Lady Gaga blows almost $300,000 on shoes she's already worn
Lady Gaga posted photographs on Instagram of herself in a pair of Alexander McQueen Armadillo shoes - with two more pairs of the eye-catching iconic shoes on a table nearby. In total she spent an incredible $295,000 on the shoes, but is convinced it was money well-spent.
Lady Gaga first wore the shoes in her Bad Romance video in 2010, and again for the VMAs. She's one of very few people ever to have worn them off the catwalk, because they never went into production. A combination of their incredibly complicated construction from python skin, and the fact that walking in them is such a delicate art, meant only 21 pairs were ever made.
But while she had worn them before, she had never owned any of them. So when three pairs went up for sale at Christies, to raise money for Unicef's relief efforts in Nepal, she was willing to pay an astronomical sum to get them.
Why?
While she is known for her love of cutting-edge fashion, the appeal of these shoes wasn't just their looks.
After buying the shoes, Gaga wrote a tribute to the beauty, creativity, and talent of designer, Alexander McQueen, in V Magazine. She explained that after McQueen's death in 2010 it left a space that no-one could fill, and that she bought the shoes in order to have a lasting memento of her brief friendship with him, adding: "These shoes are the only tangible piece I have left of our work together."
There is every chance that these shoes will be a decent investment. It cannot be said of many pairs of shoes, but when something is rare, iconic, and in demand, it can gain in value over time. One of the most striking examples of this was when a pair of red test slippers for "The Wizard of Oz" sold for $612,000 in May 2011.
However, given Gaga's emotional connection to the shoes, it's unlikely we will see her selling them on for a profit any time soon.
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