Do you ever find yourself looking at a pair of shoes, finding them on a continuum between passable and delectable, and then you see the price tag and your eyes pop out, as in holy mother of golly, these shoes are waaaaay overpriced?

I’m not even talking about your usual fare, $3-400 a pop high-end pumps, or $5-600 a pop Manolos, or $6-700 Louboutins–although I could. I’m not even talking about handmade, tailored to your individual foot, shoes, even the aberrantly priced ones like John Lobbs (they do make women’s pumps, too, you know)–they’re a whole different animal, and they’re also guaranteed to last a lifetime. I’m talking about shoes available for retail at your usual store or site, like these:

Imprime sandals

A pair of decent, though fantastically high, ankle-tie gold leather platform sandals, right? How much do you think they are? Any guesses? Anyone?

Ok, I’ll stop the suspense. They’re $1700. Yup. And that’s actually the sale price–they’re reduced more than $400, from $2120. The site (Yoox) informs us they’re from Imprime Paris and they’re made of laminated leather with rubber soles and 5 inch heels. That’s it? That’s all I get in exchange for a small fortune? I would have expected, you know, a magic ballerina popping out of the chunky heel on the hour, and doing a little pirouette on a musical number. Or a guaranteed date with George Clooney. Something like that.

And these actually have a modicum of attractiveness. Consider these fugly boots by Rick Owens:

Rick Owens

They cost no less than $1082. Color me miffed.