Imagine my horror when I found out at the dance contest in Puerto Rico that my SHOES weren't good enough. I wore my black 2 1/2-inch heels, when Mike asked where my smooth dance shoes were.
Turns out I didn't have any.
I found out that competition ballroom dance shoes have to be flesh or gold colored. One person said it was to match the floor. Not that they match most floors, but never mind. At Worldtone shoes in New York, they said they were that color to match flesh tone to look like you weren't wearing any shoes. Damn, they have some nice shoes.
I think that's dumb. I prefer shoes to sort of go with the outfit. At the competition, there were women in beautiful blue gowns competing for international prizes, wearing gold-colored shoes. It was weird.
So I bought some shoes (three pair! One for smooth, one for rhythm and one for practice. And they ain't cheap!). I can't find much variety in Jacksonville, and if I buy them on the internet, I can't try them on, and have to send them back if they don't fit. And the sizes vary. So this is good. I tried them on in New York after walking about twenty blocks, so you know my feet were as swollen as they are likely to get dancing.
I told a friend about it after I got back, and she said she noticed that ice skaters in competition were wearing flesh-colored skates, supposedly in the same philosophy, that you don't have any shoes on.
[Images from Worldtone]
Gold shoes just scream Miami Beach Matron! The gold or flesh tone shoes would really be difficult for me to wrap my head around, I'd want to match my dress as well.
Posted by: Lisa | December 23, 2007 at 02:57 PM
YUM. I love the two you showed, I hope they are like the dance shoes you bought, even if the colors are not your first choice. Satin/crepe strappy.
I was the Imelda Marcos in my set when I got married the second time. Everyone wondered how I'd choose, not my wedding dress, but the SHOES. The dress was late-30's style bias cut satin-backed crepe, with contrasting panels. I found, after long searching, shoes much like your second example, displaying both the satin and the crepe. At San Francisco Nordstrom's, they did not have my size, a predictable 7 1/2. This is Nordstrom's, right? My wish (particularly shoes)should be his command. The clerk was dismissive and did not offer to send to other stores or Outer Mongolia for my shoes. I got on the horn the next day and raised holy hell from his manager all the way up to Nordstrom's Chief Shoe Buyer. Not only was I Imelda Marcos, I was fucking Bridezilla and no one was going to forget it. I got my shoes Priority Mail within the week. I later learned I had cost the poor schlub who had the misfortune of waiting upon me his job. Really, I got someone fired for the sake of satin-backed crepe kitten-heeled pumps. I felt bad for a nanosecond, and then thought he'd be happier in some non-retail position.
So Tell Me, Dear Rianna, am I evil, or only sorta bad?
Posted by: fragileindustries | December 25, 2007 at 08:09 AM