Cheryl Shops

At Fashion Week, there's the hierarchy based on seating, and then there's the hierarchy based on shoes. You can spot the journalists right away: They're in flats, the better to dart out of shows as quickly as possible. Socialites who are there to attend just one show are usually in flashy, sky-high Louboutins. Bloggers tend to wear super-clunky platforms--trendy but comfortable. Fashion editors, however, still the crème de la crème of Fashion Week, get to wear the most daring, impractical shoes because they all have drivers for the week and thus the only time they actually spend on their feet is the brief dash from the car straight to their front-row seats. The pair that I spotted the most frequently--or at least the one that inspired the most frequent shoe lust--was Valentino's Rockstud pumps, a style that's been around for a few seasons now, but that Valentino keeps bringing back for more--understandably so. They come in black and nude, but the nude is by far the sexier style, and the more extravagant for winter too, because they beg to be worn with bare legs, truly driving home the point that the wearer, well, has a driver (as in being so rich, one doesn't have to deal with the weather). The 2-1/2-inch stiletto heel almost seems practical when compared with the behemoth platforms of recent seasons, but the pointy toe ruins any delusions of comfort. And then, of course, there are the cage-like straps meant to grace only the thinnest of ankles (no cankles here) and adorned with edgy yet luxurious gold pyramid studs--they're designed for women who wear camel cashmere sweaters...with racy La Perla lingerie underneath. I like this sexy new side to Valentino, a label that often skews too coquettish for me; I'm glad to see creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli are modernizing the brand a bit. And while one might argue that true modernity would come from wearability, I'd argue that it's all about desirability. And if these shoes don't inspire desire, I don't know what will.