Shoes

WASHINGTON - Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana said they improved his strength and posture. Celebrity Kim Kardashian boasted they allowed her to ditch her personal trainer. But federal and state officials said the rocker-bottom Shape-ups and other toning shoes made by Skechers USA Inc. don't live up to the hype from the company and its high-profile endorsers. On Wednesday, the Manhattan Beach company agreed to pay $50 million to settle false-advertising allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of 44 states, including California, as well as the District of Columbia.

WASHINGTON - Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana said they improved his strength and posture. Celebrity Kim Kardashian boasted they allowed her to ditch her personal trainer. But federal and state officials said the rocker-bottom Shape-ups and other toning shoes made by Skechers USA Inc. don't live up to the hype from the company and its high-profile endorsers. On Wednesday, the Manhattan Beach company agreed to pay $50 million to settle false-advertising allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of 44 states, including California, as well as the District of Columbia.

Brian Price, once a wrecking ball on UCLA's defensive line, has beaten long odds to return to the NFL after two off-season surgeries aimed at keeping his hamstrings attached to his pelvis, rather than breaking loose and coiling down the backs of his thighs. For Price, who will start at defensive tackle Sunday for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his excruciating recovery was a 10-step process. Meaning just two months ago, he could run only 10 steps. "You have these doubts in your head at times," said Price, a second-round pick of the Buccaneers in 2010 who, because of his congenitally malformed pelvis, spent the last half of his rookie season on injured reserve.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - For a Soweto boy, he had a lot of sneakers. He remembers the joy of that first pair. They had to be red. Walking out of the shop carrying a cardboard box with the sneakers, Sifiso Dlamini, at 12, took the first steps on a long journey in search of the soul of a shoe. "Having a pair of sneakers in Soweto meant a lot. You were cool and every kid on the block wanted to have their pair of sneakers. "I had a lot, because I was obsessed" - a dozen pairs, more than anyone he knew in the township.

The biggest home in Los Angeles County is ready for a new nickname: The 56,500-square-foot Manor, dubbed Candyland after owner Candy Spelling, has been sold to another wealthy socialite, British heiress Petra Ecclestone, in an all-cash deal for $85 million. As steep as that price is, it's not a record or even close to what Spelling was asking. The priciest Southland home transaction was the 2000 sale of an 8-acre estate in Bel-Air to financial executive Gary Winnick in a deal that included the trade of other land, for a total value of about $94 million.

"Oh, you mean the guy with the 70-year-old head and the 20-year-old body-builder body? That picture has got to be Photoshopped." Dr. Jeffry Life smiles when I tell him about the general reaction I get about the famous picture of him with his shirt off, the shot that turned a mild-mannered doctor in his mid-60s into a poster boy for super-fit aging and controversial hormone replacement Appearing in medical-clinic ads in airline magazines and...

From corsets to sky-high stilettos, women have been suffering in the name of fashion for years. Thanks to the Beverly Hills-based footwear line Dana Davis, named for its founder and chief executive, high-heeled- shoe lovers can breathe a sigh of relief. In its third season and selling well locally at Nordstrom South Coast Plaza and at danadavis.com, the label features chic styles with invisible comfort technology such as customized arch supports and strategic cushioning. Imagine heels that may actually be good for you. With designs including embellished flat sandals, driving moccasins and the 41/2-inch platform heels she introduced for spring-summer 2010, Dana Davis just might be the brand to make a comfort shoe go mainstream in the fashion world.

There's a moment in Douglas Carter Beane's satire "The Little Dog Laughed" at the Kirk Douglas Theatre when closeted actor Mitchell (Brian Henderson) and hooker boy Alex (Johnny Galecki) realize they actually like each other. They quickly start shedding clothes until there's nothing left to shed. Just as they're about to get down to business, so to speak, Mitchell's slick Hollywood agent, Diane (Julie White), bursts into the room. The audience gasps. Culture Monster stares. Now, stop it, you gutter-minds -- we're not talking about the boys in the buff.

"Stop looking down at your feet and stare straight ahead," says Queen Jazzmun, as I skitter across the hardwood floor in 6-inch Barbara Bui platforms like a newborn giraffe. "The heels are the mistress, and you are the slave. Submit." But who's going to submit my health insurance forms when I am laid up at Cedars, I wonder, during a Sunday afternoon primer on how to walk in high heels. The private instruction came about because Jazzmun -- a transvestite performer and actor/actress -- had recently taught 18 women how to glide atop designer stilts at a course offered by shoe boutique Il Primo Passo in Santa Monica.

As warehouses go, there are few like Skechers USA Inc.'s new 1.82-million-square-foot distribution center. This warehouse is so big that it takes half a minute to drive from one end to the other at 60 miles per hour. The setup is so advanced that human hands will hardly touch the cargo as it is unpacked, categorized, stacked and prepared for delivery. The building is so green that it uses prevailing winds for ventilation instead of air conditioning. For its new North American operations warehouse, the nation's No. 2 footwear company chose the Inland Empire's Moreno Valley.

Collective Brands Inc., which owns footwear brands such as Sperry Top-Sider and Keds as well as the retailer Payless ShoeSource, will be split in two by multiple buyers in a purchase valued at $2 billion, including debt. Wolverine Worldwide, Blum Capital and Golden Gate Capital formed an acquisition company to buy Collective for $21.75 a share. The deal was unanimously approved by Collective's board and is expected to close by early in the fourth quarter. The price represents a 104% premium on Collective's 30-day average stock price before Aug. 24, when the company first announced that it was looking into a strategic and financial shift for its operations.

Monday was anything but manic for the Lakers, the time dripping by slowly as they awaited a ruling on Metta World Peace that never arrived from the NBA. The Lakers forward will surely be suspended for throwing an out-of-control elbow at Oklahoma City guard James Harden, though the need for an official edict from the league's disciplinary office in New York is lessened because the Lakers don't play again until Thursday. The Lakers didn't practice Monday and World Peace was suspiciously quiet on Twitter, but media members were ablaze with thoughts.

At dress shops across Los Angeles, mother-and-daughter pairs dressed in jeans and high school sweat shirts that read "Seniors 2012" are on a mission. It's officially springtime, and for many a young woman in high school, that can mean only one thing: prom season has arrived. The hunt for just the right dress can be a challenge. The little black dress may be the suitable go-to for almost every other occasion, but for prom, a simple black dress won't do. The perfect prom dress has to dazzle in pictures, make the wearer feel like a princess and hold up to a full night on the dance floor.

This post has been updated. See below for details. Makers of the defiantly ugly (yet quite comfortable) footwear Crocs are apparently making the leap into the modern art world this June with a limited-edition design in honor of the 100th birthday of painter Jackson Pollock. The makers of the rubbery clog-styled shoes favored by chefs, hospital workers and all sorts of people who spend hours on their feet will release a paint-spattered version that was inspired by a photograph taken of the floor of the late painter's barn in Long Island, N.Y. Named for the artist and his late wife, Lee Krassner, the Pollock-Krasser House and Study Center in East Hampton will receive a royalty from each pair, which will list for $50, according to a report by the Associated Press.

For a recent episode of the TV series "Modern Family," Raul Ojeda crafted a pair of shoes covered in red sequins for actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson. His character, Mitchell, shows off the shoes for a "Wizard of Oz"-themed birthday party he throws for his partner, Cam. A decade ago, Raul Ojeda was working as a shoe shiner. Now the 29-year-old is leaving his own footprint in Hollywood, supplying custom-made shoes to stars such as Steve Carell and Sally Field. Ojeda is the owner of Los Angeles-based Willie's Shoe Service, a shoe repair shop that has been providing footwear to the entertainment industry since 1956, when Willebaldo "Willie" Rivera opened a small business across from Paramount Pictures on Melrose Avenue.

Tucked away in the side streets of Mayfair, the world-famous tailors of Savile Row make gentleman's suiting to order for businessmen, gentry, politicians, oligarchs and Saudi princes. Six miles to the east, in Hackney, lies another temple to old-school English craftsmanship: Freed of London, makers of custom pointe shoes since 1929. In a small workshop flanked by midrise apartment blocks, a no-frills sandwich café and a betting parlor, 12 shoemakers each transform satin, canvas, cardboard, burlap and leather into 40 pairs of pointe shoes each a day. The company was started by cobbler Frederick Freed in 1929 in a Covent Garden shop basement.

IF it's been a year or two since you've shopped for a mattress, you're in for some surprises. That memory foam bed that once seemed so novel? It's now decidedly mainstream. Latex is the hot material of choice. And that's not all that's changed. Choices are multiplying -- especially on the luxury end -- and prices are too.

Sure, buying a Prius is the obvious way to reduce your carbon footprint, but there's a more stylish and sustainable step toward Earth-friendly transportation you might want to consider: resoling your shoes. Los Angeles is home to more than 200 registered shoe repair shops, but not all cobblers are created equal, especially when it comes to men's shoes. So where to take your favorite wingtips, loafers or boots? Here are three top shops where history, quality and craftsmanship combine to keep your shoes a step ahead.

We all know about the three-point buzzer beater, the seven straight wins. But although Jeremy Lin is all business on the court, it's starting to look like the Linsanity business is just as hot outside the stadium. Here's a quick business- and money-themed breakdown of stats: 2: Applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark "Linsanity" 1: Application to trademark "Lin-sanity" 1: Application to trademark "Linning" $167.95: The starting price for tickets to the New York Knicks game Friday against the New Orleans Hornets, on StubHub $269.95: The price of an authentic Jeremy Lin home or road jersey through the official Knicks store 0: Number of non-Lin items among the store's 20 bestsellers 366,757: Number of people following the @jlin7 Twitter account, which has fewer than 400 tweets 9%: Stock price increase for Knicks owner Madison Square Garden from Feb. 3, to $32.03 1: New Nike “Linsanity” edition Zoom Hyperfuse shoe, according to Counterkicks RELATED: Jeremy Lin was there for the taking Is Jeremy Lin the real deal or a flash in the pan?

Footwear maestro Christian Louboutin touched down in Beverly Hills recently for a personal appearance at Neiman Marcus to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his business and the new, limited-edition capsule collection of shoes and bags he is launching to mark the occasion. A busy day of shaking hands and signing the famous Louboutin red soles culminated in a dinner at LACMA's Ray's & Stark Bar, where art was in motion as guests strutted past a canvas-covered wall being "tagged" by street artist Gallo Love.