My husband and I are expecting our first child - we are 29 weeks along, super happy, excited, and nervous all at the same time!   Now since this is a shoe blog but motherhood is foremost on my mind these days, I thought I’d combine the two and talk about yummy mommies wearing high heels.

I was surprised to learn from my ob/gyn and online articles that it’s fine to wear heels while you are pregnant as long as you are careful (your center of gravity changes so much with the growing belly that you risk falling) and feel comfortable wearing the heels (i.e. no back pain, etc).  In fact,  I’ve observed several expecting celebrity moms do it. Of course this is to special events and not every day wear, but I still am in awe and also disbelieve at how they do it.

Here’s Nicole Richie in 4 1/2 inch Givenchy cutout heel,

Heidi Klum in 5 inch Guiseppi Zanotti platforms,

and Sarah Michelle Gellar in nude peep-toe Louboutins.

Now, I for one, wore heels throughout my first trimester.  My belly wasn’t even showing and I didn’t feel any pain.  But near the second trimester, I didn’t trust my sense of balance anymore - my belly seemed to pop out overnight.  Towards month 6,  I even started to waddle a bit like a penguin!   Yet I still wasn’t willing to sacrifice height, especially when it came time to attend my cousin’s wedding.  My solution?  I wore these nude Stuart Weitzman wedges ($128 at 6pm but mine didn’t have the doggy print) which gave me the vertical lift I desired but were still relatively stable.  Of course, they weren’t exactly as comfortable as they were before I was pregnant, but I spent most of the reception and wedding sitting down so the shoes were fine given the occasion.

Now that I’m in my third trimester, all my heels have been relegated to the back of the closet.  It hurts to walk in most shoes, much less heels, for extended periods of time.  Yet, I haven’t gone from one extreme - heels - to the opposite end - flats - like Gwen or Halle.

Instead, I still wear wedges (more on that and other maternity shoe topics in subsequent posts).  But that’s mainly because I need the arch support and the wedges I wear are now only 1.5 inch tall or less.

It’ll be interesting to see how my feet and body continue to evolve over the remaining weeks. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on my choice of footwear.

So what about you?  Did you or will you wear heels during your pregnancy?  And what will or were your shoes of choice?

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Lately, all over the internet, on sites that strive for a good, honest reputation (Luxist and ShoeBlog included) banner ads for shoe sites such as LouboutinMall, LouboutinBox, and other Louboutin url derivatives have been popping up advertising “genuine Christian Louboutin pumps for only $150″. There has been a fair amount of discussion about these sites, including why the advertisements are showing up (for ShoeBlog, we rely on an advertisement network to serve up ads to pay for our costs and have little control on that gets added. We try to take down spammy ads but sometimes, to our chagrin, they pop up faster than we can remove them). The main question all of us have wondered is, are these sites selling authentic Louboutins?

Christian Louboutin as a company is not a publicly traded. So, Mr. Louboutin has full control over the product, marketing, and quality.He graciously turns down investors on a regular basis instead, focusing on sustainable profit, design, craftsmanship and his customer of which he has many loyal. He does not want to answer to investors; he has the luxury of serving his loyal customers, employees and complete design control.

Now, if he has turned investors down regularly because he wants quality control, WHY in the world would he flood the market, charging wholesalers $75, or even $100 for handcrafted high quality shoes? (Remember, wholesalers typically double their cost). We all know these are fakes. Pure and simple. I am not going to go into the moral aspects of the conditions in which these fakes are manufactured.  My issue is quality of your purchase.

Twenty four years ago my husband purchased a Louis Vuitton handbag after the birth of one of my boys.

It cost about $600. It seemed like a fortune to a young mother.  I have used the hell out of that bag.  It was a diaper bag for 3 children, it was a weekender bag, it is now a carry-on bag when I travel.  It has aged reasonably well.  Why?  It was made with real leather and superior craftmanship and it still looks wonderful.    Ten years ago I bought a Louis Vuitton fake for $40.  It looked good for about 2 weeks.  My granddaughter now plays with it in her dress-up box. When I buy something I always figure, “It takes me X days to pay for this, is it worth it?” So, is it worth 3 or 4 days worth of work to pay for something that will last six months at best? Will you have this fake 20 years later?  You will have the real deal 40 years later

Do you want a platform pump for about $150?

Dolce Vida Madison Steve Madden Slique

A maryjane?

Carlos Infinity Harajuku Lovers Infinity

Triple platform?

Steve Madden Triplet Enzo Angiolini

Are these exactly like Louboutin shoes.  Of course not.  Are they quality shoes?  I think so.  Are they counterfeit?  No.  I think the most touching posts I have read is by Islingback in ShoeBlog’s forums.  After hard financial times, she was able to buy a pair of desinger shoes.  Would she be as thrilled with a fake?  I don’t think so.

We want Louboutins because he has spent time, energy and money to make a shoe and a reputation as the best.  With a fake you will get neither, except pictures which have clearly been stolen from Neiman Marcus, Saks, and Ebay of authentic Louboutins.  As consumers, let’s be responsible with whom and how our money is spent.  I learned my lesson ten years ago.  It cost me $40.

Update:  From NYMag, here’s more confirmation from a Louboutin spokeswoman that the shoes are fake and also responses from the counterfeit sites confirming as well.

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I have ranted about how women pose on the red carpet so often my daughter won’t even look at runway photos with me anymore,  It is amazing to me that SOMEONE doesn’t grab these women by the hair and show them how to stand.  These are some of the poses that make me crazy.

First: “I am wearing my mother’s high heels and I can’t keep my balance.”

Second:  “I shouldn’t have had that beer in the limo.  Now I gotta pee.”

Third: My cousin told me if I lock one knee back, and bend the other, I will look sexay.

Fourth:  Stud Muffin Tough Girl Stance.

Fifth: Hands on hip. Check.  Hips out.  Check.  Arch the back.  Check.   Boy, my Barbizon tuition sure paid off.

Look at the difference between a good pose and a bad pose.

I have never seen Dita Von Teese in a pigeon toe, knock knee or have to pee pose.  She seems to always have great  body awareness when cameras are around.  I think these are Louboutins on Dita.

Kerry Washington usually has great body awareness too, but sometimes the shoes seem just too high for her and she goes pigeon toed.

Isabella Huppert is standing to maximize stability.  She doesn’t seem to be weaving or catching her balance as she stands on super high platforms.  These three women are something else.

Doesn’t Queen Latifah look wonderful?

OK.  What does this have to do with anything?  If you are going to wear fabulous shoes, then look fabulous wearing them.  When you are standing in line to see a movie, pose properly, and look not awkward, but amazing.  You can look stunning in your Havaianas if you are aware of your body.  Conversely, you can wear a pair of Louis Vuitton runway shoes and look silly because you don’t know how to stand - see the first photo.   You don’t have to be young - look at Sharmila, Isabelle and Robin.  You don’t have to be thin - look at Queen Latifah.  Just present yourself well, and you will be beautiful.

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We talk here all the time about shoes, and our shared love for them. We have discussed, at length, the comparative value of form vs. function and acknowledged that the love of shoes can be described as one of life’s great pleasures: sometimes honest, but quite frequently guilty.

However, we don’t often discuss the basic necessity of footwear. Jitterbugbaby touched on it recently in her post about WWII shoe-rationing. She explained that, during that time, people were allotted only 3 pairs of shoes per year. This reality led me to think about just how important shoes actually are. Regardless of how high or low, bedecked, bedazzled, or basic they are, they protect our feet from the elements and make it possible for us to transport ourselves from place to place. In the US, for most of us, we have pairs for all occasions.

Recently, I watched a wonderful Iranian movie called Children of Heaven. It tells a story of about a poor family with two young children in Tehran. Each family member has one pair of shoes, as shoes are an expensive commodity. One day Ali, the boy, takes his sister’s shoes to be repaired but loses them on the way home. The children know that the family cannot afford a new pair, so they share Ali’s shoes and try to figure out how to get another pair without telling their parents.

Though the protagonists are children, it is not a movie for children. Also, despite the setup, it is not depressing. It is a touching and beautifully done movie and was even nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1998.

Here is a clip of the first ten minutes of the film:

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Ok folks, in the midst of fashion week madness (we’re off to Paris next) I am going to interrupt with a personal plea for a little help in the shoe department.

This is the KORS by Michael Kors Brink Boot:

They are available in very limited sizes on bluefly.com in black and brown for $237 or 6pm for $195, a significant reduction from their original price of $395. These are my ideal winter boots. I absolutely love them and want to take them home with me and call them my very own. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find them in my size. They are actually from last year’s line of winter boots a la Lady Kors, so they are not easy to track down and a 9 or 9.5 has been completely unfindable.

So here is my plea: if you find them online or are in the greater NY area or even the greater San Francisco area (I’ll be there at the beginning of October) and your eagle eye spots these in black in a 9 or a 9.5, TELL ME! I know you shoe-lovers have a lot of secret hunting grounds that the average person does not know about. I am counting on you! (P.S. these boots run small, so if you do decide to pick up the remaining ones on Bluefly, be aware.)

If this post has given you an unsatisfied longing similar to mine, here is this year’s version of the boot, the Breck, also KORS by Michael Kors:

These are widely available at $425 (and unfortunately not on sale yet) in black leather, brown leather, and black patent. These are definitely awesome boots and would probably much more practical for the New York winter, but I never was a particularly practical girl.

Thanks in advance loyal shoeblog readers!

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