https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Sun, 10 May 2026 11:50:43 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet/page/2#post-622247 Thu, 17 May 2012 17:12:48 +0000 ManidipaM 622247@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Kari, the shoe that broke was not one of the fossilized ones. Sorry about that confusing comment! This was just something that was several years old (bought 2007 I think?), though not worn all that often --- I was 'saving' it for when I was worthy of wearing it or something (I've really been trying hard to overcome the 'too good to wear' tendency the last few months). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet/page/2#post-621876 Thu, 17 May 2012 05:00:40 +0000 Kari 621876@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Wow! I didn't even know it was possible for shoes to fossilize to the point where they'd break like that. (I wonder why - did they possibly get moist or something?)</p> <p>Your poor sore feet! I hope you're able to find some new options soon.</p> <p>I quite like the black slingbacks (on me, slingbacks like that with a very wide rear strap work best, as they avoid rubbing against the sensitive back of my heel) and the bronze sandals are beautiful. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet/page/2#post-621873 Thu, 17 May 2012 04:35:05 +0000 ManidipaM 621873@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Ladies, you are all wonderful!</p> <p>Jenava, thanks for ther reassurance and the great example of wearability for Birkies! I don't think resoling is an option offered to us in India, but hey, if they hold out for 5 years, they've already done their job I figure!</p> <p>Helen, my big issue with leather or cork only is both turn into mould beds during the monsoons. My few all-leather shoes have to be packed with pillows of silica gel and inspected regularly and even then get fungus-y in the monsoon season (happened to my suede Hush Pup wedges!! But they are still holding up, not too badly), when the 100% humidity lasts for literally months together. Well, at least along the coastal parts of the country. So a few pleaters, rubbers or similar become inevitable. In the capital city, where I am at the moment, leather does lots better because while it is hotter here, it is also much, much drier.</p> <p>Zap, yes, great point about black's difficult aesthetics. Two counterpoints however: (1) Black shows dirt the very least of all, and trust me when I say that some of our best-laid roads (National Highway 1 comes to mind) would count only as dirt track in the US! (2) black has become my formal-wear bottleneck, since the mainstay of my business semi-formal/smart casual wardrobe is a black &amp; white tweed microcheck skirt that positively fights with my brown mary janes unless married by a red&amp;brown jacket, with black piping. In summer, the jacket is *out*, being quilted --- and I have to rack my brains to dress up jeans instead (don't, please, ask about shopping for pants! :-D). I can imagine red or grey or another bold dark colour of shoe working too --- but I suspect I'd need more than one to work with different colours of tops. My two LBDs are just that, black, and I have a black shirtdress as well. Also a few black tops around, so black shoes hopefully won't lack company. I do KNOW what you mean, though --- I'm leery of black for the most part, and have resisted buying new black shoes for years. But working around that hole is getting really wearisome.</p> <p>Claire, you're so right! I have sore shoulders from walking funny this last week! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet/page/2#post-620889 Wed, 16 May 2012 04:18:36 +0000 Anonymous 620889@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I think the shoes your considering are very good looking! The black Clarks are in interesting take on a sling-backed pump. The bronze ones are really beautiful and I like both metallic versions of the flats.</p> <p>I sure hope your poor feet heal quickly. I wore some slight heels yesterday, giving myself a pep talk that surely an inch and a half wouldn't kill me. After about 20 minutes in the house, I had to take them off. The pain began to radiate up my legs, and I think I must walk funny when I wear heels, trying to keep them on (these were heavy espadrille wedges). Anyway, I'm not sure how much was the shoes and how much was the intense heat that has suddenly descended upon us, but my legs and back continued to hurt for the rest of the day, and this morning I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. </p> <p>I don't know about you, but when my feet hurt, everything else starts to hurt too, even my head. I hope you find some good shoes soon and get some rest for your poor tootsies! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620884 Wed, 16 May 2012 03:59:01 +0000 Jenava 620884@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Couldn't agree more on the black aspect! My most frequently pairs of shoes are snakeskin patterned...because they have a little black, a little white, a little cream, could read as brown or even pink-ish/nude! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620868 Wed, 16 May 2012 03:04:00 +0000 Anonymous 620868@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I'm sorry if you have covered this already. Do you have anything for rain? Will the birkenstocks withstand the heavy rains? The clarks will not. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620866 Wed, 16 May 2012 02:58:56 +0000 Anonymous 620866@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I am not sure where the discussion is at the moment, but I just had to comment on your original shoe selection. I see you are looking for a black pair of shoes. In my experience, that is the most limiting color to wear, it almost forces you to repeat black in another part of your outfit, although you have dark hair so it might bookend nicely. I think I would go with a neutral pair first ( Cognac or tan perhaps). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620823 Wed, 16 May 2012 01:47:31 +0000 velvetychocolate 620823@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I think Jenava has just come up with the most stylish-looking ensemble featuring Birkies I've *ever* seen. </p> <p>Once again, even 'comfort' shoes can look fab. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620815 Wed, 16 May 2012 01:37:26 +0000 HelenInCanada 620815@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Always look for leather or strong cotton canvas (forget rubber and pleather crap), and flexible soles - and make sure you measure your feet again and are shopping for the right size! Also, ask if they have the style in "wide" as well, if that is more comfy. Good quality shoes are a godsend, and they are hard to find at affordable prices (less than $75) here - though I have to admit we have an enormous variety to scout through. I have had quite a few massive fails, shoe-wise - whether it's pain-inducing issues, shoes flopping off as I walk, back-of-heel-digs that then bleed and scab (horrible!), non-leather shoes that start melting off at the creases as I walk (yes, that has happened), and I can go on. Great leather (using protector) shoes, boots, and sandals have lasted me more than 10+ years. I just dragged out suede wedge sandals from 1999 I bought from Hush Puppies that are still looking great and are a pleasure to wear! Good luck dahling - keep us posted! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620791 Wed, 16 May 2012 01:23:06 +0000 Jenava 620791@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Also, you can get clogs/shoe versions and wear them with socks for colder times. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620786 Wed, 16 May 2012 01:21:44 +0000 Jenava 620786@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I have a pair of Birkies similar to the ones you saw and they last a really long time...and I think you can send them out to have new cork beds put in, so they might last virtually forever! I know they are not THE cutest shoes every, but for comfort they are hard to beat. And that one you saw comes in a cartload of colors. I have my eye on a white patent pair next. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620747 Wed, 16 May 2012 00:57:03 +0000 ManidipaM 620747@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Freckles, thanks for the cork commendation! Yes, I'm certainly leaning that way. I've only ever had one pair of cork soles in my life, but they were delightful. Only issue: it works for just one half of my wardrobe, as the tropical humidity of the other half will turn them into mushroom farms! (Actually, true of softer leather too --- catch 22, if trying to avoid the cheese-grater level of toughness for foots' sake). But hey, better comfy half my life than blistered all my days, yes?</p> <p>Isis, yeah, ahem! It was not a LOT longer (I think I managed to stop short of a page lol), but certainly a lot... uh... rantier and with extraneous details of mad 12-hour workdays, moving house and issues thereof, too much travel and suchlike. And, um, a few more shoe combinations for my budget!</p> <p>Rae, VC, thanks for the therapy! I like what you said about 'blank canvas', Rae ---so much better than, 'boring basic' </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620671 Tue, 15 May 2012 23:29:35 +0000 Freckles 620671@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Mandipa those poor feet, hope they heal quickly.</p> <p>Your shoes choices look lovely.</p> <p>I have only one thing to say about cork footbeds...why on earth would you buy anything else? Forget the orthodics and go cork!</p> <p>Of all the shoes I own, after having pitched most of them years ago, I cannot say enough good things about Birkenstocks, Haflinger grizzly clogs (suppose to be my slippers but I do wear them out to the grocery/pharmacy too often to count) and another German brand clog.</p> <p>I do have poison eye for these styles though and think they are the ugliest thing on earth, maybe more since watching all the gorgeous shoe sporting women here. I have impossible feet. Too narrow with a heel that is insanely narrow thus making closed heel shoes impossible. On the other hand I could not stand and walk without these shoes. If I try walking in anything else on a daily basis I am in trouble for weeks.</p> <p>I am now retired so sporting gorgeous shoes is not as much of a concern but when I did Amalfi was the way to go. They would not stand up to your climate nor lifestyle though.</p> <p>I currently sport 90% of the time the Florida soft style. I find these the most comfortable of all styles and they really stand up well for me. I am not walking like you are though.</p> <p>You must make sure that you reglue the outside of the sole often or else you will have to have it replaced more often. I have had them resoled etc a number of times when the next time I should probably just replace them.</p> <p>I do find as I age though that they can be problematic in picking up stones as I walk. Through the forest, dirt road at cottage, etc. so I am not sure that these will work for you.</p> <p>They do sell a particular style, not sure which as can't find them at the moment with a plastic footbed. These are wonderful for the beach, rainy days but are NOT NEARLY AS COMFORTABLE!</p> <p>I had to give them the biggest yah because they are basically all I wear and have never been disappointed.</p> <p>Have been looking for a more fashionable shoes for over a year now with no luck and being able to walk is a priority....</p> <p>Good luck in your quest.</p> <p>Edit...oops forgot pic of Florida soft </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620652 Tue, 15 May 2012 23:11:02 +0000 Isis 620652@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>M-missed your first rant, read your second "short" version (the first must have been pages!)</p> <p>I like your second Clark's choice, the slingbacks, even BETTER than the first! More classic. They will go with everything.</p> <p>I also love the metallic and hope you can get those next! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620505 Tue, 15 May 2012 19:47:49 +0000 rae 620505@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Ah, now I understand the thread enough to comment - your POOR FEET! I totally sympathize, as my own blisters are juuuuust healing from the last time I tried pulling out my peep toe pumps. :T</p> <p>The Clarks slingbacks you are ordering look great - the kind of blank canvas basic that will get you through a lot. And if you've already tested them in store (with sore feet, no less) then they should be comfy. I do hope the bronze sandals eventually come home with you, too. They are so cute and the color would go with everyting. I think those can even be dressed up quite a bit, since they are metallic - metallics always look like shimmery foot jewelry to me! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620451 Tue, 15 May 2012 18:54:29 +0000 velvetychocolate 620451@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Ahh - I 'get it' a bit better now. You're right - there isn't likely to be anything in the mens or even boys department in that size. Speaking of which, I didn't realize a size 6 or 6.5 was all that small a size, but I suppose just like the larger sizes in shoes - they can be tough to find. </p> <p>I really hope you can find some decent, comfortable shoes. It's so important!</p> <p>ETA: I just looked at some of your links, and the black ones in your second link are going to be very useful, even though they're a super-simple style. Just think, "Classic" and all that this entails - you can always snazz up classic with other accessories, so don't worry. Also wanted to say that I hope you do get those pretty bronze sandals with the savings that result in buying the second pair of black shoes. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620390 Tue, 15 May 2012 17:39:20 +0000 ManidipaM 620390@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Ha, Sveta, NO apologies need apply! TOTALLY on board with your pet peeves. And VC too!</p> <p>I wear an UK size 3.5-ish or 4 (Euro 37) in most brands. I think it's about a 6 or 6.5 in US? Don't know, but walked into huge big store today --- great selection of pretty shoes, only either unaffordable, or flimsy (but very cheap at least, those, and would suit less fussy feet than mine) or entirely the wrong size and shape. This is arguably the country's most popular shoe brand, though not an Indian brand at all --- Bata! And the store, being one of the larger ones, has a 'special sizes' corner --- ie, the last of the sizes that are hard to fit at a deep discount. One expects really big and really small there --- so I made a beeline... and find size 3 (too small but yay for someone else!) and, er, by way of large, size 6! Um. Yeah.</p> <p>VC, that is a great idea, to shop men's departments. Sadly it's a no go for me unless the boys' department has something --- unlikely, as apparently male teens are only sold sports sneakers in the chunkiest styles and glaring-est white possible, with perhaps neon bands. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620373 Tue, 15 May 2012 17:06:31 +0000 Sveta 620373@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Celia, I think what you consider a big size is not really Anything over size 10 is getting harder to get as many brands just do not go over this size at all. The next one is size 11 - maybe 1/5 of styles are not available in this size at all and if they are available it is usually 1 pair in a shipment if any. Some store just don't go over size 10 at all even if they are availabel in the brand and may be available online.<br /> Now if we move up to size 12 (which I have a misfortune to have) the picks getting very slim indeed. Good luck to walk into a regular shoe store and ask for anything in this size! I am lucky to have one store in my city which carries sizes starting from 10 and if not for them I would not be able to buy anything in the stores at all. Add here a very poor online shoe shopping in Canada and the picture is very dismal. If a gal has even bigger size I cannot even imagine how she gets herself shod!<br /> Sorry for highjacking this thread but this is (obviously) my pet peeve and a source of constant frustration and shopping depression Feet are so hard to fit and it is only getting worse with age - even for a most available sizes. So Manidipa I feel your pain so well even though we are on opposite spectrum of the sizes! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620231 Tue, 15 May 2012 13:50:10 +0000 velvetychocolate 620231@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I missed the original thread too, but am always up for a good 'rant' about shoes </p> <p>I'm searching for comfortable summer everyday running around sandals, and they are hard to find. In the meantime, I'd come across a good sale on Danskos on the 6pm website awhile back, and I remember thinking, "I don't like Danskos" - but here's the funny part - I'd actually bought a pair of Dansko sandals at the very end of last summer at Nordstrom Rack on a super-sale price and they didn't look like Danskos to me - at least, not the typical image I have of them. The moral of the story here is Angie's mantra: Leave No Retail Stone Unturned. </p> <p>With known comfort brands, you sometimes really have to look hard to find something that looks a bit more stylish. But they are there, in the midst of dozens of ho-hum options. </p> <p>In terms of sizing - my best friend back home has short and very wide feet. I think the width of her feet are something like EE. Believe it or not, aside from custom made dress shoes (very expensive) - she buys her everyday shoes in the men's or boys dept. because they come in lots of widths. She has found sandals, funky-looking oxfords, loafers, desert boots - you name it. Does that sound totally silly? It has worked for her. I cannot tell the difference between her men's penny loafers and a women's shoe, except that they don't come in as many colours as a women's shoe might. Just another one of those "leave no retail stone unturned" things. </p> <p>In the meantime, hope your feet heal up fast! Hate that - when shoes rip up feet. Ouch! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620220 Tue, 15 May 2012 13:22:05 +0000 celia 620220@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I guess I do:0)<br /> Nowadays is much more difficult to find shoes in small sizes, when I was growing up my feet were considered big but now they are merely average.Go figure. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620217 Tue, 15 May 2012 13:15:05 +0000 ManidipaM 620217@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Celia, assume you meant that for Astrid's friend? Sounds like she could use all the help she can get!</p> <p>I get frustrated enough with my small, wide feet --- but being restricted to a specialist catalogue sounds OTT even to me! Astrid, I think I quite understand your friend's joy at being able to shop 'normally'. I have a friend with feet a size smaller than mine --- and she buys *whatever* she sees in her size that she (a) likes and (b) finds comfy, and still has only 15 pairs all told since the pickings are so meagre (this despite also living in my messy city *and* going home to the Himalayan foothills, which require very different footwear). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620199 Tue, 15 May 2012 12:53:52 +0000 celia 620199@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I confess I didn't see the whole thread but if the problem is shoe sizes Canada has big sizes and with time I don't mnd a all sending to you. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620198 Tue, 15 May 2012 12:53:14 +0000 Astrid 620198@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Actually, her only possibility for shoe shopping is with a mailorder catalogue from a speciality store. When she was here in Berlin we went to the store they had here (only one in Germany I think) and she was over the moon that she could try shoes in the store just like everybody else. She bought three pairs at once. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620196 Tue, 15 May 2012 12:48:20 +0000 ManidipaM 620196@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>The ones I saw here are very similar to #2, Astrid. In fact, my SO had a pair exactly like the ones you showed, and wore them into the ground --- I think he wore them pretty much daily for a couple of years before they gave up the ghost and he's harder on his shoes than I am, possibly.</p> <p>As for your friend, give her my regards --- being at the opposite end of the size spectrum from me, I'm guessing she doesn't see as much choice as she'd like either. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620184 Tue, 15 May 2012 12:29:04 +0000 Astrid 620184@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I have one pair of black Birkenstock sandals (#1) that I bought a few years ago for casual holidays with the family, these are the ones I wore last year. I didn't wear them that often and they still look almost like new. And I have another pair (slippers not sandals) that I wear everyday at home. These are totally beaten-up (you don't want to see them!) and I'm thinking about a new pair. They are maybe five years old? </p> <p>I love how comfortable they are, but they aren't really wearable here. All people I see that wear them in style are tourists. I think the ones in #2 look nice, I'm thinking about getting them anyway for my poor feet.</p> <p>BTW, that in the first pic are the feet of a friend of mine, she has nine sizes larger feet than me! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620181 Tue, 15 May 2012 12:21:27 +0000 ManidipaM 620181@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Meredith, I LOVE and ADORE and all but WORSHIP my pink wellies, carted all the way from Ireland. Wellies in my size not available locally --- typical! I even bought an inexpensive suitcase just so I could pack those wellies --- wearing them on the plane (per the usual smart idea to wear your heaviest shoes and save baggage weight) seemed a little extreme in this case </p> <p>Of course, being pale pink, they go with nothing at all that I wear on top --- but that's fine! The monsoon flooding is plenty depressing that I'm still very very glad of them! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620179 Tue, 15 May 2012 12:11:21 +0000 Meredith1953 620179@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>ManidipaM<br /> I am so sorry your feet are giving you problems! It is tough to find shoes that look good, hold up, and are kind to fussy feet! Not to mention the fact that they need to stand up to your monsoons! If I had to deal with weather like you have I think that wellies would be a much used part of my footwear collection. I hope you can find what you are looking for! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620178 Tue, 15 May 2012 12:11:17 +0000 ManidipaM 620178@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Ha! Thanks, Astrid --- I actually saw a pair of bright blue Birkenstocks on someone at the mall this weekend, and ran to ask them where they got them. Went and checked them out too! So yes, I have seriously considered that expensive-for-here option as well --- and I might yet cave </p> <p>How long do your Birkenstocks hold up, if you don't mind my asking? I think I recall that you walk and take public transport often? I've been a little worried about the durability of the cork footbed, though they're as comfy as a mattress </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620172 Tue, 15 May 2012 12:01:17 +0000 Astrid 620172@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Good luck! I actually spent a good part of the hottest weeks last year wearing Birkenstock sandals. Not very fab at all, but I had a foot injury and they were the only comfortable hot weather shoes I had. So don't feel bad about it! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/help-last-ditch-shoe-advice-for-blue-blistered-potato-feet#post-620117 Tue, 15 May 2012 09:44:52 +0000 fashionista 620117@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Poor girl ManidipaM, such a hectic life and those blisters....darn them. My best of luck you find the perfect in budget shoes. </p>