Of Shoes & Due Diligence

"Oh you see, but the problem is that I'd never wear Jimmy Choos to the club. They wouldn't last 10 mins in here." Sonia replied into my ear loudly over the Neyo flooding even louder now into the bar space. She was only half paying attention to me as the song caught her by surprise and she started doing a little semi-bop in front of me. After briefly closing her eyes and getting "jiggy wit it" she turned back to me as if awoken from a really great power nap, smiling and proud of herself. "I'm perfectly happy wearing Nine West shoes. As long as they're comfortable and besides, no one can really appreciate them in this lighting. We both looked down to her shoes again for what I think was the fifth time. I was beginning to really enjoy this.

When men compliment women on their shoes, there is a 50% chance they actually mean it. The other half of the time, they're just checking out the legs and subliminally making the women conscious of it. "Hey, I really like your heels..." another way of saying, "Hey, I'd love to lick your naked calves.. and it'd be A-OK if you kept those heels on, while I made my way to the top." Something along these lines anyway.

I complimented her on her shoes, and this gave me a launch into a discussion about heels vs platforms. And I noticed something important and new having a discussion about glossy heels versus shooting a passerby compliment.

Diving into a debate over heels, swooshes, or anything Dior brings two people closer. Once I've anchored myself to the bar and pulled her close, we need to be talking pretty intimately to exchange ideas, fighting the volume of the music. This means our heads are close proximity. When two people engaged in a conversation tip their heads forward, something magical happens.

Our faces fall into the sensitive hot zone between the lips and the collar bone. And this is the perfect excuse to release eye contact, granting full permission to visually roam her body without being rude - because, after all, it's the clothes you're checking out - even though both of us know it's grounds for a quick due diligence site visit to flavour country. So the body mapping ensues as follows:

1. Not only does it warm her up to the idea of having you in that space, but it also warms her up to the idea of being close to you, what it feels like to be safe in your arms, and let's be frank - everyone love the neck zone. It's phermone heaven.

2. From the shoulders looking down, you have a perfect depth of view starting from the cleavage to the tips of her toes. From here I could see very clearly the fullness of the breasts from the bra lines peaking through her full sequence dress. Keeping one hand around her waist guarantees she won't pull away too far. And a gentle squeeze gives me a brief and stealthy assessment of her real waist size. (Loose cami tops must be discounted immediately to guarantee better disclosure.) Sonia's a big boned girl, but she clearly works out and she's giving me a tight tummy as I turn her hips out to get a better view of the patent leather pink heels parading as Christian Louboutin's. In the mid-focal field, I could make out the muscle lines on her thighs, and while I'm not a big fan of big legs, hers were rather attractive and suited her fuller proportions nicely.

3. "They're very nice... lemme have a look at the heels," and with a gentle pull at the waist, Sonia doesn't resist and turns her hips slightly in, and voila - a full view of her booty. Round and delicious. I make a quick glance at the shoes as well and see a small metalic detail that acccents the stilletos nicely.

"Ooh. Nice hardware in the back." She smirks and swats my hand away turning back into the bar pretending to be indignant. I close in and speak close to her hear putting one hand across to the opposing hip. "What? I'm a big hardware on heels fan," in mock protest. She giggles.

The reality is, I really do notice shoes, and most of my team do as well. Half the time, they don't realize that they're looking at the shoe, but it's like anything shiny or sparkly - it's going to catch our eye, and it's going to draw us in. They're an even better reason to get up close and personal. With the summer circuit in full swing, it's nice to see all the leg action as we did this past weekend.

Oh yes, I'm a big fan of high heels. I know they pinch the toes, cut into the skin, and sprain the ball of your foot, but I assure you, they are worth every inch.