Man sues ex-wife for her shoe collection

Kai Ryssdal: Here’s today’s note that the rich really are different from you and me. We read this morning that a New York hedge fund manager who’s getting divorced is suing his soon-to-be ex-wife to get part of her enormous collection of very expensive shoes in the settlement.

So we did what we do when I have fashion questions: I called up fashion writer Kate Betts in, appropriately, Milan.

Kate Betts: Yes, I’m in the land where they make expensive shoes.

Ryssdal: Well let me ask you about this: So if this guy gets these shoes from his wife in the divorce settlement, what’s the resale value on like Christian Louboutin, size 7 1/2, 4 1/2-inch platform heel thing?

Betts: Well I mean a lot of these shoes retail for about between $800 and $1,200. So I don’t know, the resale value is probably half of that or more if they’ve never been worn. I mean, can she wear 1,200 pairs of shoes in one lifetime? I don’t know.

Ryssdal: Remind me, which are the ones with the red soles on them? Is that Louboutin or the other guy?

Betts: Those are Christian Louboutin.

Ryssdal: Oh Louboutin? I’m saying it wrong.

Betts: Yeah.

Ryssdal: Louboutin, there you go. Kate Betts, her book is called “Everday Icon: Michelle Obama and the Power of Style.”