Sunday Shoe Stories

Since I have such an impressive collection of shoes, I feel that I should make said collection a feature on this blog. So, every Sunday, you will all be introduced to a pair of shoes from my collection. There will be pictures of me wearing the shoes, and you’ll hear about the history of how I acquired the shoe, as well as reasons why I like them. But the most important part of the Sunday Shoe Story will be how each pair of shoes can change a person. Wearing different pairs of shoes puts me in different moods, so you’ll also hear about how each pair of shoes inspires me to show a different part of my personality to the world. Some of these stories will be entirely true, and from my own experiences wearing the shoes, but some will tend more towards fiction, as some of the shoes take me into a more whimsical headspace. Hope you all enjoy the first installation of the Sunday Shoe Stories!

To begin our story, we must start at the true origin; my first pair of non-practical shoes that I bought in grade 10. At this time in my life, I was not the discerning shopper that I was today, so this pair of shoes actually came from Wal-mart, which to anyone who knows fashion, is not exactly the trend-setting place for footwear. Yet to my 16-year old self, these shoes were perfect: they were heels, yet I could walk in them in relative comfort, and to top it all off they only cost me $5. Most importantly, these shoes fit the style that I was rocking at the time. Yes, I am sad to admit, but I was a convert to the “punk” style that was all the rage in my high school due to the musical influence from Avril Lavigne and Billy Talent (whose show I went to see when they graced Kamloops with a concert). Most people who actually consider themselves “punk” these days would scoff at hearing me cite Avril Lavigne as an influence of the genre, but what they don’t realize is that the style of punk that was popular in the early 2000s was largely because of Avril. The punk style still relied on classic black, and plaid patterning, but it had a softer tone. Plaids came in every colour, including pink, skulls were side by side with bows, and rainbows offset the dreariness of solid black. When I became a convert I followed all of these fashion rules: I bought black eyeliner, wore a lot of sarcastic sayings and band shirts (among them the phrase “stop staring at me” and Lillix), and I owned a pink plaid kilt and wore it over jeans.

Of course, I abandoned these fashion errors pretty quickly as I grew up, but the shoes stayed. I would never wear them again with a pink plaid kilt, but a poufy skirt or a pair of darkwash skinny jeans pairs with them seamlessly. When I strap these platforms on my mind goes back to a more innocent time in my life, where hanging out at the mall, and finishing my Macbeth homework was most important in my life, and not going to work every day and remembering to pay bills on time. The shoes allow me to be not the angry punk girl I was in high school, but the cute, but grown up, punk girl who still has some attitude left. Walking around the city in these shoes doesn’t get me labeled as one of the deviant punks who uselessly loiter in front of the McDonalds on Douglas, but instead gives people a little shock that there is such a thing as a “nice” punk girl. Adding just a touch of the punk lifestyle to an outfit isn’t going to get you labeled, but it gives the public a chance to see that not all punks can be stereo-typed as deviants and social rebels. It is possible to have anti-establishment ideals, and express them in a physical way through fashion, without affecting people in a negative way. For me, putting on this pair of wedges doesn’t just mean expressing my non-conformist ideals, it also reminds me of my happy childhood memories and that I shouldn’t let those times go entirely as I grow up. So next time you feel that your boring corporate life is getting you down, take my advice and bring something out of your closet that you haven’t worn in years (yet can’t bear to throw away) and actually wear it. It might just shake up your routine after all J