Shoes, anyone?

[_Dr. Shades]

I also bought these amazing pumps a few weeks ago for a great price at a local department store--half less than they're priced online: [SNIP!]

Okay, someone please clear up my confusion: What's a "pump," and what differentiates it from a regular, average, ordinary "shoe" or "high-heeled shoe?"

[_moksha]

[_The Nehor]

Are those some form of torture?

[_KimberlyAnn]

I ordered the boots last night. Yee-Haw!

Practicing my two-step,

KA

[_KimberlyAnn]

KA,

Love the first pair, no to the boots, can't see the image in the middle. I wore shoes like your first image for years and years. Cork soles were always the best.

Anyway, since this thread is about shoes...I'd like to hear from anyone who thinks they found the most comfortable women's walking shoes (exercise) in the universe. Since I busted up my ankle last fall (I may never see a pair of heels again in my lifetime), I need the very best and most comfortable walking shoe on earth.

Anyone?

Jersey Girl, I broke my foot and sprained my ankle severely a few years ago, and frankly, it's never been the same since. I wear heels, but not for too long at a stretch.

These are the Adidas jogging shoes I use now, and they're my all time favorites:



I love them. They're great for all-around use and never make my feet hot, thanks to the mesh. Also, they're so lightweight, it doesn't even feel like I'm wearing shoes! Arch support is fantastic.

You can purchase them from Zappos for just under a hundred bucks, which, in my opinion, is well worth it:

http://running.zappos.com/n/p/dp/41550984/c/149514.html

KA

[_silentkid]

KA: Those Adidas shoes are superbadass. I approve.

[_Jersey Girl]

I also bought these amazing pumps a few weeks ago for a great price at a local department store--half less than they're priced online: [SNIP!]

Okay, someone please clear up my confusion: What's a "pump," and what differentiates it from a regular, average, ordinary "shoe" or "high-heeled shoe?"

Doesn't your woman wear shoes? Here, Shades, take my hand...

High heels all have high heels. Here's Wiki on High Heels:

"High-heeled footwear (often abbreviated as high heels) is footwear which raise the heel of the wearer's foot significantly higher than the toes. When both the heel and the toes are raised equal amounts, as in a platform shoe, it is not considered to be a "high-heel". High heels tend to give the illusion of longer and more slender legs. High-heels come in a wide variety of styles, and the heels are found in many different shapes, including stiletto, pump, block, tapered, blade, and wedge."

Pumps are a type of high heel. Your basic/classic pump looks something like this:



Here is a pump with ankle strap:



Here is a pump with a "peep toe" or "open toe":



Here is a stilletto:



(The cherries are not part of the shoe, though under certain conditions, it would be perfectly appropriate to eat the cherries from the shoe, don't ask.)

Here is a mary jane stilletto:



Isn't this fun? The strap makes it a mary jane.

Here is Crocs mary jane for comparison:



Here is a classic mary jane for girls:



These are platform shoes in a sandal style:



Platform shoes also come in open or "peep" toe, mary janes and such as that.

All of the above, with the exception of Crocs mary janes and classic mary janes for girls, are why we have podiatrists.

See how that works?

by the way, Mary Jane flats are hugely popular right now.

KA's first image was a shoe with a wedge heel and a cute little ballet style ankle tie.

There IS no such thing as an ordinary shoe.

As for what moksha posted, try not to look at it. It will only mess with your head.

Well, I could go on and on however, I'm not sure you're ready for the whole shoe-bang.

:-)

[_moksha]

[_Dr. Shades]

Doesn't your woman wear shoes?

Yes, but English isn't her native language, so she never uses the word "pump."

Here, Shades, take my hand...[SNIP!] See how that works?

Thanks for that, but all I got was the difference between a platform shoe and a high-heeled shoe. I now know that high-heeled shoes come in a variety of styles, but what differentiates a "pump" from any of the other styles of high-heels? For example, you showed some pictures of stilletto heels, and I guess they have very small points of contact in the heel support part, but it didn't look different from the "pump" you showed.

So, how can I tell a "pump" apart from some other type of high-heeled shoe?

[_MsJack]

I had an epiphany the other day, KimberlyAnn, and yes, it was about SHOES!

Re-posting this from my blog. I hope you're proud of me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~



(Stand by for what might be the most shallow ClobberBlog post ever.)

I bought a new suit yesterday. New York & Co. (one of the few chains that carries affordable clothing in sizes that can work for very tall women) was having a major sale so that I wound up paying $60 for a $100 suit.

One of the things that surprised me about the pants that go with this suit is that they’re actually too long for me. I bought them intending to have them tailored up an inch, as I already knew I would need a tailor to extend the sleeves of the jacket a bit. Upon seeing the length of the pants, my husband said, “Well, of course they’re that long. They’re meant to be worn with heels.”

And I thought, huh. Why have them tailored? Why not just wear heels with them?

Oh, that’s right. Because I’m 6′ tall, which makes me awkwardly taller than most men when I wear flats. I can’t make myself any shorter than 6′, but I certainly can avoid exacerbating the problem by not wearing heels.

Suddenly the little hamster wheel in my brain made a turn that it probably should have made years ago. Why is it a “problem” if I’m taller than men? Why can’t I just . . . be taller than men?

I remember my sophomore year of high school, the year I reached my 6′ height. I was wearing a short skirt (as I was wont to do back then) and a pair of 4″ heels, probably the tallest heels I had ever bought at that point in my existence, and I wasn’t quite used to walking in them. I was walking across the courtyard outside the cafeteria, could see a group of about four guys sitting on a bench up ahead of me, and their conversation stopped. I knew they were checking me out, which probably had more to do with my choice of skirt than my face.

As if on cue, I tripped. Not one of those pleasant little, barely-noticeable stumbles, either. I didn’t quite face-plant, but suffer it to say, it was bad.

Peels of laughter from the bench. I tried to pretend that I couldn’t hear them or didn’t notice them as I picked myself up, but it was obvious what they were laughing at. As I brushed by them, I could hear them cackling about how stupid it was for a girl as tall as me to be wearing heels like that.

It’s taken me 13 years, but I finally decided yesterday that those boys were wrong. Screw you, high school boys. Stumbling in heels could have happened to a woman of any height and you didn’t know crap about what a tall woman should or should not do.

So I’m going to wear heels now when I damn well please, and any men who have a problem being around a woman who’s taller than they are can just suck it up. Besides, who the hell says men have to be taller anyways? I know that women typically prefer taller men (and I was no exception) while men prefer shorter women, but it’s not like I’m trying to land any of you anyways. And I’m pretty sure that if I ever find myself widowed or divorced, I’m not going to give so much damn about finding a taller man again.

If you’re wondering what my husband (who is only 1″-2″ taller than me) thinks, he thinks the taller I am, the sexier I am. He usually tries to get me to wear heels, to no avail. So this epiphany has been a happy one for him. He did tell me that he doubts I would ever date a shorter man, to which I said, “I’ll show you! When you die or divorce me, I’m dating a shorter man, and that’s that!”

———————————————-

DISCLAIMER: I say all of this knowing the long list of health problems that comes with wearing high heels on a regular basis, as well as the feminist objections to high heels as a modern form of foot-binding. I don’t plan on wearing them more than once or twice a week (if that), and even then, I’m generally not on my feet much for school or work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Had to resurrect this thread to share this.