Most Expensive Women's Shoes
January 22, 2006 | Senay TOPCUOGLU
Without those glass slippers, Cinderella would still be sweeping the fireplace, and Prince Charming would be in the middle of a nasty divorce from one of her step-sisters.
Deprived of her bejeweled pumps, Dorothy would be stranded in Oz.
And the old lady who lived in her shoe? Well, she probably would have been better off investing in real estate than in a broken-down old boot.
The female shoe has always been an object of fascination, endowed with mythical power.
"Shoes make women feel so beautiful that they're willing to pay anything," says Jessie Randall, the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based designer and founder of Loeffler Randall, a shoe and handbag line she founded with her husband.
"You can't put a price on something that makes you feel that special."
Market analysts are keenly aware of the trend toward extravagant shoe-spending.
"Footwear has become a fanatical purchase for even those women who never had a footwear fetish before," says Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at The NPD Group.
"Apparel is no longer the highest priority in women's wardrobes: handbags and footwear have become the signature items used to project personal taste, wealth and style."
more: forbes.com/lifestyle/2005/12/16/expensive-womens-s (1,229)
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