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Coffee Break: Tennie Lace-Up Mid-Calf Point Toe Boots

I'm kind of loving the lace-up mid-calf trend, as seen here with these bestselling Schutz boots, at Saks. They have a Victorian, buttoned up kind of look, while also being comfortable and as tight or loose as you need them to be. These high stilettos look great, of course, but if they are more on the “aspirational/only in my youth” side of things for you, I hear that — these kitten-heel lace-up booties at J.Crew are similar. The pictured shoes are $200, available in sizes 5-10; try code NOV19SF to get a $35-$700 gift card. (Zappos also has a pair of lace-up Schutz booties in a textured leather, while Revolve has some with a lower block heel. Meanwhile, Marc Jacobs actually has a Victorian pair.) Pictured:  Tennie Lace-Up Mid-Calf Point Toe Boots Looking for something (much) more affordable? ASOS has limited sizes of a similar boot marked down to $23, and DSW offers this less-similar-but-same-ballpark lace-up boot for $59. This post contains affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

Sales of note for 12.5

And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!

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129 Comments

  1. Seeing recommendations for realistic-looking indoor Christmas garlands to decorate banisters. I am overwhelmed by the online options. Also, welcome any specific recommendations for things you’ve added to garlands (beyond twinkle lights) that have worked well/don’t require craftiness. TIA!

      1. Thanks! I am really decorating-challenged. When you say “alternate,” do you intertwine the two different types of garlands, and then put them on a mantel/banister?

        1. You could if you want a really lush look! I drape them around big built in bookcases, so I ‘save’ the ones without pine cones for the top of the bookcase, and then use the ones with pine cones for the sides. They’re a decent length, but what helps is that they hook together easily as I need 3-5 per bookcase, and I’d imagine you’d need anywhere from 2-4 depending on the length of your staircase.

  3. Political leanings aside, is there any precedent that someone entering the presidential race this late in the game can win the nomination? Just curious about the move in general – was it strategic to let all the others cast stones at one another for long enough to make everyone excited to see a fresh face? Is it narcissism on the part of the new entrant(s)? I’m perplexed by the strategy of it.

    1. I think it’s so silly. We have, what, 18 candidates already, at least 10 of whom are serious contenders that polls suggest can beat Trump. Why do we need more??

    2. Opportunism more than anything else. The field became crowded very quickly, so it made little sense for potential candidates to be one of 20. But as it thinned out, and there is no clear front-runner, it makes perfect sense for someone with a reasonable background (governor or Senator) to jump in.

      Sanders had a heart problem. Buttigieg is young and a mayor – not even a Congressman. Biden is… Biden. Never has been inspiring, never will be inspiring. Warren has a lot of devoted followers but polls terribly amongst certain groups.

    3. Didn’t Bill Clinton enter the race relatively late? I was a toddler at the time so I don’t have any memory, but I thought I heard that somewhere recently.

      1. wikipedia doesn’t have all too much detail on the stage of the 1992 primary campaign we’re in now. He definitely ran in all primary votes – I’ve also heard of the strategy to sit out the first few primary states and join the race then – seems bizarre to me.
        In The West Wing, a new candidate jumped in at the nominating convention and almost got the nomination. But that’s TV-land.

        1. I don’t know much about primaries, but I do NOT think it is to late to enter the race, as there have not even been any primaries. So if no one has emerged as a leader, and Dad does not like any of them, why is it so bad for this new guy to throw his hand into the ring? I think that we are all to preoccupied with the impeachement thing, and will never know why Clinton was subject to impeachement just b/c he had $exueal relations with Monica? If anyone in the HIVE can answer this dilemna, I would appreciate it! YAY!!

      2. I do not remember which Primaries Clinton ran in — I was very young in 1992, but I do remember that by 1998, no one cared at all, and there were those who wanted to skewer him for having $exueal relations with Monica Lewinski. I did not ever know why having $ex was an impeacheable offense, b/c JFK had sex with women other then his wife and no one said boo, Dad says. He also told me FDR “got busy” with another woman even tho he needed a cane to be able to stand up. Dad liked FDR!

    4. I’m honestly kind of excited. I’m an “anybody but Trump” voter but none of the democratic candidates really excite me. I love Warren but really worry she is not electable. I know many swing voters that would not vote for her. I think Patrick did a wonderful job as Governor and I think he would make a great President. I wish he had joined the running sooner.

      1. I think he was discouraged cause of Biden. But now when Biden is clearly not the greatest, Democrats probably decided to ask him back to race

      2. Hmm- you are from MA? I don’t think I’ve actually ever met anyone who thought he was good and I run in mostly all dem circles

        2. My family is in Mass. I’m in NH where our democrats are a little more centrist. I’d love to hear what the Mass democrats disliked about him.

    5. I felt like that a bit when the Bloomberg news came out, but then I realized we are still 12 months out from the election and 8 months out from the convention. Contrast that with the limited campaign windows in other countries, and limiting the amount of time folks can beat up on you makes sense. I have no strong feelings about Patrick, but frankly I appreciate anyone who has not already spent his or her summer out eating corn at state fairs and subjecting us to this ridiculous cycle.

  4. I posted a week or so ago asking for all of you to encourage me to hire a cleaner for a deep cleaning, even though it felt so self-indulgent. I realized I felt so iffy about it because I was weirdly shameful to have to show someone that I haven’t been able to tackle these deep cleaning tasks. Well…that’s stupid! So, updating to share that not only do I have a FULL DAY deep cleaning scheduled for next week, but that we’ll be doing a biweekly cleaning going forward! Excited to deal with the initial embarrassment as I know I’ll be so delighted to have my space feeling super clean.

    2. Good for you! There are a host of things that we all “could” do, but we don’t. Most of them we don’t shame ourselves for. Like making bread! We all could make our own bread, but its more efficient and effective to leave it to others. No shame in outsourcing the cleaning to others as well!

      1. I make my own bread because I’m too cheap to buy the store variety of what I can eat (wheat free). I’ve now got the recipe memorized, and it’s really not that much work. I also repeat to myself the cost per unit as I punch and knead it, imagining some awful client or person is in the bowl.

  5. Intrigued by yesterday’s discussion of safes. Senior Attorney mentioned having a wall safe (hidden!) and others said that a small safe is a “steal me” magnet. For a wall safe, which trade has / installs those? And what should I look for in one (dimensions? resistance to being carted off? bolting it to studs?). I have never had a safe and my grandparents had a country store with a massive safe in it (which I am thinking is what a wall safe is not), so I am unfamiliar with what the good options are (vs all of the options). Spouse and I work in opposite directions, so we’d like something at our house vs a safe deposit box at a bank that will be hard for one of us to reach.

    1. I was one of the people who said a small free-standing safe screams “steal me”. I have one that is bolted to a wall in my closet (although not hidden by a mirror like SA’s). I got mine on line. It is about 20″ high (I think the width is standard to fit between the studs) and had a handyman install, but I would imagine any carpenter-type person could handle it. The only issue was getting the drywall around it to look right.

    2. In answer to your question about which trade has and installs wall safes: we used a locksmith company.

    3. One benefit of the “steal me” size safes is that they are fire proof. I use it more for important documents that I would want to survive a fire than for concerns around thieves.

      1. Plus you can take them with you. A “fire proof” safe you leave behind may be in one piece but full of the ashes of your important documents because of how hot house fires can get.

  6. As we get into making our final charitable contributions for the year, does anyone have a favorite nonprofit that works to address climate change in some way?

      1. WWF drove me mad with leaflets, address stickers and the like in my mailbox. This was almost 10 years ago, so YMMV.
        Atmosfair is my recommendation.

        1. Yes, they do send me a lot of mail which is annoying (especially for a charity related to conservation). I still think they do good work though.

  7. This is an awkward question to ask but it may become relevant in a discrimination case that I have. Is there a proper term for a black accent? I don’t mean African American Vernacular English (using slang that is common in black communities) I mean the particular tone of voice even if the words spoken are the exact same as a white colleagues. If you’ve ever gotten off the phone with a professional and pictured them as black in your head, even though you had never met them, that’s what I’m referring to.

      3. It seems like it’s in the neighborhood of timbre, cadence and tone. The suggestion below to consult a linguist is a good one.

    2. I don’t know what the correct term is, although I know what you are referring to. Tbh, the last time I heard someone say “black accent,” it came off as super f*cking racist so please don’t stick with that.

      1. Accent is correct and I am not sure why people are jumping through hoops to avoid that term.

        Linguistically, an accent is the way you sound when you speak. There are two different kinds: (1) the one associated with someone speaking one language with the rules or sounds of another (me as a native English speaker when I try to speak French); and (2) the way a group of people speak their native language. This is generally determined by geography and what groups they belong to.

        For those of you interested in this subject or who challenge the idea that people can often determine race on the telephone, search for the term “linguistic profiling” and particularly the work of Professor John Baugh who has done some really amazing work in that field.

      1. Well, obviously, they’re asking for something in the context of a discrimination case.

      2. She says it’s for a discrimination case. I was hoping/assuming that she wants to demonstrate that someone was subjected to discrimination based on their voice over the phone “sounding black.” I’m sure this happens.

    5. Before the Great Migration, something like 90% of black Americans lived in the south. (Again I will plug The Warmth of Other Suns on this topic–it’s amazing.) Some pronunciations associated with “black” speech are similar to a southern accent, which makes sense since this migration happened within the past 2-3 generations.

      That said, I think the best way to research this would be through linguistics and academics who study regional and population accents. There’s a lot of ways for this to move in a derogatory direction, and you want to be credible and research-based.

      1. Anecdotally, I was at a work function with a black woman I didn’t know well and we were chatting. I realized she had a really similar accent to my white relatives who live in South Carolina, so I said, I feel like I recognize your accent, where are you from?

        And she said Queens New York. I could tell I offended her. I truly thought she was from the south.

        1. To be fair, people from Queens have an accent too. Although I think telling someone they have an accent is always touchy, regardless of race. I once really offended a white guy from Boston by telling him I recognized he was from Boston by his accent.

        2. We (white) grew up near Newark and this would happen to my mom all the time, in a good “this person sounds like home” way.

        3. I had a classmate with a speech impediment that sort of sounded like an accent. One time a new teacher asked her, “I love your accent, where are you from?” and it was awkward because she had to reveal in front of everyone that she was a 15-year-old with a speech impediment.

      2. It’s a great book!

        I get asked all the time where I’m from and told I have an accent. Coincidentally, it only ever happens after someone learns my foreign sounding name.

    6. You can’t tell if someone’s race by talking to them on the phone. Even if they are using language common the African American venacular English, that doesn’t mean they aren’t white or otherwise. Lots of appropriation of African American slang occurs.

      1. That sounds dangerously close to “I don’t see race” territory. The fact is that most of us can identify with high accuracy when we’re speaking to someone who is black on the phone. It has nothing to do with use of AAVE or not, but more inflection/tone (I don’t know the right terms either). I’d rather acknowledge that so we can fix the discrimination problem instead of denying that it’s possible and therefore giving ammunition to racists.

        1. And let’s be real–just about anyone can also “identify with high accuracy” a white person’s voice! I am white and 100% sound white. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if I am treated better on some phone calls as a result.

        2. Do you have a source for the statement that most people can tell someone’s race by their voice? That seems highly improbable to me.

          Because a poster above you thought her white relatives from South Carolina sounded like the black lady from Queens and that’s just one example. Black people live in all regions of this country and do not have one universal ‘sound’.

          1. another example would be white soul musicians that are praised for having a ‘black voice’ (possibly phrased differently). Joss Stone, Eva Cassidy come to mind. Another example is when POC call center workers use a certain way of speaking (and different names) to pass as white with customers. There are a lot of cases that do not fit into the stereotype.

      2. This is simply not true. There is a characteristic “black” accent that many (although again certainly not universal) Black American have and that has complicated historical and linguistic origins.

        It is unfortunately equally true that there is serious and systemic bias against people with Black-sounding voices and names. We do not do anyone any favors by ignoring that. Which means we need the language to discuss and study it.

      3. Yes, you can often predict just by some very subtle pronunciation cues. Im in the SEUS so its not a Southern accent I’m picking up on. Perhaps a tonal quality – and sometimes a very subtle difference in pronunciation. Interestingly one of my white coworkers had a twinge of this – she attended schools that were majority African American students.

    7. The term most generally used is “black sounding”. Most often used to refer to “black- sounding names” but can also be used to refer to the accent.

      And I sympathize with the person who said that the term “black accent” sounds racist. However, it is fairly common (although not universal) for black Americans speaking standard American English to have a common speech pattern regardless of geography, And people who study linguistics (and people who study bias) need a term to describe that. The term itself is not racist. The implication that someone with that accent is “less” is what is racist.

    8. Thanks for the comments so far. I need to avoid getting into details but I would be representing the Plaintiff. We need to acknowledge that one can often correctly presume he is black after speaking with him but that has to do with the sound not the content of his speech and that nothing about the way he spoke should impede his employment. A particular person may be denying discrimination by saying he didn’t know he was black for example but we do think that person knew and actually had commented on it just based on the way he spoke.

      1. I have no answers for you, but this is exactly how I understood your original post. I too, would not know what term to use.

      2. Perhaps John McWhorter at Columbia would be a good source for you. He wrote Talking Back, Talking Black: Truth’s about American’s Lingua Franca.

      3. A common phrase that is pretty much exclusively used to ‘compliment’ black people is that they are well spoken. Although it is still on my reading list, ‘Superior’ by Angela Saini is about how racist science is used to justify structural racism. I don’t know if it has a chapter dedicated to language, but it’s worth checking.

      4. Deborah Tannen could be another lead. She’s a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University; not sure if she has studied race/ethnicity/etc. but I’m in awe of her work on gender, sex, and the workplace.

    10. I used to deal with someone over the phone who sounded just like Barry White. He was actually . . . white.

    11. My husband (who is black) calls it “BEV” — I googled and it seems the formal term is African-American Vernacular English. Hope that’s helpful, know this is a late reply.

  8. I’m partner at a biglaw firm and I have a question about how to address something with my administrative assistant. She supports others besides me and she always get the work done, her work is great, she is discreet and has good interpersonal skills when she deals with tough situations and/or upset people. She dresses extremely well, professional and is put together. Others have tried to poach her before, I am happy to have her.

    The issue is her nails. She is always wearing colored nail polish. Often the color changes in the middle of the week or several times a week. I know she has a popular Instagram dedicated to her nails because I have overheard her telling other assistants about it before, under an anonymous name and I admit they always look like they were done by a true professional manicurist. Sometimes she does her own and sometimes she gets them done on her lunch (They aren’t long, acrylic fake monstrosities, they are her own and are always short enough that they don’t extend past her fingertips). I don’t think bright colors, stripes, patterns, accent nails or sparkles at the base of the nail/ombre is appropriate or professional or appropriate. I can’t imagine anyone wearing something like that to court or in a meeting with partners and senior leadership. The others she supports are all men and I doubt they notice or care about her nails but I do. How do I address this with her? I do expect her to push back because she’s been doing this for all the 7-8 years she’s worked here. It makes her look immature and it will affect her career and people will take her less serious. It is not appropriate for an Am Law 100 firm. I can’t believe no one has said anything to her before. It cannot continue. Any help or advice from the hive would be greatly appreciated!

        1. I am trying to understand why a troll would make this up. I am also trying to understand why a real person would care.

      1. Sometimes the color changes mid-week!! Let’s throw some popcorn to the troll, this one is a gem.

    7. Don’t.
      She does great work. Nobody else cares and they also want to hire her away from you.
      Unless you want to lose an awesome assistant because you don’t like her fingernails (There’s a sentence I never thought I’d ever type, but here we all are.), leave it alone.

    8. As long as they’re well-maintained (not chipped, etc which it does not sound like they are from your post) and not crazy over-the-top long as to be unprofessional, I’d kindly suggest butting the f out and letting people live their lives. Why do you possibly care? You said her work product is great and you’re happy to have her. Would you like to drive her away by sucking away something that is not unprofessional (and nobody else has ever noticed or commented on) and she clearly enjoys?

    9. Well, obviously you should chase her down the hallway holding a bottle of plain pink nail polish, tackle her if she won’t stop running away from you, sit on her, and forcibly repaint her nails. It’s the only viable option.

      (P.S. I needed a laugh this afternoon and this post provided it, so thanks OP!)

    11. lol no.
      also, get your story straight. You claim her nails are preventing people from taking her “serious” and will limit her growth… while also telling us that others are trying to poach her.

    12. “I can’t imagine anyone wearing something like that to court or in a meeting with partners and senior leadership.”

      Your admin goes to court with you and interacts with the judge enough so that the judge notices her nails?

      2. Yet the other partners, whom she presumably meets or at least works closely with, have seen her wear this stuff for years and don’t care.

    13. Hahahahahahaha!!! Good one!

      This reminds me (only not really because this post is ridiculous) of the classic Ask A Manager letter where the employee would come back from lunch with entirely different clothes and hair color: https://www.askamanager.org/2017/06/my-employee-drastically-changes-her-appearance-in-the-middle-of-the-workday.html

      And the update was awesome: https://www.askamanager.org/2017/12/update-my-employee-drastically-changes-her-appearance-in-the-middle-of-the-workday.html

      1. Fascinating. In my younger days (at an all male lawyer firm) I would start the day in a full black suit and pearls for court. At lunch I would go to yoga and return to the office in a calvin klein dress (nothing inappropriate) but obviously a completely different outfit. I never had court in the afternoon and wanted to wear something more casual to meet clients and to do document drafting and go to things like rotary after work.

        At one point someone took me aside and said basically I was being gossiped about and people were saying I was off gardening with my so during lunch and that is why my look would completely change.

        I left that firm. It no longer exists.

        1. Just as well. Why would you garden with your SO at lunch? I know my ex wanted to when I first came out of law school, but the thought of him huffeing and puffeing on top of me in the changing room where I worked serveing subpeenies was not at all appealing to me, especially b/c he always had bad breathe when he was out, and it was all I could do to flush out his dirty mouth out b/f he every got $ex at my apartement. I was such a dumb girl for letting him do stuff so often with me. FOOEY!

    15. This reminds me of that Ask a Manager post from a few years ago where the person wrote in with “my best employee who is amazing in ____ ways quit after I refused to give her time off for her college graduation when she’s poor and first in the family to graduate from college and homeless (or some other sob story). I did however give time off to someone to go to a concert. How do I tell her it was unprofessional?!”

      Both stories have the same ring to them. “Here’s this amazing person who did this thing that I decided was unprofessional even though I’m clearly the one who’s unprofessional. How do I confront them?!”

      1. Oh my gosh! I remember this one. This update is just as bizarre.

        Thank you so much for sharing that. Honestly, it’s been haunting me since first reading. Anytime I feel the least guilty for stepping away from my desk at lunch, I tell myself to get some perspective. There’s a crazy woman out there who had time to go to a salon AND change her outfit.

    16. I’m a partner in an AmLaw 50 firm, my assistant is super into nail art, and my professional advice to you is to get over yourself.

    17. It’s super fake.

      Honestly I hope that no one notices nails. My anxiety is so bad some days and I refrain from biting my nails but they always look bad because I pick at them and would pick at anything I put on them. Kudos to everyone with beautiful nails, you’re doing something I 100% can’t get right.

      1. Fellow anxious nail-picker here. Have you tried press-ons? There were a couple threads about the Impress-brand sets you can get at the drugstore/target. Literally peel and stick. They’re much more challenging for me to pick at and they look good enough for events. I don’t have issues with them popping off and can get 3-5 days of really good wear out of them before they bend or I destroy them.

  9. Any recs for xmas party formalwear that is pear-friendly? So many options for me — if they fit in the hips, the bust area is too large. Or vice versa. I need something like a fancy shift (oxymoron?) or sparkly caftan. Also, I’m 5-3, so hemming is an alteration likely to work, but the bust ones never lay right. Ideally, I guess, I need a petite sparkly caftan. Does this exist?

    I have struck out at Macy’s (petite offerings seem to have more of a junior’s cut), Asos (ditto), and Nordstrom (shocking, even though I tried to include expensive options).

  10. Does anyone here read their daily horoscope? I want to send a screenshot to a friend but I have no idea which site to pick! Are they all the same or are some better than others?

    1. It’s weekly, but I like Free Will Astrology (printed in The Stranger and Portland Mercury; I don’t know if it’s other places as well). I don’t believe in astrology at all, but this one is very weird and always makes me think, so I like it for that value.

      If you want something a little more mainstream, you probably want to check out the Co-Star app. I have a couple of friends who are just addicted to it.

  11. We booked our hipster office holiday party at a leather goods studio. Everyone gets to eat gourmet pizza and have fancy drinks with an on site bartender and everyone can make a belt. ( We did the sit down and eat steak thing and the bowling thing and basically are trying this as a middle ground lol)

    Belt making sounded great but I don’t own any pants (literally a 100% dress person) so now I have to go buy a pair of jeans and find out my jean size. Pray for me lol.

    1. That sounds really fun! Could you make the belt as a gift for someone?
      Or make a really small one as a dog collar?

      1. Well, it’s probably time I bought a pair of jeans lol. Who knows maybe I”ll be so cute I’ll buy more pants. XD

    4. I have several thinner-width leather belts that I pair with casual dresses and which can do double duty for high-waisted pants or jeans. See if you can make a thinner one?

    5. You’re going to buy (and presumably wear) a pair of jeans just because you’re going to make a belt? Give it away and/or make something else.

    6. Wear a beautiful dress and make a belt to wear at the waist of the dress.

      It sounds like a cool party.

    7. Yeah, I wear belts with dresses all the time. Make a skinny belt and you’ll be good to go!

      It sounds like a great party!

    8. Yeah, I wear jeans all the time but have only ever worn my belts over dresses. Whatever belt you are making may be too casual for your work dresses, but you can probably throw it over a sweater dress or some thin cotton thing you wear in the summer. Do not buy jeans for what could turn out to be some terrible hand tooled belt.

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