Womens Platform Shoes

Posts Tagged ‘Black Shoes’

I have had a love/hate affair with shoes all my life. As a child, I suffered from weak ankles and had to wear special boots to correct the problem. I hated them. They were like some medieval instrument of torture.

One day I took off the boots and buried them under a bush. I swore the dog had run away with them. The next pair I took wading in sea water. After the third pair also suffered an untimely death, my parents gave up and told me to do exercises.

For most of my Irish childhood, I ran barefoot. Then we moved to suburban Britain, and it was time to start wearing shoes again. I settled on simple rubber soled `runners' as we called them, as my shoe of choice.

Then puberty hit, and my teenage years, and somehow the rubber runners didn't cut it any more. With puberty comes that other defining moment in a girl's life - her first longing for a pair of utterly impractical shoes.

My first pair were shockers. Well, I was young, and I thought that white, pointy-toe pumps with a slim high heel were the last word in smart. It was only when a passing fashion critic doubled over with laughter in a Paris street that it occurred to me that my beloved white pumps looked like clown shoes.

My taste improved, thankfully. My next favorite shoes were an elegant open toed black leather pair that went with anything, and made my legs look incredibly long. I learned to paint my toenails with a great deal of muttering and swearing before I learned not to paint my toes as well. But the result - shiny apricot pink toenails peeking out of my black shoes - was worth it. This started a love affair with open toed shoes that continues to this day.

I started soaring to great heights with high heels and learned to avoid cracks and bumps in the pavement because the result could be incredibly bad - a broken heel! This major tragedy in a woman's life occurred to me many times.

In the 70s, I wore platforms that defied gravity. Unfortunately, I didn't, and fell off them, suffering a sprained ankle in the process. Ever wondered why platforms were so popular? My theory is that it stopped those wide legged flares, which came down over the soles of your feet, dragging in the dust. No, it was definitely not the greatest look.

As a young mother and wife, comfort became a priority. It was back to canvas shoes for wearing round the house - when you've got kids, you need to be able to sprint! But I still loved wearing beautiful shoes when I went out. There were no practical considerations when it came to buying these shoes, and I didn't always wear them at the most appropriate times, My son, playing football for his school on a blustery day, was asked by the coach if his mother was there to cheer him on.

``Yep," my son said. ``She's the one shivering in high heels."

Now I'm a grandmother, and all I want is a pair of shoes that fit, feel comfortable and look great. How hard is that? I can't believe I have reached the age when I actually think shoes should be comfortable. I look at the latest crop of blisters from the latest pair of shoes, and I wonder if it's worth it anymore. I can't imagine wearing Manolo Blahniks', even if I had the money, but I still love the way my feet look in a nice pair of shoes.

For one thing, they look smaller, and their size has always been an issue for me. For another thing, when a woman slips her feet into a great pair of shoes, her whole outfit suddenly looks better. The feet are a great barometer of well being, if they look great, you feel great all over.

So I'll continue to paint my toenails and show them off in pretty shoes - even if the arthritis makes it a bit hard to reach down these days.