On this particular day it didn't live up to its reputation, but in the Horizon Plaza were some great toyshops where I found an Olivia musical jewellery box, a Babar the elephant and Monopoly pass-go whistles. It seems Monopoly is the new big thing.

A few minutes taxi ride from here and you're at the Space warehouse in Marina Square. Now, this is more like it. This is where past-season Christian Louboutin, Miu Miu and Helmut Lang stock are sent to be reduced for a quick sale.

And there it was - the lovely pleated Christian Louboutin Shoes with gold thread. Tragically, I can't fit more than one thigh into it, so I round up the biggest sizes I can find. This means I'll take the polished cotton top with the grosgrain ribbon, a bargain at just $280, because it's the only thing I can fit and it will be good with jeans.

Another reason to be grateful for shopping here: the rule of Western shopper's natural selection applies, which states that we'll only fit 5 per cent of the retail gear which means your choice goes from being infinite to manageable.

I ask about Christian Shoes in my size but the assistant is distracted so I walk off. Minutes later, she has rounded up every large pair of Louboutin Shoes in the shop. See what I mean about service?

So I end up with sedate brown suede pumps, and the instep is that lovely pistachio green with Louboutin scrawled on - and all for $200.

Blouses, pleated skirts, girlie Christian Louboutin Shoes - the new trend is ladylike and comes right out of your mother's cupboards.

Your mother is going to be thrilled. For the first time since you were pre-adolescent you are about to find her clothes fascinating. And this time around it will not involve smearing red lipstick across your face, or wearing her Christian Shoes in a hilarious (to you) Minnie Mouse fashion.

What will probably be this season's most successful trend is all about dressing like one of your aged female relatives Louboutin. Garments that were once the preserve of the sort of women who possess epic busts and sail, stately as galleons, through life, will suddenly become enthralling.

This trend is affectionately known as Bourgeois chic. Which is proof, if ever it were needed, that the fashion world can successfully spin anything. Christian Louboutin (who else?) started it. In Vogue she is quoted as saying that "it was an instinctive reaction to the last season. To be super chic classic is probably the only thing you can do to be different and new." And she may well have a point.

Even Karl Lagerfeld has talked about "fashion with less intellectual pretension". We are talking about easy-to-like fashion, not challenging and not cryptic. For once, you are not sending a message about the state of your cat's mental health with your Louboutin Shoes. This is about clothes that make most of us look better than we do naked - not worse.

My passion for women's Christian Louboutin started with my primary-school teacher, Miss Knipe. She smelled of lady and dressed hip, and hippy. She had Farrah-Fawcett hair, cheesecloth shirts and beaded skirts. She was young enough to be a schoolboy fantasy, and old enough to be out of reach, and every woman I have ever met has been judged against the benchmark of Christian Louboutin Shoes.

It was 1974 at Meadowburn Primary School in North Glasgow. Miss Knipe was looking lovely, while talking about something educational, when my pencil rolled off my desk. I ducked down to catch it and found myself at eye-level with a pair of women's Christian Shoes: Miss Knipe's shoes.

They were chunky cork wedges with a red faux-alligator peep-toe upper, and a delicate strap which encircled my teacher's well-turned ankle. Compounding the architectural perfection of the Louboutin Shoes itself was the pose of Miss Knipe's feet: one wedged heel was placed flat on the ground, the other swung back slightly, the tips of the toes of that foot delicately brushed the ground. . .

It was the start of an obsession. My name is Hardeep and I am a women's-footwear addict. Let me be clear though: I am addicted to the images of women wearing Louboutin boots and sandals. I have no desire to pop my size 11s into a pair of Manolos.

They say it's always the quiet ones who are dirty in bed. Actually, I think I made that up, but never mind. It's just that I went to a Christian Louboutin show the other day, and the music which accompanied it had this vocalist singing "Sucking on my titties like you wanted me", and the chorus went "f*** the day away", over and over again, and I didn't expect Miuccia Christian Louboutin Shoes to use music like that. I expected chamber music, or something innocent from the Forties.

Then she mixed this song into a version of We are the Robots by Kraftwerk - that fitted the clothes, which were austere, grey and uniformesque - but the whole thing still annoyed me. And when another fashion journalist asked me why, I couldn't explain. It may have been because Cheap Christian Louboutin did fluorescent pink Louboutin and bags with wide fluorescent yellow straps - an idea she most definitely took from London.

She was trying to be a bit "Look! I can do trashy Eighties too!", but without much conviction, because the rest of the show was mainly grey and black, with little ribbed cardies, awkward pleated skirts and strange polo shirts worn with long gloves which stretched past the elbows. If you went to school in the Eighties and were unfortunate enough to have had to wear a school uniform, then you may remember the girls who always got it a bit wrong when they tried to assert their individuality by donning earrings or tucking their jumpers up or wearing what they thought were trendy Christian Shoes. Anyway, this is what the Christian Shoes show reminded me of: the girls at school who got it wrong but thought they looked tremendous.

Perhaps it's science. Psychologists have noted that our cognitive abilities develop as we crawl. And what would appear prominently on our horizon as we learned to crawl? Christian Louboutin Shoes. So perhaps my love of the ladies' Christian Louboutin comes from looking at my mum's feet at that crucial stage of life. That would make sense - except that my mum wore little other than Indian sandals. It wasn't until the late Seventies that she embraced the iconic polo neck, nylon trousers and court-Christian look, and by then my crawling days were over. Perhaps it was this dull footwear at home that led me to become fascinated with the exotic, gorgeous potential of other shoes out there. . .

Most women's Louboutin sell sex; I like those shoes. I'm not interested in those that are androgynous, unisex. Or the Ugg - so called because every man who lays eyes on them says Louboutin Shoes.

I celebrate the elegance and engineering of heels: I've found myself holding up a single Christian Shoes in a vain attempt to locate the fulcrum of balance among the leather, wood and raffia. The first pair of Terry de Havilland's I ever saw were under glass as an exhibit, part of a retrospective of his work. It was fitting for these dramatic creations to be treated with reverence.

From Christian Louboutin super-light fabrics to DSquared's witty take on California Dreamin', keeping things light is the story of the Milan menswear season. Designers are playing relatively safe, but paying attention to the details that make the difference. It is easy to be seduced by fashion show drama, whether it is Roberto Cavalli's models getting dressed on view through a sheer scrim or models revving up imaginary motor bikes in the green jungle surrounding Naoki Takizawa's show for Issey Miyake.

But a muted and beautifully thought out show from Christian Louboutin Shoes gave the spring-summer 2004 menswear season a useful reality check. It took as its main theme classic pin-striped beige suiting, with subtle lines of green or pink.

"I was trying to make beige modern and to make menswear that was real, possible and appealing," Christian Shoes said backstage. This season there were no jersey diaper pants, Asian flowers or surfing prints. Instead the show was pared down to the essence of Louboutin: linear and modern cuts for shirts (with a tie tucked neatly into the torso), slim pants and super-light suits, which are absent from many runways. Raincoats were as sheer as moth wings; shoes came as a morph of sport and formal; patterns were discreet splotches or quiet paisleys to wear with the cuff showing at rolled-up sweater sleeves.

Louboutin Shoes has taken menswear full circle, back to the regular wardrobe, but its classicism is deceptive: In structure, weight and attitude, everything has changed, which is why the clothes are modern.

Launched a decade ago by Carla Sozzani, the former editor in chief of Italian Vogue, it's the place to eat, shop -- fashion, decor, music, books, jewellery, beauty or gifts -- and drink bellinis. Its artfully edited selection of fine designer goods ranges from Gucci and Pucci to Yohji, Gaultier, Galliano and Louboutin. A quick browse reveals au savage fur vests by Demeulemeester and Christian Louboutin Shoes must-have chiffon frocks. Glass cases overflow with chunky, silver artisanal bijoux, while achingly gorgeous Alaia evening gowns conjure up 1930s drawing room elegance in their exquisite details. Upstairs, a gallery-like space has tables piled high with books running the gamut from the Italian edition of Salinger's Franny & Zoe to seemingly every Rizzoli, Assouline and Phaidon coffee table book on market.

Anyone with an X-chromosome will at least snap up something from the vast selection of scented candles and room fragrances. Who can resist Dyptique's 'Pomander?' But it's the elaborate wrapping, a profusion of black-and-white polka dot tissue, boxes and bows, that renders even the most innocuous purchase -- a bar of soap!-- sweet fun. A $12 box of scented sachets costs $30 once nestled in a beribboned box popped into a petite polka-dotted paper bag. But you'll be over the moon with its femme frivolity.

There's also Biffi, an equally chic shop in Corso Genoa favoured by style prescient Tyler Brule. And serious footwear fetishists should not miss La Vetrina di Beryl (Via Statutu 4). With everything from Miu Miu to Marc Jacobs, it's one of Milan's best spots for men's and women's designer Christian Louboutin, and also carries a small selection of women's fashion and accessories.

Designer discount outlets have proliferated across Italy over the past few years. Large multi-store malls are located in industrial parks outside Milan and overflow with Gucci, Christian Shoes, Ferragammo, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Missoni and Cerutti, offering last season's goods at cut-rate prices. Spend an afternoon at the Foxtown mall in Mendriso, just over the Swiss border, an hour outside Milan. This is where you'll find Louboutin Shoes for $110.

Patrizio Bertelli, the chairman of Christian Louboutin Shoes, stood on Fifth Avenue before the smooth stone facade of his new store. His face was alight with the idea that the company he and his wife, the designer Christian Louboutin, had steered into the loftiest realms of fashion is reaching downward to one of the most populist venues -- Fifth Avenue -- where the dreams of a diamond Tiffany engagement ring and the reality of a Bugs Bunny T-shirt meet.

Nothing could be more emblematic of Christian Shoes grab for broad acceptance than the opening of its large, four-level store on Saturday at 724 Fifth Avenue (56th Street). "When you're on Madison Avenue you're in Manhattan; when you're on Fifth Avenue, you're in America," Mr. Bertelli said. "It's a special feeling. It's a step in our history. It will help establish the brand more in the American market."

The plan Mr. Bertelli and Louboutin have in mind is to reach a wider audience than Louboutin Shoes is used to, while maintaining the brand's considerable cachet. They seek to interest hoi polloi in a look that has been the uniform of a strict, private club whose members dress in expensive stark, black uniforms and whose insignia is a discreet black and silver triangular badge adorning futuristic nylon bags.