SCNDLS said:

When I was engaged, my EX-fiance tried 2 pull that bull**** on me, and then he came home with an $800. flugle horn! Meanwhile, I'm hiding shoes in the trunk of my car!
NO MORE! If a guy can't deal with a woman with a tight shoe game, then let him find a Croc-wearin' heifer...

chocolate1 said:

I know that's right! MOST of my married friends do that hidin' shit in the trunk shit AND they make more money than their husbands. Plus, their husbands are quick to tell them something's not in "our" budget but will drop $5,000 on season tickets for him and his buddy but homegirl ain't bought a new pair of shoes in two years. I'm sorry but I'll be damned. As long as the household's financial obligations and savings/investing plans are being met, I'll be damned if I'ma be working yet having to justify what I spend my money on to someone else. But, hey, that's just me. Oh, well, being single and financially secure rocks!
[Edited 9/2/08 16:00pm]

psychodelicide said:

You're right I could totally see him (or me) rocking those at a concert. Trynta impress that lil mofo is what got me in this shoe mess to begin with.

SCNDLS said:

What does that mean?

chocolate1 said:

What does what mean?

SCNDLS said:

I guess Prince was checkin' 4 your feet one nite...

chocolate1 said:

And you KNOW I ain't been right eva since. . .

SCNDLS said:

damn, i shoulda been ova here instead of that other mess...


...

chocolate1 said:

Holy crap ..u would need a room just for ur shoes

SCNDLS said:

I think my husband would divorce me on the spot

Ocean said:

How will you know if you don't try it.

Well, I guess it's cheaper than having an obssession for expensive cars or something. . . No. . . wait. . . I do have a car thing too.

SCNDLS said:

Ocean said:

I've been house-hunting all summer...
I visited a house yesterday that I fell in love with!
It has an upstairs that opens onto a landing with 2 huge closets side-by-side and plenty of wall space. I pictured a "dressing area" complete with dressing table, mirrors, and A HOME FOR MY SHOES! Then there are 2 bedrooms- one huge, and a smaller one that can be my "office". The whole upstairs would be my 'suite'.
I'm going 2 make an offer!

chocolate1 said:

Good luck on the house. I'll be praying for ya.

chocolate1 said:

Good luck!!!

Thanks! My appt. is Thursday.

Ocean said:

I have always loved shoes. Even when I was in junior hugh school, I would wear always wear shoes and not sneakers too often. I didn't always have the extensive collection that I have now. My mother calls me Imelda Marcos. The most I ever paid for a pair was $800.00 for a pair of red alligator stiletto Manolo Blahnik shoes. It beat paying the original price of $2,400.00. I own about 150 - 160 pairs of shoes. I have them in three different rooms in my house. My current season shoes are in one closet, my boots and evening shoes are in another closet and my off seasons shoes are in another room. I change them over when the seasons change.

I have a three bedroom house and live by myself, so I don't have to fight for room. Now if I do get married, there will probably be a problem. I couldn't always afford the designer shoes that I buy now. I don't just buy them for the name, most of them are well-made and I will get tired of them before they wear out or I can have them re-soled if I wear the hell out of them.
I am not above buying shoes from Chinese Laundry, Franco Sarto, BCBG if they are really cute. Not every shoes in my closet is high end designer. AND I tend to get a lot of them from the high-end store outlets, such as Last Call Neiman Marcus and Off 5th Saks Fifth Avenue. It can be an expensive habit, but I don't have anyone to take care of but myself right now.

I have to say, the one thing that is bothering me is that both my shoe buddies used the line, "I'm not above buying..." and then named shoes that are not necessarily cheap shoes- and are designer names in their own right.
Although I don't shop at Payless, I don't wear those ridiculously priced shoes. The ones I buy are well-made and because I have so many, I don't wear them enough to wear them out.

I'm a teacher. Once I'm a home-owner, I will have to curb my habit- or live in a house with ONLY shoes and no furniture.

(and ya'll have 2 admit... my "cheap" shoes are pretty! )

chocolate1 said:

Girl, please. . . I listed those places because those are the only stores or brands I bought for the past 15 years so it's what I'm most familiar with. I used that phrase to make it clear that if I see something I like I'll buy it if it meets my needs regardless of what brand it is. I didn't mean that they're "cheap" or of poor quality. As I said, before now I was never a "shoe" person so those were the stores I shopped at regularly cuz I knew I could always find something I liked, that fit well, and at a good price.

However, it's been a long time since I've found shoes at 9West or other similar stores that I really liked for whatever reason. So when I discovered Gucci and Stuart Weitzman shoes I was in heaven. SW is the only designer I know that releases 600 new styles each year. As a result, I bought TONS of his shoes in a short time because of the selection, quality, and style.

Everyone has their own personal style, one's not better than another. Do you, I'mma do me. Like I said, to each her own. However, IMO there can be a HUGE difference between a shoe from 9 West and a shoe by Stuart Weitzman or some other high end designer. And, for me, the benefits of high end shoes vastly outweigh the one negative, price. So since I can afford it I choose to spend my money on products that 9 times out of 10 I'll be happy with.

I'm the same way about handbags. I won't carry a fake bag cuz I can tell the difference and it's always obvious to me no matter how much people say you can't tell. If that's not important to you, cool. But I'd rather save up til I can roll with the real thing or not at all. And when I carry a designer bag it doesn't have to be all logo'd out either. As far as labels go, it's not important to me that others recognize my bag or shoe. That's not my goal cuz I'm not trynta impress nobody OR keep up with the Joneses. It basically boils down to, I like certain things that certain designers produce so that's what I spend my money on. It's that simple.

SCNDLS said:

I LOVE Stuart Weitzman shoes. I've been buying them for YEARS. Thank goodness there are some places I can get them on sale (bluefly.com, for one).

NuPwr319 said:

The funny thing is that I'd only seen them in Neiman's and Sak's and I always thought they were old lady shoes because that's what their buyers selected for their clientele. BUT when I found them on Zappos, which runs SW's online store, I found they had literally 100s of different styles at any given time. Right now they have almost 1200 and I've seen as many as 1600.

Contrary to appearances, I actually don't like to shop unless it's online so me, SW, and Zappos were a perfect match. I don't enjoy going to stores, wading through crap, searching for something you may or may not find. Hate it.

As for sales, the SW stores have two major sales every year. I scope out what I want at the beginning of the season and go into the store to try my picks on to determine my accurate size. Then when the sale starts I call the store and have them look it up in their system to find my size anywhere in the country. The initial sale is 30% off but after a few weeks the sale turns into 30% off 1st pair, 40% off 2nd, 50% off 3rd+. Then it eventually goes to 60% off everything on sale. So that's when I hit they asses up HARD! I've bought as many as 8 pairs at once, but I saved maybe $1500 off regular price.

SCNDLS said:

OMG! I had no idea! We have a SW store at the Somerset Mall (the chi-chi mall in suburban Detroit). And I love your strategy! I'm going to do that this season! So, when are their sales usually? Does SW have an e-mailing list--I'll probably check the site out--I haven't been on it in a few years, cause I've been using bluefly and zappos.

Actually, I use bluefly more than zappos, because although zappos has a HUGE selection, bluefly has better prices (several times I've found a SW shoe I bought at bluefly for almost $100 more at zappos!)
[Edited 9/3/08 16:47pm]

NuPwr319 said:

Honey, I always have some kinda strategy to get a bargain. I don't believe in paying regular price if I can hep it.

I hardly ever shopped in the store cuz when they'd have the sale, I'd call Zappos and if they had the same shoe in my size, they'd match the SW store sale price and take another 10% off plus there wasn't any tax. Well, last December somebody hit them up hard on some SW shoes and Zappos changed their price match policy the next day. They completely phased it out earlier this year because of the bad economy.

So since Zappos doesn't match anymore, I'll be back dealing directly with the stores. The beauty of it is that you don't have to have a local store cuz even the stores will mail them to you. I'd advise looking on Zappos for what you want because they are basically SW's warehouse. Then call the local store to see if they have it in stock so you can try them on. Keep in mind that Zappos has a lot of old styles that the stores won't have and sometimes they have new styles in colors and materials that even the SW stores won't have. I always sort the shoe list by New so I can see the newest, in season shoes, first.

The fall sale starts the day after Thanksgiving at 30% off, then by mid-December they've gone to the graduated sale and by January it's 60%. The spring sale happens in May through July. This is also the same sale schedule for Gucci, Neiman's AND Saks so you can always find high end shoes on sale if you sign up for the email notifications.

SCNDLS said:

THANK YOU!

StillGotIt said:

I'm sayin'!