Welcome to my two newest obsessions: Mafia Wars and Polyvore.  If you are interested in visual shopping sites or are involved in any social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace, you are likely to have encountered at least one, if not both of these entities.

The first, Mafia Wars, is an online computer-based RPG that encourages social networking.  More than mildly addictive, there are entire communities (families) of chick-mafias that are as addicted to their game play family as we here on Shoeblog are addicted to fabulous shoes; oh well, just one more obsession in my life.

The second, Polyvore, is a visual-shopping website that has been around for about a year or so.  I don’t normally go in for the whole visual-shopping thing. But, while Polyvore is definitely in the family of ‘Visual Shopping’ websites, it has a fun and creative twist.  While you can use the Polyvore engine to shop a fair number of online retailers, the real fun is in creating ’sets’.  Essentially this is a ‘Fashion Plates’ playset for grown-ups. With a few clicks and drags, you can create anything from a simple dream-outfit to a magazine-quality fashion layout with accessories, to some rather stunning and individual pieces of stand-alone art. In addition to this is a layer of social networking and competitive set-creation that has it’s own unique energy.

Anyway, to give you a quick example, I went over to Polyvore and threw together this quick ‘Mafiosa’ dream-set as a fun way to bring my two newest interests together in one place.

I think I’ve managed to come up with a fun, tongue-in-cheek, gamer’s outfit to do any lady-mafiosa proud.  And, I have to admit,  these brass-knuckle, heeled shoes by Ellie Shoes run a close, and significantly more affordable, second to similar styles by D-squared (or the infamous Chanel gun shoe).

The biggest downside I see is this.  If I were actually to geek out and wear something like this while I logged in to play Mafia Wars, my dearest hubby would likely find himself with thoughts other than my playing a computer game on his mind …. which, I suppose, is not necessarily a bad thing.

So, if you love playing with fashion as well as obsessing over shoes: Go. Play. Share your sets here in our forums. Come on, who said only kids get to have fun?

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I have a pair of fall boots that I love.

All right, so I’ve had a few of those so far (Viktor & Rolf, I am still dreaming dizzily of your boot creations).

But now, Alexander McQueen has added another to the Fall 2009 repertoire with his high-drama, fashion-pastiche spiked numbers.

At the risk of sounding like a “You all know I like _____________, right?” broken record, you all know I like shoes that blend high fashion with fetish styling, right?

And boy howdy, don’t these deliver.  The McQueen models looked like something out of the Cremaster Cycle in a very McQueenian art-meets-fashion-meets-anarchy sort of way.

 =  + 

But no matter what your reaction to the melodramatic makeup job, these are the boots of a woman who will kick ass and take no prisoners and look amazing while she does it.

At the other end of the spectrum, there’s this shoe from the Chanel show that I totally love, not only for being quirky and fun and eccentric, but for taking Chanel outside the interlocking-C-logo, tweed-suit, bland-shoe box that even Karl Lagerfeld hasn’t really succeeded in escaping.  Until now.

Dare I say that something on the Chanel runway felt… young and quirky?  Why yes.  Indeed I do dare.  Bravo.

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It’s no mystery that at Fashion Week, the shoes worn by the editrixes, bloggers, and other assorted fashionistas can be just as fabulous, if not even better than what we’re seeing on the runway. Who do you think actually goes and buys those shoes anyway? So this is going to be a completely covetable, drool-worthy photo essay of Fashion Week Shoes: Off the Runway.

Let’s set the stage. Picture yourself at the Bryant Part. You are surrounded by fashionable folk and hangers on. Photographers hang out by all the entrances smoking and cracking jokes. Masses of people line the front and back of the tents, hoping to catch a glimpse of a famous person or to slip by security. You are not concerned with this as you blithely bypass security and stroll into the Tents. Since Fashion Week is Barbie themed this year, the first thing you see is the giant barbie sign. Each letter filled with Barbie in her many different iterations:

There are life-size barbies standing in a field of (real!) pink painted apples.

Are you getting into the mood?

Now check out the fabulous shoes that are literally just standing around:

Ok so these are not the gorgeous spiky Christian Louboutin for Rodarte heels that Rachel Weisz wore on the October cover of Vogue, BUT I was still pretty impressed that these lookalikes were being worn in public by a (regular?) person.

Red Hot Hoofers wander around, waiting for their close-up Mr. DeMille.

Studded Gladiator Sandals with cuffed jeans? Is that Katie Holmes? (Sadly, no. But her influence is clear.)

Furry Fabulosity! It may have been 45 degrees outside, but arctic fashion is SO in right now

Cut-outs are fun! (Well, the girl on the left was having fun. She was pretty agile in those booties. But the girl on the right was literally being completely held up by her date. She could not move on her own!

All Around Cool

I hope you have enjoyed my little Fashion Week photo story. May the shoe gods smile down on you!

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It is that time again, yes.  Paris fashion week for the couture labels.  Oo la la.

It wasn’t my favorite collection this time around.  A little on the snoozy side.  Couture is where you can really go for it, you know?  And these… well, mostly not so much with the going for it.

Armani Privé did some variations on this d’Orsay pump.

I’m not terribly impressed.  It’s nice and all, but a little *yawn* for a couture show.

Though, this combo of dress and shoes was a knock-out.

Chanel was also feeling the sparkly appliqué trend.

*thunk*

What?  Oh… sorry… dozed off there.  My head must have hit the desk.

Let’s see… I’m still nodding off over blah beige numbers from Christian Lacroix (left, which makes the models look like they’ve got coral sprouting from their ankles) and Elie Saab (right, which seriously interests me in absolutely zero ways… zero).

Can Givenchy wake me up?

Wow!  No!  In fact, those look disturbingly like hospital-wear or slippers or something.  Something that’s NOT going to make me more alert.

Valentino?  Nope.  Any shoe whose separated-at-birth twin is one of those hideous shell-covered mirrors doesn’t wake me up.  It just makes me want to sleep through the tackiness.

Jean Paul Gaultier perked me up a little bit.  Sure, the structured, mostly-monochromatic thing isn’t necessarily brand new for him, but he did some interesting amendments with more feminine flow and flashes of color, and you know I love me some shoes that come with their own built-in fishnet hosiery.

But, not surprisingly, it was John Galliano who gave me the jolt of caffeine I really needed.  His Dior shoe (it was just the one shoe, really, but in lots of different colors) is fabulously rococo, which only made it that much better to see him bringing in things like Delft tiles and Renaissance portraiture and even a cracked-out Little Bo Peep number.  Love!

I suppose I will just have to sigh and throw my hands up at this season’s couture shoes and hope for better luck next time.

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Whether or not you’ve got chestnuts roasting on an open fire or stockings all hung by the chimney with care, it is indeed the night before Christmas in my time zone.

And on this night when so many go to sleep dreaming of the delightful treasures to be unwrapped tomorrow and the smiles on faces of other people unwrapping their own treasured gifts, I come bearing some shoes to inspire pleasant dreams.

Here’s an ice sculpture of a Chanel stunner from their upcoming Spring 2009 line.

Who wouldn’t be happy to open this trompe l’oeil Fendi bootie under the Christmas tree?

The Jimmy Choo Roz sandal will spice up any holiday party.

You’ll never be called boring if you show up anywhere in these Marc Jacobs yellow python stilettos.

Just imagine little fairy lights twinkling off the sparkle on these Miu Miu platforms.

Or take a page from Galligator’s book and wish for something blue, like these crystallized Valentino pumps.

And if none of those is making for sweet dreams for you, then I’ll leave you with this final winter wonderland of a shoe that I snapped a photo of in a Paris store window on a recent pass by the classic department store, Le Printemps.

May those of you celebrating have a joyous Christmas.  And may all of you (celebrating or not) have a wonderful last week of 2008 filled with good cheer and good company.

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