Scarves and stripes

-Fashion-advice columnist Hadley Freeman explains that contrary to what you might expect, she doesn't care about shoes, and that this is because she doesn't/can't walk in heels. This seems a bit like announcing that because George Clooney doesn't do anything for you, you don't care about men's looks, and would be unmoved by, for example, Keanu Reeves walking into your coffee shop.

If I found a pair of Louboutins in my closet, the first thing I'd do is look into how one goes about selling stuff on Ebay. If I can't walk in six-inch stilettos, it's because I don't like how they look, and have never tried. And yet, I like shoes very much. Shiny ballet flats and pastel oxfords, metallic clogs, motorcycle boots, certain thicker-heeled iridescent sandals...

Why is it assumed - by Freeman, by everyone - that women who like shoes like either $600 Manolos or, as of the past few years, the $1,000 red-soled stripper-inspired variety? Presumably for the same reason as a professed interest in clothing/personal style/fashion is interpreted as coveting a Chanel quilted purse, or $400 jeans, or - more ridiculously - as a desire to please men. An interest in the material is conflated with materialism in the brand-conscious, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses sense. Shouldn't be, but is.

-Prepare to have your illusions shattered: "Ninety-five percent of clothing sold in France is foreign made; the other 5 percent consists largely of luxury brands." Turns out the crap you spent your hard-earned library-book-shelving money on while on study-abroad was not, in fact, hand-stitched in ateliers by artisans with three-hour five-course lunch breaks. All those scarves and stripes were made in the same factories that produce our vanity-sized Old Navy.

-This week had better be the last of the Napoleon chapter. Enough's enough. All that prevents me from falling asleep at the library is that the bookshelver here has a bit of a talking-to-himself problem. Not a paranoid one, but like he's in conversation with what's on his headphones, or talking along, or who knows.