I have come out heartily against a number of the Balenciaga Spring 2008 crazy shoes.  They still remind me most of weaving gimp lanyards at summer camp when I was a kid.

However, despite what the Fug Girls may say, I totally dig Rihanna’s skillful rocking of these hard-to-rock shoes on 106th and Park.

The problem with Jennifer Connelly in the above-linked picture is that she (one assumes out of loyalty–or, more likely contract–to the brand for whom she’s the advertising face) went Balenciaga head to toe.

Rihanna?  She’s working these nutso shoes by letting them be the focal point of the outfit instead of fighting with a patterned dress or a ton of huge jewelry.  My hat’s off to Rihanna, always a fashion risk-taker, often with gorgeous-yet-quirky results (my favorite kind… see Cate Blanchett).  It’s hard to pull off such outlandish footwear.

In fact, the last time we saw such skillful styling with such otherwise-hideous shoes, it was Beyonce, who also rocked a pair of wacked-out Balenciaga’s.

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Remember these perfect Giuseppe Zanotti sandals (left) Shoesense blogged about?

Here is a case of designer shoe deja vu gone utterly and completely wrong. Structurally, the Giuseppe Zanotti and Steve Madden sandals are alike. That is where the similarities end. While the Zanotti sandals are in full bloom and a picture of grace and simplistic beauty, the Steve Madden sandals have dried out and wilted.

The king of copycat designer shoes does not stop there. He also has an inspired version of the famous Balenciaga lego shoes. Compared to the Steve Maddens, Balenciaga’s shoes are actually starting to look slightly normal.

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Last night, while I was drooling over shoes at Iron Man, the fashionistas and celebs were gathering for that hallowed night in the fashion calendar: The Met’s Costume Institute Gala.

This year’s theme (corresponding with the Costume Institute’s major show of the year) is Superheroes, and I couldn’t wait to check out how the attendees decked themselves out for this fun fun theme. And after perusing the pictures, I have to say that while there were some great outfits, it was really and truly the shoes that were the most interesting.

The dresses were nice and all, but lots of people tended to interpret Superheroes as being synonymous with Grecian Goddesses, which made for some pretty but uninspired sartorial choices.

The shoes, though? People went wild with their shoes, and I love it.

There was your typical crop of Louboutins, the best of which were the Spiderman-webbing-style blue pair on Diane von Furstenberg and the Rodita zip sandal on Dr. Lisa Airan.

Jimmy Choo was also well represented, particularly by Eva Amurri and Jessica Stam (though Eva’s got some seriously tight hair and some seriously squished boobs going on, and Jessica’s makeup job makes her look like she could use a few more hours sleep at night).

There were some old favorites that we’ve seen on past runways, like Anna Sui in boots from her Fall 08 collection and Vogue’s Valerie Boster in Spring 08 Balenciaga. While I’m not nuts about those shoes or that dress, I must say Valerie is working the shoes in a suitably superhero-ish way without losing the fashion.

You have your goddess sandal look, as exemplified prettily by Thandie Newton (though please try not to look too long at the frighteningly thin legs of the woman in the ugly bright pink tube going up the stairs behind her) and particularly by Barney’s Julie Gilhart, who has my favorite shoe of the night, as well as my favorite outfit, and the one I deem the best combo of superhero and chic.

There were some unexpected bursts of footwear color thanks to Katie Holmes and Tilda Swinton (who wore matching shoes with transgender performer Justin Bond, though hers are a much better color, I’d say).

Some people went for the unexpected like Kathryn Neale Shaffer in leather thigh-high boots with red flames at the tips (very cool, very superhero). And Monsieur Louboutin himself in black and white striped shoes, accessorized by a superheroic BANG on his lapel and a bizarrely Beauty and the Beast pair of Olsen twins who look like an elegant young woman and her frizzy-haired crone of a great-grandmother.

And last, but most certainly not least, there were patchwork shoes all over. The best were worn by Chiara Clemente and Kate Bosworth, and brought some pizazz to their feet, even though neither dress is anything to write home about.

Wait. No. On second look, I’m more than a little in love with Kate Bosworth’s dress. And her shoes. And her eye makeup. OK, well done, Kate.

And well done on the shoes, fashion fans. While I’m not overall that impressed by your superhero choices clothing-wise, your footwear can save the day any day.

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Based on observations of his Balenciaga show in Paris, I think we can safely say that Nicolas Ghesquière is going multipurpose with his shoes.

Some may be talking about weaponizing space, but Ghesquière is weaponizing shoes!

I certainly wouldn’t want to be kicked in the shins by any of these sleek and deadly creations.

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Good riddance to Victorya, I say. Her designs were never all that unique, and if I had to hear her talk about how she’s a very competitive person anymore, bodily harm might have been involved.

Her design last night was fug in a big way, and completely uninspired/uninspiring. Plus, she used a nude version of these blah Dais pumps from Stuart Weitzman.

I’m glad we’re done with that.

In other PR shoe news, we saw yet another use of the Patron Shoe of Project Runway 4 (the asymmetrical Versace mary-jane, which now seems to be gone from Bluefly… perhaps sold out with the aid of repeat viewings on PR) with this trench from Jillian, which was almost great, but then lost something in the execution.

Chris used these Gucci Ebony gladiator sandals again (which he also used in the Hershey challenge a few weeks ago), which looked nice enough, but the dress was a bit underwhelming.

Ricky’s winning outfit (which wasn’t my fave, I must admit–nice, but nothing fantastic) made good use of these wicked and excellent boots, which from the red soles, would seem to be Louboutins, but are hiding out there somewhere. Kit used them for the Hershey challenge, too, with an outfit I loved.

Rami went for the clunky Balenciaga nude sandals that went with his and Sweet P’s ready-to-wear outfit from last week. I think the sandals looked much better with the rougher, brass-button-enhanced look of the denim than they did with the floaty dress from last week. I’ve got to say that this outfit was gorgeous, and for me, either this look or The Whiner’s motorcycle-style one would have been crowned winner.

Sweet P brought these jeweled t-strap sandals back, which we first saw way back in the first episode on Carmen’s model. But do they show up on Bluefly? Seemingly not. They’re jeweled enough to come from Guiseppe Zanotti, but who knows.

We’re getting down into the final stretch on PR here. To paraphrase Heidi Klum, “Remember, shoes, this is a competition for you as well. The shoe paired with the winning designer will win a spread in Elle magazine.” OK, well, maybe not. But certainly a lot of popularity. I’m betting on those Versace’s taking the prize.

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