My Life in Heels: A Journey from Flip Flop to Wellies

It’s not a need it’s a want, they make your clothes look sexy, just one element that goes on your feet can change who you are – your behaviour. Weight loss or gain they never betray you. A shoe tells a story about who you are. Ladies, you hear me? Guys, read and learn.

 

I’m definitely not one of those people who have beautiful photos on mantle pieces to mark the precious milestones in my life.  Instead, the shoes I wore define the phases of my life. So here they are, the painful and wonderful reminiscences of my life in heels…

 

The Mom-Shoe Years:

 

These shoes define the years under parental control and abuse. They were black and nun-like, lasted forever and practical. I should go back and incinerate pictures of me wearing them.

 

The Middle School Sneakers Freak:

 

Those Skechers, Nikes and Adidas with sparkles and colored laces were the height of cool. I believe I’ve still got neon pink and purple laces hiding somewhere… It was the time of first school dances and mingling with (or chasing after) boys, all the while running in cool sneakers. Like I could ever do that again, these days running in heels are much tougher and boys are harder to catch.

 

The High School Freshman Sling-Back, Kittens, Peep Toes, Funky Years:

 

This was my introduction to womanhood – the wonders of shoe addiction were revealed and there was no going back. Despite tough regulation on dress-codes (no heels, no flip flops and no style) I was so dedicated that I would bring in changes of shoes to certain classes I knew the teachers would be tough on shoe regulations. I had them all – the color shades of the rainbow, the animal prints, ballerina with ribbons, sling backs in Egyptian gold style, peep toes, funky kitten eared shoes, moccasins with beads and those trusty wedges.

 

 

At the end of freshman year, I was voted “Biggest Shoe Fashionista”.

 

 

The High School Senior Flat Years:

 

Workload demands and college apps meant the more fashionable shoes were traded in for flats to better maximize running abilities in between classes and carrying textbooks. Something funny happened; my feet became depressed and refused to let stylish shoes be put on them. They were waiting for college and freedom from shoe regulations.

 

The Glam Graduating Heels:

 

Hurrah! Heels all the way baby! I’m ready to go off into the world and become a mature, intelligent, and confident university student. Who better to have with me than my heels? Roll in the nude pumps (for the lecture theaters), black heels (for those perfect glam night outs), and the kittens (for the more serious personal tutor meetings). You can tell I was delusional back then.

 

The Dawn of the Boot Era, a.k.a. Surviving Scotland:

 

I come from a tropical place so the jump from flip-flops (water proof and dry fast!) to wellies (water proof and stops your toes from freezing!) was TRAUMATIC. No one told me that my shoes had to be (1) practical, (2) waterproof, (3) survive cobblestones, (4) mud proof, (5) snow proof, (6) bikable and STILL be fashionable. Never having put practicality on my top priority list, it was now time to re-invent my shoe closet.

 

After one year of torrential rain, hail, winds and god knows what else (not to mention the demise of many lovely flats and heels) I caved in and bought wellys. Then I got those UGGs to stop my toes falling off. I had promised my gay-designer-best-friend I would never ever buy UGG Boots (“Friends dooon’t let friends wear UUUGGs” he said snobbishly) but he’s not the one suffering from hypothermia.

 

Then, I got hooked on boots. Now I’ve got one for every day of the week – heeled, black, brown, knee-high, ankles, buckles, zipped, and more. I also chucked out the bike and walked everywhere instead since that meant I could still wear heels. It’s okay if I have to walk 30 minutes longer to town or classes. Heels help you burn more calories – everytime you pick yourself back up whenever you gracefully fall over.

 

The Return of the Flats – Clinical Dress Code?!

 

Horrors of horrors. I never knew that signing up for medical school meant divorcing the heels. Wouldn’t patients like to see doctors put some effort into what they wear rather than look burnt out all the time? A case in point: Kate Middleton – she puts an effort into dressing up and meeting people. I’m basically doing the same thing and a few hot heels wouldn’t hurt to get those hearts pumping again. Obviously the medical council should be sent Vogue monthly instead of the BMJ.

 

Presentation is key to success. No one digs the hobo-chic look with stethoscopes.

 

The Future of the High Heel Times:

 

My little piece of heaven and the NUMBER ONE to-buy item when that first payslip arrives: A walk-in shoe closet that is organized by color, heel height, type and occasions. Within the walk-in shoe closet, there’s going to be a shoe gallery with shoes in glass cases depicting my life. And there, the highlight of it all, the muddy wellies that helped some little tropical (delusional, unpractical, and mad now that I think about it) girl survive the Scottish hail.

 

It will just be me and my shoes. The crazy shoe lady. All you other ladies can have the cats and the husbands; I’ll take these Christian Louboutins please.

 

 

Written by Peach Chartsakulkanajarn, stand out writer