Louie Louie....

Since relocating to NYC I have been supplementing my income, or lack thereof, by babysitting this sweet kid on the Upper East Side. And tonight I was determined to give this child a lesson in fashion 101. I arrived at his house to babysit around 8:15pm. He hadn't eaten and neither had I, therefore we had to venture out to get some grub. We went to his place of choice, since a) he was paying and b)I am a downtown gal and don't know the neighborhood. Three Guys it was. He was shocked that I hadn't heard of Three Guys. I informed him that down south there was a Two Guys and a Five Guys but no Three. By deductive reasoning I came to the conclusion that this was bound to be a burger joint. Damn! I had been eating so well but I was starving...so I gave in and had the leaner of the burgers, sticking with bison meat, no cheese, no bun, no fries (except for the two that I stole off his plate)....OK so let's get to the important part...

We walked out of the burger joint only to be staring at heaven, otherwise known as the perfectly decorating window at Christian Louboutin. Although we were mid-block, I informed this child that we were crossing. I barely waited for traffic to subside before venturing across Madison Ave. This window was so fantastic that it nearly took my breath away. There were oversized red soled heels hanging in the windows and the entire collection of Rollerball Spiked Louies were displayed in every style. It was a vision of beauty, as with any display of Louboutins. There is just something about these shoes that give me chills. Perhaps it is the perfectly sculpted platform, or the way in which the red soles pop like a beam of sunshine beneath the feet of the lucky owners. The way in which these shoes are crafted is no less magnificent then that dude's painting in the Sistine Chapel (OK, total joke...I know the artist and don't really think they are equally significant....at least I don't

admit it).

"Those?" he looked at me in disbelief that I was so enamored by the footwear. It was all I could do to hold back my hand from slapping the fashion naivety right out of him. I took a deep breath and explained to him that these were the Mickey Mantle of shoes. The Michael Jordan of....wait too young...the Kobe Bryant of footwear. The untouchables....well at least for those of us not yet in six figures. He seemed rather bored but spotted the rollerball spiked loafers and stated, "I'd wear these if they were guy's."

'Actually they are men's," I informed the young one. He didn't care...I am not even sure he heard me..it was hopeless. He just wasn't going to get it. I had overestimated the ten year old male's brain capacity. They are just incapable of understanding this form of art. Perhaps if I told him that Kanye wore them at the Parisian Fashion Week back in February? No. It is hopeless. My frustration would have continued, but then a thought came to me. I may not win the battle with the child in front of me...but at the end of the day, I don't even have to fight the battle with my better half at home. My husband (yep, I tied the knot) has as much of a shoe obsession as I do. He even recently posted about shoes on his pop culture blog, The Smackdab. Although this shared likeness creates a slight problem in the clothing "budget," it is a rarity to be able to share the emotions caused by a perfect pair of footwear with the man I love...or any man for that matter. I couldn't ask for more. He doesn't think that my thoughts are unwarranted, nor ridiculous. He understands. One of the many reasons that I said, "I do." I can guarantee that once he reads this post, men's Louboutins will immediately be viewed on our computer and perhaps a shared desire will eventually turn into a shared possession.

In conclusion, my attempt at teaching Fashion 101 failed, but I left with the satisfaction of knowing that I would be going home to someone that shared this crazy obsessed love. With the relatively recent addition of men's Louboutins I feel that I am one step closer at justifying the purchase for these $700+ heels. Unfortunately, that means that now I have to justify the purchase for two.