Page 59 Buying Shoes
skyangel on April 20, 2025
Last week Nikki was discreetly buying a pair of tights in a corner shop and this week, quite publicly, a pair of shoes in a main high street store! For the majority of people purchasing such items wouldn't cause a problem and I doubt if anyone would even question a woman buying a pair of men's boots but I always felt that it was somehow taboo for a guy to buy any items designed for women. Most of the time I could comfort myself by pretending that I would say I was buying for my mother or girlfriend if challenged but my desire to buy women's shoes felt so transparent that I really had to steel myself to move from the men's section into the women's.
Naturally nowadays almost anything can be bought online but as this was pre-internet I had no choice and living with my parents the idea of using mail order was something else that was open to scrutiny when mum or dad told me an interesting parcel was waiting for me on the dining room table!
edniz at 9:54AM, April 23, 2025
I hope it fits!
skyangel at 1:20PM, April 23, 2025
I was always fairly lucky there which was good as no way would I have had the courage to try them on in the shop or take them back!
A Reader at 3:38PM, April 20, 2025
Oh wow! Of course, Woolworths! Who didn't have one of those? Another bit from the background, I wore Hush Puppies! I equate your clothing shopping experience to my early lingerie shopping. At least a lot of sales staff are too busy with more important things than the items we are purchasing. Then again, the horror of being stopped for something 'strange'. I feel for you and for the same reasons you had, couldn't use mail order for some things, and that meant... Finding a store and going in and, yeah. Once again, thank you for the lovely page, and I kinda like those boots, I actually have something similar right now, only made by Sidi, doubt those were the same, but hey, it is what it is.
skyangel at 12:32PM, April 22, 2025
Haha yes, I do love to include the nostalgic stuff and although I never owned a pair of Hush Puppies or Dr Martens they always seemed to be advertised. I honestly love women's shoe designs, the way the straps circle round the foot in different ways to be functional and attractive, and high heels almost seem like an art form despite how cruel they are to wear! Buying lingerie was indeed the ultimate test of my courage lol even convincing myself I could be buying for my girlfriend felt excruciately embarrassing if I pondered over any garment for too long!
Stever_Blotto at 2:02PM, April 20, 2025
I think shoes would be one of the hardest just because the sizes aren't as standard as one would think. It's almost like you have to try them on just to see if they're going to fit (regardless of size).
skyangel at 12:23PM, April 22, 2025
I've always been very lucky with shoes in that if the size was right they always seemed to fit okay but my size was always bordering on the largest of the female size so hoping to find a nice second hand pair was always a rarity.
Othosmops at 1:54PM, April 20, 2025
The advantage of buying in a store is, of course, that you can try things on and walk around in them a bit. This is an option that Nikki probably didn't take advantage of, for understandable reasons.
skyangel at 12:20PM, April 22, 2025
Yes, indeed! I had actually written a thought bubble for Nikki saying,'No way am I trying them on, so they had better fit!' but the panels were getting a bit cluttered so I left it out