Of all the topics we discuss here, shoes – especially leisure shoes – is one of the most volatile. Ladies like their shoes! And they are a very personal thing, in terms of expressing the style idiom of the one wearing them. So, I thought perhaps we’d play another personas and perceptions fashion lab.
Here’s what to do: I’ll post pictures of different shoes, but they’ll all be from the same season (summer) and lifestyle segment (leisure). Paranthetically, I am allowed to use the pictures here because if you click on one, it will take you to a site where you can purchase the product. If you purchase the product, they pay me a small commission. There, full disclosure. Now, back to the lab. 🙂 What you are to do is to identify the age of the wearer and something about their style personality, as well as any other comments you’d like to add.
One last thing: I realize that not everyone can pay $100 for a pair of shoes, even one that promises to last 8 or 10 years. What’s your upper limit in this shoe category?
As in the past, I’ll go first:
1- (these are shower shoes for a) 60 yo who is pretty oblivious to style
2- 35 yo traditional everyday shoes, or 50 yo glamorous to wear down to the pool.
3- 20 yo traditional
4- contemporary classic 75 yo
5- 30 yo classic, but she’s owned them for 10 years
6- 25 yo innovator
7- lol 65 yo for sure. Someone who is fun!
8- someone with taste, but limited options because of foot health issues
9- 20- 70, glamourous or innovative (at least in accent)
10- as thumper’s dad always said …
1. lower 20s, member of university women’s soccer team when they’re at a game but off the field.
2. 40-something, on way to yoga class.
3. Every teenager here in Canterbury.
4. My 50 year old sister in law, for whom these are nearly unendurably sexy.
5. Late 40s female Old Testament professor who participates in Dead Sea Scrolls digs.
6. 70 something who cannot tell the diff between this and #5
7. All the under-10 wannabe princesses
8. Tasteful late 40s on seaside holiday
9. Any age, feminine yet not prissy.
10. Any age, but with poor eyesight
Upper limit? Well, casual shoes are basically what I wear most of the time, and so they are what I have most of. My casual sandals for summer run around £45 (or about $70 USD). I buy about 1 pair a year at full price, maybe a second on sale at deep discount. I expect each pair to last a minimum of 2 years.
And #3, for crying out loud, is a RUBBER FLIP-FLOP! Why would anyone pay that asking price for a flip-flop? I can barely imagine paying more than about $6USD, and that would be the outer limit. Anyone hear of TARGET?
I think you two nailed them all already. Rebecca I got the Thumper joke! I hate, despise and loathe any variation of #10. I still see the elastic-with-platform-wedge ones occasionally… those are the worst.
What I learned from this exercise (which was very fun!): Leather is the way to go for leisure sandals.
I would have killed for #4 when I was in 5th grade in 1980… everyone had those Bass Sunjuns. I do really like the Clarks #8.
Upper limit for leisure sandals: about $85. Summer sandals are so difficult for me to buy for some reason. I think it’s partly because I’m mainly camping, gardening, kayaking, etc. so I’m not wearing anything nice.
You don’t want to know what I think of most of those sandals! No 8 are about the only ones that can be worn with anything other than shorts and a t-shirt when slopping around your house, with no visitors!
I’m with Imogen, exactly. That shoe assortment has me recoiling. Anyway, I pay as little as possible for any kind of shoes because 1) I’m fickle and don’t count on still liking them years down the road and 2) I walk miles on concrete sidewalks and just expect to wear them out because the last time I spent money to get a perfectly fitting pair resoled they came back from the shoemaker wearable but just slightly stretched enough to ruin the perfect feel of them.
I had trouble picturing what was “summer leisure.” If that’s just when a person is not going to work, then I’ve switched back to heels for the youthful look of it, so I have a lot of high heeled or wedge sandals. If it’s yard work or, more typically for me, pushing a full grocery cart on a 2 mile round trip, or just getting out of the shower or up and down stairs doing lots of laundry, then I keep 4 pair of shock absorbing thong sandals. Two are by Airwalk and are like that croc material, one in white and one in spring green. Two are leather Dr. Scholl’s, one black and one white. They look okay. I guess these 4 are the closest to what you show. They’re all for total practicality, change of heel height and getting some super arch support and cushioning. Not much to do with fashion or style.
BTW, in my nieghborhood #1 is worn by thuggish young men who always wear them with clean white socks.
Now, I think the purple Birks are sort of fun for those who can wear Birks (which I can’t.). And I have a pair sort of like number 6, for long walks over rugged terrain. They may not be the most stylish (and I don’t wear them to work, church or social events), but they have their place. And the Bass sunjuns are not terrible, just not exciting. I think Imogen, despite her professional credentials, is being a bit of a snob. Or doesn’t have a life where something other than looks matter. Sorry, Im, but that’s where it’s at for me–I have little patience for those with no consideration for practicalities.
I’m not sold on ‘heels=youthful’. For some, perhaps, but my rule is that the first job of a shoe is to be kind to your feet. Everyone has a different definition of that–mine is the Hippocratic Oath of shoes (first do no harm). More than a 1.5″ heel breaks that oath for me. A cute flat with good arch support is better than a heel for some of us.
Ah, well.
Wendy in England, I guess I think of these shoes above as “work” shoes because at leisure I want to be doing what I want to be doing and at “work” I have to do physical tasks. The youthful idea I am trying out comes from looking at all those pages where they show stylish wardrobe by decade and I kept noticing that as the decades advance the heel height goes down. I like being treated as and thinking of myself as youthful. I think clothing signals how you want to be treated and I’m quite shallow. Friend who is in public relations once said something to me about 95% of everything being in the appearance/perception of what it is. And I think most people most of the time quickly categorize what they see for ease of understanding. Heels are a silly concept but they do seem to signal youthfulness. I find I can walk for miles in 3 1/2 heels and especially so in a high stylish wedge. I actually do wear them around the house, too.
Rebecca will like this fashion lab type post about heel height
http://fashionafterforty.blogspot.com/2009/03/geometry-of-heels.html
Vildy, I think of myself as ‘youthful’ mainly because I move around without the hobbling, crippling pain that a 2″ heel inflicts on me (and that is before I stand up on them).
And having been treated as ‘youthful’, I’m pretty bloody sick of it if you ask me. Treating a woman as ‘youthful’ means, at least in my profession, treating her as inexperienced, incompetent, not worthy of respect, and only useful for her decorative function. I’m 48 in two weeks from tomorrow, I’ve got a PhD, an impressive list of publications and international presentations, and over a decade of post-doc (this was second career) experience.
I get treated as though I’m ‘youthful’ all the time–which means I get to be the minute-taker at important meetings rather than the person with something substantive to say. Last week I was on the presenting team for two important partnership programmes with our local university, and the ONLY qualified academic on my side of the table. And I was treated as though I was ‘youthful’ , by people on my own team and on the panel we were pitching to. In ‘fairness’, I am the newest member of the team. But, I’m not the youngest, and I was hired because I have more experience in some of this than any other person on our side of the debate. ‘Youthful’ was a waste of two working days’ time.
I can do without ‘youthful’. ‘Youthful’ means you’re waiting do do something worthy of notice. ‘Youthful’ means you’re not ready to sit with the big people.
I don’t want to be treated as though I’m ‘youthful’. I want to be treated as a mature, accomplished, experienced professional.
It doesn’t mean I’m ready to be treated as ‘over the hill’, either, because I have a load of good years ahead of me. But there’s a lot of clear space between ‘youthful’ (frivolous, superficial, inexperienced) and ‘over the hill’ (nothing left to offer). That space between is the best part of life, and I’m not ready to regress.
My big social event last week was a reception to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury. ‘Youthful’ was not wanted there either. I wanted to make an impression that says ‘important thinker’. Not ‘pretty young and inconsequential.’
Sorry–I just don’t hold ‘youthful’ in such high esteem. I’m not a super-feminist, but I just get galled when women act like the most important thing about growing older is to give the appearance that it hasn’t happened.
I have no idea about most of these. I would wear #8 or #9 though.
Unfortunately I find them all perfectly hideous. I certainly wouldn’t wear any of them, even to the beach. I did once buy a pair of Birkenstocks, having been assured that they were ultra-comfortable… and when I actually wore them once (1) they were extremely UNcomfortable, and (2) I suddenly became attractive to a number of treehugging hippy types who made all sorts of false assumptions about me based on my absolutely hideous sandals. Oh, the embarrassment! I wore them a few more times (mainly around the house!) to see if they would become comfortable and they never did, and they have remained unworn since, and no one I have tried to give them to has wanted them (unlike other hardly-worn shoes I have offered!).
For the beach I have a pair of $12 flip flops that are gold and fun. For hardcore walking I have probably not found my ultimate pair of sandals (I have found that a particular pair of shoes with a 4.25 inch heel and hidden platform is actually – to my astonishment – my most comfortable shoe for walking a lot (unless on uneven surfaces), but I am still looking for the ultimate sandal for summer) but I have some trendy deeply discounted bronze Steve Maddens and Luichinys that I wear, and perhaps if I wore them in a bit they might do for lots of walking.
I generally find that flat shoes hurt at the ball of my foot, so I can understand why you might pick sandals with a chunky sole, but I’d like to find some that look elegant or at least not hideous. The closest I have is a pair of metallic flip flop style sandals from Born (if I remember the name correctly).
Hmm. None of these sandals do it for me at all. I do have some Reef flipflops (like #3) bought at deep discount–$20 instead of $60–which I wear at the beach and for padding around inside in the summer. I have owned Tevas in the past for water sports, but I can’t say I like the looks of them!
For summer casual wear, I have two pair of Born wedge sandals (both purchased slightly used on ebay) and a pair of chunky leather Clarks (NIB on ebay)–all are very comfortable and casual, but somewhat more polished than the pictured sandals.
I don’t pay more than about $35 for shoes in this category, but I do like well-made leather sandals. I have my ways to get them for less! 🙂
I can see spending $80-90 for a pair of solid, multipurpose sandals, like the Chaco’s in your previous post. Those are something I could happily wear during most summer activities. And, judging by your experience with them, the per wear cost will end up lower than purchasing a new pair of trendy sandals each year.
My very simple dress sandals were purchased on clearance 5-7 years ago – for about $25 per pair – 1 black, 1 ivory. Flip flops for afternoons at the pool, those are about $3-6 at Old Navy and are replaced each summer. (Half way through the summer this year, as the new furry family member pulled them out of my swim bag and chewed them like bubble gum.)
Well, you pegged me: #4 (white and any other color I can get:-)) I liked their other colors.
I’ve never been about to deal with slip-ons or thongs; too much walking on rocks and up-down stairs.
What would be lovely would be a sandal with the superb comfort of the fabulously shock-absorbing springy Doc Marten AirWear sole… but in an elegant sandal….
Sarah, I think the ones I posted in the previous post about the Chacos is as close as I think it comes. Super-comfy, but suitable for just about all but the most formal events in my life. I’m wearing them to an alumni reception on Friday with a pretty silk dress I got in the sales.
Admittedly, as a collection, these are pretty much ugly shoes. But, man, was I shocked! Right after I posted this, I went to Costco and, of course, I was looking at shoes. Out of all the ladies there, at least 90% of them were wearing flip-flops. Honestly, for two reasons, I just can’t wear flip flops for shoes. One, I don’t believe they are generally safe for driving (I am not judging what anybody else does, I just don’t like to drive in flip flops – or barefoot). And two, when they get wet, they are slippery; thus, they don’t work for wearing around the yard.
So, when I look for a summer leisure shoe, it needs to be solidly on the foot.
(The remaining female shoppers at Costco were wearing either runners with quarter sock or some variety of stylish “leg color” enclosed flats. I was so surprised to see hardly anything else!)
They are all unappealing to me, with the Birks (my husband calls them Birth Control Shoes) leading the parade. Most offer no arch support which is fine for an hour, but not to stride around.
Will pay $150-$300 (which I think is a fortune) for Thierry Rabotin on sale, or Arche. But I can WASH the nubuck Arches and the TRs are featherweight and stylish. Of course I’d love to find another pair like the $30 Naturalizers on second markdown at a shoe discounter, but… mostly my life is high end shoes on sale.
“birth control shoes” LOL – that may end up being repeated!
Has anyone ever bought a pair of shoes (sandals especially) that were marvellously comfortable at purchase–and then betrayed you later?
Last year, I needed rugged, comfortable sandals, and bought these:
http://www.clarks.co.uk/find/keyword-is-jute+knot/product-is-20310583
And they were great.
This year, every time I put them on, they give me a blister–usually under the sole of my foot. It seems that there’s a lot of friction with the insole, and it just builds up a lot of heat and my feet are unhappy after a relatively short while.
They are, however, extremely durable, and there is barely any visible wear on the sole (which is a major feature of Clarks these days). And this may not happen with someone else, so they are going in the charity pile.
I don’t like any of these. The only one I might wear is #5… for wading in a river or lake that had rocks in the bottom. And I would buy cheap ones for 10 bucks. These definitely all have a look for older women. I am 27.
For your experiment…
#1. University soccer players or people in their 20s and 30s who used to be university soccer players
#2. 40-60 years old at yoga class
#3. Someone in their teens, 20s, or 30s who has bad taste and doesn’t know how to pick a good pair of flip flops
#4. 50-75 years old, wearing them with a long dress or skirt
#5. Any age, male or female, camping canoeing, swimming in places without sand at the bottom
#6. 40-60 year old male from the city who is on summer vacation in the country
#7. Blech. A woman who is 35 or older and thinks wearing these shoes make her look young and trendy… not realizing that they actually do the opposite…
#8. Same as #4
#9. A woman 35 or older who wore this style when it was hip but possibly doesn’t realize the trend has passed, or doesn’t care. This is one of the less offensive pairs though…
#10. A middle aged asian woman. I know that sounds weird but I always see middle-aged (35-55) asian women wearing these shoes…
The most I would pay for a pair of leisure shoes is $60 and they would have to be freaking AWESOME style that I LOVE and made REALLY well. For any other pair I would never pay more than $30 or maybe even $20. Why would someone pay a lot for shoes that they won’t (shouldn’t) be wearing that often outside of the house?…
Holly – concerning number 10: I always see middle-aged and older caucasian women wearing these shoes only in tan. I guess the black makes sense for an asian woman, at least it repeats her hair color. 🙂