Of Oudin and Jimmy Choo

With all of the recent hype about the amazing tennis match between seventeen-year-old Melanie Oudin and Nadia Petrova, I was surprised to find the web is buzzing about the young teen's shoes. Admittedly, it is an incredible feat that Oudin triumphed at the 2009 U.S. Open, but that she achieved her victory in a pair of shoes that she personally designed renders Oudin to an even higher level of awe. The pink and yellow Adidas sneakers are fast becoming a fashion icon. Who would have imagined? Is the trend of the future to be personally designed footwear? Popular athletic brands are increasingly offering options that allow prospective buyers to 'customize your shoe.' Miadidas.com states it well:

Every foot is different. Even your own two feet are not alike.

So instead of making your feet fit into some average shoes,

why not make the shoes fit your feet?

Getting started is easy. Just select your gender and size

and start tweaking your creation.

How incredibly cool is that? I've always been a big fan of Adidas, and I really like the idea of customizing my sneakers - created for me, by Adidas, for my feet.

On the other hand [or foot?], I have never seen the sense in high heeled shoes. In my mind, they were created to plague and torture women. They may look like all that, but they're not. The design is not practical, and even Hollywood starlets cannot endure to walk in them for long periods of time.

However, Jimmy Choo's are iconic in their own right. Elegant and sophisticated, no fashionable lady's closet is complete without at least one pair of these stilettos.

Here we have two examples of design. Jimmy Choo's are all about the designer. But Melanie Oudin has started something, and I like the direction she's going. Shoes can be designed by you.