[txplumwine]

*giggles* Wow! I'm so happy I've helped...and two, even! I think I should probably take my own medicine and sink in to the Footlight...

[sixelacat]

Stage shoes! I never thought of that! Thanks txplum, you're brilliant! *MWAH*

[taligator]

txplumwine .. oooh! Good suggestion and I love those shoes. I've been dying (for some strange reason) to buy a classic pair of pumps. I love the look of trendy shoes but I'm not a trendy person, ya know? I like the classics. If I could both afford and fit into I'd be a Brooks Brothers whore and just live in all their clothes because they are so gorgeous and classic.

[txplumwine]

This is my first time in and I think I can help...a little! Tali, I would recommend looking at professional dance shoes - ballroom, character, salsa, etc. The better brands (particularly Capezio) are renowned for comfort and good support at the high end of their price point. I'm particularly looking forward to getting some of these (though perhaps in a lower heel) when I can justify it. Other brands will cover good-looking peep toes and sandals, believe it or not. Hope it's food for thought, at least.

Myself? I LURRRRVE shoes but have a weird relationship with them. I tend to over-buy and then alternate maybe two pairs. And over the last few years, I've had less luck as I wear a US 10W...so most of my shoes for the last few years have been...black flats.

If I had my druthers, I'd wear mostly mid-heeled baby-doll styles (especially Mary Janes), criss-cross quarter-strap sandals, and skimmer-styled sneakers. Unfortunately, my options jump from Payless to Naturalizer pretty quickly, and I'm only just getting to where I can think about buying $60-plus shoes again.

Not to mention that the stuff I love the most doesn't often come in my size at all. If it was just a 10, I'd have a much better time...it's the W that kills me. I can't tell you how happy I was to discover that the Footlight comes in W.

[sixelacat]

Has anyone ordered from MooShoes? I'm leery of ordering shoes online, as my feet are wide width 9 1/2, but 10 regular usually can fit, depending on style. Dammit, I love heels but rarely find nice ones that fit! I stand at work for 6-8 hours at a stretch, but will put up with a fair amount of discomfort (pain!) for cute shoes. I'm thinking of trying these but I'm not sure....

[taligator]

Here's a question for you experts .. ;)

Do they make heeled shoes that have arch support? I have both a high instep and a high arch and most heels when I put them on leave a 1"+ gap between my foot and the shoe. Needless to say it's very uncomfortable and means I can't wear the shoe for more than a minute or two.

Am I asking for the impossible, meaning is this something that isn't possible for design reasons? Would your foot be too pushed out if you had an arch?

I love shoes ..... I just don't wear much but Birkenstocks and Dansko clogs. :p

[mindblowerzzz]

Have any of you ladies heard of Keep Shoes? They just opened a store in LA and I bought two pairs [the green boat shoes and the brown midtop]. I love to support women-run businesses, especially when they make cute shoes.

[pepper]

brown and pink tweed shoe. Oh.

[modegirl]

divalla, it IS possible to have designer shoes that are comfortable. you have to find a designer who designs for YOUR foot. strangely, very few women i know actually find the Blahniks comfortable. i have been asking everyone for years. even the die-hards will crack under pressure and tell you that comfort is not why they wear them. i have a pair of Manolos, black kitten heel slingbacks - no more than 2" high and they are awful on my foot. no one could convince me otherwise on the comfort/price/designer issue for years...until i met Casadei.

Casadei heels; i will stop short of saying i can run in them, but i have two pairs (both on sale at DSW for under $200!, marked down from $650 and $475). both are 4" high, and i can wear them all night - dancing and whatnot. one of them is has a base heel of about 1/2", and the other is a true stiletto at about 1/4". in a way i am thankful and in a way, i am Not! i have since discovered that the Casadei model foot and mine are one and the same! whether i agree with the style or not, every one of their shoes sized appropriately fit me perfectly. and since i've also discovered that Charles Davids aren't bad either.

[mouse]

i have been wearing my skinny heels at home all the time, and today i wore my little chunky heeled sandals all day at work, and when i came home and put on the spiky ones, it almost felt natural! yay! maybe soon i can wear them OUT of the house...!

[llamas]

*delurks*
On the comfort/price issue: I only have two pairs of designer heels, both bought at a significant discount (yay!), but randomly managed to get good ones. One pair is Ralph Lauren, and the other is Calvin Klein, so FYI, it is theoretically possible to get moderately comfy shoes that are also quite fabulous from these brands!

[lot49]

congrats divalla!

concrete and stairs to test on. Yes. What's the point of having fabulous feet if you have to walk like an old lady afraid of breaking a hip? Ok, I obviously get the point. But I still want more comfortable shoes.

I got these for my wedding (maybe -- they're under consideration) I wanted red shoes. And these are very cushy. Even if they are...JLo (sighs). I really don't want to wear a shoe that "incorporates every aspect of JLo's life," especially when walking down the aisle. But at least I'm not superstitous...

[citrussss]

Divalla, hehe designer sitting shoes, awwww, I'm sure they look fantastic though. I keep imagining Carrie in Sex and the City. They always wore insanely high heels on that show.

I know what you mean about mules vs. slingbacks. I think walking in an opened toe 3.5inch mule is the hardest feat of all stiletto walkers. That one requires nerves of steel and years of experience. Of which I have neither. Alas!

Why don't these designers put comfort into the price? It makes no sense to me at all. K, It doesn't change the fact that I still want my own designer pumps. Mostly just so I can say they're "designer" *sigh*

[mornington]

divalla - yes! concrete. and stairs. I have major problems going downstairs in heels

[bigkid14]

divalla, good luck getting used to your heels at home, but if your worried about scratching up the floors while walking around in them, you can try this, if you don't care what you walk on, you can take clothing kids grow out of to use as throw rugs to walk on, this will keep your floors from being scratched up, using girls dresses works great as throw rug because they cover completely, you don't have to worry about the pant legs moving and still scratching the floors, just a though

[divalla]

$680 doesn't feel any better than $80, to tell you the truth, but they look fabulous. They're Manolo Blahnik 3.5" mules in red and black suede with an embroidered leaf pattern between where the two colors come together. Put it this way: they're good sitting shoes. I wore them out to a club once, but actually took them off downtown and carried them while I walked several blocks (2 of which were in front of a sex shop with whoknowswhat on the sidewalk). Yep, they'll only be worn when I'm going to be doing very little standing. But put me in the same shoe with a slingback and I'm way better. I don't know why these high-end designers don't somehow work comfort into the cost of their shoes. It wouldn't be that hard. That said, gel inserts in the fronts of the shoes really do work wonders, even if they move around a little because the adhesive sucks.

I'm going to start wearing heels at home, too. I just get scared that the tiny hard plastic heels will scratch up my wood floors.

I'm also of the belief that department store shoe departments (hell, any place that sells shoes) should have a strip of pavement on the floor to walk on in the shoes to show you how they'll really feel once you leave the store. All shoes are comfortable when you're walking on carpet.

[bigkid14]

mouse, good luck with your heels, i don't know if you will try what i was saying, but i hope i was able to help a little, let us know how things work for you

[mouse]

haha okay, that's awesome. i live alone so i don't have to worry about puzzling any roommates ;)
like i said, i can do the chunky heel sandals i have fine. i'll start wearing my skinny heels as soon as i get in the door. hehe. usually ladies take their heels OFF when coming home from work.

[mornington]

I second the wearing heels in the house - it really does help. I still wear heels indoors when I've got a new pair, or when I haven't worn heels in a while.

I'd start with chunky shoes, or wedges, definitely. Skinny heels are much harder to balance in - like tyger said. If you can, I'd try clarks (although I'm not sure what the selection is in the states) as thier heels have a lovely solidity to them.

[bigkid14]

hi mouse, it might sound strange, but i had a friend once who had trouble wering heels, she trained herself to walk in them, what she did was start by wearing them around the house, she would put things on the floor to make an uneven suface to walk on, old stuffed animals, if she was cooking, she would drop bread rolls and practice walking on them in her heels, after awhile, she got to where she could walk around the house and on everything without losing her balance, and from then on she could wear them anywhere, but it took her a long time, i don't know if yu want to try it yourself, but it's a thought, good luck.