Happy 20th Anniversary Mr. Louboutin.

THANK YOU for 20 years of fabulously designed shoes.

Thank you for designing a shoe and bootie and boot in the same fabulous style.

Thank you for designing shoes that take my breath away.

Thank you for setting the bar for shoe designing so high that everyone has become a better shoe designer. 

Thank you for designing a shoe with multiple heel heights so everyone who loves the shoe can find their perfect pair.

THANKS for keeping the classics available so that wannabe’s like me can get a pair when we save enough.  

AND, I Looking forward to thanking you for many more OMG shoe moments and finally getting my first pair of Christian Louboutin Shoes! 

Yes, the title of this post is your shoes BFF’s – meaning that your shoes have at least two best friends. 

The FIRST best friend (and it should pain me to put them first, but it is the truth) is the Cobbler.

It is really important to find a good Cobbler and befriend them.  There are a lot of people (well not as many as their used to be) out there masquerading as Cobblers, however, they are just imitation shoe repair people.

A good Cobbler can fix problems, repair your favorite shoe, and even extend the life of your favorite shoes.

The SECOND best friend is your Heel Shield if you drive. Do you vacuum your car mats everyday? AND, do your heels never touch the car mats? If that is the case, then you may not need a Heel Shield.  But if you are like the rest of us – THEN, you NEED a Heel Shield. 

If you have mysterious black marks on the back of your right shoe, that can’t be repaired – you have Driver’s Black Heel.

I know a lot of ladies who think they are ruining their shoes on the office chair – NOPE!  Ladies it is not the chair, it is the driving. 

I recently had a friend remark that she can only wear platforms.  WOW, I thought.  I really need to perform an intervention.

So, we talked.  I let her know that leather soles are the secret to wearing heels all day long.  Without leather soles, or platforms, your feet are almost guaranteed to hurt. 

I say almost guaranteed because I don’t remember if 17 and 18 year old feet hurt in plastic bottom shoes.   However, I do know over 25 year old feet hurt in plastic bottom shoes. 

She wanted to know if the inside of the shoe had to be leather.  Surprisingly in all price points, most manufacturers make the inside lining of their shoes out of leather. 

So what do you do when you see a pair of TO DIE FOR Shoes and the sole is plastic – You take the shoes to your favorite cobbler and have the sole replaced with a leather sole. 

Just think – there are a lot of designers who copy the BIG Name Designers – and  do really cute knock-offs. 

So ladies buy the $39 shoe and add a leather sole and you can wear them in comfort. 

If you really want or have too, you can put a rubber sole on the shoe. I don’t usually suggest a rubber sole since you can’t dance in rubber soled shoes. 

We have all purchased a shoe that was just a little too small.  You know – the shoe you fall in love with and the store has sold out of  the size you should buy.  But you BUY a pair any way – even though it is a tight fit.

Most of the time your salesman will tell you he can stretch the shoe a little so it will fit and relieve that really tight feeling.  So you buy the shoes and come back a few days later to get your nicely stretched NON-RETURNABLE shoes. 

When you get home, yes the shoe is a little better fit, but still not quite comfortable enough for all-day wear. 

Now what do you do.  Put on a pair of socks and wear the shoes around the house – ONLY!  The sock will stretch the leather.  Sometimes you may have to wet the leather a little (not soak) to coax the leather to stretch even more. 

Socks and shoes are (IN MY OPINION) a CRIME against fashion and all things beautiful about shoes and legs. The same way athletic shoes destroy an outfit, socks can make even the most beautiful shoe look crappy.  So when the style mavens say socks and shoes are the new trend for the season, all I think about is how my leather shoes will be stretched out of shape and be too big to wear alone or with hose. 

So, if you LOVE a pair of shoes that fit, DON’T, I repeat, DON’T wear them with socks. 

One of the reasons I like Andy Bravo and the Watch What Happens Live Program is the fact that he appreciates a beautiful shoe. 

Andy always notices the shoes and gives a SHOUT OUT if the shoe is fabulous. 

Sherri Shepherd was on the show the other day and Sherri had on some fabulous Over-the-Knee Chanel Boots.  They were AMAZING. 

I saw those boots days ago and they are still on my mind.  What a boot.  And, surprising that Sherri had them on – she likes to talk about how thrifty she is and Chanel and thrift don’t meet anywhere.

Sorry about not providing a picture – I scoured the net but came up empty handed. 

Since Sherri is so thrifty, she should be a heel shield customer.  Joan Rivers wears Chanel and she uses a heel shield to protect them from the dirty shoe drama of driving. 

Was just watching an Entertainment Tonight Episode where George Clooney talks about his life before being a famous actor – his life as a shoe salesman.  In the segment he states that ALL women LIE about their shoe size.  C’MON GEORGE!

I have never met a woman who felt the need to lie about her shoe size, now her weight, dress size, age, YES.  Shoe size – why?  If someone is going to gift you with a pair of, let’s  say Christian Louboutin’s, you really want to make sure you get the right size (otherwise they WILL hurt your feet).

His example was – women who wore a size 12 saying they wore a size 6 – REALLY! 

I do realize that a lot of women don’t have a good idea of what size shoe they should purchase.  In fact, a lot of people think that because once upon a time they wore a specific size, that that is their size for every shoe all the time.   The truth is that the size a person wears depends a lot on the manufacturer.   I am a perfect size Stuart Weitzman 10 most of the time.  However, I am a perfect size 11 Christian Louboutin.  

Weight also has a lot to do with shoe size.  After  weight gain, the shoe size, like the  clothing size, is going to change.  AND, after a significant amount of weight loss, the shoe size will also change. 

So, when you go to buy your next pair of shoes, maybe you will get lucky and have a really good shoe salesman who will MEASURE your foot to find out your REAL shoe size.

The color of the heel shield is your personal preference.  The important thing about the heel shield is how it protects your shoes from scuffing and scarring while you drive.  The covering is just for show and logo’s. 

If you get a black heel shield and you polish your black shoes, you will have some black polish rub-off on the inside of the black heel shield.  This is only a problem if you want to use that same heel shield on a different color shoe.  Since you probably won’t notice that the polish is on the inside of the heel shield, when you take the heel shield off the colored (or white) shoe, you may think the heel shield caused the color transfer  – NOPE.  We purposely use vinyl and plastic to ensure there is NO color transfer danger to your colored or white shoes. 

AND, it is for that reason, we suggest the purchase of two heel shields – one for black shoes and one for your colored and white shoes

What do Tin-Tin and Christian Louboutin have in common you ask?  You will be completely surprised at the connection between the two that make them the subject of a post on this shoe blog.

I haven’t seen Tin-Tin – an animated feature about a young boy.  However, the similarities between the two of them became apparent to me after watching a recent episode of Bravo Andy’s Watch What Happens Live Program. 

Sheree Whitfield and her hairdresser Miss Lawrence were the guests for this episode and Miss Lawrence showed off her early Christmas present – a pair of Christian Louboutin Boots.   And there is the similarity.  The front of the Puck Boot looks just like the hair style for Tin-Tin. 

I LOVED the Lions Paw Shoe, however, I am not sure about this boot.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think – is the Puck Boot a hit or a miss.  What I do know is the Puck Boot would need a Heel Shield to keep the hair from rubbing off while driving, just like the Lions Paw Shoe. 

I saw a post about these new shoes that were designed to add height when needed.  I guess the first question is – Would you really call them shoes?  Doesn’t quite look like you could actually pick your feet up and walk.

Secondly, I wonder how heavy they are?  Even if you decided to try them out, how long before both your feet and legs hurt?

AND, most importantly, where would you wear them and with what outfit.  Who has something in their closet that this item (notice I didn’t call them shoes) would actually complement.

I think if you are really need a step ladder, a step ladder is in order.  And, if you need shoes for height, a two-inch platform shoe would give you extra height and look good doing it.   The designer of this item must have had the Science Lab in mind.

Prada is quite a renowned Designer that millions of people follow.  As I have said before, I usually don’t like the Prada Shoes that Saks carries.  They are just not to my liking. 

Then I saw these – YIKES!    I saw this picture of this boot (with a built in shoe look) and the post said this was a Prada shoe.  Saks didn’t even carry this pair and Saks seems to carry unattractive Prada Shoes. 

What do you think?  Do you think this is really a Prada Boot/Shoe (not even sure what to call it)?  AND, would you wear them if you were gifted with them?  Leave a comment and let us know!