 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Hello Stiletto: Can shoes be for women what tiaras are for little girls, a ticket into fantasy?
By Sarah Feldberg
Its an addiction," Kathy Asta of Naples says matter of factly, writing her name and contact information on a small piece of paper before dropping it into an oversized fish bowl. The "it" isnt drugs, alcohol, gambling or anything you can be arrested for. Its shoes, and Asta has more than 100 pairs. Shes entered a Naples Saks Fifth Avenue drawing for yet another pair. They sit on a small pedestal: high heeled, patent leather pumps by designer Stuart Weitzman, in black or a dark, smoldering red. They retail for around $200, which is fairly modest for Saks, where the most sought-after styles can run as much as $1,000. Asta isnt the only woman with a shoe addiction at the store this evening. About 20 women wander between the tables of Manolo Blahniks and Jimmy Choos. Sipping pink "stilettotinis" and munching on canapés from Brio Tuscan Grill, they range in age from their mid-20s up through their late-60s. Some have come straight from work. Others are dressed causally. But they all have one thing in common: an unabashed love of shoes. The women are among the roughly 70 members of Hello Stiletto, a social and networking group for shoe lovers that started in Boston. The club has expanded to include three other chapters in Chicago, Atlanta and most recently a Naples branch that launched in May. Tonight is the Naples clubs first "shopping event," an evening dedicated to trying on and gushing over shoes from the fall collections of Saks hottest designers. All the big names are here: Chanel, Prada, Dior, Gucci. And if a particularly discriminating customer is after a hard-to-find something say, one of Christian Louboutins signature red-soled pumps it can be ordered, maybe from the eighth floor of Saks Fifth Avenues flagship store in New York. Completely devoted to shoes, the floor stocks more than 100,000 pairs and has even been given its own ZIP code by the U.S. Postal Service: 10022-SHOE. But in spite of all that Italian leather, most of the club members arent buying. Small piles of spike heels collect in front of the comfy couches as the women try on pair after pair of sleek, stylish shoes. For the women of Hello Stiletto, shoes are more than an accessory. In platform wedges, pointy-toed stilettos or leopard print flats, the women can express who they really are or craft who they dream of being. It doesnt matter if theyve had a bad week or if theyve gained 10 pounds; it doesnt matter that they wont buy the $650 Dior sandals or the $800 Jimmy Choos that theyre trying on at Saks. For the moment the shoes are on their feet, they feel sexy, strong and glamorous. In the right pair of shoes, they are transformed. - - - "I know what I like right away," says Gail Lulley, coordinator of the Naples Hello Stiletto, "I walked right over to them." Shes zeroed in on a pair of Donald Pliner peep-toe heels in leopard print. The narrow heel is sheathed in blood red leather and a matching insert is visible through the open toe. The shoe is wild, striking and undeniably sexy. "Theyre like a furry cat," Lulley says, chuckling. Lulley, who has come from her job at Northern Trust, wears black slacks and a bright red sports coat. Shes in her late-40s, her brown hair falls neatly to her chin, and on her feet an attractive pair of pointy-toed black leather pumps poke out from the cuffs of her pants. The heels are low and sensible. A white price tag is stuck to the bottom of the Pliner shoe. It reads $355. Lulley strokes the shoe once or twice, then places it back on the shelf and walks away. - - - Now 1,400 members strong, Hello Stiletto began in Boston in 2003 as a girls night out for founder Melissa OShea and a few friends. "A friend of mine was confessing to me that she had just bought six pairs of shoes in one weekend," OShea remembers. But instead of being shocked, she was excited. Also a shoe fanatic, OShea says she has more than 200 pairs of shoes packed into her Medford, Mass., home. She says that shed rather not share how much she spends on shoes in a year and jokes that shes been a shoe lover since birth. "I had to hire a mover specifically because of all the shoes," OShea says. After hearing her friends confession, OShea decided that they needed an opportunity to go out and wear their favorite shoes together. She organized an evening out for herself and eight friends at a whimsical tapas restaurant called Dalí and encouraged her friends to wear their favorite shoes. The evening culminated in a shoe fashion show judged by the restaurants international staff. "The waiters were pouring champagne into our mouths," she recalls, laughing. OShea decided to organize another event. Four years later, the Boston club has 700-800 members, and the concept is spreading around the country. OShea has talked to women in places like Maine, Detroit and California. A few weeks ago, Hello Stiletto was featured in a segment on NBCs "Today" show. Lulley learned about Hello Stiletto the way most members have through a friend. "One of my good friends went to this great shoe party and I said, Oh, Im jealous." Lulley, who is originally from Cape Cod, contacted OShea about setting up a branch in Naples. In May, Lulley and her co-coordinator, Rahel Brown, held their first event at the Grill Room at Coconut Point. About 15 women attended. "We get together and socialize, and the shoe thing is a common denominator," Lulley explains. "Its kind of like a book club, but you dont have to do anything. Just show up." Its free to join, but there is one risk. "Now that we have a shoe club going Ive been spending a lot of money on shoes," admits Brown, who estimates that she spends $3,000 a year on shoes. - - - Pam Frailey is slowly wandering through the elegant displays in the Saks shoe department. She pauses here and there to pick up a shoe, examine it and put it back down. Her straight, dark-blond hair falls just past her shoulders, and her shoes are simple black sandals with wide straps and thick, medium-height heels. Dressed in off-white cargo pocket capris and a black, white and grey striped tank top, the Naples real estate agent seems to fade into the background behind the colorful and sparkling shoes. "There are so many different shapes, styles and designs," she says. "I see a lot I like." But Frailey, who joined Hello Stiletto after meeting Lulley through mutual friends, isnt really shopping. Shes waiting for a special occasion to make her next big shoe purchase, Frailey says. Tonight is more about socializing with friends and meeting new people. "When you get 20 women together," Lulley says, "the conversation ranges all over." Five minutes later, Frailey is perched on the edge of a deep couch while Saks sales associate Bill Popp maneuvers her foot into dramatic pair of Dior platform stilettos. Called the Deco Sandal, the shoes are metal-colored peep-toes with a leather and suede bow in the middle of the toe. At the bows center, a metal "D" charm adds a saucy accent. A smile spreads over Fraileys face as Popp secures the shoe onto her foot. She stands slowly. With the astonishing heels and the shoes platform base, she is at least four inches taller. Frailey takes a few tentative steps, which turn into confident strides. She seems to be standing straighter and holding herself with a new confidence as she moves around a small patch of carpet. Suddenly all eyes are on Frailey. A small crowd of women forms around her, everyone focused on her feet as they coo over the elegant sandals. Frailey glows. - - - "I feel like Carrie from Sex and the City with the Manolos and the Jimmy Choos around me," says 27-year-old Kristen Oliver as she leans back into one of the beige couches. You cant talk about shoes especially footwear with emblematic names and three- or four-digit quality crafting without talking about Carrie Bradshaw. The urbanite singleton mainstreamed the craving for not just shoes, but expensive shoes; not just for a few, but for more than one woman could ever reasonably wear. And the guilt. No one feels more deliciously guilty (gleeful, renewed) about her addiction than Carrie Bradshaw. "Ive spent $40,000 on shoes and I have no place to live?" says Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) in one episode. "I will literally be the old woman who lived in her shoes." After six seasons, the popular HBO show made champagne shoe tastes on a peanut butter budget seem, well, reasonable. "That program created a following," says Naples Saks shoe manager Marty Rau. "No matter who you are, no matter what you like, when you put on a pair of shoes that makes you feel good, everything else goes away." OShea remembers that feeling of euphoria during Hello Stiletto Bostons first shopping event at Barneys New York. "I tried on the most beautiful pair of Manolo Blahnik leopard-print pumps," she says. "My mother said she saw a smile start from the tips of my toes and go all the way up to my face." On a couple of occasions OShea has even bought shoes that arent in her size. If theyre one of a kind and gorgeous, she says, she figures shell squeeze into them, give them away or just have them to admire. "Its complete and utter lust," she says. "When I wear those leopard-print pumps Im definitely channeling Marilyn (Monroe)." A great pair of shoes is transformative. If only for a moment. At the store. In your closet. With the shoe club. "Shoes can be a mood changer," she says. "If you are leaving work in classic pumps and change into a pair of sexy sandals, it just has to affect your mood." OShea says: "Theres something totally emotional for me about shoes. "The right pair of high heels makes you feel confident, powerful and beautiful." You can see it as the women prowl the store. With the Dior sandals on, Frailey stops shuffling her feet. In spite of the rickety stilettos no, because of them she struts. The right shoe, says Naples shoe club co-coordinator Brown, "just makes you feel like a woman." Brown tries on shoe after shoe at Saks looking for the right pair. Not the Jimmy Choos in sage patent leather with that ridiculously high stiletto heel nor the pewter-colored Prada sandals. At one point, Brown actually tries on a shoe that is straight out of the "Sex and the City" aesthetic: the silver satin Dorsey-cut Manolo Blahnik heels that a mugger takes right off Carries feet in one episode. They are beautiful, and would suck up three months worth of Browns self-allotted $250 monthly shoe budget. She heads home empty-handed. "Thank God they didnt have my size," Brown says. She laughs.
| ||||
|
|||||
|
Shoe Club © Copyright 2010 Hello Stiletto | Website by Clockwork Design Group, Inc. |
|||||
