When I walk out on stage I want to look like Dolly Parton's more glitzy sister.
I'm serious! Being on stage is the perfect excuse to wear all those Barbie Doll clothes that would just look silly at a PTA meeting! The dresses, jeans, tops are becoming available, but when it comes to finding really cool high heels to complete the outfit, it's an ongoing quest.
I started thinking about this back when I actually had a Barbie Doll. Her shoes looked SO pretty. The fact that they were so uncomfortable looking didn't phase me much, since at the time, I thought I was going to be a ballerina and spend most of my time dancing on tip-toe anyway.
Then I grew to be 5'7" (too tall for a ballerina) them finally 5'10". I knew it was time to hang up my toe shoes, but I still loved the idea of "entrance heels."
Entrance heels are red-carpet shoes: the ones you show up and make your grand entrance in. You make that all-important first impression, pose for photos, then quietly change into the dancing slippers you've been carrying in your gorgeous beaded purse, so you can dance the night away.
Great plan. But where does someone like me get entrance heels? I've found very nice, comfy 3" heels from David Tate and Propet. On me, they look the way a 2" heel looks on someone who's 5'3." Nice, but not glamorous.
Mother of the Bride styles. Available at Footsmart.com and Shoemall.com.
But I never found my gorgeous dream of Barbie-doll/Oscars night-worthy heels.
Then there they were, on a British website called "Simply Be." A huge selection of AMAZING EEE width glam-heels! ON SALE!
I was seriously excited! Even my postman was excited for me!
Until they arrived.
They were beautiful. Gold sequins, red patent leather, Silver satin, apparently well made, yet each pair under $60! (Wide shoes, like other hard-to-get commodities, can be VERY expensive.)
There was just one issue: They were all approximately D width.
How do I know that?
I think I'll have to buy one of those shoe-store foot measurers. You know? The one you step on with the ball of your foot against one spot, then you slide the little marker over against the outside of your foot and read the width it points to?
Well, MY width on those foot measurers is invariably EEE. And these gorgeous shoes were all about 3/4 inch too narrow for my feet. Yet these heels were marked 10 EEE. The boxes they came in said 10EEE. The shipping form in the box said 10 EEE. And the Simply Be online catalogue I purchased them from said 10EEE.
So, did I expect them to be 10EEE?
Not really. This has happened too many times. Apparently, most shoe companies believe that people (like us) who want to buy EEE shoes DON'T REALLY have EEE feet. Just delusions of grandeur.
So they humor us, by making their D width shoes available, stamped with any size marking we choose to order.
The worst thing is that lots of times, we don't RETURN the shoes, insisting on free postage, (since after all, mis-marked sizes are a manufacturing flaw) and so THEY WIN! They sold a shoe that wasn't what they claimed and they made their money.
Meanwhile one of us was conned out of her hard earned cash, but kept quiet and probably kept the shoes too, wishfully thinking that maybe someday the bones in her foot would shrink.
If you ordered the wrong size shoe, you may need to pay return costs. The way you avoid ordering the wrong size is to go to a wide shoe specialty store and measure your feet on that little machine with the slider. Write down your correct size, NOT what the salesman says you can fit into if you squeeze REAL hard.
Then, ONLY order shoes in the correct size. If they don't carry shoes wide enough for you, you should complain. Don't give them any money.
My lovelies, there is no shame in having feet at the lower end of your leg. ANY feet!
There IS shame in manufacturers not supplying the sizes and widths they advertise. That's fraud. Get mad. Don't put up with it. Call your supplier, insist on a free return label, and RETURN Them!
If you have time, go back to the store site (in this case, SimplyBe.com) look the fraudulent item up, and where it says "write a review" warn your sisters not to fall for this con!
The brand names involved (all mis-marked) were Viva La Diva and Isabella Cole.
Someday, my lovelies, we will live in a world where everyone is treated fairly.
Until then, don't put up with any crap!
Be Beautiful!
Knuti
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