Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Shoes, feet and the foot fetish

I saw this ravishing young beauty in Vegas recently waiting in line for a Cirque du Soleil show…..all short short strapless red flirty dress and miles of legs and great arms that didn’t prove the theory of perpetual motion and UGH….the worst unkempt feet ruining the most gorgeous open toe shoes I have ever seen (Christian Lacroix……ladies…..my dream shoes!!!!).  I’m talking about cracked dry heels with a flourish of chipped nail polish and pinky toes with nails so long that her little piggies went squealing all the way home as was my general desire as well.  Seriously!!!! 
I have this thing for feet….my old friend Brad had the best man feet I have ever seen.  I love the silky round feet of babies that trail behind when they crawl and turn slightly inward when they first walk. My own children have stepped out of childhood.
My grandmother’s feet are worn and tired but lovely in their storytelling….she has tread this earth for 86 years and that’s a lot of ground to cover.
I love the saying “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” because imagine the effects on the world if we could all really commit to that.
I admire the seriousness of a dancer’s foot, the perseverance of an athlete’s foot, the honesty of a bare foot and the stories behind specific socks, shoes, stockings, boots, colors, crutches, casts, braces and trends.
Three incidents started my own interest in the foot: a Japanese foot masseuse, a man with a fetish and the best compliment ever. 
When I lived in Japan eons ago and upon trying to quickly learn the language well enough to make at least one friend, I received the unenviable gift of a 2 month headache.  My host parents were convinced that a foot massage would cure me and promptly sent me to a fragile looking woman of some years in a tidy little home of rice paper and bamboo mats.  Quaint.  Turns out she had very very strong hands capable of bringing tears to my eyes from what amounted to a foot torture session designed to, in my opinion, eradicate headaches by distraction….causing inordinate pain that focused the medulla oblongata on tasks other than pandering to a mere migraine.   The massage ended in an excellent hot wax wrap and no throbbing head for the remainder of my year in Japan.  Go figure.
Pre-21 year marriage and post-international travel, I met a certain somebody, “foot fetish man”, who loved to paint my toes and oil my feet regularly while displaying an interesting appetite for incorporating foot foreplay, details of which are best left to the imagination (make it wild).  Not only did I become exceedingly creative but also frequently shaved my legs as they are attached to the feet and my guess is that stubble would dissuade an amorous spirit. 
Best though was a memorable comment at a large gathering where I was wearing the most delicious jeweled ankle strap 5-inch black sandals with chocolate rose colored toes!  I usually do my own pedis incidentally.  The compliment……a look, a slow smile and the comment, “you know, your feet look sexy in those sandals”.  This may have been the most brilliant pick up line ever and perhaps he was a) drunk b) really drunk  c)  psychic ….but I was flattered anyway.
I love shoes, shoe shopping and every one of my carefully kept shoes.  One day I will own those dream shoes: Christian Lacroix and Jimmy Choo’s.  I choose my daily work outfits around the shoe and the shoe around my mood and baby I’m still wearing them high.  Someday my shoe designs that incorporate practical ergonomic elements that can last for hours of walking and/or standing without the annoyance of blisters AND still look sexy will hit the market place. 
Here’s the beauty about feet…..they stay the same size nearly always (during pregnancy – I gained 75 lbs – not included)…..all women can have beautiful feet in the right shoes with a little effort.  So wear your running shoes and rubber boots; walk on coals and sandy shoals; color those nails with blue, pink, red or create little finger toes with a French pedi; harlequin romance up that foot fetish and seriously ladies…..keep up those feet!




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