Thanks to the V&A’s Savage Beauty exhibition, London has been gripped in a state of McQueen mania. Unfortunately for the designer’s fans however, the exhibits on display at this show are just for viewing, not purchasing. But now, three specially made pairs of the McQueen's Armadillo boots are going on sale. These iconic shoes are being sold to raise money for Unicef’s Nepal Earthquake Appeal and will appear in Christie’s Handbag and Accessories auction which runs from today until next Thursday.

McQueen’s Armadillo boots made their debut at the designer’s SS10 (and final) show and appeared shortly after in Lady Gaga’s "Bad Romance" video. In fact it was here that Gaga’s Grammy Award winning single was premiered. This show was also the first to be livestreamed, though thanks to the hoards of Little Monsters who logged onto showstudio.com to watch it, the site crashed.

At the time, legendary fashion critic Sarah Mower described the Armadillo boots as “grotesque shoes that looked like the armoured heads of a fantastical breed of antediluvian sea monster.” But despite their now iconic status, these shoes were never intended to be commercially produced – in fact only 21 pairs of these shoes were made, making them extremely rare. 

If you don't have the cash to spend on these sky high heels, you can get your extreme footwear fix at the V&A’s Shoes: Pleasure and Pain exhibition which opened last month. This show brings together extreme footwear from around the globe – it's a place where these 30 cm high boots would fit right in.

Watch Alexander McQueen’s SS10 show below: