Janice Rosenhaus has about 90 pairs of shoes -- beautiful pumps and wedges by designers including Jill Sander, Prada and Lanvin, plus stilettoed Manolo Blahniks she no longer wears but can't bear to part with because they are so pretty.
She admits she doesn't need another pair and that -- like lots of shoppers in this economy -- she has cut back on spending.
And yet, she's in the market for more.
"I buy shoes because I love them. I think you build a relationship with them because you're looking at them all the time," says Rosenhaus, 56, of Bloomfield Hills. "You love your clothes, but you have to look in the mirror to see them."
That makes me -- someone who always comes up with ways to buy shoes -- wonder: If wine and condoms, as surveys have suggested, are recession-proof, is it possible that women's shoes, a relatively easy and satisfying thing to buy, are, too?
While men may collect tools and sporting equipment and enormous televisions because such acquisitions make them feel virile, women buy shoes because they make us feel pretty or sexy.
The right high-heeled shoe can elongate our legs, turning them from stumpy limbs into something to behold, something seductive. The right high-heeled shoe can give us height, which in many cases, makes us feel powerful.
And a quirky pair of skimmers or maybe some strappy flats? They have the power to kick-start some fun with their flirtiness.
While we may yo-yo between dress sizes or cringe at the thought of seeing our dimpled thighs in the mirror of a fitting room, most of us can find a pair of shoes that fit, even on our fattest of fat days. And we don't have to go through the trauma of taking off our clothes to try them on.
Earlier this year, a survey by Global Strategy Group, a New York-based polling organization, showed that there's something to all of this. While we're spending less overall, 28% of women -- 8% more than in 2007 -- ranked shoes as the thing on which they are most likely to splurge.
"While other businesses are maybe contracting ... we have not experienced any drop in our sales," says Tawny Thieu, who is expanding her shoe store, Pink Pump, from one location to three.
A new Pink Pump (www.shoppinkpump.com) opened on Maple in Birmingham last month. A Royal Oak store, which will be her chain's flagship, is expected to open in August. They join an existing Pink Pump in Bloomfield Hills.
"When I was younger, we didn't have money and I always got the second hand-me-downs from my two older sisters," says Thieu, who is 29 and lives in Royal Oak.
"Kids can be cruel if you don't have the right shoes, if you don't have the right clothes."
At Via Bella, which opened in May at 141 W. Maple across the street from Pink Pump in Birmingham, store manager Elisa Gatliff says that in addition to offering European styles, "We want our clients ... to come in, hear the Italian music playing, have an espresso, have a pastry. We want people to have an experience so they remember Via Bella."
And so it seems that women's shoes are fairing so well during this recession because buying shoes isn't really about buying shoes.
It's about righting childhood inadequacies and having an experience. It's about an easy way for a woman to feel pretty and powerful and fun.
And sexy, too, which makes sense that shoes join wine and condoms on the list of recession-proof products.
A new Pink Pump (www.shoppinkpump.com) opened on Maple in Birmingham last month. A Royal Oak store, which will be her chain's flagship, is expected to open in August. They join an existing Pink Pump in Bloomfield Hills.
When I was younger, we didn't have money and I always got the second hand-me-downs from my two older sisters," says Thieu, who is 29 and lives in Royal Oak.
"Kids can be cruel if you don't have the right shoes, if you don't have the right clothes."
At Via Bella, which opened in May at 141 W. Maple across the street from Pink Pump in Birmingham, store manager Elisa Gatliff says that in addition to offering European styles, "We want our clients ... to come in, hear the Italian music playing, have an espresso, have a pastry. We want people to have an experience so they remember Via Bella."
And so it seems that women's shoes are fairing so well during this recession because buying shoes isn't really about buying shoes.
It's about righting childhood inadequacies and having an experience. It's about an easy way for a woman to feel pretty and powerful and fun.
And sexy, too, which makes sense that shoes join wine and condoms on the list of recession-proof products.
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