Want to be repped by hotshot defense attorney Ed Hayes but can’t afford his $650-an-hour rate? Pay him in ladies’ shoes. At least that’s what elite Italian shoemaker Sergio Rossi creative director Edmundo Castillo—who’s shod Beyoncé, Salma Hayek, and Lindsay Lohan—had to do. After he left Donna Karan and ventured out on his own, Castillo was sued in 2004 by a business partner for allegedly misallocating hundreds of thousands from a shoe company they formed that went bust. Castillo has been fighting those charges and was referred to Hayes by Condé Nast fashionista Candy Pratts Price. So far, Hayes says he’s billed “a couple dozen” pairs from Castillo for his daughter and wife. “He makes what they call a ‘hottie’ shoe,” Hayes explains. “They’re great. They have sequins on them. He has one pair this season with a mink poof. It’s a taupe color.” Hayes knows people’s soft spots: “You give someone money, they get it, they forget it. You give a woman a pair of shoes, she remembers you forever.”

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Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Geoffrey Gray
• Table of Contents: September 18, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!