SHOES. Channeling My Inner Carrie Bradshaw.

Almost every girl is a fan of Sex and the City. I think the appeal of the show is that everyone who watches it sees a little of themselves in one or more of the characters. One of the things I share in common with Carrie Bradshaw is a love of shoes. Although I've never spent more than about $40 on a pair of heels (while Carrie claimed in one episode that she has spent $40,000 on them), I still have a great appreciation for all the expensive shoe designers and their fabulous creations. I consider one designer in particular to be no less than an absolute genius:

Christian Louboutin

Louboutin is to me what Manolo Blahnik is to Carrie (although she is occasionally seen prancing around in Loubies). I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I've lusted over his designs. But I could never bring myself to justify the purchase of a pair because of the sky high price tag that is always attached to them.

But then I became engaged and started planning my wedding.

If there is ever a time to splurge on something you've always wanted, a wedding is the time to do it. Yet, I still struggled with the idea of spending upwards of a grand on a pair of shoes. Sure, you can wear a pair of traditionally non-bridal shoes many times after the wedding whereas wedding dresses are usually extravagances that are only worn once (Unless you find a way to reuse it like this woman did-Thanks Crabcake!). But is it really practical from a financial standpoint for a bride on a budget?

After much self-deliberation, I decided that it would be okay for me to splurge on a shoe. My $4000 designer dream dress is being custom made as an "inspired by" dress for less than $200 (I swear, a post is coming soon about this!). I knew I had the wiggle room in my budget for some Louboutins. To me, I was just inverting the cost of a pair of designer shoes and the cost of my dress. A lot of people wouldn't think twice about a choice to spend around $1,000 on a wedding dress and less than $200 on the bridal shoes. So why should this purchase be any different? It could actually be considered more practical! And so began the search for some Loubies to fit my dusty pink color scheme.

I ended up falling in love with the Christian Louboutin Pompadouce and HAD to have them for my wedding. But after many Google searches, hitting up my "in-the-know" fashionista friends majoring in fashion or working/interning in high-end department stores, and phoning stores myself, I began to think my beloved Pompadouce was an "urban shoe myth".



I finally let go of the Pompadouce and started to think about my other options. I decided that I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a shoe I wasn't completely in love with, so I began contemplating DIY Loubies. I loved the other Loubies I had as back ups, but none of them were on the same level as the Pomp which meant there was no justification in buying them. Carrie wouldn't have settled, so why should I?

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Hive member Gerbera had sent me a link to some wonderful red-soled pink heels on Ebay soon after my previous shoe post:

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They were only $109 shipped! All I would need is a pretty shoe clip to jazz them up like the Pomp. Easy, right? Yeah, not so much.

I spent another week or so researching pink and gold shoe clips to no avail. That's when I went back to Ebay hoping to find what I was looking for when I ran into these:

Christian Louboutin YoYo Peep Toe*

They were listed for only $350! I casually added them to "My eBay" and began stalking them. A few days passed and the auction ended. I waiting patiently for the seller to relist them. I was already in a "might as well get a deal if they're not the Pomps" mode, so I didn't want to spend more than about $250 on them. I thought this was a good number because A.) the DIY Loubies were already $109, so the upgrade for REAL Loubies was well worth the difference and B.) I had recently sold my ROTBs dress for a profit of about $225 which more than covered any potential guilt I may have from purchasing designer shoes. So I waited as the shoes came down to $300. I had a while to wait for the auction to end again, so I started back on the search for shoe clips.

I finally turned to the alchemy option on Etsy to have them custom made. This is how it works if you're not familiar. I made a listing explaining what I wanted (something similar to these Audrey clips but in pink/gold tones). I soon received a bid from seller indulgencecouture who made these absolutely perfect and stunning clips for only $40:

Now that the clips were in order, I focused my attention back to the eBay listing. I finally won the shoes for a price I could live with (patience is a virtue!), and my shoe search was suddenly and officially over!

Now that it's all said and done, I love these shoes even more than the Pomps. They are technically "custom-made" for me. I will be able to wear them more since they aren't as bridal-looking as the Pomps. I can remove the clips and wear them with other shoes I own. And most importantly, I got them for less than $300 which is about a third less than the Pomps!

I like to think that even splurge-happy Carrie Bradshaw would be proud of my purchase. After all, Carrie's favorite pair of shoes were Manolo Blahniks that she scored half-off at a sample sale! Let's just hope mine aren't stolen like hers. ;)

*Not an actual picture of the shoes I bought. I will debut that photo when I receive them!