Forever 21 Shoots For The Sky
Posted on December 6th, 2009 by trainingheels under GeneralForever 21’s latest shoes are almost more than I can tolerate, and I’m used to walking in high heels. This baby is the current source of my ball of the foot, heel, heck everything, pain.
At $25, I figured this private torture chamber was more than disposable should it wreak too much havoc on my feet.
And I may just have to sell them to Buffalo Exchange or Beacon’s Closet, local resale shops.
The problem is not that they just hurt. The problem is that, despite that platform, I cannot actually walk in them. A few trots around the Forever 21 showroom, sure. Out on the town, with New York’s treacherously cracked, uneven sidewalks and pothole-strewn streets, I felt like I was in a game of Frogger.
I know the tricks to walking in high heels. But I literally almost fell twice on my birthday, and then I almost died during a recent rainy night out partying.
I can just see the headline: “YOUNG JOURNALIST PERISHES ON 30TH BIRTHDAY BECAUSE OF CHEAP, ERGONOMICALLY MISCALCULATED SHOES. Taxi driver says he thought woman was circus performer on stilts.”
I got quite a few compliments, especially when I jazzed them up with a chain from the hardware store as an adventurous anklet. But as much as they work the hotness-price ratio factor, they just aren’t worth it.
The following Forever 21 shoes were a little less severe. All are in the $25 range.
Where have you seen a very similar shoe before, readers? We’ve written about the inspiration for this one on our very blog.
Don’t you love how blatantly this looks like everyone’s favorite designer?
I tried on this cute boot, but sadly, the quality of the faux suede was not so great.
I am, however, loving Forever 21’s new Paris campaign. Cute!
- A tale of two heels
- The Riding Boot
- YSL Spring 2009 Heels: Wireframe as its Best
- April Fools’ Day Shoes
- Franco Sarto: Green, green, green loafers (and did I mention green?)
- Juicy Couture Beverly Hills Store and Louboutin at Saks






Piperlime
December 7th, 2009 at 7:42 am
I am surprised 21 has shoes that look like a CL. A few years ago he applied for a trademark on the red sole, but I am not sure what the status of that application is. CL has taken others Oh-DEER and Steven Madden to court over the red sole.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Regarding the red sole. It was registered with the US Trademark office on 1/1/08.
I suspect that it is primarily intended to be used as a measure against blatantly knocked-off Louboutin styles & outright counterfeits (which seem to be Legion). In the case of styles that would never likely be mistaken for a CL shoe, it may so far not have been considered worth the legal battle; although Forever 21 has been in that particular cross-hairs before. Some past companies that were bordering in infringement (prior to the trade dress registration) were Oh Deer! & Steve Madden who were putting red soles on very imitative styles. They have since stopped using an actual red sole on imitative styles, so some companies appear to have been deterred. It will also have to be worked out, should CL ever goes to court on a trade dress claim, if it is ‘only’ Louboutin red (wherever that falls on the Pantone chart) that is the protected shade. In the meantime, other companies have realised that adding color onto soles, anything other than the standard neutrals, can be a selling point; certain companies will continue to take advantage of that – whether it is purple, camo, or near-red that is used. Until someone is taken to court, I will expect people to test the waters to see how aggressive CL will be on protecting the mark. And, there have been cases where companies did not actively protect trademark and after a certain period may have considered to have abandoned it – so it will be worth watching and waiting to see how things proceed.
The Trade Dress information is in PDF form at counterfeitchic:
http://www.counterfeitchic.com/Images/Louboutin%202f%20statement%20in%20trademark%20application.pdf
http://www.counterfeitchic.com/Images/Louboutin%20red%20sole%20in%20TM%20Official%20Gazette%207-10-07.pdf
And the patent office: http://tarr.uspto.gov/tarr?regser=serial&entry=77-141%2C789&action=Request+Status