What The Heel Is Going On With These Snake-Heeled Shoes?

In the dead of winter last year, the shoe world was all a light with the search for the incredible Gianmarco Lorenzi's pumps with the Swarovski snakes on the heels -- mainly because other than one eBay auction (long gone, girls!), there's only photographic evidence of them.





Hearts everywhere were broken.

As if being unable to find those sexy pumps wasn't enough frustration, recently, on Tumblr, another version has surfaced. I have no idea just how long ago this photo was taken (this was as close to the original source as I could get), but notice the red soles on these black pumps with silver snakes or pythons wrapped around the heels -- isn't that Christian Louboutin's signature?



Christian zealously guards his trademark red soles (originally created spontaneously with red nail polish); I'd imagine Gianmarco would protect his crystal snake heel design too. So what the hell is up with these black pumps with the snakes on the heels and red soles? Were these fakes? Knock-offs designed to pass themselves off as both or either designer's work that were confiscated or otherwise prevented from hitting the marketplace? ...You can't say someone just personalized their own pair by applying red nail enamel to the soles -- the lining is red too.

I'm not saying I'd buy the malicious high heels -- even though on my meager salary I can't afford the real things. Heck, I can't even find a place selling any version. But a dreaming shoe-loving girl wants to know the truth.