Shoe Shopping

When I was little shoe shopping was tortuous. You see my foot is wider in the front and narrower at the back—kind of like a duck. So when my mother would take me to Buster Brown or Stride Rite or even Gimbels I could not find a cool shoe style that would fit me. And I wanted cool shoes. I was a fashionista even at an early age. I went to public school until age 10. The other little girls judged you by your shoes—even back then—especially Judy Grossman and Karen Bachmann. And I remember feeling humiliated by the fact that my mother would tell the shoe man My daughter has fat feet. Do you carry anything in a wide? Uggh I hated that.  And my mother would always make the point of telling me that I got my fat feet from my father and my grandmother Manello. No one on her side of the family had fat feet (No. They just had hammer toes and bunions—as if that was a better genetic aberration.)

And as I got older and all the other girls would go to the Thom McCann or Miles in the E. J. Korvettes shopping Center in Scarsdale and buy platform shoes with cork heels or wooden soles I would cringe. They hardly ever fit me. And I hated the shoe salesmen too. They worked on commission and they always wanted to make a fast sale from a girl with ubiquitous feet. And I was not that girl. Salesmen would have to work hard for their money with me. So to avoid his eyeball rolling I would only ask to try on 2 pairs of shoes-- maximum—and if they did not fit I simply gave up. My feet were too shameful. And unlike having a fat body, Weight Watchers and exercise does little to alter the size or dimension of one’s feet.

But when I was in college a new store with a new concept of selling shoes opened up—Shoetown. Racks of designer shoes lined their shelves and you could just keep on trying on hundreds of shoes in every size until you found a pair that fit you. There was no shoe man at Shoetown to roll his eyes up at you when the first 2 pairs didn’t fit. And so I was in heaven. Suddenly I owned multiple pairs of shoes—cool shoes—ones with names in them. And I bought different shoes for different outfits just because I could. And I realized that certain brands of normal width shoes fit me. I learned that I could wear any slingback. Clogs and mules also fit me almost all of the time. And they were comfortable. So was anything made by Pappagallo or Anne Klein. And certain shoes were always off limits like Jacques Cohen espadrilles and Keds. I discovered that my foot wasn’t really wide as much as I had a high instep-- and that was what caused most of the fit issues.

The funny thing is even though shoes are no longer the nemesis they once were, I still don’t like wearing them very much—even when they are awesome. As soon as I put them on I can’t wait to take them off.  It has nothing to do with comfort—it has everything to do with confinement. I hate confinement. If you know me, you know I prefer to be barefoot virtually all of the time. And if I come to your house and I don’t take off my shoes, it means that either I am not comfortable with you, your house is cold, or I think you have dirty floors (curiously enough I can walk on the driveway or sidewalk barefoot but not on a dirty floor—I have no idea what’s up with that---outside dirt is cleaner than inside dirt?). I pretty much at all times (unless I am going out) either wear flip flops or Uggs or really soft leather flats—none of which require socks (I also hate socks).

Shoetown closed but DSW opened. And then came Zappos. And then came my new favorite: Endless Shoes. None of these shopping opportunities offers a salesman. And that is key. The only reason I own a pair of Gucci shoes is because I could try them on without a salesman judging my feet and assessing my income.  They do not come from Saks. I ordered them from Rue La La. And I ordered them in 2 different sizes and 2 different styles and sent back 3. And the only witnesses to my little try-on session were my dogs. And they don’t care if I have fat feet. That’s one of the reasons I love them so much.