Shoes
Don’t know why this came to mind for me today. I just did a quick scan on the net and found that the average number of shoes a woman owns is 27. The average number a man owns is 7. I have no earthly idea how verifiably correct either of these numbers are, but how interesting.
I can tell you that I am probably on the light end, and not only do I have a full shoe organizer holding 9 pairs or so, but I have a shoe rack in my laundry room with 3 pairs, and a laundry basket in my bedroom closet with pairs that I switch out season to season or do not wear all that often. I’m tough on shoes. I have a REALLY hard time parting with them because when a shoe is so perfectly broken in and feels good on your feet, why on earth would you want to give them up? But, I have to. I do try and replace heels for shoes that I like, but they do eventually wear to the point of no return, with holes, rips or just to plain old dirty to even wear proudly out in public any more.
So why do men have significantly less shoes? Do they not care about how they look? It’s a bit more cut and dry for men: dress, casual, athletic and lounging. Who makes the fashion rules anyway? Probably men. Can you tell me how men got out of the need to wear heels? I seem to remember pictures from the Victorian era with men wearing heels. What happened with that? I’ll tell you what, men said, are these women nuts? I’m not subjecting myself to this torture! So with the exception of the occasional rock star or some other eccentric male personality, you just don’t see men subjecting themselves to stiletto heights. I personally don’t often put them on my feet, because regardless of how sexy and smashing they look, they hurt my feet something fierce. And if my feet are hurting. Trust me. No one even AROUND me is happy.
I’ll tell you another reason that men don’t need to buy as many shoes. Most off their wardrobes are probably pretty simple as well. I can tell you by looking in my husband’s closet, most of the clothes are khakis (I think he’s got at least 8 pair, no lie, of the same pair of tan pants), golf shirts, button down shirts, a few different sweaters and an assortment of t-shirts. With the exception of the t-shirts (to which they appear to breed on their own in the closet), most of the clothes in there are in pretty neutral tones, and basically fall into: dress shirt, golf shirt, t-shirt, shorts, athletic, jeans, suits, and dress pants.
Now spin around and take a look in the woman’s closet, and hmm, what a different picture we see. We have: long skirts, mini skirts, dress pants, casual pants, capris, dresses, suits, t-shirts, dressy sweaters, casual sweaters, dress shorts, casual shorts, jeans, gowns, sundresses, midi-skirts, blouses, blazers…you get the idea, you could go on forever with the different types of clothing for women, and that doesn’t even get into how many colors and patterns there are. So it’s no wonder that women need at least three times as many shoes as men. They are just trying to keep up with their closets.
When did shoes start getting so damn expensive? I am what you would call very frugal, and I guess excessively frugal in the shoe department, as I think the most I’ve ever paid for a pair of shoes is probably about $50 bucks–even at that, you can be damn sure that either I had a coupon, or they were on a really great sale. I’ve seen shoes that go easily into the thousand dollar range. I can not even comprehend. There are so many more things that I’d like to spring a cool grand on, and shoes doesn’t even rank up there in the top 100. What makes someone want to spend $800 bucks for a Christian Louboutin pair of pumps? I just don’t get it. If I paid that much for a pair of shoes, I don’t think I’d even want to wear them for risk of scuffing or getting them dirty. If that’s the case, what’s the point?
Ok, so we’ve determined that I’m a bit on the frugal side. But I’m also practical. I don’t like smelly feet. Shoes that are not leather, virtually always leave my feet sweaty, and voila! We have…smelly foot. Do you know how hard it is these days to find a pair of decent shoes that are actually made of leather these days? Ok, then, once you finally find a pair that is leather, it’s usually at the very least over the $100 dollar mark. No wonder I liked them. I just can’t justify it. So. I continue to scour and look for shoes that meet the right criteria. Leather. Comfy. Under $50 bucks. Tough job. Call me cheap. I don’t care. I’d much rather spend that kind of money on something I’d actually derive some pleasure out of, rather than an every day necessity. So, I guess I have to continue to scour the sales. Shop religiously online. Continue to check regularly in the discount stores. That’s the only way I can justify putting a little bit of comfort on my little tootsies without feeling guilty about it. Wish me luck.