Battle of the Red Soles

French shoe designer, Christian Louboutin, lost a lawsuit against Yves Saint Laurent for adding a red sole to the bottom of its 2011 shoe collection.  Louboutin is suing YSL over the its latest shoe collection stating that the red soles are "virtually identical" to his signature red soles which he had trademarked in 2008.

French shoe designer, Christian Louboutin, pictured with some of his famous red soled shoes

A federal judge denied Louboutin's request for a preliminary injunction.  Judge Victor Marrero dismissed the argument ruling that "Louboutin's claim to the color red is without some limitation, overly broad and inconsistent with the scheme of trademark registration established by the Lanham Act"


There are four particular shoes in the YSL 2011 collection that are all red and happen to have red soles: the Tribute, Tribtoo, Palais, and Wood Stock.

YSL Tribute

YSL Palais

YSL Tribtoo

YSL Woodstock

Anthony Dreyer, professor of trademark law at Fordham Law School stated "Louboutin will have to show that customers or the public have been confused by Yves Saint Laurent's replication of it."  Dreyer further states that few customers will go into Neiman Marcus in search of Louboutins and mistakenly drop $1,125 on a pair of Yves Saint Laurent's pumps.

What do you think? Do you think Yves Saint Laurent's red soles replication will cause confusion among consumers?

Christian Louboutin Creates Trash

Famous shoe designer, Christian Louboutin, has created a shoe that is made out of trash.  Yup! You read it right, trash....as in garbage.  The Christian Louboutin "Ecotrash" Platform Slingback has a collage of fabric and paper scraps which include thread, postage stamps, leftover sequins, and scribbled sticky notes.  This "trashy" shoe retails for $1095. If it makes you feel any better,each pair will vary in detritus and no two pairs will be alike.  Each shoe is one-of-a-kind meaning that no one will be walking around with your same exact shoe on.  The "Ecotrash" shoe sits on a 2" python platform and has a 6" leopard-print covered heel. You can purchase this shoe at Neiman Marcus

Here are some of the various, unique styles of the Christian Louboutin "Ecotrash" Platform Slingback:

What do you think? Would you spend $1,000 on a shoe made out of trash?

Photo Credit: blog.neimanmarcus.com

Amazing Lace

Looks like Lace is making a big comeback. I'm seeing more and more lace incorporated in today's fashions and accessories.

This hot lace number was seen going down a Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2009 runway.  Tres Sexy

R&B Singer Brandy was spotted in lace at Timbaland's Shock Value II Album Release party.  Very Cute!

Kerry Washington looked fabulous in this hot pink lace and satin dress while attending the opening of Broadway play "Race".

The beautiful Vanessa Simmons rocked these lace peep-toe booties in she and her sister's latest fashion spread in Honey Mag.

And over at asos.com  I found the following lace fashions:

Lace Leggings

Sexy Black Lace Dress

Lace Blazer

Gold Lace Snood

Lace Gloves

Ruffled Booties

Ankle Booties are in this fall.  They come in every color imaginable and you can find them in both leather or suede.  Whether you like a pointy-toe, peep-toe, round-toe, skinny heel, chunky heel, or short heel you are guaranteed to find a Bootie to fit your personal style.

The following booties each have a ruffled embellishment in common:

These are Marc by Marc Jacobs.  These babies are $485 and can be found at Piperlime.com

These are from Juicy Couture. Priced at $395 and can be found at juicycouture.com

These are made by Rosegold and can be found on Shopbop

                                                                      

These orange suede peep-toe booties are by Lovely People for $166 and can be found on Piperlime.com

I love these Fuchsia booties by Steve Madden. $149.95 at Nordstrom.com

These blue suede shoes are by Lovely People ($122.25) and are featured on QVC.com

These purple suede peep-toes with side ruffle embellishment are from Bakers for $49.99 www.bakersshoes.com

Would you believe these lavender suede beauties are from Payless? $34.99 is the price. Visit payless.com

*For more ruffled booties go to luckymag.com

2 Weeks Until Jimmy Choo

Remember the post I did about Jimmy Choo and H&M collaborating on a new collection? Well the time is near.  In just two weeks (November 14th to be exact), Jimmy Choo for H&M will debut in stores nationwide.  Here is an exclusive video featuring Tamara Mellon, President and founder of Jimmy Choo, debuting a lot of the pieces from the long anticipated collection.  Most of the pieces I presented in my previous post are shown in the video.

What do you think?

Barbie Wears Shoes With the "Red Bottoms"

Famous shoe designer Christian Louboutin has teamed up with Mattel and created a new Barbie collection.  The collection will consist of three Barbie dolls that will be packaged in Louboutin shoe boxes.  Each doll will come with four different Barbie sized Louboutin shoes.  The three dolls will be released separately.  A jewel-thief themed Barbie will be released in December, a safari-themed Barbie in February, and a Cannes Festival Barbie in December.  Each doll will retail for $150.  You can purchase them at BarbieCollector.com  and Net-a-porter.com. 

In addition, the designer himself will make appearances with Barbie in a photo diary titled "My Year in Paris with Christian Louboutin".

The photo diary will be released in December.  It comes with the Jewel Thief themed Barbie and retails for $40.  Here are some images from the diary.  See if you can spot Mr Louboutin in each of the images:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a picture of the Barbie-Pink, red soled Louboutin shoe that premiered in Barbie's birthday runway show during New York Fashion Week in February.

*Sigh* Who would've thought Barbie would've beaten me to my first pair of Christian Louboutins.  I guess this brings truth to the following statement:

Go Nude!

Nude pumps are probably one of the best fashion investments you could ever make.  Like basic black pumps, nude pumps go with virtually everything.  Throwing black shoes on when you don't have any to match the color(s) you're wearing can get rather boring.  There have been times when I've decided to just not wear an outfit until I bought matching shoes for it instead of throwing on black shoes.  Ladies, if you've ever felt this way, nude pumps is the answer.  We have seen this look on several of our favorites celebs while out and about or at red carpet events.  Check out some of my favorite looks below:

Kim Kardashian wearing a nude pump with a yellow dress.

The beautiful Eva Longoria pairs nude pumps with an aqua colored dress.

Hillary Duff at the MTV Studios

Ema Watson rocked a cute and simple look with her nude pumps

Cameron Diaz opted for a new pump instead of throwing on a basic black pump.

Singer Ciara was spotted a couple of times with nude on her feet.

Beyonce wore nude pumps with this cute light teal colored dress as she was honored this past weekend by Billboard as Woman of the Year

Nude heels creates an illusion of added height.  The nude color works to extend the leg.  This is perfect for someone short like myself.  I am definitely on a hunt to find a comfortable pair of nude pumps to add to my wardrobe.

Dazzle Your Feet

Kim Kardashian has an online shoe service called ShoeDazzle.   ShoeDazzle acts as your personal shoe stylist by choosing shoes for you every month based on your personal style.

 Kim serves as Shoe Dazzle's Co-Founder and Chief Fashion Stylist.  She makes all the final decisions on which shoes to present to members each month.  Kim is always on top of her fashion game and once worked as a celebrity fashion stylist.  She is one of my favorite fashionista's and is another one who can't do any wrong in my eyes when it comes to fashion.  Kim Kardashian always looks great!

 

Shoe Dazzle's membership is just $39 a month.  After taking a fashion survey and registering to become a member, you will be sent (via email) 5 fashionable shoes each month from which you choose 1.  Once you select the shoe you want, your credit card will be charged $39.  That's it! Just $39 for a "haute" pair of shoes.  You can't beat that with a bat.  If you don't like any of your selections, you can select "Skip this Month" and you will not be charged for the month.  Returns and exchanges are accepted and you can cancel your membership at any time.

You will not be billed the monthly the membership fee until after the first time you select your first pair of shoes.  From that point on, if you don't want to be charged for any subsequent month, you must go into your account and skip the month by the 5th day.  Sounds pretty easy, doesn't it?

Here's a sneak peak of some of the gorgeous shoes offered to members each month:

I see a few pairs that I wouldn't mind owning myself.

Head on over to shoedazzle.com to start your membership today.  I know I definitely am!