Do we have to give up heels too?
Posted by Robin DonovanI had a friend who said that the reason women love shoes so much is that body weight can fluctuate causing clothing size to change – which gets depressing – but shoes are forever! Fashionable shoes make you feel good and weight gain does not cause your shoe size to increase causing you to face yet another perceived failure. Clearly this friend was not yet 50!
That was true for years. My weight – and thus my clothing size – always fluctuated but my favorite pumps would always fit – and always make me feel special.
Not anymore! For years I dressed in fashionable and fitted business suits with coordinating pumps. Now, with a height of 5’7 and enough meat on my bones (sometimes more than I’d like) to ever be considered reed thin – and let’s not forget the disk I herniated about a decade ago – those pumps have become a bone of contention (sorry couldn’t resist that little pun).
What used to be a source of joy has become a challenge.
I used to shoe shop and fall in love with that one perfect pair. Now I shop, find the pair and get out my measuring tape to check the height of the heel. I’m not kidding. I have to do that now.
To be quite honest I don’t think I ever wore a heel much higher than 3 – 3 ¼ inches (I think 3 ½ would always have been a tad high) but now I’m relegated to 2 ½ inches and no higher – that makes a huge difference! That inch shuts me out of enjoying a boatload of fabulous shoes!
Now don’t get me wrong I still have some 3 inch holdovers from the past. I dust them off and take them out occasionally. But I’ve learned that if function is required – anything over 2 ½ inches is out of the question.
I hear so many women my age complaining about “shoe compromise” that I know I’m not alone. And so many cave-in to the incredibly comfortable alternatives that proudly shun fashion – they’re around every corner waiting to lure us in to a life without pointy toes.
Don’t get me wrong, I like comfort as well as the next person, but I enjoy moving back and forth between both worlds. I’m just not ready to walk away from my pointy toed heels!
Robin, I agree. Shoes have always been my great pleasure. I can’t bear to get rid of any of them. It’s so bad I have shoes that I wore in high school and I wouldn’t be interacting here on this site if that was yesterday. I pulled out an old pair that matched a dress I was wearing to a wedding recently, outside wedding, hot day. Well my shoes disintegrated right under me. I had to excuse myself to go barefoot to get a new pair at the closest Target. So now I mostly keep them for the memories. But my issues now are not the height of the heel but the length of time I can wear them. I used to be able to wear high heels all day long at work and look and feel fabulous, if I do say so myself. Now I can only wear the tall ones if I know I’ll be sitting down, like at a restaurant or meeting. So that’s my compromise, sad but true.
That is hilarious. And sad. I had one pair of shoes for years and I wore them one day and they ripped apart like old dry cardboard. I know what you mean about “how long” – some shoes are for dinner at a restaurant – about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and I’m sitting the whole time. If I have to stand at all – it’s over!