Manolo says, after much agonized deliberation the Manolo has picked the winner of the third Build the Outfit Contest, and it is the LaMaria!

Here is how she described the reasoning behind her choices.

Like some of you have mentioned, these seem like fall shoes but the current season and the open toe would suggest summer, so I tried to lighten up the look with complementary earth mama tones. I wanted the pants to pick up the color of the silvery rhinestones on the shoes and to minimize the tweedy look by using a variety of textures.

Picking the winner of this week’s contest was difficult, there were so many excellent entries.

However, as the Manolo watched the entries arrive over the course of the week, it was apparent that some things worked much better than others. The first was that these shoes were perfect for the cropped pants. The second was that the accessories would have to in some way highlight the rhinestones in these otherwise conservative shoes.

By the way, the Manolo must now praise the designer Laura on the rhinestone addition, these two little details are what make the shoe work for the Manolo, for they take what would be the otherwise overly subdued shoe, of tweed and brown, and give it the sparkle of life.

The LaMaria’s choice of scarf, purse, and bangle all complement the shoes in color and bling, while the pants and top are clean and spare and classical in line, and thus in perfect keeping with feeling of the shoes. Ultimately, though, it is the choice of accessories which make this whole outfit sing.

So, congratulations to the LaMaria! The Manolo knows dozens of the famous stylists who could not have done half as well when presented with the shoes such as this.

For her prize, the LaMaria will receive the pair of shoes from the Al-Amirah. This is certain to be the difficult choice for her as there are many beautiful shoes to be seen here.