I was fine with the Isabel Marant Sneaker Wedges. They’re not something that I plan to wear, but the wedge was pretty low (and therefore less offensive when inserted into an athletic shoe), and I’ve seen them look fantastic on people in exactly the same casual French way that characterizes all of Marant’s best work. It’s a shoe interesting enough that I can see outside of my own personal style to understand why people like it.

The problem, though, is with the gaggle of impostors looking to benefit from the coattails of Marant’s creativity. Twitter was seemingly abuzz over the weekend with the news of the Marc by Marc Jacobs Kish Colorblock Wedge Sneaker‘s online debut, but for the life of me, I can’t see why anyone would be excited about these shoes. What they lack in Isabel Marant’s Parisian ease, they make up for by looking like the shoes of a slightly slutty circus clown.

Intellectually, I know that the wedge inside of these sneakers isn’t really any taller than the wedge inside of the Marants, but the overall height of the shoe’s upper makes the design look significantly more vertiginous. That’s the problem, of course – this is a very literal take on an 80s high top, right down to the glossy leather and bright color combination. All Jacobs did was add a wedge, whereas Marant took a few visual cues from that classic look, added in her own dusty color scheme and luxurious materials and created an end product that felt new but also familiar.

If you’re tempted to buy these shoes, stop yourself. Go directly to your local Niketown, plunk down $85 for a pair of awesome men’s Dunks, which come in a veritable rainbow of colors. Then, if you must, go buy a pair of cheap lifts to put in them. Skip that last part, though. A girl who can rock a pair of real sneakers and make them look chic is so much more inspirational than someone who’s wasting all her money buying almost-Marant wedges. If you still want them, though, they can be had through Net-a-Porter for $320.