Okay so my roommate’s boyfriend was visiting from Dallas, sat in our living room while I was trying on flats for a video, and after the third pair he just goes “why do you own so many of the same shoe” and the whole room went quiet because he was WRONG but also kind of not wrong, and that’s basically the entire ballet flat conversation happening in my apartment this month.
Because here’s the thing, they are not the same shoe. I have tried to explain this to a grown man who owns four pairs of identical New Balance and he simply does not get it. Some of these feel like walking on nothing, actual cloud, no arch, no structure, just a thin little sole between me and the sidewalk, and that’s either the best feeling in the world or it’s you texting the group chat by 3pm going “my feet are informing me of every decision I’ve made today.” I sent a photo of my foot situation after a full day of filming in the no arch pair, no caption, just the photo, and got back “babe. babe no.” from one person and “okay but did they look good tho” from someone else, which, they did, so, mixed review, we’ll workshop it.
The pair I’ve actually reached for on repeat this month has a tiny bit of padding, not enough that you’d call it comfortable exactly, but enough that I can wear them past like hour six without doing the thing where I take them off under my desk and just accept my fate barefoot. Those are the ones that survived an accidental sprint for the bus, a full grocery run, and me forgetting I had them on and going for a walk I did not plan, and they came out fine, which for a flat is basically a personality trait.
I’ll say the honest thing though, the super pointed toe pair is a gamble and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. On camera they look insane, elongate everything, genuinely one of my best looking shoe purchases for video. In person, walking around, my pinky toe has filed a formal complaint. If you have narrow feet or you’re only wearing them for the two hours it takes to go somewhere and sit down, buy them immediately.
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If you’re like me and your feet are more of a suggestion than a shape, maybe watch someone else wear these first.
The Dallas boyfriend thing stuck with me though because he’s not wrong that from the outside it does just look like the same shoe six times. It’s not. It’s six different amounts of pain and joy depending on the day, and I have made my peace with owning all of them.
