heeheehee, j'adore my rubber soled flipflops (with sculpted footbed - supports the arch). When not in those I have flat flips with a split bamboo foot bed or sculpted Keen slip ons.
Oh my!
I had the world's best sandals in high school. They were, like, cited in yearbook inscriptions ("to the girl with the sandals..."). I got them at Pier One when they had their brief fling with clothing ("Passports," or something). They were made in India, and were very simple. A flat rubber sole, leather insole, and six little tabs with a slit in them, maybe 1 inch long and 1/2 inch wide. Three on one side of your foot, (pretty much top half), three on the other. Through the slits, criss-crossing, was threaded some LOOOOOOOOOONG leather laces. Those were then wrapped many many times around the ankle, or else up the leg to the knee or so. I did both.
When I bought them (I eventually bought maybe 3-4 pairs, $10/ each), they were light tan and unyielding. It would take them about a month to break in, and from about 4 months until they disintegrated (1-2 years) they were perfect. They'd darken and mold to my foot/ ankle. I could sprint in them, I could go to reggae concerts in them, I could work at the zoo in them. I wore them all the damn time.
So, by the sheer volume of writing about that one pair of shoes, I have pegged myself as pure girl when it comes to fashion. Sigh.
At least I could sprint in them!!
I have been looking for shoes that cool since, closest I've gotten is a pair of Timberlands that are strappy and cushy adn totally, totally comfortable... well, were, they disintegrated too. Sigh. Now I wear some black Simple sandals, strappy, comfy, but the sole is too brickish.
Hmm, but maybe the fact that I typically buy a pair of sandals and wear 'em to death (4 years for Timberlands, coming up on 4 for these) mitigates the girliness somewhat...
Ummmmmhummmmm........
<stroking my little Freud beard (IMAGINARY beard, I am a girl fercryingoutloud, I don't have a beard) while I wait for a bit more theory testing data...>
I have been looking into girlie sandals. My niece says I should wear dresses when I go out on dates. I have some dresses, but no shoes to go with them (besides the rubber flip-flop thongs. So.... Maybe the thongs with the littl teeny tiny heels (kitten heels?)? Fjick if I know.
I have to go back a bit, in that I mentioned something about femme several pages back, and then a couple of nights ago I read a theater review in the NYer and found that femme is oft understood as an apposite to butch... which was not what I meant.
We haven't talked about butch or fear of butch here on this thread.
And I know we have some sanguine butch and femme (now that I get the word) members -
Huh.
Well, I'm not butch, but admit to fractions of moments over decades in fear of being taken for such, but then I've not connected with butch, or - what I just suddenly hear as the word 'femme'.
But, never mind, lesbians who are on the femme side are probably always dealing with the equivalent...
I wonder, have we welcomed lesbians enough here to be out and about?
I think I must have girlie tendencies or something. I love shoes, I buy shoes, I DON'T wear shoes. At least not most of them. I have one pair of tennies for work and a favorite pair of sandals for around the house ($2 soccer slides from WalMart) and a pair of sandals for leaving the house. The rest sit in the closet and I look at them lovingly once in a while but that's all.
I canna' help you with shoes, lilK. I have one comfy pair of black suedy sandals with small heels for occasional gallery wear. Very occasional. Shall I toss them?
I do so love whatever they call the shoes you stick your foot in and flop around. Or else, running shoes, or... Danskos.
Osso, I've never been mistaken for a butch lesbian, but I have been hit on by lesbians. That's not a problem, the problem is that I sometimes think that guys I might be attracted to think I am a lesbian.
Yes, lilK, I assume some think so, or use it. I did have it used, heh, in Mexico, another story...
as that tends to be a line when you travel with girls or women.
Still, I think we don't have lesbians and gays post all so forthrightly here. I think it takes a certain bravado. It should be less than bravado to post here, just more of the general tangle.
My view of sandals seems kind of like bodhi's - I see them and admire them but as sculpture, not as something to put on my feet. I'm honestly baffled by a lot of sandals I see.
As far as I know I've only been misidentified as a lesbian once and that is when I worked in an office of superfemme girls - I called it the sSorority Party. These girls were all very Stepford Wifey towards the men who worked there and to the male clients of the business. I wasn't therefore I must be a lesbian.
I remember seeing a commedianne once who told about a guy trying to pick her up asking "So what are you? A lesbian?" to which she replied "So what are you? The alternative?"
That sums up my feelings about the Sorority Party pretty well.
Tee hee. I'm wearing some brown leather sandals right now at work. Mostly, I don't like to wear shoes, but I do love flip flops. I can't wear flip flops to work, so I have a pair of respectable looking slip-on brown sandals on. They have a rather flat sole with 1/4 inch heal differential. My toenails are not painted but they are clean, for once.
I haven't been mistaken for a lesbian, yet, to my face. But I have gotten comments about my, ahem, unusualness. Also, I can't dress. When I started working again, I ordered 5 of the same style corduroys from Old Navy in different colors, and 10 t-shirts in all different colors(they were 2 for 14 at the time). It made getting ready for work a cinch. When I look back, my lack of style has been obvious from the time I was 4 years old and wore a blue dress with mismatched tube socks (one with black stripes, one with red, different lengths) and mary janes to school.
I still love mary janes, speaking of shoes.
The mary jane style is the one I have lots of - with variations.
Me too!
Boomer's experiment is yielding interesting results. Where do maryjanes fit into it?
FreeDuck wrote: When I started working again, I ordered 5 of the same style corduroys from Old Navy in different colors, and 10 t-shirts in all different colors(they were 2 for 14 at the time).
Oh my.
That is exactly how I shop.
I have another confession to make -- I'm not sure what a "Mary Jane" looks like.
Osso's Mary Jane Theory is that they stay on your feet easily, with less shin action than shoes without cross straps - hmmm, trying to remember the muscles in the lower leg. Thus you can move with less effort, perhaps even run across the street in mary jane heels...
Boomer, you'd know mary janes if you saw them. They are basically those little black sort of dressy round-toed shoes with a strap across top of your foot, or any variation on them. Like these
http://www.shoes.com/product.asp?p=5008569%7EKids%7CGirls&sc=KIDS&variant_id=54723 .
I once found a pair I loved so much that I bought 6 pairs of them. I worked in a bar at the time and they were the perfect work shoes, with a 1 1/2 inch platform foam sole. They were plain black and so comfortable but very cute. I wore them until they were shredded then got another pair from the closet. They don't make them anymore, sadly, and I ran out of them 10 years ago. If I ever see them again...
And I agree with Osso's Mary Jane Theory.
I always think of Mary Janes as Chinese slippers for grown-ups.
Love 'em.
I have got to have those flaming Mary Janes!
