Tory Burch Alexia High Wedges, $495 via Neiman Marcus

I love a good “look for less” as much as anyone, but it’s so boring when a contemporary brand takes an extremely expensive, very well-known shoe, knocks it off and still charges a couple hundred bucks for it. The real bang for your buck happens when such a designer is able to recreate the mood or aesthetic that a certain premier designer has; that way, everyone is left wondering about your shoes and why they’ve never seen that design before.

That was exactly the experience I had with the Tory Burch Alexia High Wedge Sandals. I saw a picture of the design a few seconds before I noticed the name associated with it, and if I had been asked to guess, I would have guessed Yves Saint Laurent. In that tiny timeframe, I second-guessed myself about why I wasn’t already familiar with the design, and other shoe lovers will likely have the exact same reaction.

To my knowledge, Yves Saint Laurent has never made a wedge exactly like this one, but the gold-on-black piping and retro-modern shapes that make up this shoe feel a lot like what we’ve seen on the runways from Stefano Pilati in the last few seasons. Pilati tends to stick to traditional high heels when this look is invoked, though, and leaves the wedges for a more modern aesthetic. By marrying the two, Tory Burch has created a shoe that looks vaguely Yves Saint Laurent-ish, but not in a ripped-off sort of way. It’s merely a reference, and a significantly less expensive one at that. Buy through Neiman Marcus for $495.

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