Shoes for Women - why is their pressure to wear uncomfortble footwear to 'fit in'?

My complaint about the shoe industry isn't that they make ridiculous uncomfortable shoes, as clearly there is a market for them. It is that if you want something comfortable it is very hard to find something attractive. For example I'd like to wear coloured shoes, boots with fun patterns etc, but they just don't make them (in the high street anyway). You can get funky but not for work. so I feel conspired against!

Dunno about being tall is great for picking up guys, but then I only like guys quite a bit taller than me otherwise I feel gawky and huge. Work wise I slightly worry about being intimidating at times. But I'm glad I don't feel that people look down on me I suppose. My greatest role model at work, my ex-boss was tiny (also black, beautiful, unconventional and incredibly determined), and it certainly didn't hold her back!

I think when you are out the vast majority of women are wearing fake uggs and the odd maybe real uggs. I dont often ever see anyone in any other footwear any more except for maybe in nightclubs.

I have to say my fake uggs are the best tenner I ever spent except it can be annoying in heavy rain but its ok once you change your socks. I also like the fact you can wear slipper socks with them with your trousers tucked in as it is as comfortable as slippers imo. I wear mine to work and all weekend I cant take them off.

Working my way through this thread but it made me think of this sad story from 2009 (sorry for posting a Daily Mail link).

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1230181/Girl-16-killed-slipping-train-platform-ran-alongside-moving-carriage-high-heels.html

Yes, MarshaBrady, I agree with you there- a beautiful young lady can wear a bleedin' sack and DM boots and she'll still get the attention from the opposite sex!

I agree Marantha!

I employed all sorts of anti-leery-man devices in early 20s. Short hair, big boots, still they were leery (even though was tall ).

Now I still don't feel comfortable in heels on the street, still leery. But finally I can be around married people and not be leered at! I am enjoying one of the benefits of marriage, wearing quite high heels because I like the look of them instead of an item of attraction for men.

I know the difference. I expect everyone else at a house party too aswell.

I'm not sure if there is pressure on women to walk in really high heels, to be honest.
Only in fashionista circles can I see this happening and then it would probably be more about what is in fashion rather than the comfort/height of a particular shoe.
If women wish to wear them it is fine; I like the look of many a shoe from an aesthetic point of view, but if I can't walk in them, they are out. I am not inclined to be crippled by something all day in return for something that is not going to help me.
Who gives a toss about the height of my heel?
As for any sexual attraction issues,
I don't happen to think men give a s* what shoes women wear. To be brutally honest, if a man doesn't fancy a woman a pair of shoes will not make him fancy her and if he does he won't give a toss about what's on her feet.
Unfortunately, gullible women buy into the 'shoes will make me sexier myth'. It doesn't- a person is sexy or not, no matter what they wear.
Most men would wish to sleep with a beautiful, 20-year-old wearing brogues then a 70-year-old wearing Louboutin heels.

Yes to 'man in drag' thing. In fact I am so 'big' I feel like a man in drag whenever I try to do the overtly feminine thing. It feels odd.

Why shoes with no heel hurt whereas barefeet are fine - when you walk in shoes you put your heel down first, when you walk barefoot it is most comfortable to put the ball of the foot down first, the arch of the foot thereby acting as a shock absorber.

I won't wear shoes that cause me pain.

Sorry, I do realise this is feminism not S&B and was nodding along with all the irritation with shoe manufacturers and retailers who think we should all torture ourselves with ludicrous high heels and styles that are just completely impractical. But I do miss heels as I enjoyed the extra height. I'm 5'7" so a heel used to put me on the same eye level as the average bloke which I found useful.

ooh, that lovemyshoes site is interesting.

That buckle back shoe in the link looks nice BUT I don't wear shoes with high uppers unless I'm in trousers. Otherwise they make your legs look shorter and my legs need all the help they can get! (I'm not actually short, just fat.) My ankles are one of the very few parts of my body that are delicate...

I just want something that fits my apparently awkward feet and looks vaguely attractive with skirts or dresses. I like that 1930s style with straps and low but pretty heels, if that helps.

I have ankle boots that I wear with trousers (apparently black with denim is an MN style sin but hey, I don't care) but want some pretty shoes, too. But ones I can walk in. Which is apparently not what the high street offers.

Irony is one of my Granddads was a shoemaker so my mother was always VERY fussy about properly fitting shoes. Then I hit my teens and wore high heels for best part of two decades. Now I've lost the nack and am buggered!

'I think I look like a man in drag when I wear them'
that sums it up EXACTLY

I cant wear high heels
I think I look like a man in drag when I wear them, I cant walk in them and As I am fairly tall, feel like a giant.

I find it sad that i cant find many pretty shoes in a low to medium heel.
I stick to pumps, Mary janes and boots.

I think the reall high shoes around at the moment are so ugly and just makes girls look cheap, IMO.

god I love these

again

Edam, have you looked at the Camper website? They have lots of women's shoes with low heels.

[http://www.lovethoseshoes.com/caprice-buckle-black-shoe/ edam?]]
hard to pitch this as I don;t really know what you are looking for

I can help you Edam. I an ex Jeffreys student with LFW experience..... I am the link

what are you after?

yes they will Edam. You can't win - 'tis the female condition.

Yeah but S&B will laugh at my boring desire for work shoes with a low-ish heel. Won't they?

Am so frustated with the high street being full of fuck-me shoes that strangle your feet. What is wrong with making shoes that women can actually walk in?

seth...you got it in one

To the In Charge bit of course..

...not the nutty bit (half my mn friends are on S&B, shifts uneasily from foot to foot)

Quite Seth

If you want a thread full of links Edam you want S&B...

the feminist section may not be the best place to come for a shoe recommendation

you need some kind of nutty obsessive shoe fanatic, not a bunch of women who are clearly quite proud of the fact that They Are In Charge Of Their Footwear, Their Footwear Is Not In Charge Of Them.

(does that capture the tone of the thread accurately?)

I've read the entire thread hoping someone would link to the perfect work shoes, with a small heel but comfy. Am now depressed. If even MN can't find 'em, do they not exist?

I lost the ability to wear heels after abandoning them during pregnancy and maternity leave. I have high arches and refuse to squish my toes into a pointy shoe. I have ONE pair of office shoes but they are a millimetre too short (didn't notice when I tried them on, only became apparent when I wore them for longer).