Spring Essentials (pt. VI): black peeptoes & bright A-line skirts

Finally, the last installment of my ultra-successful six-part Spring Essentials special feature.

Today, I'm here to inculcate you on the can't-live-without-ness of black peeptoes and summery A-line skirts.

A poppy-red scalloped-hem A-line skirt in a high-quality material is a wardrobe essential I consider very much like my high school boyfriend -- sweet, necessary and something I revisit every once in a while when I'm in need of a mood boost.

A beautiful pair of well-crafted black peeptoes, whether suede, patent or matte leather, however, is so much more delicious than that first kiss and so much more gratifying to own than that first older man.

Black peeptoes
Dressy shorts, straight-leg blue/black/gray/white/colored jeans, wool gauchos, gabardine work trousers, every skirt silhouette from slim-pencil to pouf -- a pair of black peeptoes will not only complement everything you own but do so in an elegant, city-chic or avant garde fashion, depending on the rest of your ensemble. And unlike any other shoe in your shoe display, a simple peeptoe is acceptable in any venue in any season. As long as you maintain your toe polish and aren't wearing a breezy evening gown (the peeptoe is too indelicate to pair with such a lightweight fabric), this shoe could very well be your everyday shoe. Saturdays and Sundays, included.

If forced to choose a single item to best represent the conservative coquette style to which I try everyday to adhere, it would without a doubt be the four-inch skinny-heeled black peeptoe.

So drink my Cava-flavored kool-aid and buy a pair. You know you want to...

Black peeptoes:

1. Maylie pump by Enzo Angiolini ($92.95 at zappos.com)

2. Lollyy by Steven ($99.95 at stevemadden.com)

3. Giselle by Kate Spade ($275 at katespade.com)

4. Rosa peeptoe pump by Charles David ($99.95 at endless.com)

5. Patent peeptoe by Brian Atwood ($510 at saks.com)
6. Peeptoe half-d'Orsay pumps by Le Silla ($385 at saks.com)*

7. Leather peeptoe by Marc by Marc Jacobs ($360 at shopbop.com)

8. Edie cinch pump by Loeffler Randall ($375 at pinkmascara.com)

9. Analine pump by Stuart Weitzman for Scoop ($275 at scoopnyc.com)

10. Ettora by Nina ($69.95 at ninashoes.com)

*shown above right

Bright A-line skirts

Read here for a comprehensive explanation of why your black-loving, slim-silhouette wearing, Prada-over-Betsey-Johnson-preferring editrix was able to find it in her heart to accept the bright A-line summer skirt into her exclusive Spring Essentials family.

This type of skirt isn't my favorite. It may not really be essential, either, if the metric for success is the number of outfit permutations its addition will create in my wardrobe rotation. But if there's one thing I've learned in the past 11 months, it's that when you find yourself caught in this kind of Amy Winehouse moment or perhaps this one and all you want to do is either sit at home "sick" flipping between the '700 Club' and 'Maury' or face the world swathed in an Olsen-twin black-on-black-on-black-on-scowl ensemble, you can only do that for so many months before your sick days AND vacation days are depleted and your coworkers' Monday morning salutations go from "How was your weekend?" to "Dido on repeat again, huh?"

Here below, a list of the one Spring essential whose essential-ality isn't borne out of practicality or versatility but rather its ability to mask and (attempt to) uplift a heavy heart.

Brightly-colored A-line skirts:

1. Lemon wedge skirt by Rebecca Taylor ($285 at activeendeavors.com)

2. Seersucker pleated skirt by Kimchi & Blue ($58 at urbanoutfitters.com)

3. Thattaway skirt by Fei ($64.95 at anthropologie.com)

4. O-ring skirt by Fei ($84.95 at anthropologie.com)*

5. Batiste skirt by Nic + Zoe ($106 at nordstrom.com)

6. Gavrielle skirt by Elie Tahiri ($448 at nordstrom.com)

7. Chambray linen skirt (£30 at topshop.com)

8. Pleated pouf skirt by Moschino ($595 at net-a-porter.com)

9. Evaline skirt by Antonio Melani ($139 at dillards.com)

10. Nala skirt by DVF ($79.99 at bluefly.com)

*shown above right