BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Beauty Basics Why are womens shoes such a popular accessory?

I've been working on an article about our obsession with womens shoes and I thought it would be fun to turn it over to the forum.

How many of you think womens shoes are habit-forming? How many of you keep on shopping for more, even when you've got tons of pairs that you never wear?

How many of you never seem to have the right pair for an outfit or occasion, even though you own tons of shoes?

Feelings about high heels? Love em? Hate em?

Do you buy shoes that will attract attention? Impress other women? Make you feel sexy? Make a statement? Keep up with fashion trends?

Do you think ugg style boots are ugly or here to stay?

Do you keep outdated styles, hoping they'll come "back in" some day?

OK, I think you all get the idea. Let's hear from you!!

I never throw away a pair of shoes. I buy too many. I love high heels. I have no problem stuffing my feet into some uncomfortable pointy pair of heels, if they look fabulous. I have tons of shoes, both trendy and classic. I refuse to spend more than $40 on a pair of super-trendy shoes, though, because I know I'll only wear them a few times. I despise Ugg boots, I never owned a pair, and I never will... they're tacky and ugly and they'll be gone in not too long. I love shoes. Love, love, love, love, love. Adore. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Well, I had to google Ugg boots as I was clueless...first thought was "Ugg was a typo for Ugly" which made me think of my steel-toed knee high engineer boots (we used to ride and hubby insisted on the steel toed boots in case your foot got in the back wheel. These ugly things were the only pair in my size at the work boot store! This was before Harley Davidson came out with all of the boots for any age). Now I only wear them if it is icy/snow accumulation or for sand plum picking. I always feel better knowing that my ankles are covered in case of snakes.

I have seen the high school girls here wearing the Ugg boots (what where they thinking when they named those? "Ugg...you make-em dinner woman". I am picturing Rachel Welch in that cave man movie).

Remember the Moon Boots? Haven't seen those around in a while...the Ugg boots will probably join those.

Personally I am not much of a shoe person. I have horrible feet problems and always wear good shoes that provide good arch support and they make my feet feel good. I am probably that person you see who's shoes don't match their outfit and you are wondering "what was she thinking?!"

One day my phone rings. It's my ex-boyfriend who I'm on good friendly terms with. He asks me, off the top of my head, how many pairs of shoes do I have?

me: you mean like all my shoes? every day shoes, fetish shoes, slippers, everything?

him: yeah

me: (after a few minutes mental math) I'd say about two dozen

him: that's all?

me: well, how many pairs of shoes do you have?

It turns out he's got about as many pairs of shoes as I have, maybe less, but that he'd read online that women own 60 pairs of shoes ON AVERAGE, and that his present girlfriend fit that bill to a T, and she didn't believe him when he said there was no way I'd ever owned that many shoes.

Other than when I'm wearing fetish shoes, chances are my shoes are going to be black in color, flat-soled and the sort of thing you could stand in all day or walk a few miles in. I most often have one pair of shoes that wind up my predominant day-to-day shoes, and I walk-through/wear-out/destroy one pair of those a year.

Hi Megan,

Thanks for your reply, you're my first shoe-obsessed woman to speak up! I have to admit that I'm a lot like you, except that I finally donated a big box full of shoes last summer, and I plan to do it again soon. I realized that I'm a "collector", but that I had too many pairs that I hadn't worn in a dog's age, and probably wouldn't wear again.

As for those pretty, strappy sandals and high heels, I've always been a sucker for 'em. But now that I'm an old married gal I seem to have less and less occasion to wear them. So sad! <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

The older I get the more I go for the comfort shoes. In fact, I bought a pair of Uggs at my local Marshall's about 5 years ago for around $15 on sale,(also like you, I like to get my shoes cheap!)thinking they were slippers. I've worn them as slippers ever since, until my ugg-addicted sister-in-law pointed out what they were. This type of boot is made to be worn without socks, year round, and are supposed to keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They were designed in Australia, for surfers, back in the late 70's and only recently became a hit in the US. I have to admit, they're sure comfy!!

Hi Conniem,

I do wonder about the "ugg" thing too. I'll bet it's initials for something, but yeah, what what were they thinking?

I'm not sure about moon boots. Were they those really big bulky ones? A lot of hollywood types, like Mariah Carrie, are into these huge furry boots that you used to be fashionable for "apres ski". Some women even wear them with skirts (same with uggs).

Does anyone remember Earth Shoes? Big in the 70's. They had a rubber sole that was higher in front than in back, so your heels were lower than your toes, and were supposed to imitate how your heel sinks when you walk in sand. They were butt ugly, but very popular for a while. So were the Dr. Shoals sandals with the wooden sole that was made with a ridge for the toes to grab onto (not ugly, just popular). Both styles were supposed to exercise and tone your feet, calves, or whatever.

Oh, I'm a shoe fanatic, too! My husband is constantly moaning about my shoes. He wants to know how many different pairs of black shoes do I need, LOL! I try to point out the differences, but his eyes glaze over.

And I actually see shoes that I must have, and THEN go look for the outfit to go with them. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

And the thing that I am most looking forward to when I finish losing my wieght is going out and buying super sexy high heel boots! <img src="/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />

Rea,

I'm thinking you're not a shoe person! And even though I definitely am, I still end up with one pair each season that I wear to death, and they're always comfortable. I'm less and less tolerant of shoes that hurt. In my twenties I could wear anything no matter how high-heeled, pointy toed, hard-soled, or arch-supportless they were, for the sake of looking good. In my thirties the heels started getting lower and less spikey, and I needed more toe room. Now, in my forties, I can only drag out those hot-looking heels and toes for very special occasions, and I usually end up in my stocking feet halfway through the event!! But that doesn't stop me from drooling over those styles when I go shoe-shopping.

So, tell us more about fetish shoes, I know nothing....

I have to say, I've pruned my shoe collection down in the last few moves. Anything that hurt my feet when I wore them went and anything that was so special as to only match one outfit went too.

As for fetish shoes, well, Carolyn, I was once asked to prove my kinky footwear in the editor forum, so here ya go...



Six inch heels, three inch platforms, patent leather, custom-made with purple flames. Can't get much more fetish shoe than that... at least not on a public Bella forum....hahahahaha. I could stand in those things all night in my 20s, but as 40 comes closer, I wear other shoes on the street and then change into things like this when I get wherever I'm going. <img src="/images/graemlins/viking.gif" alt="" />

Rae, forget the feet, i don't think my legs would do that!!!
<img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
LOL