Friday, May 28, 2010

You Won't See These Giant Feet In A Museum

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this on the blog in the past, but in case you didn't read it the first time, I'll say it again:

I have GIANT feet.

I wear a women's size eleven or twelve; or anything in between, depending on the shoe. This has caused me lifelong trauma. YEARS before there were Payless stores and years before I knew about Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack, I would travel over an hour to New Jersey to a special store to buy shoes. I think was called The Amazon, Yeti &
Sasquatch Shoe Superstore.

In the early years, it meant spending a lot of money on shoes; or wearing men's shoes, which was fine when it came to sneakers or snowboots. But anything else in a decent price range and in my size usually meant either an orthopaedic soled shoe in black, white or navy or a short heeled metallic
grandma sandal.

Those years are behind me for the most part but I still face a challenge when shopping for shoes for a specific occassion. Most stores don't carry my size, so I can't try things on in person and places like Zappos.com, although they offer a great return policy, don't always work either because I need to be home to try them on. And well, as you know...I'm not.

Yet that time is upon me again. I need shoes for Italy. I REFUSE to wear sneakers and I REFUSE to dress like the typical American tourist (not that you'd ever catch me in a baseball cap, a NASCAR t-shirt or a fanny pack anyway). I want to fit in as much as I can and be simply, but casually dressed, in an elegant but inexpensively chic way. Is that even possible??

And you know what, the clothing part isn't even the problem. It's really the shoes. I need shoes that will GO with those outfits and in my mind, I do not see anything that fits the bill. These are my choices in size twelve. Are you telling me the only choices are sneakers, shoes with soles that look like rocking chairs or tree-hugger Birkenstocks??

I'm going to a country with a museum dedicated to famous footwear designer, Salvatore Ferragamo, a guy who made his first pair of shoes at age nine. And I might be doing it in flip-flops.

I'm doomed.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO:
Semantically Speaking
2 YEARS AGO:
He Fought The Ed And The Ed Won
3 YEARS AGO:
Electric Fence
4 YEARS AGO:
You’re Such A Pansy!!
5 YEARS AGO: Sorry, no post on this day.

5 comments:

Gil said...

I just got done looking at the episode of "King of the Hill" where some sleaze put Peggy's size sixteen on a foot fetish site before I read this. Therefore,I didn't know what to expect.

On our first trip to Italy I brought along a pair of boat shoes for walking. The first day of walking around Florence, on the uneven cobblestones, I started to get cramps in my legs. We were by an open air market and my wife and daughter talked me into buying a pair of Italian sandals. That was in 1998 and I still wear them in the Summer. The only no-no is don't wear socks with sandals or they will think you are German. I am sure that you will find something comfortable and good looking to wear there.

Did you get tickets yet?

MAE said...

...I'm liking the shoe choices...comfort is what being a tourist is all about...and afterall you ARE a tourist...

Lipstick Trucker said...

Ok girlfriend I know your pain. LOL
After all we do have the same size feet. Try Meijer's. they carry size 11 and lots of cute shoes.

Lipstick Trucker said...

I could see what i have in my closet and send them to you for your trip. LOL

Ms. Crawford said...

My traveling fashion icon would be Samatha Brown from the Travel Channel. She is in my opinion excatly what you described you want to look like simple, casual, yet elegant, in a inexpensive way. I am sure you will look great but good luck on the shoes. I got nothing there. Cute flats if you can find them are always a plus in my eyes!