The 5 Most Expensive Shoes Ever Sold

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In this article:

• For most people, $20 million dollars is far more money than they will ever see in their lives. So, it might disgust you to learn that there is a pair of shoes out there selling for right around that much.
• The multi-million dollar shoes are encrusted with a piece of a meteorite. 
• While the Antonio Vietri Moon Star Shoes are the most expensive shoes ever made, there are some other outlandishly expensive shoes on this list that are studded with diamonds, sewn with gold, or embedded with jewels owned by historic movie stars.

For most of us, buying a luxury yacht or a multi-million-dollar Patek Philippe watch is completely out of the question. However, for members of the 1% that have way more money than they’ll ever know what to do with, buying these luxury items is a way to show off their exorbitant wealth while the rest of us struggle to make ends meet. 

And, if there’s one luxury item that super-rich celebrities tend to care a lot about, it’s shoes. 

With the average American earning around $2 million in their entire lifetime, it’s pretty hard to imagine spending nearly $20 million on a single pair of shoes. But, yes, there is a pair of shoes on this list that sold for that amount. And there are some other extremely expensive shoes with ridiculous price tags that will make your jaw drop. 

So, in the interest of living vicariously through the super-rich and coveting the things we will never have, these are the five most expensive shoes ever sold. 

The Most Expensive Shoes Rich People Are Buying

1. Antonio Vietri Moon Star Shoes

Back in 2019, Italian designer Antonio Vietri made history by debuting the most expensive shoes ever made.

The Moon Star Shoes were first presented on a yacht in Dubai as part of the MIDE (Made in Italy, Designed in Emirates) Fashion Week. These shoes are made with a 24-karat solid gold heel, 30 carats of diamonds, and a piece of a meteorite that landed in Argentina around 1576. 

Because of the opulent materials used to make these shoes and the value of Antonio Vietri’s name, these shoes have been valued at $19.9 million.

So, you now have the choice to either buy a massive mansion in Malibu or a pair of shoes that you’ll probably never wear for fear they’ll get scuffed. However, with luxury shoes being one of the most valuable luxury items these days, the Moon Star Shoes might actually be a good investment if you had the money to buy them in the first place. 

2. Jada Dubai’s Passion Diamond Shoes 

Unsurprisingly, the world’s second most expensive shoes ever sold also come from Dubai, a city that has established itself as the global epicenter of decadence.

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The Passion Diamond Shoes represent a collaboration between ultra-luxury footwear brand Jada Dubai and Passion Jewellers. They were first presented at Dubai’s Burj Al Arab, the world’s only seven-star hotel, back in 2018. 

These shoes are valued at $17 million, due in part to the fact that they feature two flawless, D-grade, 15-carat diamonds at their toes. They are also trimmed with a series of other valuable gemstones and include a total of 238 diamonds overall.

Jada Dubai does design other shoes with smaller price tags; however, according to the company’s co-founder Maria Majari, “Jada Dubai designs only shoes with diamonds.” So, you probably won’t find a pair from Jada Dubai sitting on the clearance rack at Marshalls. 

3. Debbie Wingham High Heels

Known as the “Queen of the World’s Most Expensive” in some circles, Debbie Wingham has gained worldwide renown for her artistic abilities, particularly when it comes to designing things that are outrageously expensive.

She burst into the ultra-luxury scene in 2012 by designing the Black Diamond Dress that features a series of black diamonds and was valued at a whopping £3.5 million. She’s also responsible for creating the Debbie Wingham High Heels, a pair of stilettos worth $15.1 million that look like they’re covered in cake frosting. 

What makes these some of the most expensive shoes? Diamonds, of course. The Debbie Wingham High Heels are adorned with hundreds of precious diamonds, including two 3-carat pink diamonds that are each worth more than $4 million.

They’re also sewn with 24-karat gold wire, which serves the functional purpose of holding these confectionery kicks together while also driving the price tag to the stratosphere. 

4. Harry Winston Ruby Slippers

As you probably know, The Wizard of Oz was one of the most influential films in Hollywood history. And the iconic ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the original film have been kept in pristine condition and would fetch a pretty penny at auction.

But even those shoes don’t rival the value of the Harry Winston Ruby Slippers, a pair of slippers made by the famous jeweler for the 50th anniversary of the film. 

The Harry Winston Ruby Slippers are encrusted with 4,600 rubies, each of which were set by Winston’s own hands over the course of a painstaking two months. Thanks to all of these red stones and an additional 50 carats of diamonds, this pair of slippers is worth over $3 million. And, with that many zeroes in the price tag, I probably wouldn’t even want to wear these slippers around my house. 

5. Stuart Weitzman Rita Hayworth Heels

Rita Hayworth, known as “The Love Goddess” during her time, was a prominent actress, dancer, and producer during the 1940s. She appeared in over 60 films over the span of a career that lasted nearly 40 years.

To pay homage to one of the brightest stars in American cinematic history, luxury shoe designer Stuart Weitzman decided to design a pair of heels embedded with stones that once belonged to Hayworth herself. 

These stilettos are made with lavish satin flowers in a color that sits somewhere between burnt sienna, copper, and rust brown. Near the toe of the shoe are diamonds, rubies, and sapphires that once belonged to the iconic 1940s actress.

With all of these precious stones and the historical significance of these shoes, they’re estimated to be worth $3 million. You can’t buy these shoes, though, as they belong to Rita Hayworth’s daughter Princess Yasmin Aga Khan.

Keep living vicariously through the ultra-rich — or scoffing at the outlandish things they blow their money on — with this list of the most expensive things in the world or this list of the most expensive cheeses.