Photo courtesy of rogervivier.com

Taxidermy and couture result in grotesque pair: the $43,000 Dovima by Roger Vivier

Designer Bruno Frisoni, for Roger Vivier, thinks you would like some dead animals on your feet. Not the usual cowhide or alligator though — he's thinking special, he's thinking rare and he's thinking nose-tilting finery along the lines of petal-pink dyed taxidermy birds delicately perched on each toe of the shoe known as "The Dovima."


Gilding the lily, wearing the bird, screaming luxury

Each dead little bird's head is adorned with gold and encrusted with crystals. The shoes are further embellished with 24 ct gold-coated mesh, semi-precious stones, jet, satin ribbons, silk chiffon and diamanté. They are kissed with crocodile-skin fashioned into dainty rosettes and made lovingly by hand.

Every pair comes with special protective crocodile or snakeskin platforms that attach before you wear them to keep the shoes from ever touching the ground. There is a three month wait after you order them, but think of all the fun you can have finding the perfect bag to go with them while you breathlessly await their arrival.

These shoes look like something Tim Burton would come up with if he did couture, like something Gilda-the-Good-Witch-Gone-Bad would wear, like a shrieking poem to gaudy excess. They scream luxury. These must be intended to delight and enchant the fairytale princess within. They make me think of Cruella DeVille.

Remember the nursery rhyme, Banbury Cross?

Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
To see a fine lady upon a white horse
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
She shall have music wherever she goes

Here's my riff on that for "The Dovima":

Spend $43,000 on heels in recessionist times
While inflation's hard fingers crush nickels and dimes
With gold on her heels and birds on her toes
She shall have ridiculousness wherever she goes