Paris, Costa Mesa

It’s been said that money talks.

On Friday, it walked as well — in a pair of golden-yellow patent leather stilettos.

Fashionably late by more than 45 minutes, Paris Hilton sashayed to the stage set up for her in Macy’s at South Coast Plaza to the sound of hip-hop music, camera flashes and adoring fans screaming, “Paris, Paris.”

The stilettos were part of Hilton’s signature shoe collection, the latest in a line of products the young celebrity has endorsed, and Macy’s was chosen as the official launch site. Since Jan. 29, the first 200 customers to purchase shoes were guaranteed an opportunity to meet Hilton and receive an autographed photo at the event.

Colbie Wilson and Kristy Shean, 16-year-old juniors at Edison High School in Huntington Beach, bought their shoes a few hours before the signing, but still made the 200-customer cutoff.

The girls bought the same pink patent leather platform wedges. With the boxes on the floor beside them, they were in line to meet their idol — for the second time in less than a year.

Colbie and Kristy were in Malibu one evening last August, part of a crowd that included paparazzi waiting for Hilton to leave the house she was renting there.

Hilton stopped, talked to the girls, then posed for a picture with them.

“It was the best day of our life. Our life was complete when we met her,” the girls said.

They said they look up to Hilton because they feel she used her status in a famous family to her advantage, then went off on her own and achieved success her own way.

They said they also respect her for the way she bounces back from adversity, citing her DUI conviction and change in behavior since doing jail time.

“When she does something wrong, she brings herself back up and learns from her mistakes,” Kristy said.

Colbie agreed, adding, “She served her punishment and taught us a lesson as she learned hers. We always defend her to our friends.”

Alison Luckey, 33, took a day off from work to meet the heiress she described as “my guilty pleasure.”

A coworker had sent her an e-mail about the event as a joke, but Luckey took it seriously, bought her shoes a few weeks ago and planned on attending.

Luckey said that while she won’t usually admit it, she thinks Hilton’s awesome.

“I like the fact that she puts out the ‘stupid vibes’ but she really isn’t,” Luckey said.

“And since her arrest, she’s changed a lot. You haven’t heard anything bad about her since then.”

Hilton walked the stage when she first came out, posing for the throng of photographers, and television cameramen gathered in the media area on Macy’s first floor.

Against a backdrop featuring the Macy’s logo and a life-size portrait of herself, Hilton played to the camera, holding up samples of the different shoe styles that were on a table in front of her.

Once she sat down, customers were brought up to the table, where Hilton shook hands, posed for personal pictures and talked to customers.

She would not talk to reporters.

Kelly Coelho and Rigo Casillas, 22, friends from San Diego and Temecula, arrived at South Coast Plaza at 6:30 a.m. Friday.

They waited outside the mall until it opened at 10 a.m., and were the first in line.

Wearing matching white jackets emblazoned with Paris’ name in black letters over the front and back, Coelho and Casillas were in the first row when Hilton entered, and she let them know she liked their jackets immediately.

“I love and admire the businesswoman she is. She’s grown over this last year, she’s beautiful, and she’s my idol,” Coelho said.

SUE THOENSEN may be reached at (714) 966-4627 or at sue.thoensen@latimes.com.