Gina Launches Shoe Line On 'RHOMelb', Irks Costars

All heel broke loose on Thursday night’s The Real Housewives of Melbourne . (Nope. Not sorry that I dropped a corny pun right out the gate.) (And nope. Not sorry for that pun, either. Can’t stop, won’t stop.) Gina launched her high heel line, but the footwear debut did not go off without a hitch: The glamorous barrister named each pair of pumps after the other Melbourne Housewives… without asking. The other Melbourne Housewives were upset that Gina used their names without getting their permission. Gina was like, "Whatever! I do what I want" (I'm paraphrasing) (and by "paraphrasing," I mean "quoting Eric Cartman").

But the drama did not stop there: Two of the Melbourne Housewives were upset about the shoes Gina chose to name after them. Janet and Chyka complained that their heels were “nana shoes," and they suspected this was an intentional diss. Chyka was offended that Gina decided to name a pair of kitten heels after her, and Janet was offended her pair of kicks were closed-toe. When Janet confronted Gina about the Janet heels, Gina explained that the shoes happen to be fashion-forward:

I don’t think they understand that they’re the cutting edge of the new style of shoe.

I couldn’t check out the Gina Liano online shop fast enough. I would go so far as to say I scrambled to pull up my web browser. I had to see these "cutting edge" “nana shoes." Gina showed off a bunch of pumps at her launch, but I didn't see any that matched Chyka and Janet's descriptions.

Let’s see Janet’s “nana shoes”:

Oh, wait. I'm pretty sure these pumps were on the show. I guess I just assumed Janet was talking about a different pair of shoes.

Grown women of any age can and should wear whatever shoes they want. If a woman in her 20s wants to wear high top Vans everywhere (me), that's cool. If a woman in her 70s wants to rock a pair of glittery five-inch heels, that's cool, too. Live your life, wear what feels right, et cetera.

That said, I'm curious if "nana shoes"/"grandma shoes" means something different in Australia, because the phrase "grandma shoe" brings to mind a very specific style of footwear. Those glittery five-inch pumps were a bit of a twist. It'd be like if someone said a man was wearing "dad jeans," and the guy showed up in a pair of dark denim skinny jeans. But hey, I'm not mad at it.

Here are the Cheeky Chyka shoes:

That’s a kitten heel? I’ll be the first to admit I’m no high heel aficionado (wedge wearer for life), but I thought all kitten heels looked like this. I thought wrong. Excuse me while I put my foot in my mouth. (Still not sorry.)

Images: Martin Philbey/Bravo; Gina Liano (2)