My dear, sweet husband apparently reads my blog posts. I know this, because for graduation he offered to buy me a pair of Jimmy Choo heels (See the April 8th post.) He knows how much I like shoes and he knew that I have been wanting a pair of fine shoes for the past 4 years. So Saturday, after my morning graduation ceremony, he took me to the Jimmy Choo store to try on shoes.
For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to do it. The Jimmy Choo pumps weren't as great as they looked online. The heels were either too short or they looked like they belonged on a street corner with a pair of fishnets. I honestly didn't like them. And in my opinion, the price tag was borderline unconscionable.
Not to be deterred, my husband then took me to the Christian Louboutin store across the street. I have to admit that Christian makes a good looking shoe. But when I tried them on, I was not impressed. Apparently, Christian likes toe cleavage and the shoes are cut really short in the front. The store assistant manager assured me that this looked sexy, but I was not convinced. I don't have a large foot, but these shoes made me feel like I was trying to fit into a kid's shoe.
When the whole shopping trip was over, I realized that there is no point to fine shoes. My $25 black patent Steve Madden pumps that I bought on sale at Ross are sooooo much more attractive on my feet than the Christian Louboutin's that sell for $695. And if I did own a pair of expensive shoes, I would probably never wear them for fear of ruining them. They would be something in my closet to "feast my eyes on" when I needed a pick me up. I can seriously think of so many better ways to use my money.
I think what really struck me about the entire shopping experience was that the other ladies in the stores were repeat customers of Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin. They weren't like me, looking for a novelty shoe to sit in their closet. They wanted another pair to add to their collections! Why would anyone need a collection of overpriced shoes? Because "whoever loves money never has money enough" (Eccl. 5:10) and that person will often hoard wealth, to the harm of the owner (vs. 13).
Listen, I don't think it's wrong to have nice things. But we need to question our motives. We need to be careful not to let our love of materialism turn into a collection of uselessness. I think collecting antiques or baseball cards or stock options can be just as dangerous as collecting fine shoes. The hoarding and collecting of material items is never satisfying. And owning a pair of Louboutin's just so we can stare at them is wasteful too.
Much to my husband's amazement, I have decided to be happy with my Steve Madden heels (which really are attractive if I do say so myself.) Sometimes it just takes a shopping trip to put life in perspective.
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