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

[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.