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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Farewell, Kit. I will miss your edgy, fun style. I will miss that you were the first one this season to use the shoes that I now officially nominate as The Patron Shoe of Project Runway 4: these asymmetrical Versace pumps.

They’ve been used 3 times now, that I can figure. First in Kit’s episode 1 outfit, then in Rami’s episode 6 outfit, and last night in Victorya and Jillian’s ready-to-wear look.

Long live the asymmetrical Versace mary-jane.

And what did other designers use last night? Well, sadly, we can’t see much of the footwear for the avant-garde outfits, which is a shame, because I’d really like to know what shoes were chosen to go with this fabulous dress from Chris and Christian. I can’t stand the little whiner, but I can’t call this dress anything but incredible.

Much as this dress is gorgeous and amazing and so well made, I have to say that I was partial to Victorya and Jillian’s look over this one. It was so beautifully made, so high fashion, and fitting into that English punk aesthetic that I love and adore.

It reminded me a lot of one display from The Met’s Anglomania 2006 exhibition that looked at traditional English fashions (in this particular case, hunting clothes) and the way they were appropriated by more transgressive designers like Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano.

Shoe-wise, those could be plenty of boots, but these Kenneth Cole “That’s the Point” boots are a good contender.

In other shoe news from last night’s ep, Sweet P and Rami may not have wowed the judges with their avant-garde look (which I agree was nice, but not out there enough), but their ready-to-wear dress was adorable. And these Balenciaga sandals (which look like they’re distant cousins to the Lego shoes), while not all that attractive in my opinion, tied the two outfits together well in terms of color.

My favorite shoes were the ones that went along with Chris and Christian’s ready-to-wear outfit, but I can’t seem to find them on Bluefly. Anyone want to hunt them down?

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Fans of the Balenciaga Lego pump can rejoice this Christmas season.  The lego shoe family has spawned.

Actually, there was a slight mutation in the reproduction process but don’t these rainbow colored shoes from the Fendi look like could be offshoots of the Balenciaga lego shoe?  I’m (somewhat) a bigger fan of the Fendi rainbow flats and sandals, but only because they look more practical.

The Fendi flat and sandal are available at Neiman Marcus for $520 and $385 respectively.

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