The $14,000 Boots

Manolo says, one of the Manolo’s internet friends has sent the Manolo the link to the article in the Forbes Magazine about the most expensive shoes for the womens.

Market analysts are keenly aware of the trend toward extravagant shoe-spending. “Footwear has become a fanatical purchase for even those women who never had a footwear fetish before,” says Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at The NPD Group. “Apparel is no longer the highest priority in women’s wardrobes: handbags and footwear have become the signature items used to project personal taste, wealth and style.”

Cohen estimates that shoes costing $1,000 and up account for less than 1% of total women’s fashion footwear sales (fashion footwear is defined as anything other than athletic), but he acknowledges a growing group of women willing to pay more for their shoes now than they ever have been before. “It changed as early as a year-and-a-half ago but picked up steam in the past six months. Women consider footwear their signature item now.”

Indeed, it is exactly as the Manolo has been saying for many of the years now, it is the feetwears that matter the most.

So, why are the expensive shoes so costly?

“When we’re talking about shoes at $14,000, it’s the materials,” says Michael Fink, senior fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City. “Leather and the pattern and type of wood they’re using, the jewels, are the beads hand done, how rare are the feathers–because a lot of shoes with feathers are using feathers that can’t be gathered anymore, from the archives of the couture feather houses. “Roger Vivier shoes have a specific curved heel, and the way it is attached to the footbed is very mechanical and difficult, so you’re paying for engineering, too,” Fink says.

Randall has seen firsthand how using the priciest materials can drive up the cost of a shoe. “Most beautifully made shoes are from Italy. The master craftspeople are there, and Italian leather is the best leather in the world.”

Mmmm, italian leather.

What does the $14,000 shoe look like?

Like this.
The $14,000 Boot

This it is the alligator boot from the maestro Manolo Blahnik. Magnificent, no?

To the mind of the humble Shoeblogger, the costliness it is perfectly justified.

Of the course, not every expensive boot is worth the price.

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