Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Red Stilettos? Not with MY Feet!

By Kay Kendall

Darned good thing I’m not required to wear stilettos to be part of this magnificent gang of writers. I’m tall, two inches shy of six feet, and have no need whatsoever for sky-high heels. And to boot (hee hee) I don’t wear red shoes—or any other bright color. Nature gifted me with rather large feet (ahmm) in order to balance my height.

Nancy, my pal since kindergarten, always teases me about my foot size. I reply I'd tip over if they were small, or average, in length. That's a sensible view—all of me should be in proportion. But recently I saw actress Brooke Shields interviewed on TV when she divulged an odd factoid. Though she's six feet tall, her shoe size is a seven. She concluded, “Therefore I often fall over.” I raced to phone Nancy to tell her that my opinion had been validated. (Inquiring minds might like to know my own size rhymes with the number seven.)

Despite my flippant answer, I'm not fond of my feet. They often don’t even seem to belong to me, lurking at such a far distance from my eyes. My feet seem almost alien. This probably relates to the fact that I once had difficulty finding shoes to fit me, back when larger sizes for women were uncommon and I would end up buying ill-fitting footwear. Consequently my feet always hurt.

Style wise I also took what I could get. My shoes were never stylish and always in somber colors. In my first job after grad school, my employer was hosting a fancy dinner. One of my coworkers wanted to know what I was wearing—answer: blue—and then what color shoes I would wear. When she heard I could choose either black or brown shoes, she was stunned, insisting I had to do better than that. She set to work on me, getting me to upgrade to fancier footwear. My fascination with more interesting shoes dates from that point in time—30 years ago.

 These days the range of sizes for female feet has grown—and my feet have not, hallelujah! Now my shoes spread all over my closet and creep into my husband’s space. The colors range more widely—showing a partiality to gold and blue. Nevertheless, you still won't find a heel higher than two inches, or a pair that is red. Some things never change.
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Meet the author


Kay Kendall is a long-time fan of historical novels and now writes mysteries that capture the spirit and turbulence of the sixties. A reformed PR executive who won international awards for her projects, Kay lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to her bunnies, she loves them anyway! Her book titles show she's a Bob Dylan buff. In 2015 Rainy Day Women won two Silver Falchion Awards at Killer Nashville. Visit Kay at her website < http://www.austinstarr.com/>or on Facebook < https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor>

 


3 comments:

  1. Oh, my, I feel your pain, Kay! My feet are wide and when you add bunions to the mix, it doesn't make for fun shoe shopping. I keep praying that shoe companies will get the message that not all women have skinny little feet!

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  2. oh yes, Shari, when our feet hurt we are miserable. Now that I can find lots of size 11, my feet are much happier, although like you my feet are wide, mine across the toes. I would happily chop off my little toe on my right foot, which is half a size larger than the left, by the way. But I can cope now, so much better than when I squeezed into size 10s--and even those were hard to find twenty years ago. I am glad that younger women have made comfy shoes more acceptable because now there is so much more choice. Stilettos make a great murder weapon though, tee hee. That of course is for our fiction!

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  3. Juliana Aragon FatulaSeptember 19, 2018 at 9:02 PM

    Hi, ok.
    I have apache feet. Small narrow heels and wide platypus looking toes. So my shoes slip off my heels. It's a pain. I feel you.Juliana

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