How much would you spend on a great pair of shoes?

The other day I was sitting in my car at a downtown intersection waiting for the light to turn green. That's when I saw a flash of red — a twenty-something woman was crossing the street in sky-high black pumps with red soles. Red soles being the signature style of Christian Louboutin shoes. She looked great in them, but at $700 or more a pair, they are serious status shoes. With a flash of that red sole, I knew how much she was willing to shell out for a fantastic pair of shoes.

I have friends who are happy to indulge in a great pair of shoes, but I’ve never been able to swallow the cost. Unlike many shoe-obsessed women I know, I break into a sweat at the thought of spending more than $100 on a pair. I imagine the heel getting stuck in a grate or somehow getting scuffed up and it just doesn't seem worth it.

This probably makes me a giant failure among the Carrie Bradshaw set and I get the reasoning behind spending a lot of money on shoes. After all, cheap shoes are the absolute worst — plastic straps that dig into your feet and heels that fall apart after just a few wears. In fact, all my summer shoes bought at various discount stores last year look kind of shabby now and need to be replaced.

Maybe it’s time to cross over the $100 threshold and consider buying better shoes. Would a pair of Louboutins be worth it? Or this fantastic pair of Louis Vuitton pumps that Gwyneth Paltrow wore? At a hefty price tag of $10,400, are they really worth it?

So I'd like to ask you how much would you be willing to spend for great shoes? And what’s the most you have ever spent?