Further to the three shoe man problem

Lynne Kiesling at Knowledge Problem: Commentary on Economics, Information and Human Action* writes:

. . . in general that's what most of the straight men of my acquaintance think. That is, until their women burrow into their subconscious and persuade them otherwise ... not counting athletic footwear (running shoes, bike shoes, etc.), the KP Spouse has about 5 pair of black or brown shoes of various degrees of formality, a pair of nice black boots, and a pair of nice brown boots. And the ubiquitous pair of Adidas Response trail runners that are the wear-around-always shoes. And the Teva sandals. I call that a respectable collection.

I've tried like the devil to get him in a sassy pair of retro-funky sneaker kicks, but nuthin' doin' ... as Linda says, though, that's OK, because it leaves more room in the closet for shoes for me ...

Eamonn has also returned, with a pertinent question for the Manolo, which I have hand-delivered to him in person, written on parchment and rolled up inside a chocolate shoe. I wait an answer when New York rises from its slumbers.

So, style warriors, a question for you. considering that I live in Buenos Aires where it's going to be unbearably hot and humid for the next 4/5 months, I work a lot at home and don't get invited to many formal events and I am anything but rich; what single footwear purchase should I consider making that would do most to raise me up from my badly shod state?

Just while I'm here, I might as well mention that Lynne adds.

Sitting in the Manchester, NH airport, coming home from a way cool conference on new frontiers in emergent order research ... the brain is too full to think of anything along those lines for a post! But courtesy of , I've found a new fashion read: The Thoughtful Dresser, by writer Linda Grant. I love one of her tag lines:

Because you can't have depths without surfaces.

Brilliant. Evocative. I can't wait to read more.