(It) hurts, but...

Itai kedo...

I have a love/ hate relationship with heels. These days, I wear them about twice a week when I think I need to make an effort to look sharp. I would love to be one of those leggy women who can strut around in ballet flats and look cool, but I have short fat legs that need all the help they can get. Even women with nicely proportioned bodies are afraid of flats. For example,

my favorite fashion blogger in flats:

And my second favorite fashion blogger in flats:

See how they are standing on their toes for their full-body shots? They're doing that to make their legs look longer. They know that they need the heels to create the body proportion required by modern fashion, but want to wear flats, so they compromise by being photographed on tip-toe. And these are women with beautiful, long, slender legs. So heels hurt. Everyone knows this, and everyone who tells you otherwise has something going on or is on something or both. I've found that some things help, of course. In a similar vein as DIY alterations, I've taken to putting things in my shoes that take the edge off the discomfort. This pair has self-adhesive silicone rubber arch supports, and a heel pad on the right shoe but not the left. This is because my right foot is slightly smaller than my left, and if I get a pair that fits my left foot, the right shoe keeps slipping off. The heel pad keeps keeps that from happening. The shoes are leather, so they'll stretch eventually, and I'll probably slap a heel pad on the left shoe while changing the heel pad on the right shoe with a thicker one.

I wear this pair with toe cushions. The toe cushion keeps my toes from sliding into the narrow pointy end of the shoe that will strangle them, and lets it stay in the wider portion of the shoe.

You work with what you have (or can afford), be it legs, pants, or shoes.