Creating the illusion of delicate ladylike feet…

As if being a woman wasn’t stressful enough, the Daily Mail has found that half of us lie about the size of our feet to friends and partners.   An astonishing 82 per cent of us with size eight or nine feet say we are ashamed of our feet!  We hate shoe shopping the most with two thirds of us hating to ask for help in store and a third of us refuse to take our shoes off in public!

Although I would rather we were proud of our feet, there are ingenious ways of creating the illusion of delicate ladylike feet:

1. Any subtle detail such as stitching on the shoe will help detract from the length of the foot.  Brogues are perfect for and bang on trend this season.
2. Go two tone – there are lots of great two tone shoes around this season. Again, the use of two different colours on the shoe also creates the illusion of a smaller foot.
3. Go for a Mary Jane with a small to mid heel.  The rounded toe flatters the foot and any buckle detail will also help break up the length of the foot.
4. Buckles and laces on shoes detract the eye and disguise length and width, luckily for us the whole Victorian/fetish trend is here this fall which is super flattering for any foot.
5. Going neutral is another clever way of disguising the length of your foot too.  Go for a shade closest to your skin colour to lengthen the leg.

Fall 2011 is actually a great season for us in theory but as usual finding the right shoes at an affordable price is such a pain (literally). So here are a few I’ve managed to find that should fit the bill.

 This pair are available up to UK size 11 from Big Shoe Boutique, £15!! Unbelieveable bargain, although i can’t guarantee quality as I haven’t seen them in the flesh.  That small platform will make them a little comfier too.

Love the vintage lived in feel to these brougues and because they are slip on it sets them apart.  Available up to size US 11 from Donald Pliner at $350.

These two tone Mary Janes which are using every possible trick in the book – the heel, the buckle, the stitching, the two tone material. Available from Tall Girls.co.uk up to size uk size 11 at £99

The buckle detail coupled with the ruffled leather flatter which extends out towards he toe makes the boot appear smaller.  Cheap as chips from Big Shoe Boutique and available up to size 10 but I don’t think these are leather and so may dissappoint in the flesh. Nice style though.

Attack of the 50 foot woman

So it’s now official, we are getting taller and our feet are getting bigger.  The average Brit has got taller at the rate of 3/4 inch each generation!  Our feet are growing at a surprisingly fast rate too.  A survey by Debenhams shows that women’s feet have grown from an average 5 to a 6 in just 5 years and the trend is set to continue.

Debenhams also recently reported that sales of size 9s had increased 23% since 2009, outstripping demand for size 4s.  However, despite their findings there doesn’t seem to be an immediate desire to start stocking a reasonable amount of larger sized shoes.

Why don’t retailers get it?  I waste so much of my life clutching my favourite shoes in a store, waiting with baited breathe for the assistant to return only to be met with disappointment. So if I’m getting ever more weary in my quest for great shoes at a mere UK size 8  then what must taller girls with bigger feet than mine face?  Yes, we are starting to see the odd size 9 in stores but they are few and far between.  In my experience it’s one or two that inevitably get snapped up at the start of the season by the savvier, larger footed lady (or even transvestites I hear!).

I need comfort but I wont sacrifice style so I wont be seen dead in the slightly orthopedic shoes they seem to design for the larger footed lady.

It’s not all about the shoes, I have equally big frustrations finding the right clothes for me even though I’m only a slightly above average 5 foot 10.

So I’m starting this blog to inspire with global fashion trends as well as to take some of the pain out of shopping for great fashionable, flattering shoes for all you glamazons out there.

Hope you like  it…