Good News!

I know a lot of you missed the boat on these Sam Edelman boots. You know- the Balenciaga knockoffs. Well, I guess they made some more! You can find them HERE and HERE.

Unfortunately, they are overpriced IMO, (about $200 more than the original price I got them for) but if you really want them- here's your chance. Get them while they last! As you can see, they look pretty much exactly like the real deal...

***UPDATE***

Heels.com is going to get them too!! My advice would be to wait and see what their price will be. I've never heard of either of the other two sites so they may be jacking the price up. I have no idea. I do trust heels.com for sure though. ;)

Fighting Shoe Crime... One Post at a Time

A question I get a lot from readers emails is about all these websites popping up claiming to sell Christian Louboutin for too-good-to-be-true prices.

Well ladies and germs... if it seems too good to be true, it almost always is. Yep. Your momma was right! *snap snap*

I'm sorry to break the news but sites like madpurchasebay and louboutinbox are full of shit. Yes. They are FAKE. I'm not sure why they don't get shut down. You'd think that the people over at Louboutin, YSL, Jimmy Choo, etc would have a better legal team on top of stopping knock offs. It seems to be getting out of hand as of late. Google adds are the worst because they don't censor stuff like this and they end up on reputable people's blogs! I had to remove my adds because I noticed sites like these that I refuse to endorse.

Some good rules of thumb when looking for deals on authentic Louboutins are:

-Never buy from websites that look as low-buge as these do. I mean, the first one stole a picture of me wearing my glitter shoes and put it on their front page. haha.

- If they ship from Hong Kong or China, it's almost always fake.

-If it's not a reputable online store (ie: Barneys, Saks, Neimans, Browns, etc) don't chance it!

-If it's on ebay and you're not sure- make sure they guarantee authenticity before you buy. And again... if they're shipping from Hong Kong... it's probably fake.

For me, I can usually look at a picture (if they aren't using a photo from someone's REAL shoes and swapping them out on you) and tell if they are fake. The color is off or the shape looks wrong. These shoes are probably not real leather either, and in person will look like total garbage. I realize that most people aren't as shoe crazy as I am so they don't see the subtle differences.

Just take notice if the website uses photos like this:

mixed with photos like this:

Pretty lame, right? What kind of legit website would do that? That's one dead giveaway.

You will also see a scary difference in quality if you decide to purchase shoes from these type of stores.

This real shoe:

will come to you looking like this shitty shoe:

Do you see the difference? The shine on the heel is so blah on the second pair. The shape looks all wrong- the original is much sexier. Chances are the glitter will fall off in chunks too.

The reason I wanted to write about this is because it really pisses me off that people do stuff like this. They should at least admit what they are- knockoffs. I believe that selling a product and claiming that the shoes are authentic is like stealing your money. And though these seem inexpensive, at the end of the day 120something dollars is still a lot of money.

My problem isn't with buying fakes to be honest. If you work your ass off and refuse to spend your hard earned cash on $700+ shoes... you're smarter than I my friend. It's your right to look how you want and wear what you want. My HUGE problem is with the lie.

I don't like when people trick my friends and you are all my dearest ones. So please feel free to forward this post to any of your friends who have mentioned these types of sites. Also feel free to repost to your blogs (link me of course) and help spread the word.

XOX

Your Fighter in Shoe Crime-

Celine

***UPDATE*** Please check out THIS article for more reasons not to buy from these sites! Toxic chemicals and child labor!

Um... no no.

Pour la Victorie... No no. This shoe is way too Marc Jacobs, and I don't even think the Marc Jacobs ones did well at retail. I mean, sure I bought them, but I'm a total fashion victim and I don't count. Plus, I've only worn them twice.

FURTHERMORE... if you're going to copy a shoe, at least make it cheap. Yes, at $225 it's cheaper than the original, but not by enough. I mean if you're going to spend $225 you might as well spend whatever the original was. Or at least that's how my sick mind rationalizes it. haha.

Today I'm Wearing...

My new slutty red lipstick from NARS and my "Balenciaga" ankle boots by Sam Edelman.

These are by far my favorite knockoffs! I was so excited to see someone blatantly copy last year's Balenciaga shoe. I love it and always get tons of compliments on them. Most people don't know they are Balenciaga wannabes- they just know that they are super crazy and very different looking.

I'm in a meeting all morning with the Hale Bob girls going over sketches with Jessie, my partner in crime... er... design I mean.

(skirt- Forever21, tank- Paul Frank)

How Do They Do it!?

Shoes for under $25?? This baffles me. Even if we made shoes out of toilet paper we wouldn't be able to get that kind of price on a shoe from our factories! I'm sure these are super cheap looking in person, even more so than in the picture, and even cheaper feeling; but, I suppose if you want a Chloe knockoff for less than you'd pay for a nice dinner... here's your answer.

They're cute. Like I said, total knockoff, but cute. You guys know I struggle with this copying shoes thing. I'm all for shoes inspired by designer shoes, but when you go ahead an copy a shoe stitch for stitch, it just seems unfair. It ruins the shoe for the people who buy the real deal.

Can you imagine saving up for a shoe that you adore... say it costs $700, and then seeing the same thing for like 95% less! I'd be so bummed. Here's the original. 

 

You see what I mean? Sure us Shoe Girls can tell tell difference right away- but still. Close enough.

Dirty Sexy Shoes

So my friend and blog reader "d" sent me this link and I wanted to share it with you cause I think it's pretty funny. Check out this Craigslist Listing and let me know what you think.

It says:

"WELL i used to own a store in hollywood and sold these shoes there but i had to close down soim trying to sell these. i had some authentic ones but i sold out so i only have these MIRROR IMAGE CHRISTIAN LOBOUTINS..they are NOT replica cuz replicas arent as good as mirror image. they are EXACTLY like the real ones..NO DIFFERENCE!! just look at the grogeous pics...the shoes range from 200-215.. i have size 6-9 including half size ONLY!! so hurry!!! I can do wholesale too...if intrested email me OR CALL 323 603-1991 OR TEXT!! these wont last!! thanks!!! P,S: I SOLD THESE MIRROR IMAGE ONES IN MY STORE FOR $300-350 SO URE GETTING DEAL!"

First off... I like her creativity, but I'm sorry; a knock off is a knock off is a knock off. Calling it a "mirror image" doesn't change that. That said, these shoes do look great. I tried finding out who manufactured them, but she wont say. I'd be curious to know, because they even copied the boxes- which makes me think that they are made in China. 

Anyway- if you're interested check it out. I won't support knock-offs like this but far be it from me to keep YOU from doing it. ;)

On a side note: if you guys ever come across anything you'd like me to blog about please feel free to send over an email! Thanks :)

Has Steve Madden Gone Too Far???

Ok, so I found this this morning and it fired me up. I don't understand how he can just blatantly knock off designer shoes and get away with it! The shoe shown in this post is an Alexander McQueen shoe, and the shoe of the week is Steve Madden's "interpretation". 

This is basically stitch for stitch the same shoe. The buckle is different but I'm sure that's only because Steve Madden didn't want to open up a mold for a new buckle. 

I've put this up as the shoe of the week cause I'm interested to see what you guys think (and for some reason you don't like to leave comments, with the exception of 3 or 4 of you) 

Honestly, there's a part of me that thinks that designer knock offs are great. It's a way of bringing high style to the masses. (am I repeating myself, I feel like I've said this before?) But then you have to realize that it effs up the whole scheme of things because by definition, high style is such BECAUSE it is elevated from the masses. Make sense? 

Snobby? Maybe, but you know I'm right.

What do you think???

Another Blatant Knockoff...

It's incredible that I didn't know about all this before.  Maybe I did know and I just turned a blind eye? I mean, considering that our sister company who shares an office building with us makes shoes for Bakers, I had to have known, right?

This is a complete knockoff of my Spring favorite... the YSL Tribute sandal. I finally broke down and bought them in navy patent btw... I must have bad shoe karma! Seriously you guys. This shoe is almost totally indistinguishable as a knockoff, other than the thick rubber outsole (gross)whick you won't find on the original. Unlike with the Louboutin knockoffs, there is no signature red sole to separate the real from the fake. 

I can't decide! Is this a good thing? At only $79.95 is this the way to bring high fashion footwear to the masses? Is this how to get them out of crocs and Payless shoes? Or is this just effing it up for those of us who appreciate a well made, overpriced, beautiful designer shoe???

I'm starting to feel dizzy with all this designer knock-offery. I think I need to sit down.

Maybe I Spoke Too Soon?

Ok so I'm kind of pissed off right now. As part of my new "buying cheaper shoes" experiment I was browsing Steve Madden's online store when I saw these. WTF? Direct knockoff of the Balenciaga boots... which I own thank-you-very-much Mr. Steve "I've served time in prison" Madden!!!

I'm sorry, I mean, getting a knockoff that looks almost as good as the real thing for like, a thousand dollars less is amazing- but it RUINS it for those with the real thing!! It's like, what's the point of having the real thing!? Obviously the Balenciaga boots have amazing details and hardware compared to this one, but still.  

What do you guys think? Knockoff handbags are tacky as hell- unless of course you get a REALLY good one. Is it the same for shoes? Where do we draw the line?

I Can't Believe I'm Doing This...

Remember those Balenciaga wedges we saw celebs rockin on red carpets? Well............... I found a pretty good knockoff at an unexpected place. I can't even believe I'm going to say this, but check out the Nine West version! I personally have never owned a pair of Nine West shoes, so this will be my first. They're only $89 too!!! Can't beat that ;)

They're backordered because the demand is so high. I believe it, these shoes are seriously cute and SO close to the original. Yippee!