perfect pumps please!

i am more of an "interesting" shoe person. so i don't often shop for the "traditional" kind of shoe. however, necessity sometimes calls, and like any polite person, i must answer.

this brings us to the pump. not a shoe i normally wear, nor crave. however, a staple to have in the old shoe wardrobe no doubt. i have a rather large place set aside in my heart for Karen Walker from Will and Grace. she is pretty much my favorite tv character of all time. and that's saying a lot, because miss e-stylist here watches a rather large amount of television. don't judge please. ANYWAY - Karen Walker is, 99% of the time, wearing full on uptown Manhattan rich mama clothes. not my personal style, but the woman looks impeccable. i like that. she's perfectly dressed right down to her pumps. perhaps that is what swayed me into thinking i should probably own some. (in case at any moment a magic wand is waved in my direction and i become a fictional billionaire socialite...or a real one, i'm not fussy)

and so, some time ago, i began one of my hunts. as i do. i went pump huntin'. usually i wear flats. this may be because i live in NY and have to walk a lot every day, or it may be because i am a klutz and am afraid of falling. that is neither here nor there. i just wear flats a lot. so heels were a challenge. i decided to start small. i tried on approximately 40 billion pairs of shoes. (give or take a few) in the "ok i can totally manage this without injury" category, i ended up with Christian Louboutin simple pumps in the lower heel height. (left photo). now, let me say here that i can't really afford to buy these shoes full price. i love them like chocolate, but they are pricey. worth it, but pricey. so if you are like me, (i really don't like to pay full price. i'm a sale fiend) i suggest trying them on at a shop, then doing the online scouring to score them on sale. Neiman's often has sales, and Bluefly is a great resource for markdown designer goodies.

0nce i had become ok with that height and worn them out a few times, i decided to get really crazy and go high. this still scared me a bit, so i decided to try a platform pump to even the playing field, so to speak. what i ended up with here was a pretty hot looking pair from ye olde Banana Republic...(right photo) they have enough of a platform in front so as not to give me vertigo, but they look high! i practiced a few nights in my apartment - then went out to dinner wearing them and felt spectacular and fancy. i felt like a lady. well, i felt like Karen Walker, and as she once said "I'm a lady, assface!" what's not to love?!