My feelings on the Christian Louboutin Lassagi Lace-Up Pumps are 90% positive, with the other ten percent residing firmly in the shoe’s laces. For such a cool design from a great brand, why are they being held together with twine from my utility drawer?

We’ll get to the way to fix that in a minute, though. First, let’s talk about what this shoe does correctly, which is just about everything else. It’s closed-toe for a certain amount of cold-weather wear (if the weather isn’t all that cold), but the cutouts will still let your cool tights show through or give your feet room to breathe in warmer temperatures. The color will look great in any season and with almost any neutral, but it will look particularly great if paired with a contrasting pattern or texture. More or less, the shoe sets you up perfectly to experiment with the trends that are coming for Spring 2011. But those laces…

The laces don’t do the shoe justice, but luckily, you can fix that. Go to the craft store and have fun with ribbon! Or, if you’d rather go the pre-made route, try some sheer options from American Apparel in a variety of colors. Not only will they make your shoes one-of-a-kind, but new laces will improve the look by leaps and bounds over the original. Buy through Neiman Marcus for $895.