Indulge your shoe fetish - November 18, 2007
The shoes are, quite simply, works of art, hand-crafted in Italy from exquisite fabrics, leathers and beads, the beech wood heels carved by the last living master cobbler in Italy. And Zoraide shoes, designed by Paola Bay in limited editions of seven styles for 400 pairs a year, are available at just one store in North America, Mona Moore in Montreal. (Barney's and Jeffrey's will get them next season.)
I test drove two pairs - briefly, on the clean wood floors of the lovely Sherbrooke St. W. salon. First: the Neptis, in embroidered brown velvet with a four-inch heel. I lurched forward, Achilles tendons screaming in protest, and when I had regained my equilibrium, I felt the balance, lightness and beauty of such a shoe. Then the Aurinia, a gold and silver tango style with modest three-inch heel. Much better.
A shoe like this costs $1,695, plus tax, and boutique co-owner Anna Maria Varriano says her customers have bought perhaps half the 38 pairs she and partner Lisa Bush bought in Milan.
"Lisa and I walked into the showroom - we literally died. "When we heard the prices, Lisa and I had to go outside. We took a breath. We just couldn't not have them."
Who's buying them?
"The woman who appreciates a good shoe. It's almost a fetish,'' Varriano said. And she said the price is not that crazy, considering the average bag or boot in the store costs $2,000, with some handbags hitting $3,000.
Source - Montreal Gazette