8 August - shoes

Shoe list. The Englishwoman who blogs from Paris lists owning only about ten pairs of which most are flatties and she only has one or two pairs suitable for parties etc. I am surprised her kid is allowed to play with other Parisian children and not ostracised. I have two friends who cannot wear heels because of foot problems (flat arches or some sort of arthritic pain but they still have a selection. One in particular has many pairs) but woman from Paris does not say this is her problem.

So really, much is made of women who have ‘too many’ pairs but is it legit for me to think there’s something wrong with someone who doesn’t have enough? Petite anglaise sounds like she never did care for shoes and I am aware that half the female world or more than half the population period just wears flipflops and they can’t even afford a new pair sometimes even with them being possibly the cheapest piece of rubber you can think of. Though if it says Nike or diesel on the side… prepare to pay 100 times more. But I digress. My main reason for not becoming a num (as if!) would have been having to just wear flat lace ups all my life. Interestingly my mother, who is religious and counts the Virgin Mary as a personal friend, once said she’d have been most upset if I decided to become a nun. But I think that was in the days when she still thought I’d become a mother. No such thing. I plan to give her ‘We Must Talk about Kevin’ by Lionel Shriver this Xmas. A very good novel about what would have happened to me. I digress again but I will digress some more. Back to the shoes.

I can’t even think in terms of shoes I have, but in terms of shoes I buy probably. The haul this month (sales still on) is 2 pairs from Whistles, 1 pair from Jones – the most shiny patent leather mary janes, 1 pair inherited and 2 pairs from second hand shops. None are flat. Those are for driving. As you can see my shoes don't come from Laboutin though I have a pair, nor from Manolo. I happen to do easy calculations: 1 x manolos equals 5 x great non designer shoes. Simple. I actually feel proud not to have capitulated to one or two more pairs that really were so cheap and perfect recently. But I said ‘No’. But they don't do stop buying shoes patches unfortunately so I'll carry on. I think I did lose a lover over this though... he said how could I possibly want to go out with him, who mostly wore one of several trekking boots type shoes. I said I make exceptions for men and had no doubt I could get him into exquisite Guccis for our wedding and in the meantime I worshipped his motorbike boots. But clearly the word wedding was the mistake there.

And on that subject, a friend has offered to come and de-rail my wardrobe of excess clothes. Her term not mine. She's confessed to having run out of things to do to keep away from a bottle of wine in the evening. Twenty years of photos are now arranged in photo albums for example. So am busy wearing stuff I’ve not worn for ages so that I to the determining question ‘If you haven’t worn this in 1 year, it has to go’. I can answer truthfully ‘Oh no, I wear this, only last week I was wearing it’.
The other determining question is usually ‘Don’t keep something in the hope you’ll slim into it again’ and wow, check this out! I found a summer Whistles tight black sleeveless shift dress and some linen skirts from circa 1980/81 (I can prove this dating myself by looking at old photos) and I can still wear them. Don’t you just hate me? In fact the dress came to work yesterday. Was a bit short for my current older person status – should have really paired with some classic white trousers underneath for example, but it’s a sort of Audrey dress so I hope I can persuade Deborah to let me keep it.