lady baby

Companies rise to the occasion as they incorporate heels into their current comfort lines.

Comfort footwear may never stray into stiletto territory, but many firms are now designing choo shoes that allow customers to flaunt the latest high-fashion heel silhouettes. Today's style-driven customers refuse to sacrifice fashion for comfort, so they are demanding higher heel designs that deliver the same level of comfort.

"Comfort customers going into comfort stores are asking for dressy looks," said Candy Harrington, vice president of Theresia USA, Keene, N.H. "[Customers] have vacation jimmy choo shoes and walking looks, now they want something to wear out to dinner."

The dressier styles of the Theresia M. line were designed with the comfort features consumers expect from the company's more casual looks, such as anatomically correct arch supports and long heel counters for better balance. The line is available in whole and half sizes.

Dressier mid-heel shoes have been the backbone of Nickels Soft's business since the inception of the company's comfort line three years ago, noted Mark Cleary, head of Nickels Soft, a division of New York-based Intershoe Inc. The collection is not technical in nature, but the jimmy shoes are designed with basic comfort features, such as padded footbeds and leather linings. "Comfort is something people demand these days," Cleary said.

Higher heels now have been added to the Nickels Soft styles, whose heels range from 1 5/8 to 2 1/8 inches. The line is available in sizes 4 to 11 and in narrow, medium and wide widths.

While some retailers play it safe when placing orders for high-heel looks, pumps and strappy sandals are strong performers in Aerosoles stores, according to Kimberly Grayson, senior vice president of marketing for Aero Group, Edison, N.J.

"If you want to wear a high heel, why not wear one that's comfort, able?" Grayson asked. Each season, Aerosoles has expanded its comfort category, moving from more tailored styles to "sexy miu miu shoes , dressy pumps on Aerosoles' [comfort] bottoms."

The Chanel Boutique hosted a party to celebrate InStyle magazine's What's Sexy Now issue, which allowed them to showcase their latest makeup and ready-to-wear collection from Paris.

Fashion designer Jane Hages took the opportunity to check out Chanel's jimmy choo shoes: that's all she and teacher pal Margaret Kostovski talk about, she claims.

Where do the girls shop for their jimmy shoes? "Venus and Mars," Margaret says.

Jane was wearing her biggest shoe indulgence: a pair of Fendi pumps.

So what's sexy? Chanel's Chantal Ballog says, "We've got these new gator boots coming in. They're very sexy."

InStyle's marketing manager Andrew Mackie says

Oscar-winner Hilary Swank, shown dancing in the What's Sexy choo shoes Now issue.

Meanwhile, identical twins Dianne and Stephanie Sarantakos are in agreement on what's sexy to them. "Being yourself," Dianne says.

And on Valentine's Day, the former Brookside babe makes sure she looks her best for her boyfriend of five years Tony Hibbard - even if they're only having a cosy meal at home.

"I'll buy some sexy ysl shoes  underwear," she says with a saucy glint in her eye. "It's a lovely feeling knowing you've got beautiful underwear on underneath.

"I think you've got to start from the inside out - make sure your legs are shaved and wear a nice pair of undies. It makes you look and feel sexier."

Claire, who is currently starring in the West End musical Guys And Dolls, will be on stage this evening. But when it gets to 10.30pm she will be making a quick change backstage into a slinky outfit to turn Tony's head - even though she doesn't know even know if he will be taking her out at all. "This is the first Valentine's Day since we've been together that I'm working so I've left my boyfriend to organise it," Claire, 34, says.

"I do like to do something different on Valentine's Day. I don't want to go to a restaurant we go to all the time. I wouldn't mind coming home and having a meal cooked for me. I love simple things - I don't need big romantic gestures.

"Tony likes me in sexy choo shoes , classic dresses, nothing too revealing, with a lovely pair of jimmy choo shoes . He always notices if I've bought something new."

Claire met Tony through her neighbour - he's her friend's brother.

"I got more than a cup of sugar from my neighbour," she laughs. "You know how when you're single and you meet someone you go through the whole period of agonising over whether he's going to call you and whether he likes you? I didn't go through any of that with Tony.

"As you get older you look for different things in a man. You want someone trustworthy who gets on with your friends and colleagues, someone who supports you and is kind. Tony's my best friend - and he has a great taste in shoes. You can't get better than that, can you?"

It's no surprise, then, that Charles David's ad with the three women resting on each other was criticized by some as insinuating lesbianism. "Gay vague" advertising, a phrase coined by Wilke, is popular with high-fashion companies. But Taylor of Charles David insisted that the company's ad had no underlying message, and that the company is neither for or against homosexuality. "Our jimmy choo shoes are for women, and the more women we can show in one image, the better," Taylor said, adding that Charles David prefers to view the company's ads as more sensual than sexual. "Our clients are between the ages of 18 and 34. They are very self-aware, assertive in nature, like to feel feminine and want to have a good time. Sexuality doesn't offend them, because it's part of their being." The company's ads are designed in-house and are intended to be visually beautiful and show Chin David's products in a sophisticated, stylized was according to Taylor. "We're not out to shock people," she said. "We didn't anticipate people being offended. It was shock in reverse." Other companies, such as Candie's and Volatile, on the other hand, purposely and admittedly try to grab the attention of readers by shocking them. And what has more shock potential than sex? So, as marketing departments compete for consumers' attention, the amount of sexual advertising increases and the bar marking what's acceptable continues to be tested and raised. "The jimmy shoes industry is a tough industry to be in," said Steven Ash, managing partner of Volatile. "It's a mature industry. Any business you get, you're literally stealing from someone else. To survive, you've got to do something spectacular. "There's something to be said about raw shock value," he continued. "The Calvin Klein ad with young boys in underwear was torn down very quickly, but it made world news for three nights." Wilke cited Benetton, Diesel and Jean Paul Gaultier as other examples of companies that have made names for themselves by inviting censorship. Candie's and Volatile are two brands that unabashedly strive to produce provocative advertising because they are teen-oriented brands. Ash said Volatile's ads geared toward this younger generation need to be eye-catching, because "we're looking at, the short-attention-span group," he said. "A lot of stimuli is competing for their senses."Wow,you wear the ysl shoes . The trick, according to Cole, is to be one of the two or three pages his clients will remember in a magazine. Has anyone forgotten the image of Jenny McCarthy sitting on a toilet in her Candie's, or Alyssa Milano opening a medicine cabinet that overflows with condoms? "We don't want to give [the young female consumer] something boring," Cole explained. "We want to relate to her, to intrigue her."

Women often ask: 'What underwear do you like to see me in?' and the usual answer is: 'Any underwear.' Unless your relationship has been going so long that you have sex only on special occasions, such as the installation of a new Pope, then most men are just pathetically grateful to see women partially unclothed.

I can't remember the first time I saw a girlfriend's underwear, probably because I was a hormone-crazed teenage boy whose nervousness at getting a girl into bed made the moment about as erotic as a G8 summit.

Since then, though, and particularly during my tenure as editor of a men's magazine with a constant stream of beautiful models and celebrities posing in underwear for shoots I became quite an expert.

When you see that many lithe bodies in sexy  Christian Louboutin wedding shoes sets, it's surprising how quickly you develop very strong opinions on what you do and don't like. While we men like nothing better than seeing you in your smalls, some smalls are infinitely preferable to others.

It's easy to see where women go wrong.

Underwear buying is fraught with difficulties. Wander around the lingerie section of any major store and you'll be confronted by a stack of over-complicated undergarments.

The classic image of a suspender set with a push-up bra is what most women imagine gets their chap going. As you'll see from the results overleaf, though, nothing could be further from the truth. Whether it's a simple white set-up with a sexy Christian shoes bow, or some cute polka dot pants, the items that score big with our panel made up of myself, Simon Mills and Alex Bilmes are those that suggest innocence and fun.

The Ann Summers-style wannabe stripper look doesn't hit the spot any more, if, indeed, it ever really did. So why are the stores still groaning with so many frilly, fancy sets? If women find them uncomfortable and annoying, and men see them as cheesy (and in some cases, intimidating), who is keeping these offending items on the shelves? It's time to strike a blow against saucy, seaside-postcard pants and bras as we reveal what men really like and what they think is ... well, pants.

Last fall's ad campaign for Culver City Calif.,-based Charles David includes an image of three female models wearing hardly more than the Louboutin shoes on their feet. They are shown leaning lethargically on one another as they sit above a shard of glass. Another Charles David ad depicts a woman in tight leather pants climbing onto a lounging, bare-chested hunk, while yet another Charles David campaign that debuted this month can be described as "very racy"--literally. The latter ads feature a NASCAR theme of fast cars and, well, fast women.

Even the former Sandra Dees of the Christian Louboutin shoe industry, including Naturalizer and Cole Haan, have given their advertising a makeover. A man and woman embrace in a Naturalizer ad with the tagline "Grab Life by the Straps" photographed from behind the woman, the viewer sees one of the man's hands holding a sexy, strappy sandal, while his other hand wanders down the woman's back, appearing to head beneath her dress. Will he take off more than her shoes?, the ad seems to question.

A Cole Haan ad is cropped to show only the clothed legs of a man and the naked legs of a woman as they lie on a bed, flirtatiously intertwined.

Many in the industry point out that this kind of advertising is nothing new. They bring up the unforgettable 1980 Calvin Klein ads that featured 15-year-old Brooke Shields posing in skin-tight jeans.

Neil Cole, president and CEO of Candie's Inc., New York, said even Candie's original advertisements back in 1979 and 1980 were very racy. "The ads were done in London and showed a bunch of half-naked kids running around a college dorm," he said.

Charles David, too, has produced sensuous ads since the company began its first print campaign in the United States in 1988. "But a lot of bare backs and silhouetted nudity [have been seen this season in particular], said Rachel Taylor, director of marketing for the company.

Today's ads may be sexier than ever because of the natural evolution of consumers. Baby Boomers are growing older and buying fewer Christian Louboutin wedding shoes , while their children can't get enough footwear. In order to survive, brands with an older-customer base, such as Naturalizer and Cole Haan, had to reinvent themselves. Targeting the younger crowd meant adding some sass to their advertising.

As the ceremony ended, guests strolled outside - on a bone-chilling, drizzly afternoon with a temperature of 34 degrees - to two white tents, kept warm with space heaters. Amid pots of white chrysanthemums and hydrangeas and twinkling white lights, they danced and dined on tournedos of beef and a seven-foot-high white jimmy choo shoes wedding cake filled with white chocolate Bavarian cream.

The cake was a gift from the Culinary Institute of America, a school in Dutchess County that trains chefs. The main meal was prepared, at an undisclosed cost to the Governor, by Daka, the concession that runs the cafeterias at the adjoining Empire State Plaza, which includes state offices and a convention center.

'A Very Special Place'

Although over the years friends and associates of governors have been married at the Executive Mansion, today's ceremony was the first in memory at the mansion involving a member of a governor's immediate family. That the  jimmy choo wedding was held there was a reminder of how the Cuomos, more than any previous first family of New York, have made the mansion their full-time residence.

''We researched and investigated all kinds of possibilities,'' Miss Cuomo, who was escorted down the aisle by the Governor, said in an interview before the choo shoes wedding. ''But this is a very special place. My family has been living here for five years, and to be married on the same spot where my father was inaugurated, well, that's a nice memory to be able to have.''

Miss Cuomo's gown, designed by Eve Muscio of Milady Bridal, was made of pale ivory silk satin with a sweetheart neck, bishop's sleeves and with Alencon lace and cultured pearls applique. Its nine-foot train was designed with Alencon lace and cultured pearls. The seven attendants to the bride, who included her two sisters, three new sisters-in-law and two friends, wore floor-length rose-beige silk moire gowns with jackets trimmed in beaded Alencon lace.

Like the time wedding co-ordinator Genni Farmer came across one of the bridesmaids with the wrong shoes on.

"At one wedding, an hour-and-a-half before it was due to start, one of the bridesmaids realised that she was wearing mismatching jimmy choo shoes," Genni said.

"Apparently the salesman had been so busy chatting up the bridesmaids that he had put the wrong shoe in one of the boxes.

"The girl was really quite distressed but calmed down when I called the store and they agreed to bring the right shoe to her."

That is only one of the many "panic situations" Genni, from Blissful Weddings, has seen in her four years in the wedding planning business.

While Jennifer Lopez's glamorous character in the movie has made planning jimmy choo shoes weddings a popular career choice for young girls, Genni said that it was a career that she "stumbled upon" while attending her niece's wedding.

"It's such an emotional day for everyone involved and, as the mother of the bride, you don't really want to be running around making sure everything's in order. You want to relax and enjoy the day."

After having created a business plan and registering the business name, Blissful Weddings was established.

Genni said that her goal was to ensure that each wedding ran smoothly and was a memorable experience for everyone involved.

"It's like buying your first home. Your wedding days and all the planning that goes into it is an experience that should be remembered with fondness," she said.

"I won't take on more than one wedding per week just because there are so many details and you really need to put all of your energy into that one wedding.

"Depending on what the client requires, I can organise anything including the venue, a celebrant, hair and makeup for the bride and the bridal party, accomodation for visiting guests, the flowers, photography, wedding cars -- even the bonbonnieres.

"The fourteen guests returned to an exclusive retaurant to enjoy a seven-course degustation meal complimented by some of the best wines and champagnes.

"I also recently planned a medieval jimmy shoes wedding where the bride rode in on horseback.

"It was held in a forest setting in Brookfield (in Brisbane's west) and, when the bride, arrived she was helped of the horse by her brother and then walked down the aisle by her father."

Attitudes to shoes are changing as New Zealanders realise that black does not necessarily look best with everything and that a pair of good shoes will instantly update an old or ordinary outfit.

One fantastic thing about manolo shoes is that for once size doesn't matter unlike trousers, good shoes will more or less fit you for life.Everyone can have a must-have look of the season with an equally successful result. A nice heel not only makes you look taller and thinner, it can make you feel like a goddess and it is hard not to feel fabulous in this season's wide selection of styles aptly described by Joan Flanagan, accessory buyer at Kirkcaldie & Stains, as "the many moods of the woman".

From low-down tiny-heeled pumps to high-heeled and sexy, there are myriad styles to choose from.

The pointy toe dominates, and it will be an enduring look for the coming summer and next winter, despite designer Marc Jacobs new round-toed styles.

To enjoy the elegant pointy look without feeling as though you're risking breaking your neck, go for balance by trading killer heels for kitten heels.

London's Sunday Times fashion manolo blahnik editor Colin McDowell was disparaging about kitten heels at L'Oreal New Zealand Fashion Week 2002, but they are still selling strongly in New Zealand and in Europe.

Ankle straps and pretty ballet ribbons that tie up your leg are a dominant look but difficult to carry off if you don't have slim, toned legs. For most women ankle straps provide an unflattering cut-off point and shorten the legs. This is where the contemporary take on the Mary Jane shoe comes to the rescue because the strap sits below the ankle.

Texture is a big influence for fashion manolo blahnik shoes this winter and footwear is no exception. Styles are available in suede, velvet, satin, animal prints and plain leather mostly black, brown and dusky pink adorned with beads, buckles and embroidery.

Boots are flat and high-heeled, smooth and scrunched. Many of this season's styles are made of forgiving stretch fabric that is kind to New Zealand calves. Check out Roberto Ricci's boots at Kirkcaldie & Stains ($ 390). They're made in Italy at the same blahnik shoes factory where Italian designer Roberto Cavalli has his shoes made. Made from stretch fabric, pointy toed with a medium-height kitten heel, they are the ultimate compromise for women wanting to feel sexy and comfortable.

HIGH HEELS can be unkind to your feet, especially when walking Wellington's hilly terrain or along the stiletto-hostile paving downtown.

Here are a few steps forward for happy feet.

After wearing high heels switch to a flat pair. This eases the leg muscles. Consistently wearing high heel shoes will shorten the tendons and in extreme cases can make wearing flat manolo shoes impossible. Calf stretches also help.

Finely heeled shoes often have super-fine soles that give no protection and jar your feet when walking on concrete. Foot Petals, available from Kirkcaldie & Stains, are foot-cushioning devices for those who have a love/hate relationship with sexy manolo blahnik  shoes.

As you go up in height, your body tips forward. Foot Petals Tip Toes ($ 23) stop the toes from sliding forward into your boot or shoe. They were originally designed for open toed shoes to stop the toes coming forward and hanging over the end of your shoe. Not a good look.

Foot Petals Heavenly Heelz ($ 23), help prevent stiff shoes from cutting into the sensitive heel area. They also prevent blisters and keep your heels from slipping in and out of your blahnik  shoes.

Rubber-soled shoes are good for working on hard concrete floors as they provide cushioning. You can't go past a good pair of Campers or Birkenstocks, available from Kirkcaldie & Stains and The Last Footwear Company respectively.

Soothe and smooth your feet with The Body Shop's Peppermint Cooling Pumice Foot Scrub ($ 13.65). The pumice helps smooth away rough skin from soles and heels while the peppermint oil helps revitalise tired feet.

The Body Shop also has a Lemongrass Deodorising Foot Soak ($ 29.95)--a mixture of naturally derived Epsom salts and deodorising lemongrass oil.