First, the cool girls very strongly recommend you stop “shopping” and begin perfecting “the art of acquisition.”  Perfect your taste, your eye, and your skills so that every designer shoe purchase genuinely adds to your signature collection.  Go into the marketplace knowing exactly what you want, refusing to settle for less than what you want, and insisting that you get what you want at the very best price.

Two fundamental rules apply, especially when you are shopping for designer shoes: First, “pre-shop” and ponder, carefully calculating which red carpet look really corresponds with your own style. Just because those peep-toes looked just oh-so-cute on Lauren Conrad, you cannot leap to the conclusion they will look that good or walk that well on you. Second, as a strict matter of value, “designer” should describe a look, not a label.  Unless you are “investment dressing”—as with elegant black pumps and sheepskin boots—do not fear the knock-offs.  This year’s hottest styles may become next year’s “Ugh, that is so last season.”  If you have a few favourite designers, study their catalogues and highlight your must-haves, going to the stores to find exactly those styles regardless of whose name appears on the shoes.  Only snobs really pay attention to the labels.

Forget “shelf appeal.”  Focus on “my appeal.”

The designers say you should look for “shelf appeal,” meaning shoes’ heels, toes, texture, and colour just jump right off the shelf and onto your feet.  The cool girls respond, “Easy for Giorgio or Alejandro to say; they just want to sell shoes.”  They suggest instead you patent your own signature look, combining current fashion with classic elegance, and then find the designer shoes that correspond with your appeal. Take time to determine which styles, colours, and textures show off your legs to your greatest advantage, and calculate which designer shoes best complement your favourite jeans, pants, skirts, and dresses.  From head to toe, you are going for a total design concept, and your shoes have special super-powers for making or breaking your look. Frankly, “shelf appeal” often translates to yellow “crime scene” tape, because shoes that stand-out on the shelf also will stand out—usually freakishly—on your feet.  Every girl is entitled to one whimsical and totally outrageous pair of shoes that she buys just because she likes them.  Everything else in a girl’s well-organized closet should emphasize or complement her distinctive style.