I prefer shoes that undress to shoes that dress. A successful shoe is a shoe that accentuates nudity.

-Christian Louboutin

I’m going shoe shopping. I need a wagon.

-Hilary Banks (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air)

If you believe what you read on the internet (I do! I do!), Michelle Obama has succumbed to the footwear trend sweeping the country and purchased a pair of Robert Clergerie over-the-knee boots.

This is indeed a daring move on her part, and tells us much about our First Lady.

Of course, we already knew she cares about fashion, and is prepared to have fun with it. Jimmy Choo is a safe choice, but Jason Wu isn’t. She dressed in chartreuse on Inauguration Day. Designer sneakers are her thing.  (And can I just say how gorgeous she looked at the State Dinner last night?)

But, over-the-knee boots? Are they not in a different category? And she will no doubt be excoriated on some fronts because of it. Some will say that, at 45, Michelle Obama is too old to wear OTK boots. Or, because she’s not stick-thin, they won’t be flattering. She’s the mother of two young and impressionable daughters, for heavens sake! She should be wearing Naturalizers!

To these folks I say: PISH POSH.

I think Michelle Obama is teaching her young and impressionable daughters a very important life lesson here: Be bold in the face of your critics. Do your thing, sneerers be d**ned. Know yourself, and own your choices. How much easier it would have been for her to go conservative, and play it safe – especially given the vitriol of some of her detractors. But she’s not doing that, is she? She’s pulling on her over-the-knee boots and going about her life.

I can’t wait to see what she’ll wear them with.

Robert Clergerie over-the-knee-boots, around $850 at Shopbop.com and Zappos.com

I want everything I do to make the woman sparkle, inside and out.

-Yves Saint Laurent

I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, but it hasn’t changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I’m just wearing better shoes.

-Oprah Winfrey

I’d rather sit in a Ghost chair most days than stand in Louboutin heels.

-Philippe Starck

There is new strength, repose of mind, and inspiration in fresh apparel.

-Ella Wheeler Wilcox