Let me put this complaint into a bit of perspective - I have in my life until recently not owned or worn ‘cute shoes’ or ‘strappy sandals’ or ‘FMP’. I have always had sensible shoes [my favorites were a pair of extremely expensive leather mary janes I bought up in Boston in the mid 90s, and a pair of pale grey almost glove leather lined in scarlet satinish material driving shoes]
I can now, because I “walk” in a wheelchair so all they do is sit decoratively on my feet.
Do you know what I would give to be able to walk and dance again?
But there are a wide variety of relatively comfortable dress flats and Mary Janes that one can wear to the vast majority of jobs. There didn’t use to be, but there are now.
I don’t have the OP’s feet. I have no idea what shoes she finds comfortable. The poster I was responding to was saying she’s too picky because she can wear tennis shoes and the like.
This would be a valid comment, except this particular little corner of reality is for people complaining about the problems they have with shoes. As it is, your comment is pretty much just thread-shitting.
If you have a shoemaker anywhere near you, it may be expensive but they could make shoes for you that both fit as well as have your insoles and look great. I got a custom pair of heels because my feet are wider than most other girls I know and for a long time I had to wear 9W in mens or my feet would be in unbearable pain. At home I certainly still just wear the guys shoes when gardening and stuff, but when it would be better to wear the custom ones I certainly do.
Oh, as for the foot fetish? Please. I’ve seen a man I know have a closet full of over 40 shoes! It might be a little more common in women (Fashion and all) but shoe collecting is far from something all women do and men don’t.
Interesting. So no one that works with filks that wear sandals or flip flops have ever had an issue with smelling foot odor? If true, i am amazed. Especially when i look at those flip-flops linked to in this thread that have what appears like a gel-like sole. I don’t see how those wouldn’t make a person’s foot sweat, but I confess I’ve never worn them so I don’t know.
I am rather sensitive to odors because I worked with a woman who had the worst hygiene you could imagine. Thank goodness she didn’t wear flip-flops, but she didn’t use deodorant, and she didn’t wash her clothes between each time she wore them, so things deteriorated during the week and toward the end of the month.
I am not making this up… It was like the BBO from a Seinfeld episode. My clothes actually picked up her stink so when I drove home I could smell her stench, and my wife could smell it as soon as I walked into the house.
I guess my feelings on foot odor stem from my unpleasant experience with that person. I just assumed that when feet sweat, they would most likely stink, unless you put something on them to cover up the odor. Perhaps I’m way off base.
Sorry for the hijack. Back to your regularly scheduled thread.
I think well-groomed feet in flip-flops would tend to smell less (because they are open to the air and allowed to dry out), but I still don’t think flip-flops at work are a good idea. People’s feet do have different levels of stinkiness; my feet never smell (not bragging - they just don’t), but I think my husband’s would smell even in flip-flops, and you can’t trust people to be diligent about not stinking up the joint. Also, flip-flops seem terribly unprofessional to me (and even dangerous - your toes are all out in the open, just waiting to get something dropped on them!).
I’m worried about how being employable and not being in pain seem to be mutually exclusive propositions for me. It’s not starving children, but it’s not “There are little woodland creatures tidying my house while we all sing together, and they’re exactly the wrong shade of pastel pink,” either.
Sorry, but as I made it clear in my OP, I am looking for business-appropriate dress shoes, not cute shoes. I give less than one-half of a darn about cute shoes. And if you think that I can find one pair of dress shoes, you badly misread my OP.
Yeah, I do know what you’d give to be able to walk and dance again, because my first bout of plantar fasciitis was so debilitating I couldn’t walk for more than about ten feet, or stand up for more than fifteen seconds. Need to run to the store? Nope. Make lunch? Nope. Unload the dishwasher? Nope. I got better, eventually, but it was severely limiting. I am so glad things are as good as they are now.
Also, thanks to all the posters who suggested various brands of shoes for me to try. Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to take you up on it. I can’t order shoes off the Internet-- my feet are a pretty unusual shape to begin with (narrow heel, wide front), so most shoes don’t fit me even in the best of circumstances. I can’t front that much money to order a bunch of shoes online, try them on, and send them back.
Instead, do you know of any good shoe stores in the Washington, DC metro area?
Many of my pairs of Munro shoes, recommended above, came from the Nordstrom in Tyson’s Corner. You could certainly give them a try (and speak with the Nordstrom’s shoe department – they are experienced at fitting unusual sizes and can even order shoes for you to try on in store).
You could try on brands/styles in stores (Nordtrom does have a wide selection), and then once you have a better idea of what brands/styles work for you, have better luck ordering online.
Tried Nordstrom’s and many other shoe departments, and the bottom line is that they just don’t have flats, or flats that accommodate orthotics. Barring a major paradigm shift in the way women’s shoes are made, I’m going to have to stick to specialty stores.
So you have duck feet too, huh? Right pains in the arse, they are. Do you have high arches and insteps, too, or is it just me? Heel guards are your friends.
I recently got some Alegrias at Dillards (on super-sale, even–I paid $35 for them) and they’re pretty damn awesome. A little snug on the ball of the foot till they stretched, and kind of sloppy on the heel till I got some heel guards in, but now I love them so much I went back and got these last week. (Also on sale, but only 50% off instead of 70.)
If you’ve been in physical therapy, or are currently seeing an ortho specialist, try asking them where the good specialty footwear stores are. The lady who made my orthotics actually worked out of one, and they had a lot of good options for people with foot problems. But yes, it’s going to take some trial and error. I busted my leg originally in 1996, and I’m still experimenting! Zappos has free returns, for one…
My PT actually had coupons for a custom athletic shoe store not far from where I work. It’s where I bought probably the most expensive pair of sneakers (over $100 with the coupon plus the in-store sale) I’ve ever owned in my life. OTOH they’re the most comfortable pair of sneakers I’ve ever owned, so YMMV.
But yeah, they also gave me recommendations of where to go for specialty footwear. I’ve been to a couple. A pair of work shoes at either one would run me twice as much as the sneakers, and sadly I don’t have that kind of money :eek:
There’s a Skechers retail store at the Tyson’s Corner mall too. My wife has been getting a few pairs from them lately, not the Shape-ups (most of those are out of stock now, except on their website) but they have some good looking comfortable flats you might like, and they carry a good amount of wides.
She likes the Relaxed Fit shoes from them - dressy flats or mary janes, with a Memory Foam insole - or the GOwalk shoes, which weigh nearly nothing but are still very comfortable.
You might try a New Balance store - they do have some shoes that straddle the orthopedic and fashion line, and IME, the employees know their stuff.
However, I have never seen a shoe that would be appropriate with a skirt, which also has a removable insole that allows for orthotics. It kind of sucks. Especially since some workplaces still require a woman to eschew pants suits if she wants to look properly professional.
I’m also going to put a (long-term) word in for physical therapy. My podiatrist pretty much shrugged his shoulders and gave me orthotics, whereas my subsequent physical therapist analyzed *why *my stride was messed up and flipping well fixed it. I now don’t need orthotics, just a neutral shoe with good support. That opens a BIG world of choice! I’m currently working on intrisic muscle strength and flexibility, and maybe someday I could wear a pump again.
If my professional setting was a corporate sales office or other business type setting with visitors coming and going and meeting people face to face, they wouldn’t be professional and I wouldn’t dress this way. Since my professional setting involves none of that, I’ve adapted to wearing what everyone else does. Believe me, I showed up here 20 years ago in hose and heels and a suit like I’d worn in my old job. My boss wore a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.
Now the mainstay of the modern workplace? Earphones? Boss would have a conipition fit if we used those because we’d be tuning out people instead of interacting.
