I’ve been thinking about Penny Long lately, and a confrontation that happened as a Tribune photographer and I were leaving her store, Electric Couture, a few weeks ago after an interview for What’s in Store.

A random guy stopped us in our tracks and said, “Please tell me you did not just photograph that woman in front of her car,” and gestured toward the black Bentley parked at the curb.

“We didn’t even photograph her at all,” I said. “We took store shots.”

“Good,” he replied. “Because that represents everything that’s wrong with this town” (Meaning Scottsdale, of course).

It was especially odd timing because I had just texted one of my co-workers: “I just got done with Penny Long @ Electric Couture. I think I love her.”

I admit I went in with some preconceived notions of my own. Penny is not, to put it mildly, going gladly into that good night of quiet, unobtrusive middle age. She’s got big blonde hair. She wears a ton of jewelry. She’s married to a really, REALLY rich man who’s 27 years her senior. Her stores are filled with shiny, flashy items; the walls are striped pink. When I assigned a reporter to do a story about Penny’s favorite spot in her house, it was because I was dying to know how “that woman” would decorate — and as this profile shows, Penny didn’t disappoint. (Make sure to click on the “continuation” link at the top to see the full effect of her living room.) However, I can never condone being photographed in — or even wearing — a trucker cap.

But here’s the thing about Penny: She knows her s—. After years in the retail business she’s the sort of woman who breezes by the mannequins and tucks an errant tag without slowing her gait; who stops midsentence to tell one of her saleswomen to reorganize the clothing hanging on a rack — “all this black, it’s like there’s nothing there” — and demonstrates the difference to them by doing it herself. (And, yes, of course she was right about it.) She knows geographic exclusivity rights, when to drop a brand and how to make a splash for herself — even if it is getting into character as a classic villainess for a TV show. (For god’s sake, she was still married to the guy when they filmed. How much did you think she was going to lose?) She’s a classic case of not judging a book by its cover.

I think that random guy — like many others — was projecting his frustration about high-dollar Scottsdale onto a woman who happens to thrive in that environment. Meanwhile, he and his girlfriend were still shopping in Penny’s store — immersing themselves in the very lifestyle he was complaining about. Was it just sour grapes that he wasn’t higher up in it?

Which is a long intro into saying: Penny decorates her home with Christian Dior shoes, and I wondered which pairs currently on sale would pass muster with her. While I was browsing I came across those ballerina flats (which certainly would not — too boring).

On one hand: Hard to screw up classic ballerina flats. But: There’s something weird about the way the toes on these curl so far upward. I know the weight of your toes would weigh them down, but still. They remind me of moray eels just waiting to strike. I don’t think I could ever put my feet in them.

But that’s just me. Are these shoes hot, or not? Leave your comments below; out of all those received by Friday, Dec. 9, I’ll draw one winner to receive a free bottle of Phyto Organics Sea Swell ocean air texture mist by Nexxus. (Update: Congratulations to Sharyn, whose name was chosen as the winner of the spray.)

And look for a new shoe each Tuesday!

Posted in: Shoe Hot Or Not? |

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