A shoe for our time?

Remember Christian Louboutin? He made red-soled shoes de rigueur for celebrity feet. Now he has created a pair of shoes that truly clashes with the mood of today. Taking inspiration from Marie Antoinette, Louboutin has teamed up with French couture embroiderers the House of Lesage to create 36 pairs of limited-edition shoes. On sale for a queenly $6,295 per pair, these hand-crafted shoes laughingly grind their heels into the face of the worldwide slump. But perhaps we're not giving the knowing cobbler his due here. After all "Madame Deficit" and the economic ruins of late 18th-century France do have parallels in 2009. Let them wear platform pumps!