Quotes of the Day
I am in a room packed to fire code with rich, beautiful women
bending over in 5-in. heels in front of me. They are asking me
for my opinion. I don't know why I ever dreamed of playing for
the Yankees. I want to be a shoe salesman.
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Specifically, I want to be Ben Evidente. The greatest shoe
salesman in the world, Evidente, 33, is the anti--Willy Loman. He
is a celebrity not only in Manhattan, where he has been selling
for the Manolo Blahnik store for the past 12 years, but also
around the world. When he stayed with clients in Brazil for
Carnaval, he was bold-faced in the paper. Blahnik signed a copy
of his book for Evidente, "To Ben. Without you, we are nothing."
He makes so much money that he just bought a vacation house in
Hawaii. And here at the semiannual sale, with women standing in
line down an entire block to get into the store, he is a
ponytailed, tranquil cult leader amid a rush of manicured hands
hopefully holding boots up into the curtained storeroom in
supplication.
What I didn't understand until meeting Evidente is how important
shoes are. To me, shoes were just something that I casually
noticed nicely set off the ensemble of a Victoria's Secret model.
But shoes, Evidente explains, can be hot in and of themselves.
And the right shoe can make a woman look better. "You can almost
spot a foot and not only know her size but what would look good:
something to camouflage the bunion or something that accentuates
a long, sexy leg," Evidente says. One of his many skills is being
able to talk about feet in ways that don't seem creepy.
What's more, Evidente understands that shoes are freakishly
important to women. His top clients buy 20 pairs of shoes a
season, and he can make $20,000 in one sitting. "If they go
bankrupt, I promise you they'll be back in two seasons," he says.
"There is an actual obsession for women and their shoes. It took
me two seasons to realize it." Shoes, it turns out, look good on
all women, regardless of body shape. "Women say, 'My ankles and
wrists are my best things,'" he explains. "They've gained a
little weight. Women who may be overweight buy a lot of shoes
because maybe they can't wear Roberto Cavalli."
Evidente knows how to handle women. Although one regular client
from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., here for the sale says he treats
her "like a princess, even though I'm just one of the little
people," he also knows how to be rough. He bags a sale by the
second pair of shoes he brings out, not just because he figures
out what looks good on women but because he convinces them of it.
In his quiet way, he is forceful, like Clint Eastwood. Plus he
has the added appeal of often being down on one knee. "You almost
have to make up their minds for them. They want you to make up
their minds for them," he says. He delivers lines like "This is a
really important shoe this season," with such a straight face, I
do believe that this shoe is really important. He is so good at
acquiring trust that many of his clients who don't live in New
York simply have him send whatever shoes he thinks might look
good on them. And even when they do walk in, they cede power
immediately. "Heidi Klum will come in here and say, 'Ben, I have
five minutes. Find me a pair of shoes,'" he says. I really want
to be a shoe salesman.
Clients also ask for personal advice, because a good shoe
salesman is a bartender and shoes are the rich woman's whiskey.
"You become their psychologist. You get to know who is getting a
divorce and who is having an affair," he says. Since many of them
go to the same charity functions, he has to steer them away from
the same shoes, especially when relationships become entangled.
And like a bartender, he's glad to push his wares on those in
need. "When they say, 'I just bought these to pick myself up,'
that feels good. That's how it should be," he says.
By my second day of hanging with Evidente at the sale--of staring
at cross-laced calves, of seeing tight snakeskin squeeze against
an ankle, of telling women that even though the heel may be a
little high to walk in all night, yes, I think it's worth it--I
no longer see shoes. I see sex. This happens to me with most
things I can't eat, but still, I'm impressed that Ben has done
this to me. I'm even more impressed that I have somehow handed
him my American Express card and have bought my wife a pair of
shoes that he insists really are on sale for $380. And are very
important. And, as I discover when I get home, he is right.
- Joel Stein