Can we talk about shoes and how much my feet hurt?

I know - I keep getting diverted from my plan to blog about my wardrobe plan for the fall and my colour story.  This has been a problem my whole life - just too much going on in the old noggin!

But....

My feet hurt now!

And this post was born the moment I started to walk to the Coldplay concert Sunday night and had to turn back after only 1/2 block because my feet were already in such agony.

Remember these pretty Arche shoes?  Okay - maybe you can't see them, but I bought them a few years ago for a god-awful price.  They are  "French Walking Shoes".  I like to call them "Shoes that Marie Antoinette should have taken with her to the guillotine.."

 

I could have worn the one truly comfortable pair of Arche shoes I own, white leather ballets, which I am sporting below whilst I traipse around Beacon Hill:

God - I look like someone who just jumped the boat in the 17th century!  Truly, I was cold, it was starting to rain and my feet hurt... Either than or I am ready for the casting call for Les Miserables....

But those shoes would not have matched my outfit and as you know by now, I wanted to look good for Coldplay.  So we turned back and I put on the butterfly sandals (shown above) that I have sported in quite a few posts to date.  These van eli sandals are FLAT.  and really, they are simple and they let the old dogs spread.

The conundrum:

I have flat feet.  I need more support.  I hate shoes that look like they are sensible shoes.  I feel I am giving up so much already to stick to shoes under 3"!  Do I sound whiny?????

BUT... I cannot walk more than about 2 blocks even in 3" shoes.  Impossible.  Pathetic.  Painful.  I become obsessed with the pain and the agony and become quite fretful.

So I have several "categories" of shoes:

1) Shoes for my office - pretty, not sexy, but can't leave the building.  If there is a fire, someone will have carry me out.

2) Shoes that I "walk out" in - these are my flats - ballets, loafers, that I put on to run errands at lunch.  In the fall, this is a happy time, as I have some low heeled boots. 

3) party shoes.  These used to be very high.  Now I find I cannot even stand in them!

So, when I arrived back this week, I visited a sensible shoe store.  I was very afraid.  I have seen sensible shoes and they are not me.  Or I am not them.   Whichever it is, I felt this could be the end.  Sure I had a coat now that could see me out, but was I now to be damned to the "sensible shoes" club?  Would I be wearing naturalizer shoes with a very round toe?  How long could it be before I let me hems out and moved to the polyester pants phase of life?  (okay that is another post for another day!)

With great trepidation, I arrived.  Sure, much of the stock was exactly as I had feared.  I will not cast aspersions on any specific brand here, lest I offend one of my fair readers.  But you can get my jist here..

But then - I spied a different kind of sensible shoes.  Sensible shoes with spunk!  I discovered the Fugitive brand, a french company which specializes in pretty shoes that are comfortable.  Many of you may be aware of them.  I am more than aware that I am late to the sartorial party! 

You can visit their website here.  They sell all over North America.

I tried on one pair and I felt like I was wearing slippers, but not in the crocs way - the way that shoes used to feel on me before I got into my 40s...

Pale Grey.  Kid leather.  Comfort personified!

And then I saw these little gold beauties:

I wore them to work today.  My feet did not hurt once and I received many compliments (now I must temper this with the truth - most people where I work do not wear nice shoes, so really, you kind of have to take that with a grain of salt).

I do not know if you will like these shoes.  I love them.  When I got to Paris in a few weeks I will find the fall collection.  My feet are happiness personified.

Oh yes, I also bought a pair of party shoes in Maine from Nine West to replace my high heeled ones that no longer work:

Less than 3" and I could stand in them.  I feigned cocktail party banter with the sales clerk, who was remarkably unimpressed...

I feel that these shoes pass the elegant test, but i am open to comments!

As for how I dressed today..

J Crew 1035 Fine Cotton Blazer in Beechwood, Esprit black sheath dress, new glamorous sensible shoes...

My feet still hurt some.  I recognize the road to recovery will be long and interrupted by completely nonsensical shoe purchases.  But I am trying!

And Dani - I could not find a Chie Mihara in Boston - they are like a holy grail to me now!