Last month, I reviewed a pair of Dolce & Gabbana shoes with all-over (literally) crystal embellishment, and at the time, I expressed surprise that Christian Louboutin had yet to strass his signature red sole, particularly since his crystal shoes are so incredibly popular with his core fan base. At the time, I assumed that such a shoe would like show up in the next season or two, and it looks as though I was correct. Read More…

When it comes to making a black pump, only so many things can be adjusted: finish, heel height and girth, platform heigh, vamp line and embellishment. Christian Louboutin already has the sole game locked up, with other designers trailing behind him to find new ways to innovate from that angle. So what sets the Walter Steiger Curved Heel Pumps apart? Well, I think that’s obvious. Read More…

99% of the time, I find myself thinking, “He’s done it again!” when I see a new Christian Louboutin shoe that I’ve never encountered before. Even if it’s a shoe that I wouldn’t want to wear myself, Louboutin does a great job lending a boldness and irreverence to his designs that make them hard to review negatively, even if they don’t suit my personal style. Read More…

We don’t talk about Balenciaga shoes very often around here, but I’d like to change that. Now that Balenciaga’s online store has expanded and the brand has started allowing more major retailers to sell their wares on the Internet, Balenciaga shoes are more visible than ever. For shoe lovers, that’s a great thing – the brand offers a level of highly detailed futurism that’s hard to come by elsewhere. Read More…

I don’t know whether it’s the effect of Isabel Marant, Rag + Bone, Acne or seemingly countless other taste-making cooler-than-thou brands who have debuted low-slung, low-heeled booties, but whoever started it, I want to thank them. Shoes like the Acne Pistol Booties and Rag + Bone Newbury Booties have given cool girls all over a comfortable, versatile, relatively low-key alternative to boring flats, and now the traditional shoe powerhouses are starting to catch on. Read More…

You know, when it became clear that pastels were going to be a major trend for Spring 2012, I figured that almost all of the implementations were either going to be traditionally feminine or overtly modern, as a sort of contrast against the expectations of the use of pastels. (Think 3.1 Phillip Lim Spring 2012.) Leave it to Versace, though, to take a look at lavender and decide that it needs to be sexed up. Read More…

Despite my teenage origins as a regular on my local punk scene, I was never much of a Converse fan. I had a few pairs of the classic Chuck Taylor sneakers, of course, but I found that they often rubbed blisters and raw spots on my feet at a rate that made me never, ever reach for them. Now that casual sneakers are increasingly trendy and warm weather has made slim, low-cut tennis shoes a virtual weekend necessity, I’ve realized that finding a comfortable pair that can be worn without socks might actually be harder than finding a good pair of four-inch heels. Read More…

It’s Friday afternoon, you’re wasting a little bit of time at work before your weekend officially begins…how about some shoe shopping? Luisa Via Roma has literally hundreds of pairs of shoes on sale right now, and they’ve extended quite the offer to our readers – take an extra 20% off any of them with code FR20AW4. Get to shopping! Read More…