Prada wedge: Low mobility, high fashion and price tag

Something new for the fashion "huh?" file: the Prada "navy blue crocodile open toe bamboo wedge."

In these cripplers, walking is not the point.

Style? Yes, in a jungle-luau way. Attention-getting? Oh, my. Desirable? They're already sold out.

But for actually getting around? In these, mobility is not recommended. And the reptiles are priced at $1,195.

So that I could get a feel for fashion's cutting edge, Prada loaned me a pair of the wedges, Fed Ex'd from the New York branch of the Italian status label. (We practical Midwesterners aren't clamoring for them. Only the Los Angeles and New York Prada stores stocked them.)

I can see these shoes behind glass in a fashion museum some day. Or on a makeshift altar in the home of a well-heeled foot fetishist.

But walking? I'm canted into the angled-forward posture of a downhill skier. Regrettably, Prada didn't send along ski poles to help me negotiate the tricky right turn to the ladies' room.