I have too many clothes. In particular, I have too many shoes. And I can jsutify every last pair, which is a problem. The bottom of my wardrobe is a tangle of stilettos, wedges, courts, boots, riding boots, sandals, flat shoes and trainers, all tumbling over each other in a fruitless search for space. And I only have, including slippers, 20 pairs. This is not a lot for a woman. My male friends raise their eyebrows and disbelieve that last comment, until forced to consider their girlfriends/mothers/sisters’ collections.
Why is it that men can get away with two or three pairs of shoes, and yet women like me feel the need to own many? As much as we shake our heads at her excess, most women understand where Imelda Marcos was coming from with her collection. I don’t know why it is, but I genuinely like 5-inch stilettos. I can walk in them, dance all night in them, and I love how tall they make me. I own 3 pairs and seldom go anywhere that jsutifies wearing them. And yet I cannot bring myself to throw them out.
Really, I shouldn’t need more shoes than a man; I should be able to survive on 5 pairs – two smart, two casual, and in my case, riding boots. Even allowing for seasonal changes, that’s only 10 pairs. So why the hell do I feel I need double that?
Is it what I spent on them? Well, I don’t spend that much (ie, don’t have that much to spend) and I have fussy feet to boot. Is it that, as seldom as I wear some pairs, there are outfits that don’t work without them? (And what does that say about the relative value of female appearance to male?) Is it a deep-seated desire to have options, in case, as some subverted remnant of our survival instincts? Or are we just magpies when it comes to shiny and new?
Whichever it is, I must surely be able to survive on 15 pairs, getting rid of 5. So begins the painful process of deciding which ones.
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