ByKat Hours Updated
Comments 67 Comments

Coffee Break: Zebra Print Haircalf Blade Heel Pumps

Ann Taylor has some great sales going on today, including 50% off one full-price item, and 40% off others. These fun zebra print haircalf blade pumps caught my eye — they seem like the perfect pop against an otherwise neutral outfit.

They're $148 full price, but with the code they come down to $84. They're available in sizes 5–10.

Psst: Ann Taylor still stocks the tortoiseshell pumps that were reader favorites last year!

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!

Hunting for more traditional heels? Some of our favorites are below — don't forget to check out our entire Guide to Comfortable Heels!

Pictured above, some of our favorite black heels for the office: one / two / three / four / five

Sales of note for 12.5

Sales of note for 12.5

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

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

67 Comments

  1. I keep seeing heels as the pick here but would prefer to see flats. I know some people are back in the office, but the people I know who are say their offices are much more casual now than they were pre-pandemic.

    Of course, I do know Kat tends to post what sells, so who is buying and wearing all these heels? Genuinely curious.

    1. So true. I’ve only gone back to the office a few times for strategic meetings, and even in that context (i.e., Important Meeting) no one has been wearing heels of any significant height. Maybe 1″ wedges or block heels…

    3. I may be the outlier, but I am back in the office and wear my normal 3-4 inch heels around 3 times a week. I’ve been back full time for about a year and just went back to my normal work wardrobe.

    4. I am not yet back in the office but I am wearing heels in my personal life. Shrug.

      1. Same. But I am not buying work clothes right now. I am only going in to the office once in a blue moon and am still avoiding travel, so on the rare occasions when I wear work clothes I’m just wearing my 2019 stuff. I see no point in investing in work clothes that will probably go out of style before I get the chance to wear them.

        These shoes are a mystery to me. The shape says “work shoes from several years ago,” but the material says “crazy night out.”

        2. And who is having “crazy night out” anyway? That seems like even fewer people than the back in the office in work clothes crowd.

          1. Tourists, young people, and whoever hangs out in Hollywood on a Saturday. I was just trying to visit a friend’s house but traffic moved at a snail’s pace. As a person who is mostly staying at home for pandemic reasons, it was an unpleasant surprise.

    5. We have been back since April/May and, as far as I can tell, everyone wears what they wore before.

      I have to think this is the most common approach to post-pandemic working. It might not apply on this board (where I think incomes tend to run higher), but how many people can afford to replace their entire work wardrobe just to be slightly more casual?

      1. FWIW I am just wearing the flats and low heels that I already had. Heels are not in the rotation at the moment.
        I’m certainly not in the market for new ones.

        As I gradually update my wardrobe once we’re back (like I would always purchase a few new things each season), lower styles will be what I purchase.

    6. Yeah but if you’re not back in the office are you buying flats OR heels? I’m in workout clothes and sneakers/Birks every day. Maybe 2018 Rothy’s if I’m fancy.

      1. I mean, yeah, Birks 4 Lyfe, but I still buy new shoes because shoes wear out.

        I bought the Birkenstock Buckley style for fall this year, and before that bought some new flats (Earth brand) for late summer, and also replaced my non-workout, running around sneakers (Jambu JBU Nicole)….. If I’m being honest, my workout sneakers have not had a chance to wear our!!

    7. I was only out of the office for about 6 weeks, and in that time, I switched from 80% heels to 80% flats. I really like these though and am very tempted.

    8. Me. Office is much more casual – went from business formal lawyer style to slightly eccentric rich-people businessy casual – hard to explain but think expensive, put together yet not formal clothes where heels are still in the mix. Also, after a year of not wearing heels for a year, I pretty much got rid of all the ones that I didn’t look at in dark times (aka summer 2020) and tell them “some day you’ll get to leave my closest” or in less confessional speak, all the ones that didn’t spark joy. As a result, I needed new basic heels.

      1. I definitely want to learn more about this slightly eccentric rich-people businessy casual style! What kind of shoes are you wearing? What would be an example of this style?

        1. On the easy question – loafers, lots of block heels, wedges, fun colors and prints encouraged. For further explanation of the style, guys are really exploring sneakers and other fun footwear + designer jeans. Also, lots of prints/colors on shirts for guys but more subtle than Cam from Modern Family. For women, normal business jackets replaced with moto jackets, oversized blazer making a surprising come back, not much in the way of fitted sheath dresses + cardigans. Basically, everyone looked in their closet at all the non-boring clothes they liked (e.g., the fun jacket) and started wearing those when they got back in. Then, we looked around and went… well, I will buy more non-boring clothes since I am sick of yoga pants but also don’t want to wear boring clothes.

  2. Anyone have a suggestion on how to follow up on a package? It was originally sent from Eddie Bauer on 9/29 and supposed to be delivered 10/7. That’s what fedex was saying. Then on 10:7 they said on 10/8. Then they said “status pending” so I have no idea when it’ll be delivered. But when I try to call Fedex the automatic system just says “it’s on its way” if I give the tracking number, and won’t connect me to a human. Eddie Bauer said “if you don’t get it by the end of the month call and we can see if you can get a refund or get a new one”. Help?

    1. If you don’t want to wait until the end of the month, can you dispute the charges? I assume Eddie Bauer will make it right, but if it’s like the last item and no longer available, they can’t physically find the package if Fedex can’t or won’t.

    2. I would just be patient and wait for it to show up or go to your local FedEx location and talk to a person there.

      1. Im not sure what my local fedex location would be, just the nearest store? Mostly was hoping there’s a way to get through to an actual person at fedex who could say if it’s “oh it missed the truck but should be there soon” (last location is a local suburb) vs “it’s lost and we are looking for it but who knows and if you need it soon or are afraid your size/color won’t be available in a month better order another”

        1. Good luck. We spend millions of dollars a year each with carriers like FedEx and this is a challenge for us.

    3. Is it actual FedEx Ground/Home Delivery or is it FedEx Smartpost? Because if it’s Smartpost, it will be handed over to USPS to do the final delivery and can add a couple days onto the end. Smartpost is basically ‘slow boat’ shipping and the tracking number will [usually] have 92 at the beginning.

    4. Set up a (free) FedEx & UPS account and you can get detailed tracking info. But honestly FedEx is the least reliable shipping service- they mark stuff as delivered when it was really just transferred to SmartPost for USPS to do the last mile, neglect to actually scan a package shipped via ground anywhere between California and Maryland – making it show as MIA for a week – and twice have delivered a package to my same street NUMBER but a different street several blocks away, then acted like I was the problem for not walking into the random apt building to look for it. GAH.

    5. Set up a (free) FedEx & UPS account and you can get detailed tracking info. But honestly FedEx is the least reliable shipping service- they mark stuff as delivered when it was really just tr..nsferred to SmartPost for USPS to do the last mile, neglect to actually scan a package shipped via ground anywhere between California and Maryland – making it show as MIA for a week – and twice have delivered a package to my same street NUMBER but a different street several blocks away, then acted like I was the problem for not walking into the random apt building to look for it. GAH.

    6. When you track the package, are you looking at the travel history? That can tell you if the package has made it to your city, or if it was weirdly routed and/or sitting somewhere. If it seems to have gone awry, a tweet to fed ex help can get results, but be prepared to dm the details. That helped me earlier this year when a gift being shipped from CA to NM went to Florida and stayed there several days.

    7. This happened to me a few times this past year. It’s a true clusterfck for anything being shipped right now. I would submit a claim online if you can. Otherwise, I would call fedex and just not provide a tracking number. Try to bypass to get to a human. I forget how I did it but eventually someone called me. A package basically disappeared in their warehouses.

    8. I had this happen and the package was delivered 2 days after the status pending change.

  3. I just saw an interesting recipe with “preserved lemon” but didn’t like the main protein (a fish I’ve never seen for sale around me). I like the idea of preserved lemons – does anyone have a recipe they like with chicken, shrimp, salmon? Cod/scallops/beans? Thank you in advance.

    2. Preserved lemons are traditional in Moroccan tagines. If you search for recipes for those you’ll find a ton.

    3. Hard to say without knowing the specific fish, but if you google that fish and substitutes, it’ll likely tell you more common proteins that are close in texture/flavor if you want to use that specific recipe!

    4. A lot of Ottolenghi recipes use it. His recipes are generally very reliable and tasty.

    5. You can sub out fish pretty readily – white fish for white fish, oily fish for oily fish. I make a grouper tagine, and from the looks of my lemon tree, I’ll be making it a lot in the coming weeks to use up last year’s lemons before this year’s crop is ready.
      But really, they’re good in most anything.

  4. Randomly for the “how do you style joggers” person earlier. I don’t wear joggers to work (which I’m back at). But this year has taught me that non-work clothes are important and I just hate wrestling on leggings (regardless of heat or humidity, which ups the challenge; I need pants I can put on in one second, not 30). I wear with Shirts with Words, largely b/c without enough school buses, I now leave work at 3 to pick up kids at 2 schools and then WFH the rest of the day, so I can justify the purchase of a couple of pairs. I think you could make them cuter and find joggers nicer than the old navy ones (but the ON ones are great! and come in tall (IDK what actual tall people do; the talls are normal length on me from the ones I bought late last spring)).

    1. I am so over leggings after the pandemic. I think I will keep the stretchy jeans and “pandemic pants” but leggings can say bye from my wardrobe forever.

      1. I just hate wrestling with my clothes. I put on lotion after shaving my legs and then tried to put on leggings to go walk the dog. And tried. And tried. And tried. Hate them now.

    2. Reposting my response from the morning thread—I dress up joggers with a jean jacket or a slouchy sweater. See Jo-Lynne Shane or Susie Wright for examples of joggers with jean jackets.

    3. Leggings are overrated IMO. Like you said, they take too long to put on, they’re not breathable enough, and they’re so close to the skin that you can’t wear them more than once very easily.

      1. THANK YOU. I feel like an outlier, but I don’t find leggings comfortable at all.

    4. Thanks for the bump! (Post was stuck in mod forever so not sure anyone saw!)
      I was inspired by the cloud print joggers that Keeley wore in an episode of Ted Lasso. They were paired them with this skin tight longsleeve black top and… well, not being built like Juno Temple, I don’t know that it was a look I could ever pull off. But I loved the whimsy of the pants.
      Yes, absolutely to 30 second pants that can stay on for the rest of the day. I heard someone once say that “comfortable” should not be a word you use to define your style – clothes should just be comfortable by default.

  5. It is so quiet here today. Do people really have Columbus Day off? In my city, public schools are open and all parents are at work. Banks are closed though (so 3-day weekend for some people).

    3. My state is basically closed – no school, no banks, no mail, etc. I’m WFH as my employer gives us all the random holidays throughout the year at Christmas time.

      1. I wish that the quarter-end and fiscal-year-end weren’t also when my kids’ big school break was. Sorry, Mom’s off to work 18-hour days, but just when we’d all be rathering that that not need to happen. This is reminding me that from Halloween – NYE is the worst time of the year and maybe this is the last day I get to catch my breath :(

    4. I wondered why co-counsel said “have a good holiday weekend” on Friday and had to look it up, so I don’t. Husband doesn’t. It’s a teacher work day for our public schools (though the school board has recognized it as Indigenous Peoples’ Day)

    5. Yes. All my friends who work in state government and public schools have today off.

    6. I work for the government so I’m off for Indigenous Peoples Day. I have no desire to have a day off for Columbus and totally support the movement to rename to Indigenous Peoples Day, which is what my city calls it.

      I get 12 holidays a year and that is one of the reasons I have no desire to leave government. I think it’s so sad that private companies have cut back on today/MLK/Presidents Day. Would it kill companies to give three (or 4 – Juneteenth) extra days off a year?

      1. I miss getting smaller holidays off – I work for a hospital so we get nothing off. Technically if you’re not assigned to a clinical service, the back offices are closed for major holidays, but you still have to use PTO for them.

      2. We have no long weekends from Labor Day to Thanksgiving (but OMG month end near quarter end near fiscal year end), but it’s not a restful time. Ditto xmas break. So by the time we get to MLK, I finally get to breathe. I feel back b/c long weekends would also help my kids recharge, but we have random workdays for teachers on Tuesdays, which I’m sure the teachers aren’t terribly fond of, either. It is such a slog. As a kid, we had long weekends for Columbus Day, Teacher Convention (November?), President’s Day, etc. plus the other holiday times. It was so bearable (in NJ; big Italian community, so Columbus Day is for them as they understand it, to account for anti-Italian, anti-immigrant, and anti-Catholic prejudices in the early 1900s when most of their ancestors came over, all of which I get along with current concerns; people are complicated entry # infinity).

        At least schools are open this year???

        Ugh.

      3. I was going to say in fairness my company gives us 2 days for thanksgiving and christmas instead of President’s Day and Columbus Day, but then I realized this means we’re still 2 days short of the federal holidays since Juneteenth was added :-/ (and couldn’t figure out what day I was missing–Veterans’ Day, apparently).

        I want to start a movement to have at least one holiday day every month. The stretch between MLK Day and Memorial Day is brutal (even if we got President’s Day, March and April need a holiday).

      4. I wish there were more private-sector holidays in the first half of the calendar year. The back half is pretty loaded up; January through the end of May is a wasteland. As a native Bostonian, I think everyone should celebrate Patriot’s Day.

      5. I work for state government and we are all working today. I think it depends on the state.

    7. I work in government so I’m off but I’d say over half of my private sector friends are also off.

      It feels so stingy when private companies don’t give the government / bank holidays off too.

    9. State of CA employee – we do not have today as a holiday. We traded it for Cesar Chavez Day (March 31) a few years ago.

    10. Thanks for explaining the lull for the non-Americans! I’ve not really heard of most of the US holidays, to be honest my most comprehensive reference is the Holiday Inn movie…

      Indigenous People’s Day sounds like a much better celebration than Colombus’ day.
      Happy Indigenous People’s Day! Where I live we celebrate on February 6th, which is the day of the Sami People (Norway, Sweden, Finland and parts of Russia).

Comments are closed.