A Bipedal Adventure in Androgyny

[tealin]

No secret society or religious order, with all their mystic robes and symbols, can hush up a shocking, taboo-shattering truth I discovered this week, and which I must share with you.

Men's shoes are really comfortable.

I had to get leather-soled shoes for a dance this weekend, and as the sort of women's shoes that have leather soles are usually high-heeled and extremely uncomfortable (not to mention completely the wrong style), I decided to try finding some nice men's work shoes which I could then continue to use in the fall. After a fair amount of travail and bike mileage I managed to lay my hands on a pair that were both leather-soled and small enough for me, which was an elusive combination. They aren't quite broken in yet, but they are awesome. Get this:
- They're wide enough for my feet at the front without being specially 'wide.'
- Because they're not specially wide, the heel is actually narrow enough that it stays on.
- They lace up
- The laces actually cover the instep so when I tighten them the shoe is firmly secured on my foot.
- They are generic enough to go with lots of things.
- They are roomy enough for arch-support inserts.
- I can run in them if I need to.*
- They make a radio-friendly footstep sound when I walk so people can know if I'm coming or going.

Additionally, mine are black and shiny and a little old-fashioned ('classic'), and they make me feel like I should go hang off a clock face.

All those years of searching fruitlessly for sensible, subtle, comfortable shoes, when all I needed to do was cross to the other side of the store... I still draw the line at a tie and/or watch chain, though. My rules are arbitrary but there they are.

*This is an important thing to consider when buying shoes, in my opinion. You never know.

Comments

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

I wish I could do this, but I have tiny feet. I fit into a size 6 boys.

I guess the good thing about that is winter boots are dirt cheap for me, but I am stuck trying to find womens shoes that fit me properly.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm a size 6! (unless you mean, like, little boys.) Most stores I went to started at 8 or 11. Boo.

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

I'm a 7.5 womens, and all the mens shoes I've tried start one size too big for me :(

Sad I am!

It's hard enough for me to find a half size, let alone a half size WIDE.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I was baffled as to where teenage boys get their shoes - most places I went had small boys' shoes (up to the age of 10, I'd guess) and adult men's but no intermediate sizes. I know guys have growth spurts, but do they go barefoot in the midst of them?

The store where I finally got mine (after trying Payless and Shoe Pavillion, among others) was a tiny independent just-shoes shop downtown, the type that doesn't have tons of boxes on display, just samples. When the guy went back to get size 6s he offered to bring out something smaller, too ... They weren't a bargain, but having grown up with cheap shoes, I can honestly say that good shoes are worth it.

[(Anonymous)]

*sigh* I have the most annoying feet in the world. I wear a size four-and-a-half shoe, and most stores don't even carry that size, because kids' sizes stop at four and adult sizes start at five. I haven't grown since third grade, so I still have all my old shoes from then, but most of them are really shabby or else they look like little kid shoes (all pastel Mary Janes and those heinous light-up shoes), so I never wear them. To make matters worse, my feet are totally flat and my toes are wide, kind of like duck feet. The only shoes that really fit me are kids' sized Converses.

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

You have bigger feet than the Major League Baseball season record holder for runs batted in. Hack Wilson was 5'6", weighed about 190 pounds, and had size 5.5 feet. Looking at pictures of him, he looks like a barrel with twigs underneath and licorice jelly beans stuck to the bottom.

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

No more Harold Lloyd movies for you!

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

MORE MORE MORE!!!

[trutitipudlian.livejournal.com]

My sister and I would like to join in that chant with you.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

[hagiographer13.livejournal.com]

I haven't put on a pair of women's shoes in 20 years! My problem is finding the 6.5 men's (or 39 Euro size) . . . But it's very liberating to discover that my wide feet just needed to trot (as you say) over to the other side of the store.

BTW, I LOVE Vans and Sketchers. Ahhhh . . . shoes . . .

[(Anonymous)]

Would you mind sharing a brand name or pictures? I've totally been looking for shoes along those lines and women's "menswear inspired" shoes always seem to miss the mark...

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

They appear to be 'Breslav's. All the packaging was in Spanish and a quick internet search tells me they're a Latin American brand so I guess the store where I bought them just brings them up from south of the border. They don't look that much different from most other shiny men's work shoes I saw on my quest, they just happen to be my size.

[fani.livejournal.com]

RAWWWR You've only known this now? (my reason to wear them is: they last longer than girls' shoes. It's as if there's a conspiracy against women who like long-lasting shoes)

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Girls' shoes go out of fashion before they wear out! Duh. :) Same with clothes. Stupid flimsy fabric and bad stitching.

[jeminisoul.livejournal.com]

My problem: My feet are obscenely skinny, long and with almost no arch. I may wear mens jeans, tops and jackets but shoes just refuse to fit D: Good on you though for finding some.

[ravenclaw-eric.livejournal.com]

You sound like my mom---and several of my girlfriends, over the years. Mom always said that there was a conspiracy to keep from women the fact that a lot of men's clothing was more comfortable---better-made, and warmer in the winter. Several girlfriends would borrow something from me, and like it so much that I somehow never got it back---bang went several sweaters, among other things.

[beckychan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, men's shoes are awesome. My sis almost always buys men's shoes for her regular stuff. And I think that "classic" style really suits your fashion sense.

[aspectabund.livejournal.com]

Yessir. I've been buying guys' shoes for years. Well, them and Converse, which are more or less unisex. By the way, men's jeans are also superior to women's jeans, mainly because more room in the groin area=no wedgie. They often have nicer-coloured shirts and sweaters as well.

Mens clothes: once you discover their wonders, there's no turning back.

[gardendoor.livejournal.com]

It's the soles that blow me away. Men's shoes have actual soles with actual arch support, instead of those paper thin soles that women's shoes have. When I was working at Barnes and Noble, we women were furious at the agony our feet were in by the end of the day, while the guys were still sitting pretty. If I could pull it off, I would switch to men's shoes in a heartbeat.

[ubiquitouspitt.livejournal.com]

*click, clack, click, clack, click, clack*

*giggle*