The £30,000 Roger Vivier heels

Dovima shoes designed by Bruno Frisoni for Roger Vivier's Couture Collection, where prices range from £9,500 - £30,000

If you thought £1,000 was expensive for a pair of ripped, designer jeans by Balmain, brace yourself for fashion's latest excess – the £30,000 pair of Roger Vivier heels.

The stilettos are designed by Bruno Frisoni, the creative director of the French luxury cobblers.

They feature an assortment of life's little luxuries such as 24 ct gold-coated mesh, semi-precious stones, jet, satin ribbons, silk chiffon, diamanté and crocodile skin fashioned into dainty rosettes.

The "Dovima", an 11cm, spike-heeled confection of gilded silk mesh and jewels, is embellished with a pair of rose pink-dyed, taxidermy birds with gold and crystal heads.

Another style called "Daphne", in honour of the best-dressed socialite and millionairess, Daphne Guinness, the ex-wife of Greek shipping heir, Spyros Niarchos.

They are a midnight lace creation of jet, silk, crocodile and satin bows.

The collection of six hand-made creations, starting at £9,500 a pair and rising up to a stratospheric £30,000.

They were unveiled during the Paris Haute Couture season this week.

They can be made-to-order – but allow between two to three months for delivery.

The collection is called "One is Too", for each pair can be inserted into and buckled onto matching crocodile or snakeskin protective "platforms", based on the "pattens" of the Middle Ages.

They add height and save the expensive, fragile works-of-art for the feet from actually making contact with anything as rugged, commonplace and downright dirty as the pavement.

Roger Vivier, who died in 1998, began designing for Elsa Schiaparelli in the 1930s and was known as the inventor of the stiletto.

At the height of his fame he was called "the Fragonard of Shoes" and his customers included Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor and the Queen.

Vivier's most famous creation was the "Pilgrim Shoe", a buckled pump, which Catherine Deneuve wore in the film, "Belle de Jour".

M. Frisoni, who joined the company in 2004, has also revived the "Pilgrim" at a more down-to-earth price of £315.

Telegraph

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For many people, taking a holiday is something quite ordinary. But what if it meant fusing one's hobby into a holiday — a very long one. Across Asia. On a bicycle. How many people in the world would do that?

Rafael Caba, 39, an avid adventure cyclist, who hails from Berlin, Germany, first came across the idea when he left his hometown in April last year to compete in the Nepal Mountain Bike Race.

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Passion for pedalling: Taking in the sights of Kg Ayer, SOAS Mosque and the Yayasan Complex

Carrying all his possessions in his small backpack, Rafael is clearly a man who has managed to define the true meaning of a holiday — one that fulfils his hobby as well as take in the diverse cultures of Asia.The Brunei Times