Which leads us to my reigning favorite women’s shoe style — the peep-toe slingback heel. Always sexy, always classy, always appropriate with dresses, skirts and pants. A lovely, slender 2″ to 3″ heel lengthens the leg, while showing a bit of skin at the toe and the heel
whispers femininity and confidence, furthering the illusion of leg length.

That slender stacked heel is key to the illusion of airy length, though. Hamstringing a peep-toe slingback with a chunky heel, or worse, a wedge ruins the vision of classic femininity. Even this beautiful patent peep-toe wedge shoe just doesn’t dress up and dress down the way it would with a stacked heel at the same height. This shoe is solidly casual by virtue of the wedge heel. It breaks my heart. Sigh.

One thing is certain with a slingback peep-toe, you’d better keep on top of those pedicures. I’m right behind you — grab your oversized envelope clutch and let’s go!

Wide-legged pants were all the rage beginning last year and many women weren’t wearing them well. Petite ladies often wear them dragging on the ground, making themselves look even shorter. Here Katie wears them right with a nice high heel.

Keeping things simple, she doesn’t wear much makeup or jewelry and instead gives her outfit a little style with a pair of open toe high heel sandals. This type of shoe style is great because they can be worn with anything from jeans (as Katie can testify) to evening wear.

This season don’t just stick to black. Bright patent heels and shiny metallic sandals are a big hit this spring, even with casual wear.

Katie Holmes gets a lot of flak because of her robotic personality and her wacky Scientology-crazed husband Tom Cruise. However, she is definitely one of the celebs that dresses well. And that seems to be a rare find!

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This definitely wasn’t Hilary’s best day. Her hair is a bit of a mess and it looks like her eye makeup is leftover from the night before. At first I thought maybe she was coming from the gym (which might explain the leggings and messy look). But by her sandals, it doesn’t look like that’s the case.

Obviously everyone can get caught on a bad day, but Hilary Duff always looks so cute that I was kind of shocked that she was so disheveled.

Another thing is that I really want the HUGE oversized handbag trend would end. I actually like oversized clutches. But these gigantic bags that you could pack a week’s worth of clothes in are really too much for everyday use.

Well at least her flat sandals are cute … that’s the only redeeming thing about her look. Colorful and jeweled T-strap flats will be popular throughout the spring and summer of 2008. And I like her turquoise toenail polish too!

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Christina Ricci is looking super cute these days.

Here she is a casual green “dress” with flip flops. It’s not actually a dress, but more like a beach coverup. Nonetheless, she looks adorable. I love her hair color and her bangs, even just pulled back in a ponytail. She’s really transformed herself in recent months.

Rubber flip flops are okay for the beach, but I really don’t wear them anywhere else. Do you?

I’d rather put on a pair of cute colorful skimmers, or a metallic thong sandal for running errands, shopping and other casual occasions.

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But, what do you think abou the shoes? They aren’t horrible, but they just have too much going on. The peep-toe, cut out sides and lace-up front are just too much. Here, Nicole would have been much better off keeping it to a simple black patent peep-toe pump, or maybe a more simple black sandal instead.

One thing I’m not crazy about is her cut-off shorts. Sure, she’s just shopping at the mall but cut-offs? What do you think about cut-offs? Are they a fashion disaster or okay for a day of shopping?

The rest of her outfit looks cute, particularly her strappy sandals. As we mentioned these Roman gladiator sandals are popping up everywhere this spring. These types of sandals, along with bright patent slides are some of my favorite trends of the season.

But really … I cannot stand leggings everywhere. They are alright for the gym or lounging around at home. But celebs is wearing them with everything and anything. You can even see them on the red carpet or dinner out on the town.

Though Hilary is just enjoying a casual day of shopping, her brown leggings, oversized sweater and sandals really don’t work together here.

Speaking of her shoes, she is definitely following one of the biggest spring trends – gladiator sandals. Look for these sandals in browns, metallics and even bright colors this season. You can wear gladiator-inspired sandals with everything from women’s dresses to capris … just don’t wear them with leggings!

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Here Lucy Liu attends the opening party of a new Yves Saint Laurent store in Paris. Though I like Lucy, this dress isn’t attractive at all. The length of the skirt is all wrong for her. She needs something shorter to lengthen her legs. Here they look stubby because the dress hit her leg mid-calf.

The skirt is also too bubbly. It makes her shoulders look narrow and her body disproportioned. Lucy looks much better when she wears a more fitted style. Also, all black makes her look extremely pale – maybe it’s just the lighting. I’m not even going to mention the BIG cinched belt – UGH! Overall this dress gets a big thumbs down.

Let’s look for some redeeming qualities in Lucy’s outfit … her jewelry and her shoes are great choices. She also carries a small black and gold clutch in her hand that is probably adorable (if we could see it up close).

Her patent leather T-strap sandals are terrific. The crisscross styling is very popular right now and we’ll see it in many sandals for Spring, whether they are patent, linen or anything in between. The thing I like most about Lucie’s look is her bracelet! The woven gold cuff is just perfect for her. She could wear it with anything from an evening dress to jeans and it would look chic.

Oh well, better luck next time with the dress, Lucy!

While the girls looking like they are having a great time, I was surprised that Keri was so casual, as Ricki was so dolled up.

Keri is a beautiful woman but at least could have put on some makeup and a dress for the event. At least she was wearing a cute pair of criss-cross strappy sandals. Though her casual outfit would have fared better with some black booties.

Ricki looks very adorable though. Her black patent peep-toe pumps coordinate nicely with her black dress. And I really loved the big gold earrings.

The dress could have been a little more fitted for more taste, but at least she bothered to get dressed up! I’ll give Keri the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she decided to drop by at the last minute just to offer her friend Ricki some support at the premiere and didn’t have time to get prettied up.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt looked very conservative as they arrived at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for the 13th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards last night.

Though Angelina was all covered up, she still looked chic. I guess she won’t have to listen to people commenting about how thin she looks because you can’t even see her bod. She was wearing a simple black dress underneath the coat. One plus is that her black satin peep-toe pumps give her outfit just a touch more femininity. Brad, looking quite dapper, was wearing a dark grey suit with shiny black dress shoes.

One person who should have covered up her dress at the awards was Kyra Sedgwick, pictured below. What’s with that dress!

She’s never been a fashion plate, but this Oscar de la Renta dress has ugly written all over it. I’m not sure what’s worse, the contrast of the orange-red against the black, the too long skirt, or the big appliqued leaves covering the bottom. Maybe Angie should have let her borrow a coat! Kyra’s black criss-cross sandals are slightly redeeming.