If the Shoe Fits

There are only a few things that no woman can live without, and one of those things is a really expensive pair of shoes. Maybe it all started with Cinderella's infamous glass slippers. Who knows? The only thing I know for sure is that there's nothing quite like the smell of new leather when it's seeping out of a nice sturdy shoebox, and that smell is all the nicer when you've shelled out more than $1,000 for your new pair.

According to an article on Forbes.com, "the female shoe has always been an object of fascination endowed with mythical power. And as women from former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos (who possessed 1,200 pairs of shoes) to Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw (who one episode realized she'd spent $40,000 on footwear yet couldn't afford an apartment) have shown, some women are willing to spend fortunes to be properly shod." In fact, The NPD Group did a study and found that women in the U.S. spent almost $17 billion on shoes in a single year, and with each year, that amount is rising.

Chanel. Betsey Johnson. Kate Spade. Louis Vuitton. Ferragamo. Roger Vivier. Jimmy Choo. Gucci. Bottega Veneta. Escada. Givenchy.



The list of brands to choose from is endless, but if you're looking to spend the big bucks, there's only one brand to consider: Manolo Blahnik.

Manolo Blahnik's seasonal selection is both the most fashionable and the most expensive. During the winter, the Spanish designer's line features knee-high boots made from animal leather that can cost as much as $14,000. In the summer months, leather alligator slingbacks will set you back $2,200.

"When we're talking about shoes at $14,000, it's the materials," Michael Fink, Senior Fashion Director at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City, told Forbes.com. "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."