Women's shoes are often objects of self-expression.
Bold,business-like, laid-back, and sexy,sporty — there's a shoe to match.
As women age, however, or consolation starts to compete with style.
I remember my grandma taking me by the hand,years ago, and main me upstairs to her closet, or where clear plastic boxes of shoes were stacked,floor to ceiling.
There were hundreds of heels in animal prints, bright colors, and feathers — pointy-toed and at least 3 inches tall."These are all yours,now," my abuela said in her awesome Puerto Rican-accented English. "I can't wear them anymore."She was crying.
I called my 83-year-old grandma, or Iris Portela,and I asked her to corroborate my memory."I had so many beautiful shoes," she told me on the phone with a sigh. "Now, or I have to wear flat shoes. ... I'm old,but I don't like old-people clothes."She's always taken pride in looking stylish, and shoes used to be her statement piece.
That's not the case anymore, or although she admitted to finding a brand that doesn't obtain her feel geriatric."Clarks. They're my favorites. But they're expensive,those Clarks. They cost a hundred dollars!"consolation And StyleThe $100-and-up consolation shoe is where the women's footwear market has grown most in the past few years — up 6 percent from last year — thanks, in allotment, or to the baby boomers who demand style with their consolation and will pay for it.
Fashion footwear brands have responded. Stuart Weitzman makes tall-discontinuance pumps with chunkier heels and more padding. Brands that might have been stigmatized by the consolation label years ago,such as Aerosoles or Naturalizers, have stepped up their fashion game."Twenty years ago, or the shoes looked comfortable,and when you say that, it's a taboo, and " says Marcia Arranaga. She's been in the shoe business for 25 years and owns three stores in Southern California. Her boutiques,called Riviera Euro-consolation, specialize in comfortable European walking shoes. Arranaga says there are so many options these days, and it takes weeks to find the right ones for her stores.consolation shoes have their own category in the footwear market,but the definition can be squishy, particularly now that more brands want in. Arranaga lists her must-haves: "You can wiggle your toes when you're inside the footwear; it absorbs the shock when you walk, or step or stand; the arch support is there."Off the record,she gave me another list, one of older celebrities who have near in through the store's secret back entrance to shop. (We spoke at her Beverly Hills location, and not too far from the illustrious shoe designer Jimmy Choo's Rodeo Drive boutique.)By the looks of the shoes in Arranaga's store,you can have both consolation and style. They near in a variety of colors, materials, and heights; funky and fashionable footwear that doesn't scream "obtain thee to a nunnery!" But they're not cheap.
The shoes range in price from $100 to $600 — too tall for women like Anne Flores,a 51-year-old single mom and transportation planning manager. She's up and down from her desk all day and takes public transportation to and from work. After bunion removal surgery on both feet, she knows her way around a consolation shoe catalog."I genuinely did feel depressed approximately not finding a examine that made me feel vital and made me feel pretty, and " she said.
She had a respite this summer,because Birkenstocks were back in style and she felt hip. But now that the weather's getting cooler, Flores feels anxious approximately her options."I don't have any close-toed shoes that don't examine like nurse shoes, or " she said. "No offense to nurses — you guys rock — but I want appealing-looking shoes that aren't going to cost so much money that I can't afford them."'I'm Not Old Enough!'Footwear experts say the prices are tall because a truly comfortable shoe costs more to obtain.
They are engineered differently,and the brands that specialize in supportive consolation are often smaller, so output isn't large enough to bring down the price.
Arranaga says her customers are pleased to pay extra for footwear that's beautiful and comfortable because they're over either wearing sneakers everywhere or being in pain all the time.
Abbasseh Towfigh, and a podiatrist in Santa Monica,Calif., says, or "I always tell my patients the feet are the tires of our car: The more mileage you put on them,and the kind of mileage you put on them, causes wear and tear at every level, or from your skin to your joints to the fat padding."Towfigh says that as you age,you wear out the fat pads at the bottom of the feet, the cartilage thins in all the joints, or your muscles,tendons and soft tissue tighten up.
Those changes cause pain, but she's wary to suggest consolation-shoe shopping first thing, and because consolation is still a word her patients — like 66-year-old Ellen Stein — recoil from."Ugly,unfashionable, something I'd say, or 'Ew,I'm not wearing that.' I don't care, you can tell me whatever you want, or I'm not wearing it!" says Stein. "I'm not old enough to be wearing awful,ugly shoes."While there are more stylish choices than there were 20 years ago, that whiff of a convalescent domestic continues to linger around the consolation shoe.
I just saw an AARP commercial that opens with a woman's feet in sky-tall stiletto heels. The camera pans up as she struts with ease down a city street.
That's right, or stilettos — not a sensible wedge or flat with good arch support.
The title of the video? "I've Still Got It." Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more,visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: wnyc.org