This week in shoes

Ever wonder how Christian Louboutin’s signature red soles came about? In Net-a-Porter’s exclusive video interview with Christian Louboutin, we learn the origins behind the red soles.

I did not really choose the red sole. Its more like the red sole came to me and had to stay with me. It started as a happy accident, which I kept. I was very inspired by pop art so all my drawings were really full of colors. So the first prototype arrives. Its very similar to my designs so I was very happy. But something was missing. Thank God I had this girl with me who was painting her nails. Grabbed her nailpolish – thank you to Chanel for that!  I grabbed the nailpolish and I painted the sole.

Fashion by Bowie offers great tips on how to shop for shoes online

Steve Madden is back on his feet again in Newsweek Magazine

Manolo the Shoeblogger has already pre-ordered his copy of ‘Shoe-Fleur: A Footwear Fantasy’ by Michel Tcherevkoff. To see why you should order a copy too, check out the fanciful photos on Manolo’s blog.

Rating Shoes’ Comfort and Style

As any regular Shoeblog reader knows, I’m always looking for the perfect blend of comfort and style when I buy new shoes. And so, apparently are some of the enterprising reporters for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. They rated a bunch of shoes under $155 on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being best) for comfort and style, as well as reviewing how it felt to wear them and how long they remained comfy.

So, what did these smart ladies find? It’s all here, plus added pictures.

Aerosoles Kin Ship wedge (shown here in all its various color options), $79.

Style: 3

Comfort: 4

Heel height: 3 inches

The dish: These cute espadrilles made it through a full 10 hour day retaining their comfort. You might want to order a half size down, since these apparently run a bit big, but their comfort was undeniable.

Born Monte Carlo wedge sandal, $94 at Zappos.

Style: 3

Comfort: 2

Heel height: 3.5 inches

The dish: These cute summer sandals only lasted a few hours before raising blisters on the reviewer’s feet. She says the footbed was comfy, and the rubber sole was great for anti-slipping power, but the leather was stiff and rubbed her feet raw.

Corso Como No. 4019920, $145 at Citysoles.com

Style: 5

Comfort: 4

Heel height: 4 inches

The dish: These made it through the whole 10 hour day, as well, but the reporter giving them a spin was happy to take them off at the end of the day. The footbed was cushioned nicely, and the platform under the ball of the foot helped alleviate pain in that area, but, as she put it, ”Four-inch heels are still 4-inch heels.”

One of Two Pacific Peep Toes, $148 at Anthropologie (although when I checked them, they were $168).

(You’ll have to forgive the tiny picture… Photobucket is being difficult at the moment).

Style: 4

Comfort: 5

Heel height: 3.25 inches

The dish: These lasted 10 hours easily. There’s lots of padding in the insole and through the arch, and the platform again cuts down on the feeling of height from the wedge. The leather is soft, and the ankle strap helped with a feeling of stability.

Sofft Noel heeled sandal, $92 at Shoeline.

Style: 3

Comfort: 4

Heel height: 2.5 inches

The dish: At first, these cute sandals didn’t last more than 3 hours before causing blisters, but after a little break-in period, they made it through the day with flying colors. The footbed was the most comfortable the testers tried, but the heel was a little wobbly and the gold metallic leather looked a tad on the cheap side.

Faryl Robin Fanny ankle-strap sandal, $148 at Zappos (although now it’s $158).

Style: 5

Comfort: 5

Heel height: 3.75 inches

The dish: I can’t really put it any better than the reporters themselves do, so let me just quote you what they say:

How long can they be worn without pain? All day, plus you can clomp down four flights of wooden stairs balancing a giant purse and a Glad trash bag stuffed to bursting. Now that’s a shoe a girl can count on.

Impressions: The perfect collision of bohemian style and orthopedic comfort. New York designer Faryl Robin follows a simple guiding principal when crafting women’s shoes: If they aren’t comfortable enough to take the kids to school in them — on foot — it’s back to the drawing board.

Natural Comfort D100 Rust Suede platforms, $143 at Zappos.

Style: 5

Comfort: 4

Heel height: 4.5 inches

The dish: Well, with tights, these lasted a full day, but without tights only half a day. The cushy footbed is made out of the stuff that pads football helmets, so it’s soft to walk on, but the toe box is kinda narrow, so it may squeeze.

Blowfish Swiss Cheese ballet flat, only $30 at Shoebungalow.com.

Style: 4.5

Comfort: 3.5

Heel height: flat

The dish: The usual issues with ballet flats: no arch support and digging into your feet by the end of the day. But the ”fabric” is a rubberized material instead of leather, so they’re veggie-friendly, and all the holes let your feet breathe freely.

And that’s it.

I’m skipping the last two entries.  One is the Geox D Megan wedge sandal, which can apparently be found at Zappos for $99, but didn’t appear there or anywhere else in my search.  They only get a 3.5 for comfort, anyway.  And the last one is a Steve Madden wedge with an ankle strap, but they don’t give a style name, so I’m stumped.

And there you have it.  The findings of several intrepid reporters in Cleveland.  Now go out into the world in comfort and style. 

great advice for wearing flats

From Desiree, the shoe guru at About.com, comes this highly useful advice for wearing flats to your best advantage.

Make Sure Your Flat Shoes Look Fashionable

Ask the Shoebloggers (*new column*)

Welcome to April. And welcome to our new semi-regular column, Ask the Shoebloggers, wherein you get to send us your burning shoe-related questions, and we’ll do our very best to answer them. Think of this as the "Dear Abby" column of the shoe world.

Our first Ask the Shoebloggers question comes from a determined shopper looking to add some comfortable shoes to her wardrobe.

I’m trying to put together my first real wardrobe. Unfortunately, I am still ridiculously poor. I recently learned that shoes can be comfortable and have since vowed to only buy comfortable shoes. Unfortunately this means I have to get rid of all my shoes and start over. I was wondering what are some brands (relatively reasonable) that are known for having comfortable shoes. I’ve heard that Nine West shoes are comfortable and when I tried a pair of Nordstrom wedge sandals on I was shocked at the comfort. Could you recommend some pumps that are wonderfully comfortable, stylish and affordable?

An excellent quest! Who doesn’t need a basic pump? I totally feel your predicament. Unfortunately, the "premium" comfort brands do tend to be pretty expensive. But here are a couple ideas on finding more affordable comfortable shoes.

First off, and I really can’t stress this enough, be a sale hunter. You can find some amazing discounts at online shoe stores like Zappos.com, Shoes.com, Endless.com, which all have great selections and plenty of comfortable brands. I’m a firm believer that everytime you can find a pair of shoes that’s normally outside your budget for a discount that puts them within your reach, it’s a chance to up the quality of your shoe collection.

And on a related note, I’d highly recommend buying the most expensive shoes you can reasonably afford. Don’t break your wallet or go into debt, of course, but rather than finding something that’s quick and cheap and gets the job done, take some time to try and find something that’s made from higher quality materials and with more attention to detail. Sure, that usually means the price goes up, but like I said above, if you can find those expensive shoes at a discount, you end up spending the same amount you would have on a cheaper brand but getting something of a higher quality.

Now, on to the brands. Nine West does indeed make a line that’s particularly geared toward comfort. It’s called Cloud 9, and their shoes do tend to be a nice hybrid of style and comfort. Also, Aerosoles makes shoes that are quite comfortable and affordable. And they’ve upped their style quotient bigtime over the past few seasons. Check out the Envy pumps.

Same goes for Easy Spirit… once known only for comfort and pretty aggressively style-less, they’re now making some really nice looking shoes. Like the Impulso pump

and the County pump, which is on sale right now for only $40! (well, if you’re an 8 or 9 Narrow).

Kenneth Cole Reaction also makes some comfy and stylish shoes that tend to be more affordable than the Kenneth Cole line shoes.

So, happy shoe shopping, and may you enjoy the discovery that shoes can be both stylish AND comfortable.

If you have shoe questions you’d like to put to us, send an email to jitterbugbaby@shoeblog.com and shoesense@shoeblog.com.

adventures of an intrepid shoe shopper

Dear reader,

I have a confession to make. Although I am almost always in favor of comfortable, stylish shoes, I have a great weakness for beautiful shoes that are practically unwearable in their height or construction. Usually, I resist this weakness with ease, since I also firmly believe in taking good care of your feet with proper support, good construction, and reasonable height (which for me tops out at about 2.25/2.5 inches).

Last night, however, I gave in. Here’s what happened.

As some of you may have seen over on the forums, I’ve been searching for the perfect shoes to match a dress I just bought.

The dress is this one:

Last night, I bundled up and headed off, dress in hand, to my local DSW in the frigid weather. The goal: find a pair of gold sandals/shoes to wear with this puppy.

After trying on about half a dozen pairs, I narrowed it down to two. Both by BCBGMAXAZRIA (a brand that makes gorgeous shoes, but which often makes comfort concessions in the name of fashion that keep me from being able to wear them). It came down to a choice between a wedge and a stiletto, seen here:

and

As you can clearly see, neither of these is in the slightest a comfortable shoe. However, here are several factors now forcing me to make a hard decision between these two beauties.

1. The stilettos match the gold color of the dress better than the wedges.

2. The wedges (being wedges) are slightly more comfortable than the stilettos.

3. As far as style goes in a vacuum (not trying to match a dress), I like the wedges better.

4. Neither of these shoes are likely to be worn very often, except with this dress to parties where I can do a lot of sitting down.

5. The stilettos were a mere $30. The wedges were $60.

And with those factors to consider, dear reader, what might you suggest for my predicament?