jo

Those very high shiny black patent thin-heeled stiletto court shoes, as worn by Gwen, are made by Christian Louboutin. I'm definately going to go and try a pair of those on next time I'm near one of their stores. They do two heel heights: about 4 inches and just over 5 inches, and two toe versions: point and rounded, in that style.

In the UK, Debenhams has a positive policy for helping men buying female items for themselves, as does Marks and Spencer. I am informed that larger stores are also accomodating in trying on items before purchase.

Those are "in" again. A number of shops are currently selling boots very similar to those (same toe, same heel, variable height leg-top, but without the line down the leg).

>> "Did he know they were womens!" <<

seems to imply to me that she thinks he....

"should have bought the 4-inch heeled mens boots instead!"

I have bought several pair of boots recently. In no particular order: A few months back I got some 4.25 inch semi-chunky-heel River Island ankle boots that have a functional zip down both sides of the leg. They were about a fiver. I have worn these out a bit, but the heel angle is just a little too high for my right ankle to bear for a long time. More recently I picked up a similar pair (branded "Select", and made of PU, not leather this time, and were about ten quid, looked brand new) with the one regular zip. I'll alternate the wearing with the River Island ones. These came from a "dress agency" that I plucked up courage to enter. I bought some stuff there many years ago under a previous owner. I bought a marvellous pair of band new and unworn, black Faith 4.5 inch blade heel boots, with a squared off toe (Model: "spooky"), in a charity shop for ten quid. I have worn them under jeans several times, and they are really quite comfortable. Most people just don't notice them. I even had to point them out specifically when talking to the owner of another shop when I said that I was wearing heels, and she said she would never have noticed unless I had said. In a closing down sale, of a teens fashion shop, I got some very pointy toed zip-up knee boots with a 4.5 inch metal heel. Yummy! They zip up at the back. These were branded "Spot on" I think. I tried about 10 different pairs, and several sizes, of boots on in that shop, before deciding which to buy. For the ones I bought, the assistant bemoaned the fact that her calves were too wide to zip them up all the way, so she had not bought them. Luckily no-one else came in that shop in the whole time I was there. They have another branch in an adjacent city that is still open; they'll be getting a visit in the January sales methinks. More recently I got a pair of 4 inch black J-Lo boots (branded "Spot on"), brand new for 7 quid in a sale. These are low calf length, and lace up, but have a leg section that is folded over which if you unfold it makes them almost knee length, lacing up all the way. I didn't try those in the store, but had noted a few weeks ago that a size 6 was too small on a quick try on. The store was busy on the repeat visit, so I just asked an assistant for a size 7 as I could not see any. Luckily there was one pair, brand new, boxed, unopened, in the stock room. I paid for those and went on my way. A few days later I also bought a pair of very shiny black patent, zip-up, knee boots from the same shop. They have a 5.5 inch heel and 0.75 inch platform. These are sort-of "stripper boots" but very very cheap in the sale as they were the last pair. I tried those on in a quiet corner first, and no-one noticed. They are branded "Miss X". I tried on some 4.5 inch heel pointy-toe boots in another well-known high-street shoe-store chain, a few weeks ago. They had an inside zip and outside decorative silver poppers. The heel was thin with a stacked effect, and they felt quite high. The young manager couldn't help enough, fetching several pairs out from the stockroom -- I take a half-size but they only did full sizes. She said they looked great. She couldn't believe it herself; as those boots were too narrow for her. I joked with her that I'd scare her customers off (the shop was empty at the time, it was already dark, the streets not so busy, and only about half hour away from closing time), and she told me that she had several regular male customers who buy heels. I bought the boots, as they fitted OK and were the last pair at half price in the sale. In another "fashion shoe" store I tried on a pair of 5 inch steel-heel patent pointy-toe boots, with decorative zips. The store is staffed by young assistants, so I approached it by saying it was for a Rocky Horror Party. They only had boots in the size above and below mine, so I tried the size above. Just as the assistant came out with the bright pink box with them in, two ladies came into the shop but stayed at the far end. By the time I had got one boot on, they were stood behind me and took a moment or two to spot what I was doing. They both laughed out loud, in fact very loudly. Undaunted, I put the other one on, and zipped it up. I thought "I'll show you!" The assistant immediately wanted to know "how do they feel?" and challenged me to stand up with both on. This I did, and the two ladies now started to tell me that I'll soon discover how hard girls work to look good. The assistant wanted me to see how they looked, and directed me to the mirror half way down the shop. I think I shocked them all with a perfect walk, though I played up for the first couple of steps saying that it was quite difficult. Another shopper right by the front door was trying on some shoes helped by the other assistant, and the assistant there pointed me out to her customer, and she too looked shocked, and grinned at me. Sadly the boots were too big, but the shop assistant said the right size could be got from another local branch - who'll be getting a visit quite soon methinks! This shoe buying thing is easy! Go in. Tell them what you want, or just browse the selections if it is open racks with samples to try on. Show them the colour of your money, and just go for it. Most high street shops have had not had a good few months of selling recently, any sale is useful to them.

This new article (in the New York Post this time) advises on seasonal injuries: http://nypost.com/style/34744.htm

Doesn't look like that ever happened?

These Manalo Blahnik's are a bit less conventional than the usual offerings:

http://www.neimanmarcus.com/products/mp/F4S3925_mp.jpg

>> ex fashion show, samples <<

A number of the sellers previous items offered for sale were billed as being the actual items worn on some particuler, named, catwalk show.

I noticed the size "37" prominently marked on the sole of one shoe, however it is possible that the seller has other auctions in other sizes of the same items and has used the same images in all of them.

However, as ever, caveat emptor; especially on the Net.

Has anyone got any other images of, or information on, the pair top seen in the left of the above image?

Those are nice! I am guessing some very expensive designer though.

>> someone somewhere will be able to sell you a board that circumvents the TC components <<

With "Palladium" (Microsoft's old name for this "technology") the protection was going to be built into the CPU - and that cannot be circumvented.

The way this will get into the marketplace is by not telling people it exists, or what it really does. It will be sold as "protecting you from hackers and viruses". It will be slid in gradually, or shipped with core parts not enabled, then when enough people have it, the next auto-update will enable the hidden features already built in to what you have bought.

Media player already has a lot of DRM stuff built in. Tens of millions of people have that installed.

I have not heard of that brand. Who stocks that brand on a regular basis?

Look for the "Spot On" or "Zone" brand, elsewhere in the world (from UK). They did a similar pair too, late in 2003, I think.

TheFashionSpot has a whole section on shoes, and some nice threads with lots of images.

Nice!

Ooooh. I like those a lot; but they are too daring for me to wear outside. Who are they made by?

I like the high-heel pointy-toe court shoes, and the strappy sandals that turn into boots above the ankles.

The seller, monaco babe is a regular vendor of "designer" stuff on ebay.

The thongs look like they are branded "Spot On". Lots of places sell that brand in the UK. You'll often find them in places that cater for the teenage fashion market - especially small independant retailers. The same styles are often seen in other stores with the "Zone" branding, and others, too.

I have a similar pair of boots, to those above, from River Island. They have a closing zip on both sides of both boots, and a 4.25 inch heel. I wear those out under long jeans too. I'm not so daring that I would try the thongs though.

Nice shoes! A suggestion for your next picture. Move along a bit so that there is less distracting cutter in the background. Get the tap out of the shot, and the images will have more contrast with the main white background object instead.

In the UK, quite a lot of them seem to end up at a discount clothes and shoes chain called TK Maxx - quite a bit of their stuff has a "past season" sticker on it.

I expect that a lot of it is re-exported to some less wealthy nation and sold, at not much more than than cost, to the natives.

A 7.5 inch heel with a 4 inch platform only has a 3.5 heel-lift, and should be easy to walk in (I didn't say easy to balance on though!).

A 7.5 inch heel with no platform would be a very big challenge for anyone to stand or walk in. They would need big feet (7.5 inch heel for a size 3 or 4 would have to be a ballet boot style, only larger sizes above about 8 or 9 could do that heel height in a conventionally soled shoe with no platform), and would need very flexible ankles too.

You what? Sacha gone from Kensington High Street? You're joking? Damn. I was going to go in their next month sometime. It was the one that was just by the flower sellers, and a hundred yards from Pizza Hut. Nice little store, but I noticed their range tail off in the last year or so though.

Any other clues? Like, are they leather or PU? Is the sizing marked in US, UK, or Eur sizes? Anything on the sole at all, like size, or "made in ..."? Sometimes shoes are made by one company for many others... Over here Dorothy Perkins is made by Barratts. Spot On, and Zone, and several others all come from the same place as each other; and so on.

The traditional shoe shop usually had a far wider range, both in style and size, than the little-department in the corner of a bigger store. I was gutted, too, when Barratts closed down on Kensington High Street. Luckily though, there is still Sacha, Dune, 9 West, and a few others there.

Round here there used to be loads of shoe shops but one by one they have gradually (almost) disappeared. In one high street, Truform was replaced by FHW which after several years, eventually closed. Up the road, a very old store (FHW?) became a self-serve Shoe Express and that went the same way. Timpsons became Shoe Zone, now selling mainly cheapo stuff. A Barratts opened, and a year later, closed down. Several others, names long forgotten, have also disappeared in the last decade. Very few shoe-only stores to be seen now. We are left with a Stead and Simpson, a Shoe Fayre (cheapo stuff again), and an out-of-town Brantano of interest. There is a very old Clarks store, and a few in-store departments in larger stores (M&S, Asda, New Look, River Island, Etam, Mk One, BHS, Peacocks, Next, large department stores, etc). I see that Treds have opened though. In another local town, both branches of Saxone disappeared a decade ago, or more. Some time later Ravel closed down (I loved their stuff, but it was a bit pricy). Last year Dolcis disappeared, and a few months back the Stead and Simpson store also went. Several other favourites are also long gone. What happened to "Bay Trading Co" too, they've also gone. There is still a Faith, and a Barratts, and Office have opened (sadly no Schuh yet). The only other choices are the usual Next, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, New Look, TK Maxx, Asda, River Island, BHS, MK One, Peacocks, Russell and Bromley (if you're super rich), and a few department stores. The "shoe shop" as a shop seems to be gradually disappearing, to be replaced by a small shoe department in a much larger store. So too, the move from "service" to "self-service". Is this much the same over the whole of the UK, or does your High Street still have a good selection of "shoe shops" selling, well, umm, just "shoes"?

On the H&M website is an even better picture. The girl next to Lagerfeld has at least 5 inch heel ankle boots on. Very nice!