Shoes & Heels and other stories
Aug. 25th, 2007 09:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jhameiaNow that I've got the angst out of my system for a bit, let's talk a bit about shoes.
I grew up a sandals and sneakers kid. Sandals as in the type you can use to walk all over and hike with. They're functional and strong so they can withstand a lot of damage. They're strappy so you don't need socks and you don't need to cover them up in hot weather, so there's an added bonus. The only problem with them is that they're velcro, which can peel off sometimes, or when you get mud in it (like my dad did when we hiked up Mt. Irau, resulting in him walking down the mountain barefoot) they don't stick so well.
Sneakers are a must-have for any kid, right? Flip-flops too, I would cycle all over town with flipflops and you could see the straps on my feet. I liked feeling the ground on my feet. Sometimes I ran on the roads barefoot, and it didn't matter that the garbage truck came by and left their trail on the road.
Shoes, like the rest of my wardrobe, were functional things that didn't look good, but I could wear them just about anywhere I went to.
I was 11 or 12 when I bought my first pair of heels. I can still remember them: they were red-brown with a floral pattern over my toes. I bought them so I'd have something nice to wear to formal functions. I really only wore red and beige skirts back then (and over the years collected an insidious number of skirts which I didn't notice until I realized I needed something to wear my first summer home from Canada). I perhaps bought them for one particular Chinese New Year.
My second pair of "nice" shoes were from Carrefour (which is the Malaysian equivalent of Wal-mart, Superstore and the like), a dark blue pair of sandles with lots of strappy goodness but no heels. They were comfy, and looked absolutely darling. You never see stuff like those anymore though... they went out of style a couple of years later.
Through most of my years, I avoided anything higher than one-inch heels. I didn't like the way they felt, they often pinched, and recently, I noted the pain in my knees. I stuck to somewhat pretty sandals instead of heels. I like wearing nice shoes, but I also like being able to wear them around town.
It was in third year that I started wearing these lovely shoes which were an inch high, and had mesh instead of straps. Pretty and cutesy. Since then I've bought a few more pairs, each successfully higher.
There are, of course, problems with wearing heels. Most of my problems stem from the straps hurting my toes. Because I'm essentially pushing to the front of the shoe due to my body weight, my toes receive the most skin damage. Blisters, corns, and scabs are all results from this. Usually I wear the shoes once and then don't wear them for a while, but recently, I bought a platform heel with larger, hardier straps and I've been wearing them pretty much anywhere. The straps have caused a hole under the nail of my large toe on my right foot, and I sort of forgot about it and kept wearing the shoes anyway (to a photoshoot in the middle of a empty grassy field, no less). The cut is still there, scabbing over, but it doesn't look too bad once I get some Gold Bond on it. I can also wear more pantyhose to protect my feet. Not practical for outdoor shoots, but good for indoor!
I recently watched Stacy London's Fashion Fanatic (I'm a fan of Stacy London's... she's got so much tough love in her) and I learned that women's feet hurt when they wear heels because they're usually wearing stuff that doesn't cushion their feet. There are, however, designers who create high heel shoes which are specifically made to be much more comfortable than the "regular" heel. The shoes, of course, are totally expensive, but it's a good investment to buy a shoe that you can wear for hours, as opposed to a shoe that hurts your feet after a couple of hours.
Another thing I learnt which I hadn't considered before is that to wear high heels, a girl ought to build strength in the balls of their feet. (In New York, the place which apparently has something of everything, there're classes in which women work out with stilettos on, building strength in their feet areas.) This, of course, makes a great deal of sense to me, seeing as I can feel pressure on the balls of my feet. Squats with heels on are going be part of my new home workout regime, assuming I ever get around to doing it regularly (shoots have been taking up a bit of my time, and geez, each shoot is a workout).
Something happens to a person when they wear heels. When you wear heels, you absolutely HAVE to stand up straight, your shoulders pulled back, your chest sticking up, and your head up. You can't slouch in that low-confidence way if you wear heels. It just doesn't work. Your legs become longer and you exert some muscles very subtly and to that end, your legs become shapelier. And when you DO stand up straight, pull your shoulders back, and all that fun stuff, you end up with a womanly figure.
That said, I really should look into getting heeled boots, and new sneakers... that can wait until December.
I grew up a sandals and sneakers kid. Sandals as in the type you can use to walk all over and hike with. They're functional and strong so they can withstand a lot of damage. They're strappy so you don't need socks and you don't need to cover them up in hot weather, so there's an added bonus. The only problem with them is that they're velcro, which can peel off sometimes, or when you get mud in it (like my dad did when we hiked up Mt. Irau, resulting in him walking down the mountain barefoot) they don't stick so well.
Sneakers are a must-have for any kid, right? Flip-flops too, I would cycle all over town with flipflops and you could see the straps on my feet. I liked feeling the ground on my feet. Sometimes I ran on the roads barefoot, and it didn't matter that the garbage truck came by and left their trail on the road.
Shoes, like the rest of my wardrobe, were functional things that didn't look good, but I could wear them just about anywhere I went to.
I was 11 or 12 when I bought my first pair of heels. I can still remember them: they were red-brown with a floral pattern over my toes. I bought them so I'd have something nice to wear to formal functions. I really only wore red and beige skirts back then (and over the years collected an insidious number of skirts which I didn't notice until I realized I needed something to wear my first summer home from Canada). I perhaps bought them for one particular Chinese New Year.
My second pair of "nice" shoes were from Carrefour (which is the Malaysian equivalent of Wal-mart, Superstore and the like), a dark blue pair of sandles with lots of strappy goodness but no heels. They were comfy, and looked absolutely darling. You never see stuff like those anymore though... they went out of style a couple of years later.
Through most of my years, I avoided anything higher than one-inch heels. I didn't like the way they felt, they often pinched, and recently, I noted the pain in my knees. I stuck to somewhat pretty sandals instead of heels. I like wearing nice shoes, but I also like being able to wear them around town.
It was in third year that I started wearing these lovely shoes which were an inch high, and had mesh instead of straps. Pretty and cutesy. Since then I've bought a few more pairs, each successfully higher.
There are, of course, problems with wearing heels. Most of my problems stem from the straps hurting my toes. Because I'm essentially pushing to the front of the shoe due to my body weight, my toes receive the most skin damage. Blisters, corns, and scabs are all results from this. Usually I wear the shoes once and then don't wear them for a while, but recently, I bought a platform heel with larger, hardier straps and I've been wearing them pretty much anywhere. The straps have caused a hole under the nail of my large toe on my right foot, and I sort of forgot about it and kept wearing the shoes anyway (to a photoshoot in the middle of a empty grassy field, no less). The cut is still there, scabbing over, but it doesn't look too bad once I get some Gold Bond on it. I can also wear more pantyhose to protect my feet. Not practical for outdoor shoots, but good for indoor!
I recently watched Stacy London's Fashion Fanatic (I'm a fan of Stacy London's... she's got so much tough love in her) and I learned that women's feet hurt when they wear heels because they're usually wearing stuff that doesn't cushion their feet. There are, however, designers who create high heel shoes which are specifically made to be much more comfortable than the "regular" heel. The shoes, of course, are totally expensive, but it's a good investment to buy a shoe that you can wear for hours, as opposed to a shoe that hurts your feet after a couple of hours.
Another thing I learnt which I hadn't considered before is that to wear high heels, a girl ought to build strength in the balls of their feet. (In New York, the place which apparently has something of everything, there're classes in which women work out with stilettos on, building strength in their feet areas.) This, of course, makes a great deal of sense to me, seeing as I can feel pressure on the balls of my feet. Squats with heels on are going be part of my new home workout regime, assuming I ever get around to doing it regularly (shoots have been taking up a bit of my time, and geez, each shoot is a workout).
Something happens to a person when they wear heels. When you wear heels, you absolutely HAVE to stand up straight, your shoulders pulled back, your chest sticking up, and your head up. You can't slouch in that low-confidence way if you wear heels. It just doesn't work. Your legs become longer and you exert some muscles very subtly and to that end, your legs become shapelier. And when you DO stand up straight, pull your shoulders back, and all that fun stuff, you end up with a womanly figure.
That said, I really should look into getting heeled boots, and new sneakers... that can wait until December.
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Date: 2007-08-27 03:21 pm (UTC)It's teh awesome that I am not dating anyone even close to my height! Go taller!