The mommy-and-me look doesn't have to be cheesy or floral! Skip the matching dresses and slip into a pair of shoes that both you and your little one can equally enjoy. Your favorite brands like Toms, Converse, and even Hunter are shrinking, so your toddler can be just as stylish as her mama. Fair warning: you may pass down your shoe obsession.
Whether you're heading back to school or simply take pride in your alma mater, Toms has you covered with its latest Campus Collection, launching online on Aug. 20. The line features colors from 30 schools in Toms' classic and comfy silhouette for you to show off at your next school rally or sporting event. Even if you're not huge on team spirit, some of these color combinations are cool enough to pair with any of your casual day outfits. See the complete college collection now and tell us what you think. We got spirit, yes we do. We got spirit, how 'bout you?
Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.
Photo: Neon nails on Christian Dior's Spring 2011 runway.
There's no easier go-to sole than TOMS, and with such a philanthropic business model, it's a shoe-in for all our laid-back warm-weather outfits. Inspired by all the cool Spring styles cropping up, we thought we'd take a stab at embellishing our own Summer-perfect pair. With the canvas slip-on as our muse, we headed to TOMS's NYC headquarters and immediately tapped into our craftier, do-it-yourself sides. From acrylic paints, glitter glue, and metallic sequins to fabric cutouts and Sharpie markers in every color of the rainbow, we transformed our classic white TOMS into bright tie-dyed, ombre-infused, personalized masterpieces — in less than an hour. Want to see the step-by-step process and styled result and glean a little DIY inspiration for yourself? Just keep clicking.
Fans of TOMS shoes, mark your calendars for April 1, when the brand will launch its new collaboration with Lauren Bush's FEED Projects. The FEED 12 TOMS Classics feature the FEED stamp logo in silvery gray and black on burlap material, and will be available for women ($58) and tots ($34), exclusively through Toms.com. Best of all, with every pair of shoes that you purchase, 12 school meals and a new pair of shoes will be donated to a child in need. Shop early, as the limited-edition line will only be available until it sells out!
Blake Mycoskie and Lauren Bush are teaming up for the ultimate do-good, feel-good fashion collab with a TOMS + FEED limited edition shoe collection, launching exclusively online on April 1. The shoes cost $58 and feature TOMS' signature shoe silhouette and FEED's iconic stamp and burlap fabric. “Blake and I have a great friendship and our respective organizations have a lot in common, living in the space of for-profit social businesses," said Lauren Bush. "Blake has always been an active supporter of FEED, as I am of TOMS, so we’ve talked about collaborating for a while. I'm thrilled that we were finally able to make it happen and bring more awareness to each of our causes, more credibility to socially-aware enterprises and more assistance to people globally.” Each purchase provides 12 school meals and one pair of new shoes will be given to a child in need. In fact, we can't think of a better way to support the cause — and look cute while doing so. Check out the slideshow to see the collection and make note to shop a pair at TOMS.com on April 1 before they sell out.
Nail polish brand Essie has come up with a clever (and generous) way to support One Day Without Shoes, an initiative started by ubiquitous shoe brand TOMS to raise awareness about the millions of children at risk for disease and infection because they don't have adequate footwear. Essie designed the pastel azure nail color up top, aptly named Barefoot in Blue, to encourage people to go shoeless on the day, April 10. And starting March 7, it's giving away 15,000 bottles.
If you want to give your feet their day in the sun and score some free polish, too, you just have to visit the Essie or TOMS Facebook pages to sign up. Every day for 15 days, 1,000 people who enter will win a bottle of Barefoot in Blue. "We wanted to come up with something that would really spark conversation and bring attention to the campaign — a new rallying cry for an important cause," says Essie Weingarten, the polish brand's founder. "There's no better way to do that than with blue toes."
Fashion doesn't just concern itself with what or who you're wearing. The wide network of designers, models, retailers, photographers, and more that make up this stylish industry have banded together to draw attention to important world-impacted issues. It's feel-good fashion at its finest — these special collaborations, fair trade products, eco-friendly elements, and charitable exchanges take care to give back, remain ethical, and promote conscientious business practices, all with a chic-infused spin. TOMS Shoes donates a pair of shoes to a child-in-need for every pair you purchase, Project Paz works with a supercool lineup of designers to create exclusively unique pieces to benefit great organizations around the world, and Rogan partnered up with its sister brand Loomstate to create environ-conscious surf totes. We narrowed it down to 10 chic ways to give back, go green, and more — click through to see all of them.
Source: Foam Magazine
We love our comfy Toms just as much as any other girl, and for Spring '12, the brand is giving us even more reason to wear its do-good shoes with a chic new silhouette: the Paris ballet flat. Not only are they a more stylish option for running around town, they're just as comfy — we checked it out ourselves — as Toms original style featuring the signature cushy sole. The debut Spring collection features a bevy or pretty prints ranging from cute chambray to fun leopard prints. As always, Toms will donate a pair of shoes to a person in need with every purchase you make. Check out the complete collection in the slideshow right now.
Put your money where your heart is! Many mamas love to shop — often for their kids more than themselves. If t-shirts, stuffed animals, and shoes are on your list, consider purchasing versions that do more than put clothes on your lil one's back or shoes on their feet. These 10 generous products, and companies, give a percentage of their sales to causes that benefit those less fortunate than we are.
