as spring itself.

Another stand-out is the texture. The scales on this pattern aren't simply stamped into the leather for an ersatz embossed look, they are undercut and rough, giving the shoe a natural, organic feel, which taps into two more spring trends: a back-to-nature ethos inspired by green movements (and the recession?) and a recurrence of goddess trends (we're thinking more Athena than Gorgon, but whatever suits you). With a five-inch heel (and 3/4" platform), the Sarika lends you definite presence. The snakeskin and wood-dyed sole feels very dryad, very Ovid, very Hesiod to us.

It should be no surprise, then, that we want to work this shoe back to a satiny babydoll top or causal bubble skirt -- items with fullness, drape and volumes of fabric -- or full and long jersey pieces that have the flow and cling of a caryatid. One of the girls based her Valentine's Day outfit on this: worn with brown tights and a babydoll dress with some layered jewelry, she received compliments left and right. She also mentioned the shoe runs very slightly big, so order your true size, add some foot pads and float into spring on these unearthly heels.

Bianca by Pour La Victoire

Architectural Integrity: Pour La Victoire's Bianca builds up excitement for Spring.

As we mentioned in our blog the other week, the Bianca by Pour La Victoire epitomizes the platform pump trend this Spring as well as designs inspired by modern architecture. We are absolutely wowed by the crazy laticework uppers in black leather or dove grey suede. They are aggressive and forward while referencing work by contemporary masters like Koolhaas, Gehry, Calatrava and (our favorite) Le Courbusier (we're thinking Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut Ronchamp).

Another trend we heart is the use of brightly colored leather linings and other secretive pops of color on standard-issue blacks, browns and greys. There's an excitement there; this sense of something more than just the lines of the shoe. It's a secret surprise. Surely the woman who wears these has some tantalizing secrets of her own, n'est pas? While the black Bianca is lined in screaming yellow-lime, the grey is paired to a gentle aqua ... but the sole is sheathed in cobalt blue. These shoes reveal something new with each wear. It brings the structure inside. As a stained glass window builds a luminous image out of fragments, the Bianca hints at your character through color and shape, fullness and absence.

The Bianca is a very forward gal. She's complex and confident. Despite her architectural lines, some might call her mercurial (but we think she just takes time to unfold). Aggressive, but not easy. A bit of a wildcat and definitely a patron of the beautiful, this shoe requires a confident woman that can harness Bianca's energy. Otherwise you may just find that the Bianca isn't something you wear, it's something that wears you.

And we like a shoe that makes us work for it.

Belgium by Chinese Laundry

To the Point: The Belgium nicely balances several Spring trends.

The Belgium by Chinese Laundry caught our eye this week. It's a new arrival that embraces several prominent Spring 2009 trends, balancing them in a way that bridges styles from previous seasons while looking completely current.

Platform heels are showing up everywhere. We attribute the raft of styles to the ever-increasing elevation seen in Loubous and luxury lines where five-inch heels have become the new four. The Belgium hovers around the four-and-a-half mark, but the half-inch in the footbed provides a measure of stability. In the end: they are tall. Whereas fall's boots lengthened the leg with their long expanses of smooth leather, these platform pumps lengthen the body, lending shape to legs, behinds and backs. The cork heel reads as light and airy; we think it will give your look some floaty grace.

The Belgium makes great use of tribal tendencies. The upper, a leather strap at toe, arch and ankle, and heel are finished with a tight woven-reed diamond pattern. It works back to the African-inspired, crafty focus of this Spring, a look reinforced by the cork: simple materials used with sophistication. From a distance the pattern and the sheen of the reeds blends into a vaguely reptile pattern. This reference to the snakeskin of seasons past make the Belgian a great bridger shoe for early Spring. It has one foot in the past and one striding into the future.

We're of two minds on how to wear this one: short and flowing summer dresses or skinny jeans. Light, airy babydoll dresses in whites and creams will blend with the Belgium's neutral palette, becoming backdrops for bold handbags and big, bright gemstones. We can also see it as support for something in a bold, fun, punchy red. We're going to see a lot of interplay between neutrals and saturated color pops this season, making this pump a versatile basic that's far from plain. Under skinny jeans, the pattern takes on a funkier edge. Play up the boho look with big jewelry: hoop earrings, layered necklaces, jangly bangles. Blousy peasant tops. Busy, vintage-inspired patterns. Or make it young and laid-back with a tube top!

A buckle at the ankle is an apt touch: shaped like a Greek Omega, this shoe is the last word in adding verve to your spring outfits.

Tammy by Cordani

Put Some Cork in It: The Tammy by Cordani buoys spring's neutral tendencies.

Spring 2009 is fast approaching and the fashion world is decidedly ... neutral about it. Natural palettes -- desaturated hues like beiges, linens and off-whites -- are dominating the racks. (Of course there's a healthy obsession with brilliant orange, but, hey, one thing at a time.) Italian shoemaker Cordani's cork wedge, the Tammy, bridges these trends with a shoe that is current yet wearable beyond a seasonal fad.

What we love about this shoe is how its neutral palette uses texture, color and polish to add sophistication to a hue that is all too easily turned from boffo to blah. A 4-1/2" cork wedge with 3/4" platform is finished with a rubber sole. It looks substantial but wears incredibly light. A sloped cutout hints at a mod faux-heel and breaks up the vertical, variegated grain of the cork.

A brace of straps crossing the foot wends back to an adjustable buckle at the heel. The toffee-colored leather is slightly pebbled, lending weight and creating contrast between it and the airy cork.

Bridging the two is a metallic gold leather sole and trim on the straps, creating subtle, tone-on-tone richness that activates the neutrals and acts as an buffer between sole and upper -- an flashing and fleeting gleam like a light under the door.

A strappy platform like this is just begging for clean, skinny jeans and a strappy top or halter in a monotone, bold color. Continue the subtle chemistry of the Tammy with big, chunky accessories, bronze and gold tones and another seasonal obsession: the natural textures and colors of tribal beading.

The Tammy is a masterpiece of subtle texture and color combinations that give the shoe great range under a number of outfits, skin tones and with numerous accessories. Pick it up and get into this season's trend of natural colors and textures; we think you'll find there's nothing neutral about it.