One husband we know never gave his shoes a second thought. Break’em in, wear’em out. Next pair. The cheaper the better.

Until he crossed the 50-yard line of life on aching feet and discovered Mephisto.

You’d probably have a hard time coming up with a worse name for a shoe. Something to do with the devil?  A Mexican lucha libre champion, www.luchawiki.org/index.php?title=Mephisto?  

No, and no. To a salesman at The Walking Company store  (www.shopshorthills.com/IM/storedetail.html?store=A115) in the Short Hills Mall—a guy who has his pick of three dozen brands of shoes—Mephisto is what he wears “ninety-five percent of the time.”

And that husband we know…he finds his Mephistos so comfortable he no longer likes to put his feet into anything else. The French-based manufacturer (www.mephisto.com) says it’s not an uncommon reaction. It calls its product “health food for your feet.”

What makes them fit like a glove? “They are hand-crafted with hand-selected leathers, and the soles are made of natural rubber, not poly-blends,” says Matt Green, manager of Mephisto of Westfield (www.shopmephisto.com). It and a sister store in Ridgewood are the state’s sole Mephisto-only shops. You can buy in person, or order online.

Mephisto was founded in 1965 for the express purpose of making “the world’s most comfortable walking shoe.” Today they sell some 200 models—from “Allrounder” high performance boots for trekking the great outdoors to the “City” line, for striding into the boss’s office in style. Treacherous terrain, either way. They make women’s shoes, too.

We’re not talking Manolo prices, but Mephistos are not cheap. They start around $170 (some models on sale are less) and run up to about $400.

But they make a great Christmas present—just what your husband’s feet had no idea they needed.

Walk along North Dean Street in Englewood and you’ll find women’s boutiques packed with top designers, comparable to anything you’d find across the river.

Walk into Complements (26 North Dean Street, Englewood, 201-569-4333) and Marla Weingast makes it clear she isn’t interested in designers, as much as she’s interested in designs for you.

Complements, Marla says, is a shop for moms with vision and taste. Women who won’t or can’t wear the sparse cut designer clothing, but want to look contemporary and svelte.

Marla knows what her women want. She stocks racks of great cotton and cashmere sweaters that extend nicely over her carefully picked (for style and comfort) designer jeans. There are fabulous short jackets and colorful pieces to layer. They don’t bust your fashion budget; most pieces are under $150.

Just to be clear, this is not large size clothing. It is clothing for women (“not teenagers!” says Marla) who want the look, but not the extremes of fashion.  To help out, she offers body shapers by Cass and Company (www.cassandcompany.com ) that keep excesses in place.

If you’d like to let Marla help you find your own look,  print out this column and bring it with you to the store. You’ll get $10 back on any purchase between now and November 15. 

Enjoy—with our Complements!

High waisted jeans are back. With Grey Ant (www.greyant.com) leading the way, and celebrities photographed wearing the higher risers, fashionistas proclaimed the denim sea change.

One problem is these high-waisted designer jeans aren’t that high. See for yourself, … if you can find them. 

Two weeks ago an e-mail from Saks (www.saksfifthavenue.com) appeared in our in-box proudly trumpeting: High waisted denim and more!  Inspired, we searched Saks from top to bottom at the Short Hills Mall (www.shopshorthills.com).

We found no Mynk Hauteur as advertised on the store’s website (http://tinyurl.com/2zulqx). No comfy Cambio (www.cambioamerica.com) either. “They’ve been discontinued,” explained a Saks sales associate.

The story was much the same at Nordstrom (www.nordstrom.com) and Neiman Marcus (www.neimanmarcus.com), where “high-waisted jeans” are much touted but available only in small numbers, and don’t really rise to the occasion.

We found only one style labeled “high waisted” at Saks—pricey Seven Jeans (www.7forallmankind.com) that rose just one inch higher than the rest of the store’s jeans.

Don’t be fooled: these jeans sit nowhere near your waist. Unless somehow, your waist has been lowered four inches closer to your hips. And if your hips aren’t narrower than a size seven the new style is hard to wear.

So what gives?

Perhaps the stores have figured out what we (and Saturday Night Live, www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTl6aJDlDiY) already know… lower-rise jeans, low-ded with plenty of spandex are more flattering. 

We’re waiting for the next round of designer high-risers, which may actually rise high enough to do some good!

One Elberon handbag designer is finding inspiration in candy wrappers.

At Nahui Ollin castoff candy bar wrappers are retrieved from Mexican factories, and used to make colorful bags with lux leather straps. The brightly colored waxy paper is discarded by the manufacturers for defects— so it’s clean trash, not plucked out of a landfill.

“The technique has been around for years”, says owner Elias Abadi who explained his mother had the idea after a visit to her native Mexico, and watching the locals re-use everyday material to make handbags.

You may have to look hard to find one of these bags. Elias says they are in about 600 boutiques nationwide, but not available in any major department stores. The family, he says, prefers working with the small store owners and getting ”immediate feedback.”

There was exactly one Tutti Frutti style bag ($275) left at Cheryl & Dave’s in Livingston and everyone wanted to take it home, including us!

The bags are incredibly sturdy even though they are made from paper. The candy wrappers are folded and woven into an intricate pattern. The bags come in all sizes, shapes and colors.

If you call the warehouse in Elberon (732-222-7500) and mention NJ My Way, they’ll give you an extra 10% off.

Enjoy your candy wrapper bag! And better still, you are helping to keep leftovers from becoming trash. We call it pre-cycled. You’ll call it a bag that creates a buzz.