New Louboutins!

Late last year I found out that I was getting a bonus at work, to my surprise! I didn't think I would be eligible since I had only just started working there. It also coincided with the start of the Christian Louboutin sale so what better place to drop some cash, right?

The 40% off sale at Louboutin turned out to be great for me because they had a) classic styles and b) items in my size! I am the most common shoe size too so that shocked me.

So here I present my newest babies:

I couldn't resist these grenadine pink Simple 70s - one of my all time favourite Louboutin styles and 70s are so comfortable. Personally 85 are my holy grail, but they're so hard to find that I in fact have never been able to get my hands on a pair. Can you believe the day after I bought these bright pink ones, I went to Bondi Junction where they had just sold the same pair in classic red in my size! =o In any case, I have a pair of red peeptoes so these are probably a better fit for my collection. I happened to wear these last night and they're super bright and fun!

These were a little more pricey but as soon as I put them on I was in love. The platform and T bar style of these Lagoulas are so comfortable I practically felt like I was walking on air. I couldn't believe it! And these come in black too, but the red are just something a little special. I've since discovered these have been worn (in black mostly) on the red carpet by a tonne of celebrities including Cate Blanchett. I feel I am in good company :)

What is your newest Louboutin purchase?

Louboutin Patent Black Simple 100s

I had been looking for black patent Louboutin black patent simple 85s for the longest time, but they're perpetually out of stock online and in physical stores around the world (trust me, I've tried looking every country I visit!). When I randomly chanced upon my size at David Jones recently in 100s I just couldn't say no. And with a pile of vouchers to spend, these basically cost me nothing and were a welcomed present to myself :)

Welcoming to my shoe family, my holy grail shoe!

So perhaps I have too many black pairs of Louboutins that practically look identical? I am planning to sell one of the pairs...but for now I look like the crazy person obsessed with black.

#17: Louboutin + Milly!

This is a bit delayed, but a few weeks ago I finally got my hands on a pair of my holy grail Louboutins and I'm hugely excited!!

This was the only order I made during the net-a-porter.com half-yearly sale and of course the Louboutins weren't on sale but it didn't matter seeing as I've been waiting for a pair of black everyday pumps to come back in stock in my size!

And here they are... Pigalle 100s in black patent!

And you can see again this pair has the elasticised heel grip <3 Perfect for me! So I got these in my true to size because I went half a size down for the 120s and I've previously tried 85s and it was a perfect fit. Turns out 100s are a little squishy in the toe box (compared to even 120s) so these are slightly pinching but they didn't have any left in one size up so I had to settle for these. Plus I figured they would stretch after a while (which my decolletes have already started doing and will soon be too big for me!)

I did also order some swimwear which was heavily reduced. I ended up returning two items - a J Crew bikini top and Calvin Klein bottoms but they were hardly worth posting about. I did keep this bright fun Milly bikini - I absolutely love the colour and the style is very resort wear.

So its not exactly for swimming laps of the pool in, but I can just imagine wearing this on a beachside resort holiday! And Milly is usually quite expensive, so I thought 50GBP for the set was pretty good!

Anyway, because I like my photos, here's a few shots of my Pigalle collection :) 100s and 120s together for some Pigalle loving.

#16: Smythson + Louboutin

Though my year of the Ultimate Shoe Subscription ended earlier this year (*sob* so sad it's over!), I had returned quite a few things along the way that turned out to be completely not my style and so I've had some extra credit left over I've been trying to use.

I've tried to be really careful in the last few items I buy because I'm at the point where I have my 'must buy' items and now the items must be amazing for me to order them. Anyway, I made this order recently and am quite in love! <3

I've always loved Smythson, as you might remember me posting about them before, and so when I saw this beautiful card case on sale during their half-yearly sale I just had to order it. It's my one pop colour piece of Smythson :)

Aaaand you know I love Christian Louboutin and when I saw these Chiarana 100s they were a must buy also! These are just like the classic Helmuts (but a new reincarnation of it) and they're not even in store in Australia yet :)

You can only just see it but at the back of the heel there is a 'heel grip' elastic in built. This is definitely a new thing for Louboutin and is absolutely GENIUS! I love it! It's perfect for me because I often find shoes slip from the back of my foot as I have quite narrow skinny ankles so this keeps my foot firmly in place and means when they stretch I can still wear them!

Now I've actually returned these for a half size smaller - I also have skinny feet in general so while these fit me and are comfortable, I think I need the half size down to be a more snug fit seeing as it's got the open cut side.

I know my collection is growing a little too fast and I should branch out but I just love the classic sexy styles Louboutin churns out season after season and his designs fit my aesthetic and style perfectly. 

London: Louboutin Anniversary Exhibition

So my travel posts are all going to be a bit out of order since I can't help myself but excitedly share some of the highlights!

As a shoe lover, it was of course hugely exciting to end my travels with a trip to the Christian Louboutin 20th Anniversary Exhibition at the London Design Museum. It was a bit disappointing that we missed meeting the man himself - he was presenting a talk a mere 18 hours earlier(!) - but we literally jetted into London and spent our last moments there viewing shoe porn, eating Pinkberry and enjoying Pierre Herme macarons (my favourite!).

The exhibition is compact, but beautifully presented, taking visitors on a bit of a visual journey through the mastermind's creative shoe journey. You're not meant to take photos in the exhibition but I just had to capture the breathtaking beauty in some way so snuck in some sneaky (albeit slightly dodgily shot) iPhone photos to share with you!

Shoe trapeze at the entrance

Shoe carousel!

 The shoes are presented in a rough chronological order, but also separated by 'themes' such as the Fetish room (more on that later), original early designs and special one-off pieces.

One of the 'highlights' is a Dita Von Teese hologram performance which playfully appears to be taking place right before your eyes on an elevated stage, with a staircase of beautiful 'performance' type shoes cascading before it.

This pair is one of those beauties and just so happens to be one of my sisters' favourite pairs in her collection!

The famous Anemone <3

Earlier I mentioned the 'Fetish' Room - this was a display setup solely for the David LaChapelle photographic collaboration from 2007. For those that don't recall, Louboutin made a series of purely exhibitionist non-wearable shoes which were provocatively photographed by LaChapelle, a style he is most well known for.

And of course I couldn't resist a shot of the famous patent black Pigalle 120s! I am yet to wear mine, but reading the blurb expresses exactly what this cult shoe is about - beauty and art in something wearable (or perhaps not so wearable, depending on who you ask).

And finally, Dita's very own cabaret strasses. These are amazing in real life - she has such tiny feet - and you can even see where the perspex sections are ripping from wear. Amazing!

So while this may not have been the best fashion exhibition I've been to, it was still beautiful to see a mock setup of his workroom, see videos and understand his long journey to Shoe God. I have a theory that perhaps this exhibition didn't seem so 'WOW" because shoes are so accessible - every season we see these shoes in real life in our local stores and even if we can't afford to buy them we can still for a moment try them on and fantasise over when we might be able to wear them. With other couture exhibitions I've been to (Jean Paul Gaultier, Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino are the few I've been to), you're seeing true Haute Couture pieces worth hundreds of thousands which would never normally leave the atelier so they perhaps have a greater sense of allure.

Even so, if you're in London, I suggest you get your hot little heels down to the exhibition for a squiz. It's well worth it if you're a Louboutin fan and shoe lover!

Visit the exhibition at London's Design Museum until 9 July.

#13: Louboutin Corneille 100s

My year-long reign of the 'Shoe Subscription' competition winner is almost up and I'm sure the new winner is soon to be announced. I am so excited for them! And with that, I have been frantically trying to think of the other must-have items I need to add to my wardrobe. I absolutely adore my classic black Louboutins but seeing as the ones I wanted weren't available I just snapped up these when they came up.

And thank god I did because they sold out pretty quickly!

The 100 height has and always been my favourite but this heel is much finer than others, which makes it more of a special occasion black pump methinks.

But I love the asymmetric toebox that gives some awesome toe cleavage. Again this is my sister modelling.

Mmm nothing like a sexy red sole!

The Kardashians

I can't remember if I've posted about this before but I've been getting into the Kardashians lately. So I'm a little behind on the times but I've been able to watch whole seasons quickly without having to wait, and it's just a bit of trash to watch when I don't want to think too hard!

Anyway, I like reading Kourtney's blog now and then and I saw this...their annual Christmas Card shoot:

Click on it for a larger version to see the close up detail - it's really quite spectacular (in my opinion). Kendall looks amazing for a 16 year old and I think all the fashion watchers out there who have listed her as 'One to watch' are right on the money. They're all wearing fabulous Louboutins too - I think Khloe is in Pigalles and Kendall in Duvette 120s.

And how adorable is little Mason? Meanwhile, my sister (who is obsessed with little Suri Cruise) tells me that Mason Dash Dissick has been voted #5 in Hollywood's Most Influential Kids listing. No disagreement here!

Does anyone else have a TV show guilty pleasure?

Shoe Celebrations

So it appears it is the year of the shoe - what with it being Christian Louboutin's 20th Anniversary and Jimmy Choo's 15th. After all they are two of the world's most famous shoe makers (most would include Mr Blahnik in that accolade but I much prefer Louboutin and Choo).

I loved the pics I've been seeing of the dedicated windows in Barneys Madison Avenue because they were simple yet evocative of his twisted sense of beauty.

Christian Louboutin Barneys windows - the King of spikes.

Patent Pigalles!

And then there's Mr Choo with his XV collection commemorating his 15 most iconic shoes. I love the iconic shoe idea because once I love a style I'll stick to it so I'm sure many fashionista's around the world are excited by the prospect of being able to get their hands on styles that previously sold out.

My favourite of the icons - Tippi

But most of all, I can't wait to get my hot little hands on both the shoe master's books...I don't really want to wager who is copying who here! Both books, in collaboration with Rizzoli, at least seem to take a different spin. Louboutin's is part biography, part retrospective and of course a beautiful picture book at the same time whereas Choo's is a celebration of his XV collection with many of the photographs by Mario Testino.

A page from Louboutin's book

I think I need to make more room for these two coffee table books...

Images thanks to Racked NY and Rizzoli

The Master of the Red Soles

Saturday mornings for me always involve reading the Saturday paper, completing the puzzle page and pulling out the magazine sections for a read. This week the Herald had a special design issue and it's telling of the times that Mr Louboutin himself was on the cover.

I've been a bit busy but I can't wait to curl up in front of the TV and read the article! There were some beautiful shoe pics too <3

On the topic of Mr Red Soles - I love this video courtesy of the guys at NAP (it's an oldie but a goodie)


Meanwhile these Burlina 120s are so cute but demure/work appropriate at the same time!

Images and videos courtesy of smh.com.au, christianlouboutin.com and net-a-porter.

Christian Louboutin David Delfin

So my sister referred me to the NAP competition, and her reward was a pair of shoes of her choosing. There was quite a bit of deliberation, as many of the shoes she wanted were sold out, so being the resident Louboutin obsessee she chose a pair of David Delfin's which are amazing in real life. Luckily we're the same shoe size (so she's been weighing in on my shopping decisions, of course, and will be wearing some of my purchases in the future!) so she's going to let me wear these if I want, though I'm not all that good with platforms.

I quite like the mix of leathers, including suede and patent, and the contrast of the cream leather just makes them 'pop'. I can't believe how fast these sold out - practically within a day!

Unfortunately I don't have any better photos, but I'll make sure to try and load some when they first get worn!

Meanwhile, I've been wearing my Décolleté's to work this week and they are fantabulous (fantastic and fabulous at the same time)! They're sexily high, though demure at the same time and because it's been cooling down I've been wearing them with black opaques which highlights the red heel even more.

I'm also on the look out for what to buy next, seeing as free shipping is on too! My sister is trying to convince me that these Pigalle Plato's are worth buying.

Pigalle Plato 120 £370

I have tried these on in-store and they are amazingly comfortable and look quite good on, but I definitely don't need them (I have my simple's after all) and harsh pointy toe shoes aren't completely..'me'? Plus since I've filled my 'classic' shoe wardrobe with my first few purchases, so now I'm on the look out for something a bit more diffierent.