by Melody Lesser

Created on: April 04, 2007   Last Updated: May 20, 2007

I admit it. I'm weak. I can't resist the allure of the latest fashion trends. No matter how hard I try to buy "sensible," "classic" clothing, images from the fashion pages of my favorite magazines haunt my brain, cloud my judgment and propel me to scour selling floors for the fashion must-haves of the season. Yes, I've gone bare-legged in the dead of winter when pantyhose were considered dowdy. I've worn stiletto heels in snowstorms and cashmere in the summer when it was considered chic. At the moment, my fingernails are painted a trendy, if not a little ghoulish, black, and they are oh-so-stylishly short. My jeans are skinny; my shirt is long and belted smartly at the hip. My shoes, ah, allow me a moment to digress, please.

Shoes are the staff of life. Ok, perhaps that's being a tad dramatic but, certainly, no purchase makes the purchaser feel better about herself than a pair of shoes. I'm certain you agree. Shopping for jeans can be extremely ego-deflating and those three-paneled mirrors, oh! Ditto bathing suit shopping. Finding just the right suit can be a chore and the search for the little black dress (LBD, for those in the know) can be endless. But shoes how many other wardrobe purchases can you make that are the same size as the ones you wore in high school? No, there is nothing more gratifying, wardrobe-building or confidence-boosting than a new pair of beautifully designed shoes. Comfort, be damned! We're talking fashion here!

I was combing the pages of a fashion magazine recently while having a comb out at the salon when I saw an ad that caused me to hyperventilate. A glamorous model was draped over a bed with only a satin sheet covering her naked body. Her legs were arranged seductively as she gazed at the camera with a sleepy sexiness. The only article of clothing she appeared to have on was a shoe. And, oh, what a shoe! It was not the clichd, strappy stiletto one might expect a glamorous model to wear in such a situation. No, instead, she dangled a glorious, two-tone, metallic leather and vinyl platform shoe from one foot while the other one stood smartly on the floor. "Platforms," I thought. "Of course, this was the new shoe direction." I had to have a pair. I raced from the salon to the mall where I began my search for the perfect pair of platforms. In store after store, the sales help informed me that they were getting their platforms in a few weeks. Not good enough. I had a new pair of black skinny jeans that just begged to be paired with platforms.

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>