Ladies, please explain the "shoe thing" to me

I was looking at an other thread, about a scary looking pair of really high heel boots, and again, have to ask: "What is it about shoes that so many womyn get so revved about?"

I have about 4 or 5 pairs of shoes. A pair of Birkies, Ascot, light brown. One pair of pumps, for funerals and weddings, (I just threw away the ones I had for 25 years and bought a new pair a few months ago) a pair of rubber garden shoes, and a pair of hemp boots (flat heels) for winter, and one pair of moccasin type boots (as we left my boots in Chicago a few weeks ago, during a trip to Wisconsin and we got 4 inches of snow, so Bear had to take me to a cheap store and get me these, otherwise I would not have two pairs of boots.)

What is the shoe thing? I am not really butch at all, actually I am petite and kinda girly, but I am kinda one of the guys type chick. I hang around guys (as long as talk or TV is not about Sports) as easily as I do womyn. In fact, I am less picky about my men freinds than I am about my female freinds. So, it isn't that I am not "feminine." WHAT is the whole shoe thing? Why don't I care about them? Why do so many womyn adore shoes so much? DON'T MOST OF THEM HURT? COST a lot of money, too. (Hey, Birkenstocks may cost over $100.00 a pair, but I wear them for years and only need one pair at a time.)

Please explain.

 

good question. i have no idea. i prefer not wearing shoes. though on occaision i'll find a pair of shoes that are kinda funny or funky and i MIGHT buy them if they're under $10. i've got one pair each of sneakers, black shoes, brown shoes, winter boots and some flip flops.

 

I guess it's just a personal thing.
I have over 200 pairs of shoes. Ranging from 7 inch spike heels to Moccasins. I love all of them. Shoes are probably one of my favorite material things next to purses (Which I have a TON of). None of my shoes were overly expensive, most I find on sale. I guess that's one of the biggest reasons I have so many. My moccasins ($!50.00 handmade) are the most expensive pair of shoes I own.
I wear all of them. I'm not high maintenance, I just love shoes. I can hang with the guys or go out with the girls. I prefer the company of guys because there's less drama and what not. I dig sports, but I know how to dress up if the time's right.
I'm pretty girly....and a big ditz.

 

It's just a thing, I like them. It's like liking any material object, kitchen cooking gadgets (which I also adore). They're fun, and cute, and it's easier to match your outfit/mood with multiple pairs to choose from. *shrugs* it's really no different than liking owning a bunch of books.

 

But, I mean, in our society it is almost expected that WOMYN will have a lot of shoes and be nuts about shoes. I don't know if you can compare them to books, I mean, books don't "go out of style" and you can't lend them to people who want to learn something, right? And books aren't connected to one gender. Why chicks and shoes?

 

Because men and shoes are considered gay.
I guess it's just another stereo-type.

 

Lol!

 

I don't think it's expected it is just another stereo type.

 

Well it definitly is considered gay, but at the same time I can safely say basically all of my friends(the male ones anyways) have no desire to really own more then a pair of sandals and a pair of sneakers. Most of the guys I know don't even have a pair of dress shoes they can wear to something that takes a little more class, and those that do most of the time only have them cause their mother went out and got a pair for them herself when they had to go to a funeral/wedding.

 

oh bullshit. Don't tell me the da vinci code wasn't a fad. That we stereotype men as the only ones interested in books on sports and battleships, and chicks as the only ones who buy romance novels. You wanted an explanation, that's my ruddy explanation.

 

if you stick to basic shoes they never go out of style. i have a lot of shoes, mostly heels, which I now only wear for dates or if I am going out with my girlfriends or brinch or something. I used to wear them everyday. I prob have a good 50 pairs of heels and wedges, all classic and very well made and will last me forever.

I am a freak for casual shoes too. I am addicted to pumas...I can't even count how many pairs I have now and now my obsession has turned to vans slip ons...they just remind me of my childhood. I got a pink and brown pair with little hearts all over them the other week. i also love running shoes. I have a pair for the track and treadmil, then a pair for regular roads and a pair of offtrail running shoes-which I tend to know live in with fitted jeans and sweatshirts since I returned to school full-time.
I love bags too. I am horrible. I am a total prada and coach whore. Just nothings cuter than a little black dress, gold strappy heels, dangely gold earrings and a little satin black prada bag or destroyed denim with a brown tank, tan birkenstocks and my huge brown worn in coach bag.
Shoes and bags...shit I could take about this all day long.

 

I don't get the shoe thing either. Most of mine are just sneakers and flip-flops.

I'm more of a bag kinda girl.

 

I'm with Maggie. I only own a pair of athletic shoes, a pair of pumps I can't find, thongs, doc marten type of low shoe, and a pair of loafers. I buy maybe 1 or 2 pair a year to replace something that's just worn out.

 

where do you keep all 200 pairs of shoes? i think that would be my nightmare.. moving, and havign to move all those damn shoes. haha

im not a shoe girl... i have an extensive scarf collection instead..

 

i have 1 pair of converse and 1 pair of ballet pumps. all i need

i've tried heels, find them too impractical. just don't get the point.

 

In my closet.
And, they are hell to move.

 

before having kids, I was a shoe person myself. I had to have that pair of green pumps that perfectly matched my favorite suit. I just had to have a pair of white heels to wear with my wedding dress (and then never did wear them again, but I couldn't get rid of them, could I?). Each outfit needed the perfect shoes. It made me feel put together, and it seriously affected how I was treated by strangers, too. I never felt right if I wore something with the wrong shoes. Shoes can totally ruin the appearance of an outfit, make you look sloppy or frumpy, which can drastically reduce your income if you work for commission, or your chances of getting a raise if you work in an office. If I ever found a pair of shoes that looked nice and fit right (I used to have very small feet and my size was very hard to find) I would buy the same shoe in every color it came in. But now I don't have to dress professionally because I don't work outside the home anymore. I don't need seventy different pairs of shoes, but there was a time when I really did need them, every last one of them. Some people have lots of earrings, purses, Barbies, whatever. My husband has at least twenty different jackets (I kid you not). My oldest kid has near 100 My Little Ponies. I collect coffee mugs now instead of shoes. It's just a hobby, is my guess.

 

I adore shoes. I don't think it's anything that I've been forced to do because of my gender - I just like them. And if someone isn't into that, it's not a bad it's just them. Liking shoes is just me.


I mainly go for unusual shoes that bring that extra zap to an outfit - I don't like wearing clothes that are purely practical, I like a certain look and shoes compliment that (or they make the focal point of an outfit) Like the shoes I'm wearing today - sunshine-yellow, silk-style low heels with flowers screen printed all over them. They are unusual and cheerful. They are fun, maybe that's why I like them.

(Disclaimer - while I am a shoe addict I don't have any expensive shoes. I can't really justify spending heaps on shoes, but happily I don't really like wearing leather so most of my shoes are in the $5 - $30 range. I am considering buying some $100 fair trade 'converse' sneakers, but i'd only consider paying that much because the money goes to a good place.)

 

I have a serious shoe addiction... I have close to 400 pairs of shoes ranging from bazooka flipflops to fuck me boots... I think it has to do with matching Ive always been a wee bit obsessive compulsive about my shoes matching my outfit nevermind I can wear totally bazaar socks.. like brown belt-brown shoes, black belt- black shoes and then I started almost doing it alot with like white belts pink belts green belts etc etc... and I cant rock a mini the way I like to with sneakers gotta have heels.. plus heels work different muscles in your legs than flat shoes do thus making your butt appear way hotter and legs usually quite a bit sexier...

 

I don't have many shoes. I only switch between boots, sneakers, and flip flops for the summer. I do have a pair of pumps which I wore for the my graduation, and only once since then, and a pair of flat nice shoes that are made to last forever. that's all. I only buy shoes if one pair is to be replaced.