I was shopping at Nordstrom Rack with my then 16 year old 6’0” daughter who wears a size 12 shoe. Nordstrom has the best selection around for that size. So there I am looking through the racks trying to find something at which my teenager won’t turn up her nose and I feel the presence of another woman next to me.

It can be a pretty aggressive experience hunting down a cute pair of size 12’s! So I turn and look her in the eye, as if to say, ” back off this is my rack!!” Well to my surprise and shock, this woman is actually a man; a transvestite wearing a white mini skirt and tasteful blouse while searching for a strappy sandal! I had to laugh because it’s hard enough to find size 12’s without having to include the transsexual crowd! My teenager was of course mortified and won’t step back into that store. So thank goodness we found you!
N 

6.5.06

I have 4 pair of shoes in my trunk. 2 flat mules (black patent and woven black) and 2 flip flops (metallic and leather)
When I was a freshman in high school back in 1984 I was already a size 13M.  Like most women, there was not a shoe that I didn’t like.  Unfortunately my size was very hard if not impossible to find.  When we did find a store that carried shoes in my size the selection was usually only one of two shoes in black, blue or brown. (Nothing like designershoes.com, where were you 20 years ago???)   It was constantly disappointing to go new shoe shopping.

My freshman year, my parents really wanted to send me to Catholic school.  I had my own ideas and was really set on going to the local public school because I had been in parochial schools since I was 8.  This was to be my first chance at freedom in a public school.

My parents took me shoe shopping for the upcoming school year.  We came into Boston to the only shoe store at the time that carried size 13.  When we were there, I found these beautiful brown, soft leather boots that I absolutely fell in love with.  The problem was that they were over $100 and my parents did not want to spend that kind of money (in 1984 that was even more than today) But, they relented if I would change my mind and go to Catholic school.  I thought, “I’ll agree to go, wear them the first day, then go back on my side of the deal and continue to go to the public school I was already enrolled in. Since I will have worn the boots, there would be no way my parents could return worn boots.

My plan backfired.  My parents sent me to Catholic school in my new boots and 4 years later I was still there wearing them.  Is there nothing a girl won’t do for her favorite pair of shoes or boots?

A few weeks ago my daughter and her friend were playing dress-up when I heard the inevitable clunk, clunk, clonk on the stairs, and was greeted by the sight of two ten-year-olds wearing an amazing assortment of dresses, scarves, jewelry, makeup and high heels. My eyes were drawn to my lovely pale pink pumps, and the memories came rushing back.  These were the beautiful shoes I bought years ago (20?) when my only options were black pumps.  A size 10 by high school, I am used to being disappointed by the latest styles.  Yes, they are adorable/cool/hot – but they won’t be in my size.  These pink shoes are the most amazing color – soft and warm and sexy.  I remember wearing them in 1989 in Tokyo with a beige silk suit and a rose quartz necklace as I ate sashimi while seated on a totomi mat in a private dining room. I remember feeling like a princess…

But in 1992 I was back in the states and faced with a more challenging situation – finding shoes to wear on my wedding day.  My feet were now barely a 10, and the white shoes I sought were elusive. Satin would not be right, and I wanted comfort.  I looked up until the day before the wedding and then reached for my pink shoes.  They were perfect.  Comfortable.  Something old! And so well made that they still looked new.  If anyone noticed they were pink instead of white, they were having too much fun to mention it.

Fourteen years and two children later, I now wear a size 12, and many years have passed since I added my precious shoes to the dress-up closet. I laughed with the girls, and then asked to try on the shoes myself.  I can squeeze into them for a moment, if I hold my breath, just as I can into my wedding dress! But unlike the dress, no amount of dieting will make them fit again.  While my wedding dress hangs, lonely, in my closet, my shoes have a second life.  My daughter loves them too. So far, she takes for granted that the shoe she wants will fit her.  I know, however, how special it is to find that certain shoe, in my size, that makes my heart beat quickly.  And I am so glad that my pink shoes are still looking fabulous!

Although I have reached the half-century mark with my size 11 ego intact, my plight began in grade school. Despite the fact that I attended parochial school and wore oxfords every school day with my uniform, my mother would take me shoe shopping for Sunday and special occasions – which always ended in tears for me and my mother’s “nerves” would be worn thin.

I wore a size 10 and invariably the shoes she picked for me never resembled the shoes my classmates or friends wore.  I cried, I complained, and ultimately refused to wear what she picked for me.  Eventually she stopped taking me shoe shopping. Thus, I began saving my allowances to buy the shoes of my choice.

At the age of twelve, I worked the entire summer on an ice cream truck with a relative, just so I would have enough money to buy a specific pair of shoes to wear on the first day of school – one of the only days we were not required to wear uniforms.  Unfortunately, I stopped at the record shop first to buy my favorite 45, walked out leaving my wallet on the counter.  Needless to say, it was not there when I rushed back in.

It was only $50.00. But it meant the world to me.  I stood on the downtown street corner and cried as if someone had died.  People stopped to inquire what was the matter and I just could not explain.  Eventually I returned home bereft and forever jaded about the world. I discovered soon thereafter that my mother wore the same size (ten) when playing in her closet one afternoon.

I secretly began wearing her shoes.  Her shoes were beautiful and fit perfectly, the heels were a little high, however.  Whenever I asked her to let me wear her shoes, she told me they were “too grown” for me. Needless to say I continued to “shop” in my mother’s shoe closet for the rest of her life, even after my foot continued to grow to size 10 1/2.

Today I wear a size 11 and love your website! No longer do I have to endure the subtle sneers of shoe store clerks when I ask for a particular style in my size.  Funny, no one ever mentioned that your feet continue to grow long after everything else stops growing.
C. M

4.20.06

I wore a size 7 at the age of 7 and each year my foot would grow another size until I reached a size 10 at the age of 10.  I thought that was it until I was pregnant with my first son at the age of 26 and my feet grew to a size 11.  Then at the age of 29 I had another son and my feet grew to a size 12.  There’s something about those boys, because this didn’t happen with my daughter who is my first-born. (Smile)
I notice that in retail shoe stores sizes 10 and 11 are more available, but it’s difficult to find a 12.  Thank you for making larger sizes available in a wide variety of shoes.

T 4.11.06

My long skinny feet have been a problem since I was in middle school.  Shoes to wear to work or school were ugly boring things.  Living with a roommate who had 30 pairs of shoes was torment in college.

Luckily these days I’m able to solve my shoe dilemma by shopping at DesignerShoes.com.  The best part is that my former roommate loves my shoes and wants to borrow them!  Of course my shoes don’t fit her 8B feet.

For her the shoes on the other foot now!

J

4.6.06