First of all, you need to ignore the “private sale” cited on the invitation above. There’s nothing private about the sale that turned out the longest line in sample sale history!

A true testament to the strength of social network and the purchasing power of Chinese budding fashionistas was seen today at the once in a blue moon Roger Vivier sample sale. The usual fashionista crowd who normally frequent the designer’s sale were shocked to find themselves wrapped around the long city block of the 24hour post office waiting at least 1.5-2 hours to get inside the Soiffer Haskin loft hosting the sale just across the street. And who was ahead of them? Hundreds of Chinese students armed with their parents’ credit cards had already been there since 7am waiting for the 10am sale to begin. To while away the time, they came prepared with their books to study while waiting! They were no slouch students either. Many of them were clad in top notch designer gears from Chanel, Prada, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, et.al. Some even spotted playful animal toy shoes by Adidas! These hardcore fashionista teenagers and young adults waited hours to get shoes and bags by Roger Vivier costing anywhere from $300 to as high as $2500 (that is half off their usual full price).

A few of the staff manning the crowd were equally surprised by the turn out. The almost 2000 people turnout (within a few hours of the door opening) would be a record for any sample sale ever! We decided to investigate a little further by asking some of the students how they heard about the sale. Many of the students cited a tweeter feed that went viral on a Chinese version of Twitter. A Roger Vivier store only just opened in China a few months ago which of course helped established the luxury brand in the country. However, the same could be said of many other designers with stores in China who also have samples sales in the US, but we have never seen anything quite like this before!

24 year old FIT student Michelle Zhao bought 4 pairs of shoes, 2 bags and 2 belts after forking over $2000+, while her friend Victoria (20 yrs old) slashed through $6000 for 16 pairs of shoes! She said she was buying them for her sisters and was busy shipping some of them at the Post Office across the street when we spotted her. Victoria flew from California to New York just for the sale! Both said their parents are helping to fund the purchase. So they where sure to get something for their mothers as well. Good call, considering mother’s day is next month.

If planning on attending the sale, be prepared to spend at least 1.5-2 hours waiting in line if heading there today. Don’t have the time to wait? Opt for another day after the first wave of rush has tapered off. The sale is on till Tuesday, April 9. Once you get in, it’s a sight for sore eyes –a shoe playground where you can expect to spend hours gawking and counting your pennies trying to figure out which style to pick! The possibilities are endless. Enjoy!

Get your copy of Shoeholics magazine and enter a chance to win a FREE OF SHOES!

Some little known facts about the famous papal red shoes.

The red shoes worn by Popes dates back to the early Roman times. Kings of Rome and Pontifex Maximus (high priests) wore red boots!

Popes became the Pontifex Maximus, and adopted the red shoes when Christianity became Rome’s official religion.

Red shoes are worn by the pope, but not many recent popes have opted for them (aka Pope Francis). Benedict XVI actually brought the trend back after some time of discontinued use.

Some people say the red is symbolic of the blood of martyrs.

They were rumored to have been made by Italian luxury designer Prada but they are infact manufactured by papal shoemaker Adriano Stefanelli located in Novara, Italy.

The red papal shoes are one of the only remnants of the former red color of the papal garments group from ancient times.

So far we haven’t seen the newly appointed Pope Francis in the red shoes. We can only assume there must be at least 200 pairs of several shades and styles of red shoes in the papal closet. That would definitely qualify him as a true Shoeholic, a man of style.

Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II were buried in their red leather papal shoes.

This might look odd to a lot of you giving that these are old worn out shoes were talking about. Nevertheless, we can’t deny a genius craftsmanship as this. We’ve seen nothing quite like it before.

French designer Baptist Eviry made a patchwork leather sheet out of his old pairs of leather shoes just like you would a quit. He transformed the sheet of leather with suede on the other side, into what he refers to as the “Little Shoes Throw Pillows”. And as you would have done with a pair of shoes, he buffs it with hot wax and shiny polish finish to give it that luxurious glow. All that hardwork and recycling fetches him about $1200 a pillow when sold! Can’t make the trip to cast off old shoes at your local thrift shops? This is not a bad way at all to recycle and reuse old worn out shoes to decorate your home or to get a pretty penny in return.

Rihanna lit up the stage unapologetically in a series of mind blowing thigh high boots during her “Diamond” world tour in Montreal just a few days ago. She had kept the fans waiting for about 2 hours but made up for the delay, reminded the fans that the show was worth waiting for in a collection of jaw dropping stage outfits…ahem boots! Forget the music, the boots alone were worth waiting for and in our opinion, they speak volume! If all the boots could talk, they will all together say, “Gorgeous!”

Speaking of boots, more styles are featured in the Jan-Mar 2013 print edition of Shoeholics magazine, now in stores.

Forget about the term “Knockoffs” which we addressed in the Jan/Mar 2013 issue of Shoeholics magazine, in stores now. Here’s something we stumbled into recently and would like to invent the term “Hybrid Copy” or “Hybrids” to describe when 2 styles/components of shoes become one, a new concept starting to pop up in the marketplace with designers like Jeffrey Campbell taking the lead.

The art of knocking off/copying other designers has been a touchy subject plaguing the shoe industry for decades. Designers doing the copying all point out that consumers buying the less expensive copied products are not the same as the consumers who would venture into luxury stores to pick up the expensive and original equivalent. This is still an open debate in the industry. While arguments continue to brew over that matter, some designers are taking it a little further by stirring the “melting pot” a bit by combining 2 different looks to become a whole new look all by itself. As if the consumers are not confused enough. Now, they have even more reason to make their brains work overtime when they spot these designs in stores, wondering “where have I seen this part on the shoe before?” Or perhaps chime “Wow! That’s something new I have never seen before!”

It will all depend on how well tuned in the consumer is to shoe designers and their original concepts enough to know where each part of “the new look” was derived from. Well, as the saying goes, “there’s nothing new under the sun”. Pretty much everything that exist today were derived and inspired by something that existed before them.

You can read more about this subject in the Jan-Mar 2013 print edition of Shoeholics magazine where images of original designs are paired with the “inspired” versions. Featured below are some of Shoeholics magazine pages of what we uncovered and shared with our readers worldwide. Also included in the same issue are comments made by our members on Facebook about this subject. This particular issue can still be found in stores.

Kristin Cavallari

Dancing with the Stars/Laguna Beach alumni hit TV show star Kristin Cavallari is no slouch when it comes to fashion. The mother of one has been busy crafting everyday and accessible footwear at Chinese Laundry. The collaboration started sometime last year with the fall 2012 collection which are long sold out by now. She unveiled her spring collection for the label yesterday with DJ Neil on the turn table and innovative Drink Stack wine take away “cups” piled high for press members to help themselves.

Kristin’s collection boost a wide range of styles at enviable price points starting at about $60, chop change for most of you. Her recent fall collection had boots and booties while her spring collection features some of the season’s favorite pastel colors in wedges and sandals, including her choice of lavender. She begs to differ from the “reigning” black & white seen at every corner. Her collection actually stands out, more user friendly and approachable –to our surprise. For her upcoming fall 2013 collection for Chinese Laundry, she is looking into deep rich tones of red and not the usual dull black and grey most of you might already be used to for the season. But then again, red would be appropriate for the holiday season.

Miss USA, Nana Meriwether and Miss Teen USA Logan West turned up at the event to support Kristin and of course for Chinese Laundry, a label that also sponsors the Miss Universe Organization, one of Donald Trumps many business ventures. The beauty queens gushed about their collection of shoes from the label. Between the 2 ladies, they own about 120 pairs of Chinese Laundry shoes alone! To our surprise, we actually found some of the label’s shoes to be quite comfortable, lightweight and well made, especially some of their spring collection featured farther below.

In true Shoeholics style, Kristin Cavallari has about 100 pairs of shoes in her closet to date. She emphasized the need for a “revolving door” clean up, that is to have older shoes churned out for incoming and much needed new pairs. So at no given time has she actually exceeded the 100 pairs. Her favorite silhouette of shoes are booties (aka ankle boots) and preferring to wear no higher than 7 inches (on platforms that is).  However, after having her first baby, she feels the constant need for flat shoes, of which she has about 10 pairs so far –a perfect choice to be able to run after her toddler when the need arises.

Not too long ago, Kristin debuted her jewelry line with GlamBoutique & Kitson, partnering with Pascal Mouawad but has no plans to start a whole line of lifestyle products. She favors a handbag line in the near future but no plans for a clothing line –yet.

Preview some of the images from her spring collection below, most of which should be hitting the stores right about now.

Wedge slingback designs by Kristin Cavallari

Wedge design by Kristin Cavallari

Miss USA Nana and Miss Teen USA Logan in support of Kristin’s season launch at Chinese Laundry

Some of the styles from Chinese Laundry spring 2013 collection

Editor Tinu at the launch event

Nana Meriwether in Chinese Laundry shoes, from the spring 2013 collection

Yearly, New York City holds the largest gathering of any Irish St. Patrick’s Day parade celebration than anywhere else in the world. On March 16, 2013, many turned up for the parade on glitzy fashionable 5th avenue in New York City despite the rain and snow that dampened the day. New Yorkers, never one to be stopped from celebrating anything for that matter proceeded as usual. Many revelers turned up fashionable while some chose green theme costume to honor the day. Nevertheless, the event was a success and we even managed to spot some of our favorite in the crowd.

Meanwhile in the UK, Kate Middleton was appropriately dressed in a green coat in observant of the day and also managed to handle the almost devastating “wardrobe malfunction” with her shoe! One of the heel got stuck in the drain. Overall, she looked terrific for the occasion. Erin go bragh to all of our Irish members worldwide!

If interested in seeing more images from the 252nd parade, preview images here.