There’s no doubt about it. Cate Blanchett is one of the most stylish women out there. She pushes the envelope just a bit, but almost never too far. She always ends up looking unique and 99.99% of the time, completely gorgeous. At last weekend’s Oscars, she made my Best Dressed list regardless of pregnancy.

But just like you and me, she has her favorite shoes, and since she’s fabulous and chic, the shoes are fabulous and chic, too. Louboutins, to be exact (note the excellent silver pair in the above photo, which, now that I’m thinking about it, might take over the Shoeblog Oscar for Best Louboutin that I previously bestowed on Renee Zellweger). Nude Louboutins, to be even more precise.

This patent pair seems to be her #1 go-to choice. Here she is in them at the December 2007 Hollywood premiere of the Good German and at the January 2007 Palm Springs Film Festival.

But there were also these ladylike pleated chiffon peep-toes at the the AFI Awards in Melbourne in December 2006.

And these sexy pumps at the Women in Hollywood gala in September 2006.

Cheers, Cate, on some gorgeous shoe choices. And for the next nude Louboutin, might I suggest these sequin-covered numbers, currently available at Neiman’s for $995. Wouldn’t they look so swanky on a red carpet with a no-doubt fantastic outfit?

(Pics of Cate from cateblanchett.net).

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Can’t say that much is grabbing me off the Paris runways, and I’m still in a post-Oscars place, even though the red carpet fashion was mostly a snore this year.  But, I couldn’t let Rick Owens go by without posting.

His collection was all swooping wings and zippers and capes and a creation that’s a melding of legwarmers and chaps and ends up giving some of these models the look of stylish sepulchral mermaids.

I quite love the stark black/gray/silver palette and the silhouettes are beautiful.

So what shoes are hidden under those sweeping leg-capes?  Boots that owe a great debt to fetish footwear’s pony shoes.

They slouch.  They tie.  They’re wedges.  They have fins at the back that remind me a little of the infamous heel-less Marc Jacobs shoe.  They’re completely impractical.  And I love them to pieces.

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I’m a little late on our weekly Sunday posting of ‘This Week in Shoes’ as I was attending the World Show Association (WSA) convention. (Thanks to Shoesense and Jitterbugbaby for holding down the fort in my absence with great Oscar shoe coverage).  So this post is really a ‘Last Week in Shoes’ post.

Four more ways to stash your shoes. My favorite is the hanging picture rail shoe display.

Payless launches Iloveshoes.com, where you can enter for a chance to win shoes for a year. That’s 52 pairs, one per week, apparently (who knew that’s the formula for calculating how many shoes you need!).

I’ll have that in purple croc, please, but hold the rhinestones. And make the buckle brass, please. What is this? Apparently, an order you can give for custom-made shoes that will be ready IN AN HOUR, people. Sometimes it gets longer than that to get served dinner at a busy place. If you’re interested, head out to the Morgan Miller store at the Aventura Mall in Southern Florida.

Shoes used as the political statement? The British Columbia Finance Minister thinks so, especially if they’re green.

The skinny on pairing tights with open-toe shoes. You might want to read that.

It’s just insulting to suggest that a woman with the great common sense to wear those powerful clothes would don a shoe designed counter to the laws of grace, gravity and balance by placing the heel out beyond the back of the foot. That’s Wall Street Journal doing fashion reviews for you–who knew!

When you see that a shoe is “Made in Italy,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Let me give you a few hints: style, quality, value, craftsmanship. And now Italy’s shoe exports are on the rise. Let’s hope that means fewer “Made in China” footwear labels for me in the future.

A brief and convenient history of shoes, if you’re that curious.

Women spend £33,000 on shoes in a lifetime.

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Forgive me the Latin-related pun in this post title, but I just wanted to remind you all out there in shoe land that there’s only a day left to enter your name (over here) in our contest for $100 off at the Nota Bene online store.

I know I mentioned it in the original post, but seriously, Jennifer Lovitt Riggs, the founder of Nota Bene, has her priorities in SO the right place when it comes to fashion and comfort in ladies footwear.

On women wearing painful, pointy, high heels:

“It is not that women are being silly,” Riggs said. “We are taught things like ‘beauty is painful’ and ‘no pain, no gain.’ So, we grit our teeth and bear it – the pointed toe and the stiletto heel are a badge of feminine machismo.”

On the importance of comfort in women’s shoes:

“Comfort is not a nicety. Shoes are the only article of clothing that can impact women’s long-term health and mobility.”

Her Nota Bene’s are put to the test in a serious way. Every style is road tested for 4-6 days (at least a mile a day) by real women, then refined based on their feedback, then tested again. That’s all before the shoe goes into full production.And she’s done wonders, with a line that offers refined, stylish women’s shoes that are made of shock-absorbent, high-quality materials. Come on, do these look like your average “comfort shoe”? I don’t think so!

As Ms. Riggs puts it:

“You only get one pair of feet, and they have a long journey. They are worth protecting.”

She’s so right. Drop your name in the “hat” if you want in on this highly admirable philosophy.

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As usual, many a no-doubt glamorous shoe was hidden under a floor length evening gown. But there were enough shoes peeking out there that we can bestow some Shoeblog Oscars of our own.

Best Shoes Paired with the Worst Dress

Oh, Rebecca Miller. I think you’re a fantastic filmmaker. I adored The Ballad of Jack and Rose. Your husband deserved his Oscar this year (and is a lovely and eloquent man while he’s busy being an incredibly talented actor and an amateur cobbler, too). I will say that those shoes look funky and unique and I quite like your outside-the-box footwear choice here. But oh dear lord, that dress is heinous, and there are no two ways about it!

Best Shoes (Maternity Edition)

The incomparable Cate Blanchett, who can do very little fashion wrong in my book. How one manages to look glamorous, elegant, and chic when 6 months pregnant is beyond me, but Cate’s pulled it off with a beautiful gown, and gorgeous silver heels.

Best Overall Accessories Package

Julie Christie, you have chosen not only a lovely dress in a beautiful color, but accessorized it with soft pink shoes and gloves and a lovely bag and necklace.

The whole package made for a classy, chic red carpet presentation.

Longest Toes

Saoirse Ronan looked beautiful, had a unique dress, and remained completely age-appropriate without looking overly childlike. Well done. But passing by this photo, I also couldn’t help but notice how long her toes were (look at that left foot!)

Best Louboutin

I’m not much a fan of Renee Zellweger (and I’m even less a fan of how skeletally thin she is these days), but I must admit that those sparkling Louboutins were some mighty pretty shoes.

Best Shoes that Were (Gasp!) Comfortable

Best Original Screenplay winner Diablo Cody (who at no point appeared in the Stuart Weitzman $1M shoes) in these fun gold snakeskin flats. It’s always nice to see some people not torturing themselves in heels that must be nearly 6″ high (see those Louboutins on Renee up above).

Best Playful Footlery

Helen Mirren. I always count on her to wear something sexy (though never too risque) and individual to awards shows and to do it with just the right blend of class and playfulness. And this year was no exception. Great dress, great speech giving out the award to Daniel Day-Lewis with the mock knighting. And thank you for flaunting your shoes so that we footwear-focused fans can see what you were wearing.

And I can’t leave without a general Best Dressed shout-out, which I’m giving to the newly-honored Best Actress, Marion Cotillard.

Controversial, yes, but gutsy in a year with very little fashion riskiness. And she looked gorgeous in it! A mermaid in white on the red carpet. And so sweetly emotional when she won.

This is how I’ll remember the 80th Academy Awards.

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