Once the height of style, have Louboutins lost their lustre?

When asked to write about the most photographed and desired shoe of the moment, Christian Louboutin platforms court, I decided to make a trip to the London store to see them for myself.
I expected to leave feeling suitably angry about these ugly shoes and the fact that their wearers spend £600-plus to totter around in them.
Indeed, I did leave the Mount Street shop feeling sick, empty and in a panic — but not solely for the reason I expected. In fact, I left with a pair of nude shoes embellished with Swarovski crystals, a slim platform and that trademark blood-red sole like a lascivious tongue. They cost me £895.

WAG must-have: Louboutin-shod Coleen Rooney (left) and Victoria Beckham

Still, at least I didn’t fall for the gigantic concealed platform court shoe, custom-made in satin with an 8in chirtian louboutin wedegs heel for Victoria Beckham for the Royal Wedding. Last week, Coleen Rooney wore the Daffodile (£635) in nude.
Off the peg, the concealed platform, which is nearly  4in thick, comes with a 6½ in heel — that’s 1½ in short of Posh’s stratospherically high version.

I find a similar silver pair in store and take them down, telling the sales assistant I want to try on a pair in black patent leather, too.
‘Zat is the only one left,’ he tells me, putting it back carefully. ‘The patent and the satin have sold out.’
I’m always a little bit dubious when high-end brands tell me an item has sold out or has a waiting list. The effect is obvious: we want it simply because we can’t have it.

Dizzy heights: Kim Kardashian, left, and Emma Roberts are also fans of the style, wearing them out in Hollywood last week

I try on the silver hooves. I stand up, and my head is now in a place where there is little oxygen. Imagine my surprise to find that the christian louboutin boots shoes are  very comfortable.
But why on earth has such an ugly, extreme form of footwear become so beloved of stars, magazines, WAGS and the likes of you and me who can’t really afford them?

Extreme height: At £635, these Louboutins suggest it's price not taste that matters to the rich

Christian Louboutin specials is a very clever brand, indeed — founded in Paris in 1992, it rode the great shoe wave of the late Nineties.
So far this year, the 47-year-old designer is defying the recession. Retail sales exceeded £154  million in 2010. Louboutin says his secret is that he always stocks the classics.
But Mr Louboutin needs to beware. If you make a brand too popular and ubiquitous, allow it to be worn by the super-tanned rather than supermodels, you are in danger of devaluing it.
Remember when Daniella Westbrook was seen dressed head-to-toe in Burberry check? This British brand’s credibility plummeted overnight and it took years of clever marketing, a new creative director and pushing the brand ever more crazily towards so-called ‘luxury’ to leave its less desirable customers floundering.
Ah, but isn’t anyone’s credit card still money in the bank? Not really. A luxury brand cannot shift the real money spinners (cosmetics and perfume) without an almost unattainable top end.
That is why the Louboutin designs have become more extreme and, consequently, prices have sky-rocketed