Monday, April 28, 2008

Same size as your local transvestite...

Today was a wed-ding (pronounced wed - *DING*, as in ding-a-ling) extravaganza. Most of it was terribly boring (did you know that Target is the only place in town that sells tissue paper in attractive colors? neither did I). That is the unfortunate thing about planning a wedding--it makes you incredibly boring.

Kind of like graduate school, really.

So let's talk shoes, instead. I love shoes. This may surprise some of you, since I have only 6-8 pairs that I wear regularly--hardly a shoe lover's collection. Unfortunately, although I would love to give them my money, the shoe industry is apparently uninterested. As I previously mentioned, I am freakishly tall, so it is unsurprising that I have feet to match--a pair of size 11 beauties. Although my shoe size is not particularly out of proportion, given my height (my grandmother, on the other hand, was 5 feet tall with a size 9 shoe--talk about stable!), it does put me squarely outside of the mainstream of women's shoes. How far outside? Well, I was getting pretty tired of my wed-ding extravaganza, and so I happened into a DSW shoe--not because I needed anything, but because I couldn't stand to go to one more store looking for tissue paper. I realized that only the clearance rack was arranged by size, so I went back there to take a look. But then I remembered why I usually don't go into these stores. While there were 2-3 racks of the sizes up to 9, and 1 rack of size 10, the rack called "size 10 and up" contained...come on...take a guess.

Four pairs of size 11 shoes.
Four. Pairs.
All, by the look of them, designed for transvestites.

I should have known--why else would you have a rack of size 10 and a rack of size "10 and up," unless you wanted to hide the fact that you don't actually carry the "and up" part of the equation? Can you tell that this gets a wee bit frustrating at times? Where are the cute green satin heels in my size? The tweed pumps? The fushia ballet flats? The sassy red maryjanes? Nowhere...and so I'm stuck with a selection of orthopedic beige pumps and nurse's flats, looking longingly over at the size 8 rack.

So when you see me wearing the same old, tired pair of shoes, think of them as a trophy--a hard-won pair of (formerly) attractive shoes that I can't bear to part with because, frankly, I would have nothing to wear on my feet.

6 comments:

Aunt Becky said...

Kate that is just damn depressing!

Anonymous said...

I sympathize! My feet are a fairly normal length (7.5/8), but very narrow, especially at the heel. Unfortunately, this means that I am often fooled into buying shoes, only to discover after actually walking around in them for more than 2 minutes at the store that they do indeed rub up and down and give me enormous blisters, so I never wear them again. So like you, I have ended up with about 6 pairs of shoes that actually fit. I live in fear of the days when they wear out, and I have to begin the search all over again.

Some of the other narrow-feeted members of my family have suggested that the world needs to bring back cobbling as a major profession.

kate said...

dw--
I also have narrow feet! You're right, it sucks!
Do you shop at Zappos? They have a fantastic return policy (up to 365 days, free shipping) and you can search for narrow sizes! I just got a pair of size 11N heels there (burgundy, with a cute little strap...I'm in love).

Now, I had to order/try on/return 10 other pairs of shoes in order to find them. But it's better than tromping from store to store and getting increasingly depressed (yes aunt becky--it *is* depressing) at all of the cute cute shoes that don't come in your size!

Rachel @ The House of Burks said...

First off, congratulations on your impending nuptials. Secondly, I am also freakishly tall (6') and wear a size 11 shoe. My feet are not narrow, though, so I got that going for me. I wear the same few pairs of shoes over and over, until they poop out on me. Payless has a fairly decent selection of size 11s, as does Target (sometimes). I would love to have the same selection as the smaller-footed ladies, though. Paris Hilton should give us her hand-me-downs.

paisana said...

You lying bitch. I wear a size 11 and I have no end of luck finding great shoes. If you insist on the narrow part, go Nordstroms. Seriously.

kate said...

paisana--two to one, you lose!

Seriously though, I'm not sure what Nordstrom's you're shopping at. The one I go to usually has one rack of size 11 shoes--99% of which are blocky, super-ugly, in a wide size--or often all three! And I've *never* found a 11 narrow there (most women with size 11 feet also have wide feet)

Mostly, I wonder why the large-size section is full of such fugly options? Why don't they just have the same options as the "regular sizes"...just in a larger size? People's feet are getting larger on average. Is it really that much trouble to extend your size range to 11?

I dread my inevitable bump up to size 12. Then I'll be *really* screwed.