It’s hard to believe but there was once a time when Kim Kardashian had to choose between paying the rent and buying shoes. As it turned out, she chose wisely.
These days there may not be a bigger celebrity in the world than Kim Kardashian. Or a more famous shoe designer than Christian Louboutin.
But it was not always like this.
Back only as far as 2012, Kim was still climbing to the heights of social and traditional media fame that she now occupies.
While it’s been a wild ride to the top, much about the rise of Kim Kardashian – socialite, fashionista, businesswoman – can be explained by a single pair of Christian Louboutin high heel shoes.
The shoe itself is pictured above and is called Isolde.
And back on 5 May 2012, Kim Kardashian wore these crazy Christian Louboutin high heels to a Saturday night dinner at Nobu Restaurant in Los Angeles.
The restaurant was cleverly chosen: Nobu is a famous celebrity hangout featuring Japanese fusion food, high prices and lots of opportunities to get spotted.
Kim’s shoes were also a careful choice.
Christian Louboutin was well established, and the Isolde platforms were in fact collectors items from the Louboutin 20th anniversary capsule collection.
The collection was released in February 2012 and comprised 20 pieces inspired by two decades of Louboutin’s magic.
Isolde had earlier made its debut on the runway for New York Fashion Week.
The shoe came with an appropriately high 6.3 inch heel with a 2.4 inch platform to ensure Kim could not be missed.
And she wasn’t.
What made this such an interesting statement was that at this time Kim was heavily involved with ShoeDazzle, a start-up budget subscription footwear brand which she co-founded.
Kim’s celebrity following was the pivot around which ShoeDazzle was built, focussing strongly on her celebrity reputation and growing social media presence.
But Kim knew that to maximise attention she needed to be seen in high-end brands, not the $39.95 shoes that her label was mass-marketing.
The price tag for Isolde couldn’t be more different: they sold for $3,995 per pair!
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It wasn’t until 2017 that the full story of Kim’s purchase of these heels became known.
In February 2017 Kim shared a closet walk through with her Snapchat audience and she stopped to focus on the Isoldes.
“So these shoes right here,” Kim said, “I literally couldn’t pay my rent because I chose to get these instead of my apartment.”
That shrewd move in 2012 paid off in the years to come, helping Kim’s star and fortunes to rise.
In one purchasing decision, Kim Kardashian helped her stocks rise as a socialite, fashionista and businesswoman and has never looked back.
She doesn’t have difficulty paying the rent now either.