In Lieu of Valentino Rockstud Pumps

Nordstrom

These famous shoes which cradle one's feet in tough girl studs have captured the hearts of many a lady, including me. They intrigue us with their paradoxical savage elegance. But how does one wrestle with the exorbitant price tag?  I suppose if some feel it worthwhile to collect nonessential opulent frillery such as Monet paintings, why should it not be acceptable to hoard beautiful footwear and clothing as lovingly and artfully crafted as paintings? Of course, this assumes that one is of opulent origins...in which case should one not consider investing one's moolah in a more profitable area--both morally and financially speaking--than shoes? Obviously, I digress from my original point that 1) these shoes have totally crawled under my skin, 2) I can't help wanting them and 3) I can make no rational argument as to why it is ok to pay this much for them. Rational is definitely not the keyword when it comes to this slippery matter.






Happily for me, my agony ended when I found an alternative studded shoe that was neither knock-off nor DIY.  I have nothing against successful DIYers of shoes, but in my current state, I possess no ability to work with leather, pliers, super glue, or studs which aren't iron-on.  In my search for the perfect studded pumps, it was very important that the studs were sufficiently pointy.  I saw too many a shoe whose studs fell flat, (literally.)

My meticulous search of the internet yielded a new find in a familiar realm: Amazon.com! Behold, Lola Cruz Studded T-Strap friends:

I have not heard of this maker of shoes before, but when I found out this was a Spanish brand, I hyperventilated a little, reminisced about my time studying abroad in Madrid, then proceeded to buy the brown shoes since they were two-toned (like the Valentinos) and half the price of the black shoes.

In other news, check out the Lola Cruz website! wow, such exciting music and really pretty shehs.

Is it bad that these shoes cost less than the TAX on the Valentino shoes? I had a great time opening the shoebox to find them lovingly packaged. They came with a dust bag and everything, aren't dust bags a sign of opulence? I feel like a high roller now.  And oh the new shoe smell....can't get enough of that :)