# Ladies, Whats So Special About Manolo Blahnick Shoes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-whats-so-special-about-manolo-blahnick-shoes/596878 "2011-09-20T00:09:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-whats-so-special-about-manolo-blahnick-shoes/596878/41 "2011-09-21T15:52:00Z")
Well, I’m sorry to irritate you, but when one pair of “really nice” shoes cost the equivalent of my mortgage payment, I consider it silly and frivolous to spend my mortgage payment on a pair of shoes. Different strokes, different priorities, everyone spends their money differently, YMMV, and all that. You can also get a pair of “really nice” shoes that are designed well, fit well, and are comfortable and durable, for 1/4 of the price. I still consider $150 shoes to be a bit overpriced, but there’s still plenty of great quality shoes available for far less than designer shoes. See also: Steve Maddens (you know, the designs that are copied from the big money designers?). ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-whats-so-special-about-manolo-blahnick-shoes/596878/42 "2011-09-21T16:01:17Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Witchy _and_ they make your feet look huge! I will never understand… > > My favorite shoe designer is [Chie Mihara](http://www.chiemihara.com/colecciones.html). Anthropologie often carries a few of her shoes, but they are almost always in the $400+ range, which means they must remain my dream shoes. I think her style is adorable but elegant, and all of her shoes would fit right in with my wardrobe and lifestyle, as I work in a library and love vintage clothing. I love how her shoes have a 1920s-1940s look without being campy. Oh thank you. THANKS A LOT. I have found [this pair](http://www.endless.com/dp/B00427Z598/191-6566526-5257023?ie=UTF8&creative=395033&suppressRedirect=1&linkCode=asn&tag=dealtimendles-20&creativeASIN=B00427Z598&ref_=asc_df_B00427Z5981704837) thanks to you and am lusting with all my might, even without the discounted price. This is a shoe _I’d_ wear for eight years, easily. \ Too bad I’m currently out of the shoe-acquisition business. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-whats-so-special-about-manolo-blahnick-shoes/596878/43 "2011-09-21T17:21:31Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Oh thank you. THANKS A LOT. I have found [this pair](http://www.endless.com/dp/B00427Z598/191-6566526-5257023?ie=UTF8&creative=395033&suppressRedirect=1&linkCode=asn&tag=dealtimendles-20&creativeASIN=B00427Z598&ref_=asc_df_B00427Z5981704837) thanks to you and am lusting with all my might, even without the discounted price. This is a shoe _I’d_ wear for eight years, easily. \ Too bad I’m currently out of the shoe-acquisition business. That’s cheap for that designer! I’ve never seen anything lower than $375 before. I don’t know, Ellen…you may want to reconsider paying your electric bill for a while… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-whats-so-special-about-manolo-blahnick-shoes/596878/44 "2011-09-21T17:23:44Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Well, I’m sorry to irritate you, but when one pair of “really nice” shoes cost the equivalent of my mortgage payment, I consider it silly and frivolous to spend my mortgage payment on a pair of shoes. Different strokes, different priorities, everyone spends their money differently, YMMV, and all that. > > You can also get a pair of “really nice” shoes that are designed well, fit well, and are comfortable and durable, for 1/4 of the price. I still consider $150 shoes to be a bit overpriced, but there’s still plenty of great quality shoes available for far less than designer shoes. See also: Steve Maddens (you know, the designs that are copied from the big money designers?). Sure you can. I never said you couldn’t! Hell, I don’t own ANY shoes that cost more than about $175 (and those are running shoes), so you’re preaching to the choir. But a friend of mine is an attorney, and she owns a few pairs of high end shoes. She buys classic styles, and she actually does wear them for several years. She can afford them, and she finds them to be more comfortable and durable. Acting like that purchase is frivolous strikes me as pretty sexist, actually. You can easily spend many hundreds of dollars on cell phones and other gadgets that have a known shelf life of maybe a couple years. Again, no one bats an eye at that. But if a woman spends equivalent money (her OWN money!!) on nice shoes or purses or makeup orwhatever, its because she’s just oh-so-shallow. There is a real quality difference between these items. At the super high end it starts to matter less, sure, but then you are also paying for design. I just get sick of these “Women why are you so CRAZY buying fancy things, don’t you know about Payless, hurr hurr hurr!” threads. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-whats-so-special-about-manolo-blahnick-shoes/596878/45 "2011-09-21T17:33:19Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > I just get sick of these “Women why are you so CRAZY buying fancy things, don’t you know about Payless, hurr hurr hurr!” threads. Right there with you. We can all reasonably disagree about what constitutes a worthwhile expense, but it pisses me right the fuck off that a lot of the attitudes in fashion-related threads boil down to "_girls_ are just so _silly_!’ ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-whats-so-special-about-manolo-blahnick-shoes/596878/46 "2011-09-21T17:58:05Z")
Okay, I see what y’all mean. Because I was waiting for some man to come in here and demand that I explain why I need six different pairs of shoes in the same color. It’s not because I’m Imelda Marcos. It’s because I like having choices. Also, I suppose any one of us could go toe-to-toe (ha ha) with any guy who claims that wanting shoe choices is silly and frivolous. I bet within three questions we could find the thing a man spends his money on that _we_ would think is silly and frivolous. Football gear comes to mind, and by that I mean jerseys, banners, coffee mugs, whatever kitsch that has some NFL logo imprinted on it. That stuff is stupidly overpriced, looks awful, and I can’t imagine why anyone would waste their money on such a thing. However, I don’t think this has as much to do with sexism as it does: people spend their money in different ways and value different things. Men spend all kinds of money on things we consider to be stupid shit, too. Think about your SO for thirty seconds. What’s the last thing he bought that made you think “Wha? You spent your money on THAT?” I can think of five things right off the top of my head that my BF bought that I thought was a waste of money. But he was happy with his purchase, so I keep my mouth shut and go shoe shopping (he likes my sexy shoes so that analogy doesn’t really hold up, but you get the point, I’m sure). ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-whats-so-special-about-manolo-blahnick-shoes/596878/47 "2011-09-21T18:03:53Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Right there with you. We can all reasonably disagree about what constitutes a worthwhile expense, but it pisses me right the fuck off that a lot of the attitudes in fashion-related threads boil down to "_girls_ are just so _silly_!’ I’m with you two - it always seems like the “woman” stuff is what is considered silly, and not male stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-whats-so-special-about-manolo-blahnick-shoes/596878/48 "2011-09-21T18:10:18Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > If you have to ask, you’re single, and thus don’t deserve an answer, because you’re not paying for them. Find an older, wiser married man and ask him…😃 I think this is a perfect example of what you’re talking about. In what universe does this poster live? Since when do men pay all the bills for the women they are married to? Is it still 1950? This kind of comment makes me stabby because it assumes: A) All women who buy shoes are married, B) All married women do not work and do not earn their own money, C) All married women are not in control of their own money or purchasing decisions, and D) Women buying shoes should be something that men just roll their eyes about and tolerate because otherwise, we will not fuck them. Dude. I’m not fucking him for the _shoes_. If that were the case, I’d be fucking Steve Madden. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-whats-so-special-about-manolo-blahnick-shoes/596878/49 "2011-09-21T18:20:40Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I’m with you two - it always seems like the “woman” stuff is what is considered silly, and not male stuff. Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I find that a significant portion of men spend silly and frivolous amounts of money on things like electronics, cars and watches. For example, I’ve never seen a woman with a Rolex but I have seen men buy them. > [@Dogzilla](#): > > I bet within three questions we could find the thing a man spends his money on that _we_ would think is silly and frivolous. I must answer you these questions three! ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-whats-so-special-about-manolo-blahnick-shoes/596878/50 "2011-09-21T18:27:52Z")
My husband and I share a common obsession with boots, so personally I can’t join the war against men in this instance. 😉 (I’m purportedly getting a pair of Impressionistic cowboy rain boots for my birthday in October. Can you _imagine_?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-whats-so-special-about-manolo-blahnick-shoes/596878.md?page=2)