Heidi Aphrodite

Once, not long ago, Laresa and I were at the Sketchers outlet.  I seem to remember looking at some shoes that didn’t come in my size (11, in that particular brand), and I said “shoe shopping is so frustrating!  I have to memorize what size I am in each brand and then in each style of that brand.”  A salesman overheard me and said “would you like me to measure your feet to find out what size you are?”  I said “oh no.  No no.  I’m fully aware of what size I am, but thank you.”

Then I laughed really hard in my head.

Because, you see, I really do know what size I am, and it really does vary by brand and style.  For instance, in Steve Madden, I’m a 10 if it’s an open-toe shoe and an 11 if it’s a closed-toe shoe.  In Dansko, I’m more comfortable in a 42 than a 41, although I do wince sometimes because according to some charts, a 42 European is an 11.5-12 US, which is just silly.  I KNOW my feet aren’t THAT big, but I refuse to do vanity sizing with my shoes.  The corns, bone-spurs, cramps, and messed-up toenails just aren’t worth it to me.  I also know that I have Freakishly Long Toes, which prevent most flip-flops from being comfortable; high arches, which prevent very flat shoes from feeling good; high insteps, which prevent many slip-ons from fitting right; and narrow heels, which make slingbacks just awkward.

I have to keep all of this in mind when shoe-shopping (I do believe I blogged about it, even) and I surprise myself with what I remember–Naturalizer casual shoes tend to be a little wide through the mid-foot and generally have very little arch support, Nine West can be arbitrarily too small–when I go shoe shopping.  I’ve been fortunate enough to find brands like Dansko, that, even though it was hard to admit I was a 42 in half their styles, fit very nicely and are incredibly comfortable…and don’t make my feet look huge.  I’m also fortunate that I know all the weird variations in my feet so that when I find a shoe that does everything I want it to, I’m willing to fork over the cash for it.

I’m also quite lucky that, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become less concerned with what people think and more concerned with looking nice and keeping my body healthy…right down to my stapled clogs.

So, thank you, shoe salesman, for offering, but I really do know more about my feet than you do.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 11:16 pm and is filed under Confessions, I say!, Madness, Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.