copycats.

there.

part of the much talked about, and much lauded (especially on the blogs) Miu Miu shoe collection for SS10. yes, it's nearly autumn now, especially in shopping terms, but that's really not the point.

whereas those who've been going crazy for the shoes all seemed to love the print and the colours, it's merely the heel shape that drew me in. chunky and square; high but with a surface area that suggests they might be comfy for longer than your average high shoe, and in a range of styles and colours. of course, while i adore the print versions - the first pink bejewelled number and the kitty-print of the second style, in particular - if i was actually going to spend real money on expensive shoes, i'd probably err on the side of caution and go for these:

img from 5inchandup

WOAHWOAHWOAHSTOP.

this WAS intended to be a 'where can i find a similar heeled shoe for significantly less money?' post, but since the answer to that was, as it is for everything, 'trawl ebay', i stumbled across these.

these ones aren't Miu Miu, of course.

they are, in fact, a rip off. and while that is a subject that has been written about time and time again, i offer you not 'real vs fake', but 'fake vs fake'.

img also from 5inchandup

now, River Island 'borrowed' from the above pink bejewelled number and these cherry print ones sold for about £65, but the first, plain option comes from Korea and will cost you about £25.

and that's not all!

a glance at their shop (which is completely overstocked to the point where i really couldn't face the 60 pages of shoes before me...) reveals all manner of copies - some of which are really rather detailed/similar to the original.

mcqueen, chanel, balenciaga (or sam edleman if you're that way inclined), even a rodarte/nicholas kirkwood-esque number - and this is just a smattering. and all of wxyon shoes shoes are between £20 and £40, ish.

by this point, it should be obvious that i'm not against the rip-off industry. this is because a) i like shoes, b) i can't afford the originals and c) i'm pretty fickle, and spending £500 on a shoe probably isn't a good idea if it's possible you'll get bored of it in 2 months.

if i like a designer shoe A LOT and a similar version of said shoe happens to pop up in River Island or Topshop for a fraction of the price, i'm gonna want that option. especially if it's in Topshop, because that's what store cards were made for.

if some shop on ebay sells better copies for a third of that price, well, which one would you buy? of course, the quality won't be all that (i assume) but given the nature of point c) above, i might not care if they fell apart within a couple of months. and as i've seen from other peoples experience, price doesn't always equal quality anyway.

that said, if the black Miu Mius were to be on sale somewhere, i'd be all over them in an instant.

but what would you do?

------------

...and to get back to the original point of the post - since the selling point for me is the heel, perhaps these numbers would make me happy anyway:

£65 from office, also in black

and, let's face it, if i'm looking for something specific i'll almost always try the vintage section of ebay before i try anywhere else, and of course eebs hasn't failed me this time:

i stopped and gasped at that last pair. i mean, they have the heel, and they're printed, which is a bonus, but ALSO THE PRINT IS LEOPARD BASED I MEAN ITS LIKE ITS MEANT TO BE YOUKNOWHOWMUCHILOVELEOPARDPRINT*HYPERVENTILATE*.

brb, trying to decide if i can fit into a size 4.5