I’ve never been a shoe person. Perhaps this is due entirely to two factors: (1) i have massive, unladylike feet that would never be able to squeeze into a Jimmy Choo shoe, and (b) I could maybe afford a pair if I saved up for years, but why bother?
I’d pay a few hundred bucks for one pair, if it was really comfortable, funky, versatile and quality-made so I could keep wearing them for years. (My friend has a pair of Fleuvogs that I borrow when I need a pair of fancy shoes, they fit nice and wide and aren’t too hard to walk in. I’d buy a pair of those if the need arose, and I would never buy black heels again.)
I guess if I had loads of money and narrower feet, it may be easier for me to understand.
So please, can someone tell me why people pay so much (both in the unbelievable amounts of cash, and in surgery (!!)) for shoes?
Well, I am a shoe person. The most I ever paid for a pair of shoes was $385 for a pair of gorgeous, super comfortable Chanel slides. I had money from a bonus check so it didn’t come out of the budget. I also paid around $175 for a pair of Franco Sarto knee high boots. Both shoes will likely be in style for years and years and are made well enough to last ages.
I have fairly average size feet. I have tried on shoes costing as much as $1500, just to see how they feel. My $35, eBay purchase, Dr. Martens were more comfortable, as were my $85 Linea Paulo dressy heels. I can’t imagine spending that much money on shoes even if I won the lottery.
Well, the wrong person to answer that one checking in here!
I have no idea, as far as fancy shoes go. But then, I’ll spend large amounts on boots. Boots that fit well and do their job and last a long time when you’re in them all the time are a little on the pricey sides.
I may only have one or two pairs of fancy “interview” shoes, but I do have a hell of a lot of money invested in boots!
man, if I had a pair of $1500 shoes, I would either never wear them for fear of mucking them up, or I would wear them to an event, take them off, and forget them under a table somewhere.
But for the people who buy $1500 shoes, it’s not a huge portion of their income. Me, I see $1500 and I think “used car”, some people see $1500 and think “fun money”.
I love shoes but I don’t pay a ton for them. I usually look for knock0offs of designer shoes. I have a shoe thing for several reasons. First, they never make you look fat and gaining a few pounds doesn’t mean they don’t fit. Good shoes can really make an outfit look better. Plus, I kinda buy into the whole shoe fetish thing. Sexy shoes make me feel sexier.
Right, now I really, really want these but can’t justify paying $123 for shoes I can’t wear to work. Yeah, I know my taste in shoes is tacky but they have FLAMES and GLITTER! What could be cooler…
I’ll join in the tack-fest. I’ve wanted these shoes in pink since I first saw them. I don’t wear pink - I’m not big on tweed - I don’t wear 3" heels - but I want them anyway!
Oh - and I have a hard time spending more than $50 or so on shoes. I love shoes, don’t get me wrong - I have a wide variety of shoes, and can be fussy about which of my 20 million pairs of black shoes looks best with the outfit I am wearing. But for me the problem is the more expensive the shoe, the less versatile it seems to me - the colors & patterns are too fancy/unusual to go with what I have in my closet.
Yah, Jules, I pay a lot for boots too, occasionally, mostly because a good, nice-looking, high-quality, warm, waterproof, comfortable and well-fitting pair is both very rare and crucial for a boat-footed Torontonian like me. If I skimp on boots I really regret it by February.
Good point re: people who drop $1500 on a pair of shoes don’t really miss the money.
Hey, when would you wear those glittery/pink/tweedy shoes? I think they’re cool too, but if I had them I’d leave them in my closet. Maybe bring them out sometimes to show my friends.
I actually bought a groovy pair of shoes last year, purely because they were cute and somewhat comfortable. I love them ! And, they only cost me $10 ! But I never wear them. It is this which makes me realize I am simply not a shoe person. I have worn my $5 Chinatown flipflops all summer. (Yes I was lucky to have a job where that was okay.)
What is it that makes a pair of Manolos worth so much more than a decent quality and attractive, but much cheaper, pair? Are they higher quality? More attractive? More comfortable?
That’s why I can’t justify buying them; I woudn’t wear 'em enough. I don’t really go all that often and they’re too flashy for work (learned my lesson last year when I bought a pair of suede poity toed stilletto knee high boots. I love them but never wear 'em.). But I think the pink shoes would be OK for work. (susan_foster, I’ve admired those as well. Your shoe collection soudns just like mine, lots and lots of moderately priced black shoes )
Truthfully, if I’m not dressed up or at work, I almost always wear the $5 pair of Old Navy flip flops I bought last year. I have a new pair but I figure the old ones are broken in…
A lot of the Manolo and Jimmy Choo mystique is just fashion. They have the styles first and it can take a year or so 'til the fashions filter down to the local mall. It took a while before I could buy pointy toed stillettos in town. (which, BTW, are my favorite shoe. I’ve already read that the trend is going back to round toes. I will be soooo unhappy when the big clunky oxfords are back in fashion. )
My husband will only wear Allen Edmonds dress shoes, and many of his casual shoes are AE as well. They fit very well, are extremely comfortable, and when they begin to show a little wear or the heel needs replacing, you send them to AE and they totally recondition the shoes and send you back what amounts to a brand-new pair! For free!
Hubby has about 8 pairs, and they ran about $185-350 each (the lowest were a huge sale).
Of course, now that we work at home he’s got a closet FULL of dress shoes and $2500 suits that never get worn…
I am another person who can’t imagine paying more than $50 for a pair of shoes.
I don’t pay any attention to what shoes other people are wearing most of the time, so I don’t see much value in getting extravagant shoes. If they’re comfortable and in good repair, that’s all I really need. Of course, I don’t really have a problem with it if other people who can afford it feel they need such shoes for whatever reason.
Shoes, glorious shoes! I have been a shoe freak since I was about 12 years old. I am embarrassed to even say how many pairs I have (both shoes and boots). But I love 'em. I have always said that:
Shoes are your friend…you never feel fat when you try them on
You NEED them…where can you go without shoes? Not many places at all
They are MUCH less expensive than a therapist, or any of the other things I could buy to cheer me up (I also keep my shoe purchases to about $50 a pair…DSW ROCKS!). Viva la shoes!
I need all these shoes. I mean, if my plans for world domination are ever successful, I wanna make sure I have the right thing to wear. ::rumages around in closet…looks concerned…leaves to go buy a pair of black patent stilletto boots::
I have wide feet and will gradly drop 100 bucks on a pair of Doc Martins once a year. My family has come to understand that my brother and I will tear through clothes and shoes, as we are both chemists. Clothes get acid holes, no point in anything beyond jeans and tee shirts. Shoes get abused. I wear sketchers, as they take the abuse (I have them laced with kid laces with pink and purple butterflies to hold on to some sense of what gender I belong to). I can not see spending lots of money on shoes on a regular basis, but if I had a suit and heals job, I would most like need to drop 200~ on a nice set of heals that wouldn’t kill me feet. But just one pair. That went with everything.
Truth be told, I suppose most people who can afford to do so have at least one article of footwear or clothing on which they will not compromise. Like most guys, I’m not a shoe person–so long as they protect my feet I can take or leave them. But I will not compromise on jeans. Again, because I’m a guy, and we guys never throw any clothing out until it falls apart, I don’t even try to find good quality jeans (or anything else) at thrift or discount stores, so I’ve actually paid retail at the private brand shops of Levi and Lucky. You will not find me in $20 jeans from Walmart, though I have had some pretty good luck finding better jeans way below retail, on Ebay.
So I don’t really understand the shoe thing, but I can sort of understand the principles behind it.
I’ve never gotten the whole shoe collection thing, either. If I don’t have to go somewhere, I’m barefoot (or in slippers in winter). To me, shoes are just something you wear to either keep your feet from getting sliced up, or keep from being thrown out of businesses. Unlike tremorviolet, I will be delighted when the roach-killer stillettos go out of fashion. I haven’t bought a pair of dress shoes since the abominable things came in, and I hope to squeak by until something more comfortable and attractive comes into style.
As far as fashion goes, I won’t buy what I don’t like, or don’t find comfortable. That said, if I like them, and I’ll wear them, I’ll buy them. I have a pair of suede, square toed knee high boots, with 3" heels. I’m sure they don’t look that comfortable, and I certainly won’t wear them if I plan on being on my feet 8 hours. I still love them, and I wear them alot.
I think what someone said earlier, about $1500 being fun money for some people, is true. And more power to them, I say!
I just ordered a pair of Danskos on-line for $120. That’s my highwater point to date. I’m usually a fan of Famous Footwear and Payless–I have a closetful of cheap shoes! But I do own a couple of pairs of Danskos (gifts), and they are SO comfortable–I can be on my feet for hours without any foot or back pain. I dithered over these shoes for weeks. I really want them but found it hard to justify that amount of money for shoes. My birthday is coming up and my husband said I can consider them my BD gift. I can’t see myself buying any shoes more expensive than these. Unless they turn out to be like a “gateway shoe” that leads me down the path to pricey boots and $200 fuck-me pumps.
)
)
