We’ve been on a Michelle Obama fashion de-tox because we were just exhausted trying to figure out who made her every dress, skirt, shoes, belts, jewelry and on and on.

But we’re breaking the fast to mention that at a Food Bank event yesterday in D.C., Mrs. O. had on a very cool pair of sneakers, at right, that turned out to be by Lanvin and a similar style (which aren’t even as cool as hers) costs $540 at Barneys.

Uhhm, we’re good with Michelle’s mix-and-match philosophy most of the time, but sometimes pairing a cute little J.Crew cardigan (it’s on sale for $100) with wildly overpriced sneakers may not be exactly the fashion statement the First Lady wants to project.

Maybe we’re just jealous. But if we were going to spend $540 on a pair of shoes, we’d go for these blue suede Miu Miu platform sandals for $595 (below left), or these Brian Atwood starlette printed pumps (below right) for $600, or

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We don’t need to extol the virtues of sensational shoes, but when it comes to the crème de la crème of fabulous footwear, the poshest of peeps turn to Roger Vivier. Bruno Frisoni, creative director at Roger Vivier, made a personal appearance last week at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City to present the spring/summer shoe and bag collection. 

Oh, to be in NYC!  

Roger Vivier was a true creative genius. He opened his first boutique in Paris in 1937 and designed the first-ever stiletto in 1954.  Vivier died in 1998 at 91, and the designing dynasty was passed to Bruno Frisoni in 2002. He’s kept the brand’s legacy thriving.  

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When is shopping for spring sandals not good enough? When you stick to the same boring retailers and see the same names from season to season.

Cease and desist, we say. Here are 10 cute pairs of sandals, from 10 excellent Web sites that you may have never seen before. Some of them aren’t completely outside the box, but we bet you haven’t seen them all. (And if you’re a fashion blogger, you don’t count.)

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Have you seen those insane heels we blogged about a few days ago? Gorgeous, we know, and they qualify in every way as shoe porn. But we’ve got an antidote - wondrous little ballerina flats, which are at home under suits or jeans, conservative dresses or teensy little skirts. Take a peek:

We love the color of Ferragamo’s Varina flat (above). It’s the perfect shade of taupe, floating as it does between shades of gray and latte; the signature grosgrain bow is just a tad darker. (At Nordstrom, $470).

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The Style Insider swears we did not plan this. 

Just because our last post was about impossible-to-walk-in-towering-insane designer shoes with 7” stiletto heels, we had no idea that models were dropping like flies on the Herve Leger runway today. Two models fell flat, and two others barely escaped a tumble. That’s four — count ‘em — four mis-steps on one catwalk: Must be a record.

Glamour.com’s Slaves to Fashion blog captures the two big falls, and goes on to show you a video of other models falling on other catwalks in previous shows. New York Magazine’s The Cut blog has a couple of other pictures of the spills. And another site has a photo gallery with blow by blow shots of the tumbles — and kudos to the young lady who kept a smile on her face, picked herself up and kept on strutting. (more…)

We’re celebrating National Wear Red Day today (Feb. 6), surfing around for the prettiest dresses and accessories we can find, all helping mark awareness of women’s heart health. You’ll see women in the workplace in red, women in the stores in red, and women on television in red (we’re hoping for a clean sweep on The View!), so don’t hesitate to pull it out of your closet as well. And we probably don’t have to remind you, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Take a peek: 

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Now that Sasha and Malia Obama have turned J. Crew’s Crewcuts line into the hottest brand around, we did a little shopping there to find some other cute looks for your own first daughters. Don’t expect to find the first daughters’ coats and other outfits. They were custom made, although J. Crew may come out with a line of similar looks for fall.

The Crewcuts Web site makes shopping a little challenging at first by  presenting their girls’ “Looks We Love” - an assortment of styles and categories - all mixed together. Then, clicking on a cute party dress or a jacket frequently pulled up the look in a different color and limited sizes. It’s up to you to keep digging around.   

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