more about clothes, mostly shoes

[bedlamsbard]

I am getting exceptionally frustrated over the fact that it's becoming pretty clear that I can't wear flats and keep them on my feet -- my heel always, always rises up out of the back, even when they're anywhere from a size to a size and a half smaller than what I normally wear. I'm just trying to find a nice comfortable casual close-toed shoe that I can wear during summer, you know? And let's be honest, for New Orleans, that means from about April to December. January through March (at least when I'm there) boots are fine. I have open-toed strappy sandals with about a two-inch heel that I can wear, and I've got some black heels (one pair of pumps that's actually about half a size too big, agh, and a new pair of black heels -- er, not pumps, I don't know enough about shoes to tell you the style; they've a shorter heel than the pumps, maybe only an inch or so), but I'd like something that's a hair more casual than the black heels and close-toed. Except I'm coming to the conclusion that that just is not going to happen because the shoes just don't exist.

I'm not sure if it's the fact that I have a very, very high arch (to the extent that the couple of times I've messed my feet up walking in sneakers, I end up wearing heels the rest of the day because it's more comfortable) or something about the way I walk. Could be both; I have a slightly odd gait. (Which I have been trying to train myself out of for years -- I do this thing where my right leg swings out slightly, I think one hip is higher than the other and that might be why.)

Normally I wouldn't care one way or the other, but I feel like I need some kind of non-sneaker non-heel non-sandal type shoe for England, only they don't. Exist. In such a way that I can actually wear them. Especially for summer. I don't know, are open-toed shoes appropriate? I've got one kind of strappy wedge type sandal thing and another strappy heel, non-wedge, as well as the above-mentioned black non-pump heels. (I...should probably take pictures, since my powers of description clearly suck balls.) Because it's that or my sneakers, and I know someone said that sneakers are not appropriate in some English settings that they would be in the U.S.

In other clothing related news, I have been thrifting a lot of skirts, which has led me to notice that I am apparently one of those people who goes, "OH MY GOD IS THAT ABOVE THE KNEE? I can never wear it." Maybe an inch or so above the knee, tops, but otherwise it's just too short -- I'm not really comfortable in shorts, either; at the end of this past semester I started wearing skirts to walk in instead of shorts when it got hot. Which felt weirdly subversive at the time. Clearly I should have been born in a previous decade, or at least go to grad school somewhere in which there are actual seasons, where wearing longer skirts at least makes sense. (The Louisiana dress code is completely different from the Washington dress code. It's kind of fascinating! If one likes that sort of thing.)

I got my hair cut on Wednesday, and it's about two inches shorter than I want it to be (like most fashionable skirt hems, heh). It's not short -- it's a good handspan past shoulder-length, about to the tops of my breasts, if I am allowed to use those as measuring devices -- but it doesn't feel long either. Naturally this is when I find all the good hairstyle tutorials on the internet.

In completely unrelated news, I am watching Foyle's War! Starting from the middle and probably at a very uneven pace and skipping around at the series, based on what the library has at any given point in time. (I have a strong suspicion that someone at the library really likes British crime series, since we have way more of them than smalltown U.S.A. public libraries probably usually have. Cadfael, Poirot, a lot of ones I'm not familiar with and don't know where to start with.) Anyway, I think my parents think I'm trying to get used to hearing British accents all the time. I am doing research, she says importantly. For Narnia, of course!

Comments

[sporky_rat]

Have you tried the plain, canvas Keds? Those are perfectly acceptable in almost all situations that aren't very dressy. They're not really sneakers, either.

[bedlamsbard]

I've seen them, but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about them. (My roommate has some.)

[highlyeccentric]

I feel your pain :(. I have thin feet and high arches - very few flats work for me. And once I got orthodics, even *fewer* shoes work.

I often default to buying school shoes - round-toe black ones with a buckle across the top seem sufficient. I'm not sure how easy they would be to get in large kids/adult sizes in places where school uniforms aren't a Thing, though.

[bedlamsbard]

We can form a club of people who can't wear normal flats. :)

Do you mean Mary Janes? Or something like that, anyway. I've seen some really cute ones, although usually with a low heel -- ooh, a search on Zappos turns up these, which are super-cute. *is distracted by shoes*

[highlyeccentric]

Sort of like Mary Janes, yes, only flat! I've had ones like this and ones which were more like this except without the detailing. My favourite school shoe line got discontinued, much to my annoyance.

Anyway, straps! T-straps or cross-straps placed high enough up the foot tend to do the trick.

[bedlamsbard]

This is why the majority of my non-sneaker shoes have straps on them! (And now it makes sense why I could never wear clogs as a kid, when they were in style.) Or a backstrap, at least -- for whatever reason that's better at holding my heel than a non-strappy slip-on shoe. (Okay, I fail at description of shoes.)

[pinesandmaples]

Sounds like you have a narrow heel.

In terms of work-a-day shoes, I have heard really good things about Merrell mary janes (I think the style is called Mimosa Emme), and Aliyah loves her Naturalizer mary janes (style Referee). I can also attest to Keens for comfort and arch support, since I own a pair of their Harvest Mary Janes myself. I mean, Zappos has pages and pages and pages of mary janes that you can sort through yourself. And loads of them (particularly the leather styles) are dressy enough to be work or church shoes will being casual enough to look quite snappy with jeans. Plus, with their really flexible return shipping, you can try multiple styles on at no huge cost to yourself.

[bedlamsbard]

For some reason, I never realized that narrow heels actually...um, existed. So that's a huge revelation. Somebody on LJ recommended heel grips, so I might try those out sometime.

...shoes. /distracted by Zappos. Thanks for the recs!

[pinesandmaples]

Don't lick the screen!