Dior Tahiti Platform Pumps, $1550 via Nordstrom.

We all know the disaster that beset Dior when John Galliano decided to be a drunken racist a few months back, and it’s unfortunate that his bad behavior has overshadowed the retail debut of one of his finest collections in recent memory. Whether or not I’m willing to buy any of his work is a bit of a secondary issue at this point; from an aesthetic perspective, I’m head over heels for the Dior Tahiti Platform Pumps and the rest of the over-the-top, kitschy-cool accessories from Dior Spring 2011.

These shoes make me want to find a 1960s tiki hut and drink a rum cocktail from a hollowed-out pineapple, which is just about the strongest and most specific reaction a pair of shoes could even hope to engender. Perhaps it’s because it’s been unseasonably cold in New York for the past week, but these shoes struck me as the most welcome ray of sunshine I’ve seen in quite a while, just as they did when I first saw them on the runway. Sometimes the art is great even when the artist isn’t a great person. Buy through Nordstrom for $1550.