Into the land of $2,500 sneakers

If you're wondering what to get for that special someone this holiday season, I'd like to recommend the turquoise, open-toe high heels at Dolce & Gabbana on Rodeo Drive.

In crocodile skin.

"How much are they?" I asked.

One thousand, six hundred, ninety-five dollars, the clerk said.

I think he saw me swallow my tongue.

But today they're 40% off, he said.

Great. Maybe I'll get two pair.

I asked the clerk whether he worried that the sluggish economy and tumbling stocks would keep people from spending this year. He didn't.

"People who have money, have money," he said.

He was speaking the day before Thanksgiving, when I polled Beverly Hills merchants and customers on the shopping season's outlook. The entire American economy is based on the rich buying things they don't need and the rest of us buying things we can't afford. So let's hope everyone steps up, regardless of what Standard & Poor's has to say about it.

"We're pretty much recession-proof," said a sales manager at Harry Winston jewelers, where I peeked at a $70,000 snowflake diamond earring set with matching $55,000 necklace.

I think I might have committed a high-end retail faux pas when I asked if anything would be going on sale. It turns out there are no sales at Harry Winston, which makes sense when you think about it.

No one with a bout of shaky consumer confidence would bother entering an elegant store designed to resemble a jewel box, with satin velvet walls and a recording of Tony Bennett singing "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)." Nancy was laughing because she never clipped coupons and caught the bus to Target.

I did find one clerk, though, at Versace, who said any Beverly Hills merchants who claim they aren't worried about a slow season are either foolish or lying.

"A lot of my customers are real estate investors," he said, and then there's the Hollywood writers' strike to consider. Although he sold a $16,000 wristwatch Tuesday, he said there's been lots of talk among merchants about the need to get creative with promotions, such as a 10% discount day for VIP customers.

When he worked at Fendi, he said, the store gave merchandise away, scot-free, to celebrities so common folk would covet the same items.

"Do you watch TV news?" asked the clerk, showing me a $2,810 white leather purse with enough silvery gewgaws on it to decorate a Clydesdale.