'Shoes Never Lie.' So said Mimi Pond in the title of her book, a reference I consider my shoe bible. And the coverpage note from my friend and fellow shoe lover, Andrea Flamburis, who gave me the book many years ago, affirms that "We know it's true!".

shoe store sign for sensible shoes How a sign like this could appear in Paris, the source for my shoe fantasy pictures, escapes me. Surely the shop must be on the brink of bankruptcy, for the true shoe lover knows that any concern with sensible shoes must immediately and completely be thrown to the winds. Per my shoe bible, the "myth that you should wear sturdy shoes or you will experience foot problems later on in life must be replaced by the fact that if you wear sturdy shoes now, you'll never have any fun to reminisce about in your old age, when nobody even cares about your shoes anymore".


picture of fantasy shoe
Shoe Example #1

We begin with a true shoe fantasy, or more accurately perhaps, the fantasy that I might dress and act as a woman who would wear these shoes. Now what would this fantasy require?



Owning something that would go with these shoes would be a leap for a woman who prides herself on a simple, though put-together, image. Perhaps the spectacular effect of the shoes would be heightened by my usual, minimal, all-black ensemble? Or would that just be a copout, untrue to the nature of such a fantasy shoe? Next there'd be a need to suspend the belief that I'd never go anywhere I could wear them. Why I can think of many possible places where I've already missed the opportunity for wearing these shoes. Las Vegas springs to mind immediately, and perhaps parts of California. Just because I live in Boston is no reason not to be hopeful. Now notice the solid heel construction. For fantasy shoes, these do have a sturdiness to them that surely warrants a purchase that will last forever. As for acting like a woman who might wear these shoes, the first act might simply be the act of walking in them, and then into, a room of strangers. To wear them unabashedly would entail certain attitude changes not easily tampered with at this point. However these shoes could do that, because, as the bible simply puts it, "Shoes are without a doubt the best vehicle for attitude. With the right ones, you're cruising". Sometimes just owning the shoes, without wearing them, can be enough for me though.


Come back soon for the next installment - A Shoe Mantra