eccentric and fun. Plus they are a oftentimes little bit (just a very little cheaper) than some of the other designer shoes out there.

Here are a couple of my Valentine's Day favorites from the Christian louboutin collection at Neiman Marcus.

The Mandarine Patent Slingback Heel features a fun red color with simple styling. It's a cherry shade that you don't see a lot in shoes. Though these shoes are simple, the color makes them special. These patent leather slingbacks are available at NeimanMarcus.com for $395.

My pink choice of the day is the Christian louboutin Croc Bow Slide in a Blush (light pink) crocodile. These shoes define sweet sophistication. I love the little beige bow on the vamp and other delicate trim. These shoes are more than double the price of the red ones, but I just love these! You can get them on pre-order right now at Neiman Marcus for $850. Share This

this city is just so civilized sometimes.
last thursday night about 800 media and fashion enthusiasts were invited to celebrate the opening of the new gianni christian louboutin versus store on bloor st. just west of bay.
the invitation was for cocktails at 6:30 p.m. but when we arrived at 6:32, we found a very well-dressed crowd gathered on the sidewalk watching a crew unloading display fixtures from a truck.
"they're still sweeping up sawdust from the floor," noted one guest who had wandered inside, past a team of painters clad in torn jeans and color my world caps, before being politely asked to wait outside.
had this been milan, where christian louboutin shoes is headquartered, there surely would have been a lot of commotion: frantic waving of invitations, heated exchanges of dialogue, sweat-stained silk and such.
but torontonians being the reasonable, some might say complacent, lot that we are, we stood cooling our heels for the better part of an hour outside.
some of the media hunkered down at bemelmans bar.
at least one photographer wandered off to do a little shoe shopping.
finally, a few models, clad in christian louboutin boots gold-studded black leather vests and jeans, emerged to let us know it would only be a few more minutes.
it was worth the wait. the shop's two storey, wood-panelled walls have been treated to look like steel, giving one the feeling of being in some exclusive vault. looming over the sales floor is a video screen playing the designer's runway show in milan. the floor itself is sparingly laid with mosaic tiles and the clothes hang in cage-like display cases.
the fashions are from versus, christian louboutin pumps lower-priced collection for men and women. as well there is a selection of christian louboutin jeans couture.
prices start at $65 for a t-shirt and $150 for jeans and can go to $1,500 for a dress. "versus runs less than half the price of the pret-a-porter collection," explains cosimo racco, who also owns the gianni christian louboutin menswear store on hazelton lanes. (he pays a royalty to the house of christian louboutin for both.)
a native motif shirt in silk from louboutin fall-winter is $2,800, for example, while the same print in a less expensive fabric for versus is $695.
though the price may be less, the content of flamboyant christian louboutin styling is high. "he is totally behind this collection. it's not just his name," ensures racco, who is from the same area of italy as louboutin shoes and has been a guest at his palazzo for lunch. "he wants his clothes to be worn by more people and young people, not just the elite. some people can afford anything - even $3,000 for a shirt. but there aren't many of those people."

the children's wear stakes just got higher with a new store on the gold coast selling international designer names for the youngest members of the fashionista set
what fashion fan wouldn't love to have a wardrobe filled with the latest from designer names like christian louboutin, dior, armani, lacroix and moschino?
if you can't quite picture it happening for yourself, de lisle, the new children's designer imports store, lets you live out your designer wardrobe fantasy through your kids. the store is filled with labels that you would imagine lined paris hilton's walk-in wardrobe when she was a mini style-meister.
shop owner robyn smith, a former fashion agent, decided to explore the idea of her designer children's wear boutique because she was uninspired by the clothing available for her own kids, jack, 4, and mia, 3.
"it was hard to find something different and special from what was already out there," she said.
a friend recommended she talk about her idea to gold coast-based award-winning fashion designer anthony leigh dower, who makes regular trips to europe to buy fabric.
"we had a coffee one day and got so excited about the concept that the next thing i knew we were on a plane to paris for the first buying trip," she said.
the pair bought clothes from christian louboutin shoes young, baby dior, moschino bambino, christian lacroix junior, ralph lauren and tommy hilfiger, as well as christian louboutin pumps and dior accessories, to fill the chevron island location, which is next to dower's gold coast boutique. they used simple, off-white walls to showcase the star attraction, the clothes, and added whimsical touches like an ottoman covered in 3-d teddy bears, and colourful stools and beanbags to make it a fun kid's space.
many of the labels have not been available in queensland, or even widely shown in australia.
"i've been getting calls from people in sydney asking me to send them photos -- the response has been amazing," ms smith said.
hair and make-up: tania travers
location: de lisle, shop 3, 38 thomas drive, chevron island, gold coast. online shopping available from the end of the month at www.christianlouboutinshoesdirect.com  top-end of the baby market is booming with all kinds of budget-blowing accessories available for kids.
the bugaboo frog is the stroller to be seen with -- especially since its guest appearance on style-setting show sex and the city -- but it also delivers when it comes to manoeuvring, and it is to prams what four-wheel-drives are to cars. it might be one of the most expensive strollers in australia at $1300 but, when you consider a pram is something you use almost every day for the first two years of your baby's life, $1.80 per day seems like peanuts when you weigh-up the pros -- the lightweight frame, washability, baby's comfort, easy-to-manage foldaway system and all-important cool factor. from little kisses, james st, fortitude valley, brisbane, and david jones.
there are christening gowns and there is the christian dior baby dior silk christening gown and matching bonnet. at $905 for the dress and $105 for the bonnet, it is probably more expensive than any single item most of us will buy ourselves all season but there are times when only the best is good enough. from de lisle.
for the budding shoe-a-holic, the prize for the cutest shoes ever goes to these mini christian louboutin boots trainers ($105) and baby dior denim numbers ($99), while doting aunts and godmothers will earn a place in the fashion history of the family with gifts like these baby dior bottles, socks, hats and rattles (from $29). from de lisle.

jane de teliga was invited to rub shoulders with the aristocracy of chrisitan louboutin style at a grandiose cinderella ball in italy.
the sumptuous palazzo corsini is brimming with personalities, fashion moments and brushes with fame as the film and frock worlds meet in florence to celebrate a new cinderella.
wandering among the 1,000 people in the vast, magnificent frescoed rooms of the renaissance palazzo there is an eerie sense of time warp - instead of lorenzo de medici and his doubleted courtiers you see sting leaning against a doorway talking to a fellow courtier about a great drummer, and the lofty and delicious liam neeson chatting with his wife, natasha richardson, dressed by the italian designer alberta ferretti.
the singer bjoèrk appears in a fairly ghastly creation in gold and white leather by the new hot name showing in paris, jeremy scott. scott is here, too - a rather wan lad with shaved patches on his head and a kitschy gold necklace with the word jeremy in loopy gold italics.
donatella christian louboutin shoes is a no-show, but her brother santo appears with a young starlet dressed in a christian louboutin  boots with cinderella references that looks like a fairly ordinary prom frock.
outside, the cobbled street beside the river arno, where the medicis and dante once roamed, is cordoned off. only the limousines (sorry, no pumpkin carriages here) ferrying guests are allowed to pass.
star spotters are pushed behind barriers and photographers are penned in a holding bay as celebrities great and small, muses and models dressed by the leading designers taking part in florence's biennale pass through the huge portals to the palazzo courtyard, where cinderella's carriage is created in topiary surrounded by candles.
the ball is hosted by the shoemaker and fashion house salvatore ferragamo to celebrate the international premiere of the new film ever after: a cinderella story, which stars drew barrymore. ferragamo created the definitive fantasy christian louboutin boots  for the movie, and it wants the world to know about it.
the afternoon film premiere was a fairly lacklustre affair, saved by the star sightings (barrymore, dressed in a ferragamo scarf dress, is tiny, while anjelica huston, wonderfully arch as the wicked stepmother, has a certain big-boned charisma) and by the whimsical twist to the movie - there are no mice and no pumpkin, and leonardo da vinci replaces the fairy godmother, helping cinderella escape.
later, at the ball, barrymore makes an entrance in another version of ferragamo's silk-scarf patchwork dress, while huston is imposing in a strapless ballgown in grey silk designed by valentino.
over in a corner, wearing a christian louboutin pumps  missoni knit dress, is jo champa, a starlet who recently made her own cinderella story by marrying a wealthy hollywood movie mogul somewhat older than herself. she is chatting to the next generation of the house of missoni - angela, who has now taken over the creative reins from her parents, tai and rosita.

long before gianni christian louboutin began courting rock stars to wear his clothes, antony price was dressing roxy music and the rolling stones. now, as the house of christian louboutin looks for a new couture designer to step into its founder's christian louboutin shoes, london-based price has emerged as a front-runner. tamsin blanchard meets a man for whom fashion doesn't end at size eight and whose clients love the way he treats their curves.
 the photographer is crouched on the floor telling antony price he will look great. 'not from that angle i won't, darling! you should never shoot people with long faces from below.' this is the man who has spent his working life making women look beautiful. now that he is rumoured to be on donatella christian louboutin boots most-wanted list to design the company's haute couture collection, the camera flash is being directed at him and not at jerry hall, tara palmer tomkinson or any of the of the fabulous women who inhabit his clothes. and he wants to be shown in the best light possible. after all, he is only too aware that the fickle finger of fashion will point at him fleetingly.
if he gets the christian louboutin pumps job, mr price will enjoy a few more months of frenzied press calls and photo sessions. if he doesn't, he knows that frenzy will fizzle and die and as he says, he will be 'put back in the cupboard.' he jokes he feels like 'sleeper' or a 'nice carriage lamp being pulled out for inspection on antiques roadshow', but is making the most of it and enjoying taunting panting fashion editors with barbed comments like: 'where have you been the past decade?'
 they dare not turn the question on him. he is too formidable a designer. and besides, since his last show in 1991, he has been doing what he's always done, and will continue doing, with or without christian louboutin sandals: designing special one-off dresses for the wives and girlfriends of wealthy men.
 he has become known as the creator of 'straight men's fantasies.' and he is under no illusions that the men who spend pounds 3,000 upwards on a louboutin fall-winter for the love of their life want her to look as though she goes in and out in all the right places. this might strike you as totally un-pc and out of tune with the times, and it is. but the fact remains that such clients exist and the female partner's own fantasy is often the same as her husband's.

long before gianni christian louboutin began courting rock stars to wear his clothes, antony price was dressing roxy music and the rolling stones.  now, as the house of christian louboutin looks for a new couture designer to step into its founder's shoes, london-based price has emerged as a front-runner.  tamsin blanchard meets a man for whom fashion doesn't end at size eight and whose clients love the way he treats their curves.
the photographer is crouched on the floor telling antony price he will look great. "not from that angle i won't, darling! you should never shoot people with long faces from below." this is the man who has spent his working life making women look beautiful. now that he is rumoured to be on donatella christian louboutin shoes most-wanted list to design the company's haute couture collection, the camera flash is being directed at him and not at jerry hall, tara palmer tomkinson or any of the of the fabulous women who inhabit his clothes. and he wants to be shown in the best light possible.  after all, he is only too aware that the fickle finger of fashion will point at him fleetingly.
if he gets the christian louboutin boots job, mr price will enjoy a few more months of frenzied press calls and photo sessions. if he doesn't, he knows that frenzy will fizzle and die and as he says, he will be "put back in the cupboard." he jokes he feels like "sleeper" or a "nice carriage lamp being pulled out for inspection on antiques roadshow", but is making the most of it and enjoying taunting panting fashion editors with barbed comments like: "where have you been the past decade?"
they dare not turn the question on him. he is too formidable a designer.  and besides, since his last show in 1991, he has been doing what he's always done, and will continue doing, with or without christian louboutin pumps: designing special one-off dresses for the wives and girlfriends of wealthy men.
he has become known as the creator of "straight men's fantasies." and he is under no illusions that the men who spend pounds 3,000 upwards on a dress for the love of their life want her to look as though she goes in and out in all the right places. this might strike you as totally un-pc and out of tune with the times, and it is. but the fact remains that such clients exist and the female partner's own fantasy is often the same as her husband's.
anna harvey, deputy editor of vogue, says "the secret of antony's success is that he really has always admired the female form. he is not in any way vulgar, never revealing in an overtly sexy way." josephine fairley, owner of knightsbridge boutique, a la mode, has sold antony price as ready- to-wear with prices starting at pounds 1,000 for a dress, since the shop opened 11 years ago. he is the one designer who has stayed with her all these years, a feat in itself. "he makes women look wonderful without looking tarty. they flatter the female figure in the best possible manner. they are glamorous." when a woman tries on an antony price dress, she has to buy it. "she knows that to get the same look, she would have to spend thousands at harley street, or months with a personal trainer."
certainly, a consultation with antony price at his world's end studio is akin to a visit to the plastic surgeon. "i see myself as a frock doctor," he says. "my clients have to get more or less naked in front of me. i feel i'm like a surgeon in some ways." the designer has a unique way of working. after a client has showed her commitment by paying 50 per cent of the price in advance, ("that will cover the cost of making a dress - an escape clause in case she changes her mind") price gently gets on with the work of recreating her in papier mache. his studio is filled with papier mache torsos, both male and female, of clients, so that they are around whenever a fitting is required. the method works well, especially for overseas clients. "the papier mache casts pick up everything: the shape, the stance, the posture." they range in size from a buxom amazon woman made out of chicken wire, to a tiny slip of a girl with no hips and pancake breasts pasted together out of pages of newspapers.
quite how christian louboutin sandals  most finnicky customers would react to being requested to strip off and made into a mould like a giant shoe last is uncertain.  but they would be guaranteed clothes that fit like the proverbial glove and after their first fitting, they wouldn't have to go back for more.  antony price is a hands-on designer. although he specialises in evening and occasion wear, he began life as a menswear designer with sterling cooper. "i'm incredibly good at tailoring," he says completely matter of fact. "if a woman wants to get rid of her bust and hips, i can do it." and you believe him. he is not a man prone to exaggerating his own talent.  he simply knows he is good. "i'm an expert pattern cutter and fitter, and i'm also a good machinist," he says in the same sentence that he also tells me he is good at dry stone walling, hair and make-up and electricals, in short, streets ahead of anyone else. "there are certain clients who wonder why you're stooping with a mouthful of pins. i will actually lie on the floor to pin a hem and they'll expect me to have some minion doing it for me. they don't understand that it's better that i do it. they wouldn't expect a surgeon to stand back and watch as an assistant did the work."

"it's all part of (a designer's) pr budget," says berry's stylist phillip bloch in entertainment weekly. "you're flying (stars and stylists) out, you're putting them up at the l'ermitage, you're paying for room service, not to mention shipping all the clothes out. they're spending fortunes on this."
stylists are flying in on the stars' coattails and rapidly eclipsing chefs as the flavour of the month. l'wren scott, who dates mick jagger and has picked out a vintage number for best actress nominee samantha morton, has been made style designer for the whole oscar shootin' match this year.
julia roberts is expected to wear armani; best supporting actress nominee renee zellweger is supposedly wearing carolina herrera; uma thurman, scarlett johansson and sienna miller (jude law's new squeeze and love interest in the remake of alfie) are considering wearing alberta ferretti - but that could all change in a blink of an eyelet.
paul simon wrote a ditty about "diamonds on the soles of her christian louboutin." hell, whoever "she" is, she's a piker. country singer alison krauss, who will perform two songs from the cold mountain soundtrack, both of which are nominated in the best original song category, will be shod in $2 million (u.s.) stuart weitzman "cinderella" stilettos, containing more than 500 diamonds set in platinum.
she will also wear a gold silk satin bias-cut gown by toronto's sunny choi, with crystal beading on the bodice.
alas, krauss has to give the louboutin shoes back. traditionally, diamonds are strictly loaners for the evening, though harry winston famously had to chase sharon stone, who made oscar fashion history by pairing a lowly gap t-shirt with a billowy designer skirt, for the baubles she borrowed one oscar night. the folks at winston's are very protective of their bijoux, and the stars are routinely issued a minder, a security guard who is ex-police officer. when marcia gay harden won her best supporting actress oscar for pollack in 2000, her limo was hotly pursued by a gaggle of overheated paparazzi. harden's mother, fearing the pursuers were muggers, urged harden to drop the diamonds out the window. their apoplectic security guard intervened.
neither oprah winfrey or liz taylor ever borrow their jewels. taylor wore the legendary 69 carat cartier "taylor-burton" diamond in 1969 when she presented the best picture award. in 1979, the diamond sold for nearly three-million smackers.
expect to see lots of "stiletto" diamond earrings (this season's chandeliers), cuff bracelets, rope necklaces and the trendy "right hand rings," which are essentially non-engagement cocktail rings with big stones.
since the milan runway shows coincide with the academy awards this year, heavy-duty oscar designer stalwarts like roberto cavalli, donatella christian louboutin shoes, angela missoni, james mischka and valentino won't be there in person. their minions will be on hand to ensure that the celebs are wearing their gowns right side up. then again, trained professional help didn't help celine dion in 1999 when she wore that unfortunate backward white jacket by john galliano for christian dior.
nor did it help gwyneth paltrow when she wore the famous bubble-gum pink fairy princess ralph lauren gown in 1999 as she picked up the best actress statue for shakespeare in love. the bodice was so big, she could probably keep tabs on christian louboutin boots. heads rolled over that ill-fitting.
and lest we forget paltrow in 2002, as red-carpet roadkill in her alexander mcqueen goth gown accessorized by saggy breasts, smudged eyes and brunhild braids.
but some celebs take it all too seriously. bjork hasn't been back at the oscars since her 2001 dying swan song in the infamous white feather number. it didn't seem to bother lara flynn boyle, who weathered abuse for her pink tutu with matching ballet high heels ensemble at the golden globes last year.
then again boyle is fearless. she dated jack nicholson, the unapologetic libertarian who manages to steal the limelight whatever he wears. we're still trying to get over the image of his christian louboutin pumps  in something's gotta give.
it could have been worse. it could have been michael douglas', which will thankfully be covered in tux tonight.

while many of her contemporaries are wearing fewer clothes than ever, jennifer lopez clearly likes to have as many as possible. the latino pop queen changes her look more often than she changes her men. one minute, she appears in a ghetto-fabulous get-up by dolce & gabbana; the next, she is looking sleek and lady-like in frothy chanel chiffon.
but with her incredible curves and glowing good looks, you can see why she never spends much time looking for a new man. her latest aquisition, as it happens, is one of hollywood's most eligible bachelors, ben affleck.
when it comes to fashion, j-lo only has one steady allegiance - and that's to donatella christian louboutin. most notoriously, j-lo once wore a deeply-plunging jungle-print dress with more aplomb (and sticking tape) than anyone else has ever achieved.
fake-fur bomber jacket, pounds 130, at kookai (020 7368 6903). chocolate brown off-the-shoulder sweater, pounds 32, at oasis (01685 881986). cotton skirt, pounds 69, at reiss (020 7225 4900). camel wool cap, pounds 24.95, by kangol at fenwick (020 7629 9161). b-jewelled sheer shimmer powder, pounds 12, and "showgirl" lip gloss, both by mac (020 7534 9222).
miuccia prada
no other designer embodies the philosophy of her label as much as miuccia prada. the woman who reinvented the grown-up dressing of her mother's generation is a walking advertisement for the old-fashioned handbags and accessories she sells in her shops around the globe.
this has been a good year for miuccia. her biggest project to date - a mega-store in new york, complete with an exhibition space and state-of-the-art technology - opened earlier this year. prada accessories have never been more covetable. the new collection, about to arrive in store, includes the futuristic silver louboutin shoes that are already shaping up to be one of spring's hottest buys.
although the label is reissuing past hits - such as its fabulous lipstick-print christian louboutin boots - it's difficult to know whether to invest in the past or the future.
navy long-sleeved shirt, pounds 59, and sequinned bag, pounds 49, both at jigsaw (020 8392 5656). black leather slingbacks with flower detail, pounds 80, by charles david at office (020 7566 3070). black fake-fur wrap, pounds 59, by la maison de la fausse fourrure at fenwick (as before). spotlight cream, pounds 23, by estee lauder (01730 232566).