With her schedule, dressing up to go out some nights is a break with a kind of Cinderella magic. Except that her glass slippers are covered with rhinestones, cost $685 and are made by Manolo Blahnik.
She longs for Manolo Blahniks with the same intensity as Carrie Bradshaw, the character played by Sarah Jessica Parker on "Sex and the City." The designer shoes cost anywhere from $445 for suede pumps to more than $1,100 for boots. Jamie owns 37 pairs. She conservatively estimates that she owns at least $20,000 worth of Manolo Blahnik sandals, shoes and boots. Almost all of them have four-inch stiletto heels. Jamie, who is 5-foot-6, likes how tall they make her feel.
Jamie Gavigan, who owns some $20,000 worth of Manolo Blahnik shoes, models her $2,300 satin Gucci dress.
(Photograph by Kyoko Hamada)
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"I'm hoarding them," Jamie says, laughing at herself. "I don't know why. I'm hoarding them because he keeps making them."
Once, when "Sex and the City" aired an episode in which Carrie admitted that she'd spent $40,000 on designer shoes but couldn't come up with enough money for a down payment when her apartment went condo, Jamie's girlfriends began telephoning to say: "That's you!"
When Jamie arrives at the Manolo Blahnik boutique on West 54th Street, a small crowd is gathered outside, noses pressed against the plate glass, as if there might be someone famous inside. A doorman swings open the bronze front door, which is too heavy to negotiate from atop four-inch heels.
"Jamie, my love . . ." Ben greets her.
At 33, Ben Evidente not only sells shoes to celebrities, he is one of sorts, getting regular mentions in the fashion press. He is so good at selling expensive shoes to wealthy women that it's not unheard of for him to sell $50,000 worth to one customer at a single sitting. He makes so much money from commissions that he recently acquired a vacation home in Hawaii -- the house that high heels bought.
Jamie met Ben on her very first visit to Manolo Blahnik. She'd come to New York to look for her wedding dress, a day that remains one of her happiest memories. "It was the ultimate princess day," she says. She asked Ben to help her find a pair of shoes to go with her pale pink tulle Vera Wang wedding gown.
She bought two pairs. That was eight years ago. Her marriage ended when Jamie and her husband, a chef, separated a year and a half ago. Her relationship with her shoe salesman has proved lasting -- and a lot less painful.
Each fall and spring, Ben ships Jamie a giant box of shoes he thinks she might like to buy. Inside the boxes, Ben tucks handwritten notes urging her to enjoy the shoes. Jamie keeps the notes. "He has such beautiful handwriting," she says.
With his waist-length black hair tied up in a loose knot and his slight torso shimmering in a pea-green satin shirt, Ben, a native of Guam, looks like an art student. In fact, he was an art student, dreaming of becoming a fashion designer, back in 1987, when he answered a "shoe salesman wanted" notice on a school bulletin board and took an unexpected path into the world of fashion fabulousness. Selling Manolo Blahniks means meeting designers, models and influential people in fashion and entertainment. It means reading a client's face as well as her feet. If a woman comes to the store sad, Ben steers her to one of the styles he calls "happy shoes."
Like eager lovers who've been apart too long, Ben and Jamie waste no time on small talk.
"Let me get you some shoes, Jamie my love," Ben says before heading to the stockroom to pull several pairs in her size.
The salon is a series of narrow rooms lined with delicate, intricately patterned shoes with very pointy toes. They are displayed like objets d'art on dark wood stands. None have price tags. Jamie lightly touches a pair of crocodile pumps that she knows from long experience here cost about $2,400. "Someday," she says.
Ben perches on a stool at Jamie's feet and presents a pair of short, black lace-up boots, describing them as a remake of a classic. Diana Ross purchased a pair years ago, and her daughter recently implored the company to reissue them, Ben confides. "Aren't they cool?"
Jamie is more enthusiastic about some short cognac-hued boots. "I don't have anything in this color," she says.
"It's a beautiful color," Ben agrees. Suddenly, he has a flash of inspiration. "Let's try some very sexy shoes," he says. He returns with silver evening sandals that catch the light as he lifts them from the box.
"This is a showstopper right here," Ben enthuses. "I just sent these to Faith Hill. She's really sweet." The elegantly spare sandals are adorned with three slim bands of emerald-cut rhinestones. Jamie slips them on and beams. "We like sparkle," Ben says. "Jamie likes sparkle."
Jamie wonders if her toes look a little too close to the front edge. She wants to try the next larger size, a European 39, but Ben says they've just shipped the only pair in that size to someone else on approval.
"Okay, okay," Jamie says, remaining calm.
"So let me just find out if she's going to keep them," Ben says.
"Okay, okay."
"Let me remind you that I am going to get more strappy holiday things in the next month."
But Jamie likes the sparkly emerald-cut rhinestone sandals. She wants them, if only Ben can get her those size 39s to try.
Ben comes clean. "We sent them on approval to Cameron Diaz," he says. "Around here you have to get them when you see them. You never know who is going to come in. The stylists from Victoria's Secret sometimes stop in and buy 10 pairs of sexy sandals for some photo shoot."
Jamie takes the Cameron Diaz sandals in size 381/2 off her feet, but keeps them close. Ben offers a series of alternatives, but none appeal to Jamie.
"I like the other ones better," she says. "We'll have to see if Cameron sends them back. I don't know why she would." Eventually, Jamie settles on a pair of brown suede pumps that tie around the ankle and the short cognac boots. Ben says he'll Scotchgard and ship them. He also promises to hold the size 381/2 emerald-cut rhinestone evening sandals for Jamie until he finds out if Cameron Diaz is keeping the size 39.
Jamie doesn't ask the price of anything she buys, though her purchases total $1,920.
Near the front of the salon a blonde wearing black pants cropped to the ankle, a black jacket and a black newsboy cap poses in front of a large mirror making pirouettes on her own personal runway. On her feet, a pair of the emerald-cut rhinestone Cameron Diaz sandals sparkle. The woman noticed Jamie trying them on and asked for a pair.
