Shoes, feet, and all that stuff

One good thing about being a dude with tiny Barbie doll feet: I get my shoes out of the boys' department, usually MUCH cheaper than grown-ass-man-sized shoes in a similar style. Perry Ellis dress loafers for $30? Hells yes.

 

I am teeny tiny and therefore love heels. Unfortunately I am baby deer level clumsy. Not a good combo. Ask anyone who has ever gone shoe shopping with me.
Other than that, red ankle length converse are so great. that and combat boots, of which I seriously need a new pair. I wore my last ones to shreds, and looked badass the whole way.

 

My favorite pair of heels is a peep-toe, and i HATE peep toes. my big toes are weirdly shaped and i always end up with cuts in it from peep toes... but the shoe is otherwise so pretty, i cant resist.

 

In an ideal world I'd go barefoot all the time, but people keep fussing at me about it, so my default is usually socks-and-slippers. I don't like changing them when I go outside but people fuss about that too.

All my shoes are black and very plain in design because I am the most boring human.
Everyday Shoes are velcro ones because I hate laces - I'll deal with them for the sake of an aesthetic but doing it daily is No - and the soles are broken to fuck because I walk weird. They're great because I can climb while wearing them.
Neat Shoes are slip-on ones which make my feet look like very small feet. They're not very flexible so I can't wear them for fun purposes.
Boots Boots are lace-up ankle boots. I like them a lot, they make me feel like the Coolest Dude. My dad polished them a while ago for some inexplicable reason and I've yet to get them back to an adequately-scuffed state.
Work Boots are lace-up steel-toecap boots. They are big clumpy motherfuckers and they are awesome. They used to be very good at being waterproof but then I wore them daily for like two years straight and now they have splits where I like to bend my feet. Also they spent a lot of time getting paint spilt on them and then being reblackened (also with paint).

Sandals, no. I hate sandals. I hate flip-flops. Anything where my foot is open to the air is horrible taunting "ha-ha you are so close to being barefoot and yet NOT QUITE". At least in socks-and-shoes I don't have such a sense of missing out on all the fun.

 

My favorite pair of boots are old enough to be legal adults, purchased in 1997; they're a pair of New Rock biker/goth boots I picked up in Camden Market in London, looking somewhat like these (different sole detail):

Spoiler: New Rock boots

I also have multiple pairs of John Fluevogs, which are an addiction: I have and love these ones. I want so many of theirs, but my wallet doesn't.

I normally wear one of my dozen+ pairs of converse sneakers, though.

 

i wear socks all the time - i mean, not when there's water involved - and velcro, zipper or slip-on shoes. i just can't do laces. too hard.

 

For those of you who like toe socks or don't like their toes being restricted: What do you think of these?

 

I like going barefoot but I don't do it enough to toughen my feet up sufficiently to do it all the time, especially since my feet, like most of the rest of me, are weirdly sensitive. They are calloused, but walking on gravel and suchlike still hurts. I went through a phase in my last year of uni of just walking barefoot to the corner shop that wasn't far from me, and that could occasionally be uncomfortable but I enjoyed it- until I made the mistake of walking to the main grocery shop that was much further from me barefoot, on a super hot day, and blistered the entire balls of both my feet to the extent that it was almost impossible to walk. I will not make that mistake again. xP
90% of the time in the house I'm wearing socks. I cannot wear shoes in the house for long, it is Wrong and prevents me from putting my feet on the furniture, and all the best sitting positions require feet on the furniture, but I also like to not have to run upstairs for socks if I have to go outside and thus put shoes or wellies on. I wear wellies a lot for dog walking (unless it's hot enough that they're just uncomfortably sweaty) and I can and have been on very long walks in wellies without socks, but it tends to give me awful blisters.
Shoes-wise I have a tendency to acquire a pair of shoes (usually boots of some kind, though my current pair aren't, I'm not sure how you'd classify them actually), wear them for almost everything until they fall apart, then get a new pair. I seem to have some luck (so far) in coming across the perfect new pair just as the old ones give out (which means I won't this time ofc, I jinxed it. xP)- I mean I bought my current pair literally the day before I went on a walking holiday (my old pair were too worn to be comfortable if i was going to be walking all day) which meant I had no time to break them in but right from the getgo they were so comfortable and I got barely any blisters at all (unlike my poor companion. xP). These days, after two years of wear, they're broken into my feet well and truly, though I can't wear them without insoles because they're ever so slightly too big.
I am not averse to heels I suppose but rarely wear them as I find the pressure on the balls of my feet to be too uncomfortable to be worth it (I prioritise comfort over everything when it comes to shoes). What I have found is that I need a defined heel generally, though- not a high heel, but if I'm wearing a pair of shoes with a completely flat sole and no defined heel, I really feel it in my calves, they feel stretched and painful. Mostly if I'm walking fast, but I tend to be a fairly fast walker anyway...
So essentially I don't like being forced up onto the balls of my feet all the time but nor do I like walking with a completely flat foot. xP

 

Boots! Boots boots boots. Especially boots with zippers, because that takes less time, but I'll take lace-ups too if I like them enough. I have a pair that has laces and zippers and after the zippers broke I just used the laces. (It took me ages to remember that the laces were there, though. I mean the zippers broke and I was just like "Guess I can't wear those any more! :(" for ... actual weeks.)

Other than that I like shoes that end somewhere above the ankle, so I have a couple of pairs that are converse-shaped. Flats are okay unless they are too loose or floppy or scrape the backs of my ankles, but I only have one pair right now and they are the ankle-scrapey kind so I wear them exclusively and rarely on Sundays.

I wear socks whenever I have shoes on because I hate the feeling of my bare feet on most materials that are on the inside of shoes. Especially the plastic-y sponge-y kind, ugh. Only wear them around the house if my feet are cold, though (which they usually are in winter). And usually go barefoot outside unless I'm planning on shoveling or something.

 

@Vacuum Energy i need a pair of those like burning, but they're a bit above my budget atm. >>_<<

signed!
i basically live on my futon, can't drag my dirty shoes on it.

speaking of breaking in shoes, my grandmother used to buy her shoes a size too small because she said she'd break them in. thing is, she had so many shoes, and tended to buy expensive ones, too, that that sort of never happened, and it fucked up her feet.
i nabbed a pair of heeled sandals (thin heel, too, i would've never touched a shoe like that but they're. so. pretty.), see brackets for why, after she died, and....
they're too small. i can't wear them. i'd love to, they're so pretty, but they're too small. i rather walk barefoot through friedrichshain than wear those shoes again. it's less painful, even with the glass dust.

 

Do sneakers count as laced, sports shoes, or no heel?

 

@Vacuum Energy I actually own a pair! The first time I wore them, they felt like cheating. I felt like I was going barefoot in public! I can't wear them too long for a couple of reasons though. A) very little cushion, so if when I'm standing on hard floor for a long time, my feet get sore B) they kinda squeeze a bit too much on my feet. They aren't comfortable when sitting around a lot(something I do too much of at my job). But! I totally love them for physical activity. I actually bought them for when I'm fencing. They actually let me feel the ground, which is awesome(and beneficial for the sport). Sadly, I haven't fenced in awhile, so they are sitting in my closet sad and neglected.

 

@BPD anon all three, I think. The catagories kinda overlap eachother. Like, you can have velcro BOOTS, but you can also have laced BOOTS. Also, you can pick multiple catagories, if you'd like.