It's all about the shoes......

There is a picture of me at the tender age of three, strutting my stuff in my mom and dad's shoes.  One foot in heels, the other in a slipper.  And so the conundrum had started.  Fashion or comfort?  Well, as we all know - it's ultimately about the looks.  Comfort comes a close second these days, but it was not always the case.  I come by my love of shoes honestly.  My mom owned twenty-five pairs when she got married - one to go with every outfit.  Every pair was leather.  Not the plastic garbage that they pass off as shoes in the big box stores.  Being as I went to a Catholic girls school, the uniforms made everyday dressing a cinch.  Shoes were the standard brown or black oxfords - buckle or lace.  Very uninspiring. The winter boots that went over them with the big buckle, went hand in hand.  There was no room for being unique or special or anywhere this side of stylish.  Just plain ugly.  But it got worse.  In grade three, it was discovered that my feet were on their way to becoming pigeon toed.  To my absolute horror, I was made to wear brown ankle high lace up shoes.  They looked more like army boots and felt even worse.  I thought I would die of embarrassment.  A whole year - which in fact was an eternity - of wearing these rectified the problem.  Of course hindsight has enabled me realize how lucky I was to have my feet taken care of.  As a result, it only made me more determined to have beautiful shoes.  While I grew up in Montreal (and the shopping was amazing!) all shoes were purchased in the Italian part of the city.  Beautiful leather shoes of every description and not costing an arm and a leg.  You were sized and fitted for the shoe.  You had service.  It was wonderful.  I think my most favourite sandals though, came from Italy directly.  Both my parents had gone to Europe for my dad's company when I was in grade four.  Aside from bringing back beautiful wool fabrics from England (more about that another time), my mom presented me with the most amazing sandals I had ever seen in my young life.  They were chartreuse leather with the strap coming up through the toe and a delicate strap buckled around the ankle.  The top was thin accordion leather pleated and a lustrous pearl was sewn in between each pleat.  I thought I'd died and gone to shoe heaven.  I still think about those sandals.  I can't remember what ever happened to them once I grew out of them, but hopefully they went to some other deserving young fashionista.   These days it's still about the shoes.  I keep my shoes - as long as they still fit and fit the fashion criteria - they stay with me, some as long as ten years.  So as a result, I have a lot of beautiful shoes that need to be dusted because I still don't have a job that I am able to wear them to.  That's why it's so important to go out with friends as often as possible, wearing your shoe of choice and having a beautiful time together.