I have rarely had a desire to hug a celebrity (except when Mel Gibson appeared shirtless in Mad Max), but when Kate Hudson was photographed wearing Uggs as a fashion accessory instead of après ski apparel, I thought all women should throw their arms around the little minx.
I realize that Uggs were not designed as office wear for 57 year old women, but they should have been. I don’t think there is a woman over 50 who hasn’t had some type of foot problem. It seems like my feet have always hurt – from narrow toes, from high heels, from ill-fitting flats – there’s always something.
At least I had not been plagued by BUNIONS! Until now. A few weeks ago my second toe suddenly popped into a tent shape at the knuckle. You could push it down, but it wouldn’t stay. It rubbed against the upper part of every pair of shoes I owned, creating blisters and bleeding sores on the toe. I obviously had to get over my feeling that podiatrists are for old people and get my toe fixed.
The kindly lady podiatrist I went to looked at my foot and quickly diagnosed a “hammer toe”. “How do we fix it?”, I asked optimistically. “Oh, that’s very easy,” she said. “For me, I just cut the bone in half and straighten out the toe and you sit quietly with your foot elevated for the next few weeks. Of course if you don’t have the bunion fixed, the hammer toe will probably come back.”
The bunion, she explained was also easy for her to fix – but even worse for me than the hammer toe. She suggested I buy soft, wide-toed shoes and live with it. She showed me her very practical looking flats as an example. I have never been attached to spike heels or pointy toes, but I’m not ready for something orthopedic looking either.
I made a trip to Nordstrom’s to search through their huge variety of footwear for something comfortable. I had looked at roughly 200 pairs of shoes before a pair of adorable multi-colored, kitten-heel pumps caught my eye. “Those are obviously too cute to be comfortable," I thought. Imagine my surprise when I tried them on and they felt like tennis shoes. As fashionable as they were, they were padded and stretchy for comfort. The footwear manufacturer, Detny, has incorporated things like a luxury liner for inside comfort, rubber pods on the outside to protect from extensive wear, and a comfort collar on their ankle boots. I bought two pair.
I was so excited about my purchase that I went to the women’s department to buy a great pair of designer jeans to go with my great new shoes. As I browsed through the rack of half price designer jeans a sales lady approached and suggested I look at a new brand they carry called “Not Your Daughter’s Jeans” (NYDJ jeans). I was fairly certain these would look like old lady jeans, but I took them into the dressing room with two pairs of cool designer styles.
The tag that promised a Tummy Tuck and Butt Lift didn’t impress me – until I got them on! Not only did they make me look slimmer and firmer, they fit like a glove and were as comfortable as wearing sweats. The designer jeans cut me in half just below the belly button and flared to a point of making me look like an antique bell. The “Not Your Daughter’s Jeans” Tummy Tuck Jeans were more expensive than my normal jeans, but I bought one pair with the idea that they would be my “good” jeans.
I walked out of Nordstrom’s feeling vaguely like an old lady, no longer able to shop in the Juniors department, yet elated that we finally have manufacturers who realize that we Boomers still want to look fashionable, but require more comfort than we once did.
Coincidentally, when I got back to my office I discovered that I had received a catalog from a company called Footsmart, which not only had shoes promising comfort and support, but a whole line of products for foot and toe problems – including hammertoe straighteners.
When our grandmothers, and even our mothers, reached middle age (which to me now means about 50) they were reduced to buying polyester pants with elastic waistbands and shoes that resembled standard Russian Army issue. Probably our shear numbers have been responsible for the change in manufacturer attitudes. We may be aging, but – doggone it – we don’t want to look it.
I’m sure there are many more brand names out there that design shoes and clothing for the aging population, and I’d love to hear about them. We should all support those who support us – and I’m not just talking about the Butt Lift.
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