I am a firm believer that the reason why shoes are beloved to a number of women is that the size doesn’t change.
If I am having a “fat” day and need to buy a pair of jeans than I may get upset about my size. My feet never upset me. They are always a size 8 and if the size 8 doesn’t fit me I know that it is just a quirk in the sizing and I have no issue going to a 9.
There is no controlling foot size, so there is no shame in revealing it. Pant size is an entirely different issue.
As a male with small feet (size 6.5), I hate when it comes up in conversation because everyone wants to stare at them. Like they can’t believe a guy could possible have feet that small. Of course I also have a rough time finding shoes because they don’t make enough of them in my size.
Depends on the size of your weight gain. I’ve definitely been at least a shoe size/width different over the course of the weight roller coaster.
I’m always amused by TV shows that, like the way female characters refer to themselves as a 4 or 6, have female characters referring to their shoe size as 5 or 6. There’s no reason to be so unrealistically low with shoe sizes.
Well, I certainly don’t think what you did was a big deal. My feet are pretty firmly “average” (7.5) and I could care less who knows it.
However, women of a certain generation do seem to have a much greater emotional attachment to having small feet. I’ve witnessed more than one woman my mom’s age or older bragging about her tiny feet, and a friend who used to work in a shoe store would tell us stories about older women insisting “I’m a size 5!!” even though there was no way in hell they were any small than a size 7.
So, I guess it depends on the crowd at the party. If they were your contemporaries I think there’s not problem at all. If they were older ladies with larger feet, perhaps you should have zipped the lip. 
Edited to add:
**Antinor01 ** - my dad wears a size 5. Believe me, he feels you pain. He tends to just buy woman’s “macho” styled shoes.
You’re friends with Al Bundy? 
I fail to understand why people are bothered by discussing shoe or clothing sizes. It’s not like people think I’m skinny until they find out I have a 42" waist.
Quick side question: how many of you know your hat size?
All I know is that I’ve never found a woman’s hat that fit.
So, I guess my hat size is “melon.”
Your husband shushed you!? And you’re still sleeping with him?! The faux pas was not yours, dearie, but his for daring to correct you in public!! Good gawd, girl, get the man to a Married Guy Seminar ASAP! I attended about 20 years ago, saved my marriage and my life. For starters, have him recite the Married Guy Mantra: “There are two people in a marriage – one is always right, the other is the husband.”
Back in the 1960s, when women’s hats were still commonly worn, I was embarrassed to learn that my head is smaller than the average. I loved Jackie Kennedy-style pillbox hats, but I had to use hatpins to hold 'em on my head.
So, I guess my hat size is “pinhead.” 
Not to pick on you, Sunrazor, but I don’t like it when people perpetuate the “woman is always right, even when she’s a raging bitch” and the “idiot man-child” stereotypes. I don’t think they contribute anything positive to the world.
Once upon a time I was embarrassed about my shoe size. I have a size 9 and am 5’7" tall. My ex-father in law even made a comment about me having HUGE feet 
Then, I met Mr. AdoptaMom who wears a size 13 & when I commented that I was embarrassed about my shoe size he laughed and told me I’d look pretty silly tottering around on a teeny weeny foot. He was (and IS right) and I’m not embarrassed anymore.
They’re FEET. And besides, I need them to be able to balance this magnificent set of hooha’s I have
That sounds just right to me. I’m a little taller (just under 5’8") and my US shoe size is eight and a half or 9, (6 UK, 39/40 Europe). In my experience most women my height have far larger feet, so if anything yours are on the small side.
Hmm. I started adolescence as a 7 narrow. I am now a 9 “regular”. Being a nurse and having three kids and gaining twenty pounds will do that to you. That said, I am consistently a 9, with an occasional foray into 9 1/2. Unlike pant sizes where I can vary from a 10 to a 14 depending on the maker (and yes, that IS depressing!).
Re the OP: it wouldn’t bother me at all. Most women I know joke about the size of their feet in a mock dismayed way.
I don’t like it when people twist innocuous instances of humor into “stereotypes.” I have no obligation to use every single post to contribute “something positive to the world.”
Besides, the man **shushed ** his wife in public. That’s inconsiderate, boorish, and petulant. (Is that a more positive contribution?)
I have three hats that aren’t one-size-fits-all and they’re all different sizes. For the fitters, I’m size “as tight as it goes”; for hardhats, second-pin. One of my coworkers was last-pin for hardhats, we used to kid him about it occasionally. In Spanish, cabezón, lit “big headed” means stubborn - nobody from Navarra has ever been falsely accused of being overly determined.
Rather than continue the hijack on this subject, I’ve started a new thread here.
I agree with this; earlier, I considered giving the OP my opinion on couples having arguments in front of other people (I don’t think it should ever be done, under any circumstances), but decided that this thread wasn’t the place for it. It is possible to criticize individual behaviour on a case-by-case basis without pulling out over-used, inaccurate and mean-spirited stereotypes.
Back to the shoe issue…
I wear a size 8W. I know many many women who squeeze themselves into 8s when they need wide width.
I think my feet look like feet, you know, good for my height and size. Tiny feet would not do it for me as I am not a dainty girl. At the top of my game I was 5’5" and 117 pounds, with only a little roundness about the belly. My shoulder bones are wide, and so are my hips, so why would my feet be any different?
Abotu the sunrazor/featherlou thing, I have to admit I’m not sure why Sunrazor posted it. I’m not offended or bothered, I just didn’t think it was funny or even relevant! 
You and your dainty feet! Hey, at least size 11s are a bit more available, though with AA width you probably have as much trouble as I do with my 12-Wides. If I weren’t such a klutz I could probably waterski barefoot and nobody would notice 
Re the OP: Not sure I’d have called over to another conversational group to ask about the shoe sizes, but if you were in the group doing the trying-on, I can’t imagine it’d be a huge issue. Obviously I’m not too ashamed of my shoe size.
11s are becoming pretty easy to find, so I’m not complaining. And since I don’t do “delicate” it doesn’t matter that what’s available are big, clunky shoes. I like big, clunky shoes!
I feel for your 12 pain, though. I hope the sizes will continue to shift upward to help out people like us.
That’s odd. Hat sizes seem pretty consistent for me. I wear a size 8. Every now and then I find a 7-7/8 that fits. “One size fits all” doesn’t. Ever. I have encountered one (count 'em, one) adjustable baseball cap that adjusted large enough to fit me comfortably and not fall off.
As for the feet, I’ll stick with my original thought. You can tell my feet are big just by looking at them. Knowing they’re size 12DD (or 12E, or 13C, depending on the manufacturer) doesn’t suddenly make them bigger. What’s the problem with discussing some artificial number?