Christian Louboutin at The Palazzo

Just a snapshot, or soleshot, of the shoes on display at the Christian Louboutin store in Las Vegas at the Shops at The Palazzo. Practically next door is the massive Barneys New York which also has a huge selection of CLs ranging from the classics to the outrageous one-season only styles.

While the CL boutique had a few of the lace pumps, Barneys had the knee-high lace boot, Paola Botta. And it's only $1,745. The ankle version is $1,155.

Even if we could fit into this impossibly delicate boot without extreme discomfort and pain (CL boots are very narrow), we'd need some sort of sugar daddy or high roller to buy them for us. Or you know, we could just buy a roundtrip ticket to Europe. It's about the same price.

Seeing Red: Barney's Fall Window Display

Ok, so Barneys New York had this literal shoe tree of Louboutins up in their windows a while ago. It was October to be sure, because the Olsens were flaunting their new book all over in town, and it shared the window with the CLs. 

I shot these because I love the fact that they played with the mirror image here; the satin clutch is a CL bag, by the way, as are the others in the second picture below. Enjoy.

Reading Red: Vintage Shoes, With Foreword by Christian Louboutin

Just scrolling through the blogs as usual, and what heaven did we spy over on Stylist? Why, they've reviewed the book Vintage Shoes: Collecting and Wearing 20th Century Designer Footwear  by Caroline Cox, with a foreword by Christian himself. 

According to Stylist, the book is of the coffee-table ilk, so we'll pass on it for now; we don't have a coffee table and prefer smaller distractions for the subway, thank you. Nonetheless, we will head to the bookstore to read Christian's thoughts on vintage footwear. Musty or must-have?

Christian to Create Barbie Heels in 2009

So much news from the Louboutin world these past few days! We'll start with the first, and perhaps most important: Christian will be designing shoes for Barbie as part of her Fashion Week runway show and the general resurgence of the brand. (Did you know that Shanghai just got a whole Barbie store?) Anyways, as always WWD has the goods on the collaboration:

Christian Louboutin is designing pumps in iconic Barbie Pantone 219 Pink, which will make their debut at the special runway show that Mattel Inc. is staging during New York Fashion Week next February. 

Fifty as-yet-undisclosed designers will produce Barbie-inspired outfits for the runway, and each of the 50 models will be wearing the pink Louboutins at the show.

"I guess I always had a little 'girlie side' who liked Barbie," Louboutin said. "Barbie needs to wear great shoes because every girl needs to wear great shoes." 

Now, how do we get our names on the list for both the show and the shoes? February is coming up soon...those other designer names should be released any day now. 

[Image of some already pink Louboutins via Flickr > princesspoochie ]

Sole-Spotting: Jessica Alba for Campari

Photos: Mario Testino for Campari

This is what we like to call "impossibly high." Aside from Jessica Alba's brief  moments of posing for Testino's camera in this sizzling Campari shoot, these Louboutins sadly should be relegated to pedestals instead of the pavement. Heels of this altitude, sirens for the trademark sole, of course figure in much press and therefore elevate the brand.  There's no need to lean or turnaround to show the sole, as simply walking is advertisement enough.

Christian on Madison Ave, NYC

Doesn't look like much, does it? Christian Louboutin's flagship at 965 Madison Avenue is a cuddly nook down a few steps from the street and completely unassuming compared to its attention-whore neighbor, The Whitney Museum of Art. 

Inside, the shoes are displayed as in his other locations: set into clear plexi cubby holes with extra little accessories for interest (flowers or jewels, for example). When we snapped this pic last week, the shoe below was the star of the window. But you know in an economy like this one, retail price never lasts long and now the same shoes (in grey and black) can be found on sale at Saks. Sigh. 

A Red-Soled Ode to: Black Mesh

Vizu and Unknown

Baladi Elba and Air Con

Kitty and Quadrillette

Of all the sexy treatments favored by Louboutin, one of the most prevalent is black mesh with a nude lining. It also happens to be a personal favorite as this writer owns the heeled version of the Baladi Elba above (and Juliana has it in white). 

So why does a showpiece mesh shoe appear in almost every season of CL designs? We think it has to with Christian's love for toe cleavage, as mesh takes it even farther. One of his most well known and cleavage-y styles is the Pigalle, and although not pictured, they are most definitely made in mesh. Shoes like these are made for women who don't walk much, but take taxis and private cars. That probably explains why we don't get enough wear out of our Baladis.

[Images via ShopStyle, Bob Ellis Shoes, Barneys]