The Red Shoe Diaries, Part 2

There they are: the Manolo Blahnik Dodos, the object of my great desire, the shoes that have the Want Monster gnawing on my poor little overtaxed heart. I've been pinching the pennies, but I'm realistic: I knew that they might not be available by the time I saved up the money to buy them. So I started doing a little research on how I might be able to scratch that itch if the worst-case scenario played itself out. In an effort to provide a tiny amount of entertainment along with my ever-lengthening saga, I'm going to show you some of the things I found while on that search. Click photos for links.

Moda Spana Canyon

So I get the heads-up last week from Ted (my co-conspirator in fabulous footwear) that the Neiman Marcus pre-sale is going on. Saturday I went up to NM with my girlfriend Anita, who is wonderful to shop with because she always displays just the right amount of tact & practicality: she doesn't want you to get in over your head, but she also doesn't want to spoil your fun. Now, I knew that the Austin NM didn't have the Dodos, but that the Dallas store did, so Ted got out the stockbook & gave it to me to look through so he could do the pre-sale on the computer & have them shipped -- IF they were going on sale.

(The stockbook, by the way, is a giant three-ring binder with page after page of every shoe ordered by any NM branch in the country -- for me, that thing qualifies as porn. Seriously, I would like a copy to keep in my bedside table. I left sweaty fingerprints all over it.)

When I found them in the book, Ted said, "Oh my gosh!", disappeared into the stockroom, and came out with a Manolo Blahnik box in his hands. (Whoops. Better show you some more shoes...)

RSVP Skye

He opened the box and there they were. A return. Someone had ordered them online and then brought them back to the store. AND? They were on sale. I was quivering as I put them on, but alas, they were too small. My toes hung over the sides. And then the even worse news, which Ted delivered after he checked the computer: there are no more. It was a very popular shoe, there are no more to be found anywhere in the system. Crushing heartbreak. Oh, it was so sad, because they are sooooooo beautiful. I put them back on, just to be sure, but Anita reminded me that shoes need to fit. (It's funny how basic truths can desert you at times such as these.) Sad, sad, sad. I'd waited too long.

And so we drove away from Neimans. I was wistful but resigned. Anita posited that the Universe was perhaps saving me from a tragically turned ankle, but I couldn't bring myself to believe those magnificent shoes would ever treat me so cruelly. I consoled myself with the idea that somewhere out there was another pair of shoes I was meant to have instead, in the way that my disappointment over the Manolo Blahnik Camparis had eventually led me to my wonderful Miu Miu mary janes.

Nine West Ferwin

I came home and sent an e-mail to Sian detailing my disappointment, which, because she is a good Shoe Sister, she shared. And then for some reason (seeking closure, perhaps) I went to the NM website. Now, way back when after I fell in love with the Dodos, I put them in my Shopping Bag on the NM site so I wouldn't have to always search for them, I could just click there to find them whenever I wanted to kill a few minutes gazing adoringly. (The NM site holds on to stuff in your bag until you buy it or remove it.) When I signed on, there it was, the little red heading that said I had one (1) item in my bag. I clicked, and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but my shoes. ON SALE. In all available sizes. Stunned. Stunned! I sent Sian a panicked e-mail asking what I should do and she very sensibly replied, "Buy them. Now." (She is English, after all. They're always so good in a crisis.)

And so I did.

I do not know how this happened or why the Shoe Gods are rewarding me in this way. I called the store and told Ted and he explained that the stock for the online stores is completely separate from the b&m ones, and he kicked himself for not thinking of checking online himself, but I don't see what good that would have done because if it hadn't been in my Shopping Cart I wouldn't have been able to find them online -- they're not listed on the NM site anymore. (They are still available on the Bergdorf Goodman site, but they are not on sale there.)

Via Spiga Dracora. Golly, that's a good-looking shoe, isn't it?

This is very mysterious to me. If I use the link that's still in my browser history, or the one in my order confirmation, up they pop. But going through the actual NM site or even googling the style name on the web doesn't turn it up. Very strange. But I'm not questioning it overmuch, I'm just happy it has come to pass. A happy red Manolo ending. Shoe satisfaction. Over the next week, I'll be hyperventilating every time a UPS truck pulls into the parking lot. Oh, there is going to be one massive Happy Shoe Dance around here.

One last word: Style Spy is done buying for the summer. I very much want to return to Paris this fall and therefore I need to save my centimes. I'm counting on all you friendly folks to help me stick to this resolution. I am NOT allowed to buy any more shoes. (Okay, if I'm IN a shoe store, and the shoes I'm wearing explode, and between me & my car there is a river of molten lava spiked with shards of broken glass, I'm allowed to buy shoes to get me home. But that's the only case.) And why would I possibly need any more? The shoes of my dreams are coming to live with me! Footwear Nirvana. Seventh Shoe Heaven. I am One with the Shoeniverse.

Photos: NeimanMarcus.com, Zappos.com