No Peep Toe Left Behind
Thursday, June 28th, 2007
I’ve been watching my SATC episodes, beginning with Season 2, second disc because I feel that the first season was too “new” and choppy, although they really hit their stride with Season 4 when even Aidan and Steve had their own storylines. (By the way, has anyone heard anything recently about a movie?)
Okay, so, I’m watching the episode on fetishes and hear Charlotte trying to justify her freebie sandals from “Buster” because he just really “loves it when someone loves shoes.” And I start to wonder, and let me preface this with I’m typing while well-heeled in my blue strappy patent leather Carlos Santana open toe T-strap heels, why do we love our shoes so much?
I know, I know…because we just do. But seriously, why? What is it about them that makes us feel so…special? Why do we have to have them? Why do we seek them out when we’re feeling crappy or lonely or fat? Why are we encouraged to do so? I mean, what’s the big deal? They’re just shoes, right?
Of course they aren’t.
I can’t tell you how many times and for how many years I have pranced barefooted through shoe departments, slipping on shoe after shoe after shoe at leisure (I’m lucky enough to wear the typical display size). I’ve killed time on a boring day doing just this, perked myself up after a particularly difficult week or break-up, become a collector of all colors of the rainbow in shoe leather, and even challenged myself to find the most outrageous pair possible, buy them, and then figure out with what and where to wear them. My love affair with shoes has been quite the spectacle indeed.
But then I gave up shoe shopping for Lent this past spring. I really did. Not because I’m particularly religious but because I realized that the sticker price was actually costing me much more. So, for 40 days and 40 nights I went sans shoes (except for a very secret, and sensible I might add, slip up when I bought the last size 6 black leather ballet flats–they were the last pair! And if you’re going to buy only one pair of shoes this season, ballet flats should be it!). I even managed to avoid a foreshadowed bender once Easter arrived. I didn’t buy a single pair even then.
Instead, my feet have been swaddled in the broken-in, dented, stuck-in-the-sidewalk-cracks shoes already to be found in my closets. I have my favorites of course, but like giving proper attention to each of one’s children, I prefer to keep them all in constant rotation. So although I eye many a pristine pair of slingbacks and wedges and strappy sandals, I let them pass unpurchased. Not because I don’t want them, but because I just can’t bring myself to drop $70-130 a couple times a month on something so…frivolous and empty.
Still, it is with a nostalgic sigh that I bid them adieu, deluding myself into believing that someone will come along and love them just as much and maybe even wear them with the appropriate attire.
Dude, I was hooked with the first line, except I avoid Season 1 because the hair distracts me. Especially Mirandas. Actually, Miranda’s hair and wardrobe, but that’s another story for another day. About shoes… I don’t know what it is. I think it might have to do with the fact that they have the ability to take something thought of as generally pretty unattractive (feet) and make them beautiful. Or, maybe it’s because they dramatically change your posture, something that clothes don’t do as often. Or maybe it’s because a shoe size doesn’t change if you have 2 cupcakes and 3 beers for dinner. Maybe knowing the shoe will always fit, makes girls more excited to buy shoes than clothes. Or maybe it’s just because they are so darn pretty. Whoa. I could go and on about this. i need to stop.
i love those polka dot shoes! so cute.
Brandy- Miranda’s hair WAS crazy ugly!!! And as for the shoes- they’re like art at times, aren’t they? It was difficult to even pick a pair to illustrate my post.
Kate- They’re Steve Madden and you can get them on zappos for around $90.
woa woa woa! it’s just NOW that i have found your blog?! and you talk about shoes! and satc! two of my most favoritest things! have i been living under a rock?!
i don’t know what it is about shoes either. but let’s be frank, a shoe is NEVER, just a shoe. i have a shoe for every mood, every occasion.
i love that you mentioned season one being a little rough. i feel the same way. the music isn’t the same, the clothes, their HAIR (right on brandy!). i agree, it finally hit it’s stride come season two-ish.
i heard about a movie a couple months ago. at first i had heard it wasn’t going to happen, now i hear they are in talks about it again. i’m not totally sure how i feel about it. i kind of like how it ended on a high note… hmm…
I’m thinking maybe we were separated at birth, you and I.
The thing about shoes is that I can be everything I want to be in them. At work in somber suits or “professional casual” we strip ourselves of a little bit of our flair… but the shoes… well the shoes are always fabulous. High and red. Pointed toes and stacked heels. splashy patterns, t-straps – the shoes are where I get to be myself completely and I love them for it!
brookem- I wonder the same thing about the movie…I’d love to see it if it’s ever made, but don’t want it to ruin everything that came before. Plus, Big has been losing his beautiful hair over the years.
bre- the shoes ARE always fabulous. But, I believe, so are we…with or without them. (I wish I really believed that…)
Season One SATC, it’s the whole Carrie breaking the fourth wall that puts me off I think. It’s more effective when she just communicates with the audience through her column. And the hair. Miranda was not allowed to be pretty in Season One!
Shoes make me happy. And taller. That’s enough for me!
Chica- I KNOW! Every time she turns to the camera with the eyebrow raised confessional, I sorta cringe…
Looks like we’re in store for a movie after all:
http://www.usmagazine.com/sex_and_the_city_0
I predict that Carrie will NOT get married however. And I think that’s just fine.
i was JUST coming over here to say i heard the news about the movie! they start filming in september. so we have some time to predict the story here…