Donald Pliner in his Josh-HC calf and newspaper print boots. Pliner's stretch shoes for women are made of basic elastic and mesh elastic. The Medea shoe (on model); Lysa boot (at left); Manni slingback (top right) and Lysa boot (bottom right). The couture handbag is the Maggie bag, in mustard pitone.

If you someday catch Donald J. Pliner carefully scrutinizing your feet, do not be alarmed.

In fact, consider yourself part of his creative process.

Pliner, whose "foot fetish" began as a child, worked as an apprentice to his father Leo, who owned Pliner's Florsheim Family Shoe Stores. Today, almost 40 years after opening his first retail store, Pliner owns six concept boutiques across the nation, including his store at the Forum Shops at Caesars, one of his strongest locations in the country.

"Right now, I'm in Los Angeles getting ready to design the fall 2006 (collection). I come here and go to stores, restaurants and clubs and get various ideas from watching people," said Pliner of his creative process.

"I go looking around to see if there's something I missed, then look at people -- especially in LA -- and start going through my old sketches," he said. "Somewhere along the line, I come up with the color idea and start coming up with my themes."

With styles ranging in price from $195 to $600 for men and $175 to $475 for women, Pliner offers luxury footwear at one of the most affordable prices around. For his fall 2005 collection, his themes involve western flair, innovative design and loads of color. And men will be pleased to know Pliner's liberal use of color includes them too.

"Between the entertainment industry, music and hip hop industry, (fashion) is changing dramatically," Pliner said.

"Color has really snuck very quietly back into the wardrobe. There's been a whole change in attitude in men's dressing, so the typical men's shoe is changing.

As a retailer, I'm trying to offer a lot more. One of our new colors is called tomato. It's an antique red and it's flying out of the stores."

Also taking flight -- according to Sandra Tuccelli, store buyer for the Las Vegas boutique -- are Pliner's stretch styles.

"Donald is known for his stretch, so those (are one of) the top shoes here," she said. "Aisia, Lacia, Medea, those are all really good styles."

One great benefit to the elasticity of Pliner's shoes is comfort.

Ellen Plumer, a Vegas resident and owner of the local Good Feet stores, has been a fan of Donald J. Pliner shoes for six years, and said her husband is a fan as well.

"I wear arch supports and besides wearing the shoes that we sell (at Good Feet), which are comfort shoes, I wear Pliner. Besides being great looking, they have a variety of styles and I'm totally comfortable," she said.

"The Donald Pliner shoes fit great right out of the box. They don't give you blisters, and I can put my arch supports in and be comfortable for the rest of the day."

Pliner is big on comfort and mentions it often as the driving force behind his shoe design.

He insists that every woman should own a pair of his shoes -- "Shoes that make her feel sensuous and most importantly comfortable," and also upholds that these Pliners don't have to be three-inch heels.

"I think high heels are great, but I think flat sandals and flat boots can be sexier. I think a woman has a whole different personality that makes them more sensual when they're comfortable."

"There is a luxury feature in the product along with the comfort, without the shoes being tree-huggerish," Tuccelli said. "They're very sexy and pretty and feminine shoes, no matter what heel height and no matter what style."

And oh, how plentiful are the Donald J. Pliner styles. Open toe, closed toe, high heel, flats, topsiders, boots, hair calf, cobra -- the choices are seemingly endless. Pliner also offers a range of accessories for men and women and a Babydoll line for dogs under 20 pounds.

"People are sometimes amazed because they don't realize Donald Pliner does such a range of styles," said Pliner, whose current favorite is Western. Pliner takes a lot of direction for his design from cowboy boots, and calls them "attitude shoes."

"Western is extremely important, more so than ever before," he said. "It's being done from sandals to dress shoes to boots -- even flip flops."

"I think he does some of the best Western out there," Tuccelli said. "He has a great usage of materials, combining kogi and nappa and suede, all on top of one boot. So you have several layers of materials and several layers of design. He has an amazing sense of American Western culture."

Pliner, who wears his Edan topsiders or Fitar shoes to navigate around Vegas in the summer, and his Jason boots in the fall ("I don't care if it's a 100 degrees out,") advised that in order to get the best fit when trying on shoes, customers should refrain from telling salespeople what "size" they wear.

"There's no such thing as a perfect 7 or a perfect 8," he said. "The only thing that's perfect is when you forget about your size and just try (the shoes) on, then you get a perfect fit. You should say 'I'm about a 7 or about an 8' and let the sales person work with you."

And to hear Plumer tell it, the salespeople, "are fabulous! ... I've never had a shoe problem with them at all," which is one of the reasons she keeps returning to Donald J. Pliner for more.

"You know what, I've got all the shoes -- my whole closet is full of Donald Pliners," she said. "You can wear them with suits, going to fancy affairs or sports.

"No other shoe looks like a Donald Pliner. You know it's a Donald Pliner shoe."