I debuted the Louboutins the other day. I bought them while on a trip to Northern California in August (Thank you Nordstrom San Jose!). Although I have been known to wear them around the house just lounging whilst admiring the look and feel of the one piece leather construction since then (and also giving the calves a bit of  a stretch), I have been eagerly awaiting the right opportunity to don them in public.

Christian Louboutin Bourge

While contemplating when and where this would occur, I spent a lot of time debating whether or not to do something to protect the sole.

Evidently, there is a micron thin red sole that expert cobblers can shellac onto the classic red sole of a Louboutin to “protect” it. As is common with most controversies these days, the internet is replete with commentaries for and against this practice. I reviewed many of them. My shoe consultants at Nordstrom strongly recommended I do this before the debut. After all, I “wouldn’t want to ruin the soles of these high-end boots” that come at a steep price to begin with.

But you know, at the end of the day they are a pair of shoes, meant to be worn where shoes are needed, e.g. outdoors. Now, I wouldn’t knowingly wear them in a blizzard or walk through a muddy field with them on but I bought them to wear them, to experience the comfort and joy of a well-made designer shoe crafted from leather as soft as a baby’s bum attached to a eye-catching red sole. Sure Christian Louboutin advises keeping them dry and away from rough surfaces but outdoors is occasionally wet and studded with hardtop, concrete, or cobblestones. So I could opt to protect the soles of my boots from these dangers or I could go bare.

In the end, I chose to go bare. I didn’t want to hide the most unique, and to me most precious, feature of my boots. It would have felt like covering a maple table with mahogany inlay with a table cloth. It would have felt like keeping the plastic wrap on the remote control for a TV purchased years ago. It would have felt like have a curio cabinet filled with dolls that a child is never allowed to play with. Most importantly, it would have felt no different than sticking that red sole from the cobbler onto any old black boots.  After all, I didn’t buy just any pair of boots, I bought these boots to wear them, to feel good in them, and to show them off. The red soles make me feel good and allow me to boast without words so why not just wear them in their natural, unadulterated beauty.

I trust that the boots are well made. So, after years of wear on my precious red soles I will someday take them to a cobbler to resurface the heels. That’s when the impostor, umm protector, soles will come in handy. I hear they are a pretty close match. But until then, I am embracing the red soles with every step even if it means some moisture here or a scratch there.