Angie and others: Does your foot look like this? - YouLookFab Forum

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Angie and others: Does your foot look like this?

Ginger

Veteran

I placed a huge ASOS order last week, including a lot of shoes. This is one that didn't work, mostly because the front band is too big and my foot slides forward. Toes on the ground!

But the profile is typical of how all shoes fit on me. My foot only touches at the heel and ball. Even on flat shoes, or a level floor, my outstep barely touches the ground. Is this called a high arch? Or a long arch? The curve of the sole clearly doesn't match my foot at all. There is a lot of weight on my foot in these photos- it's not for effect.

The best-fitting shoes I have in this respect are a couple of 1939s/40s vintage pumps with a highly contoured footbed. What also works are nearly flat shoes with cushioning/squishable soles. (True rope sole espadrilles, Cole Hana ZeroGrand sneakers.)

This isn't a problem as such, although it's a big reason why I've never worn 4" heels. The separation between sole and foot just gets bigger, even showing above the side of a closed pump. It's also why I vastly prefer flexible soles. Wedges (except for the very low espadrilles) are not good.

I'm mostly curious to know how to describe this. It seems to bar me from a lot of shoes, but there are plenty that are really quite comfortable regardless. The gray suede booties, for instance. The heels are over 3", but the sole shape seems to support my heel more instead of being a ski slope like these sandals.

My mother has high arches; her outstep does not touch the ground when she's standing. Her ankles also want to roll out, and she wears down the outer edges of her heels. The wear pattern on my heels is slightly to the outside, but not significantly. So I never thought I had very high arches.

Thoughts?

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24 replies

Latest reply was from Ginger

RobinF

Veteran

Interesting, that does not look very comfortable! It looks to me like low arches or maybe as you said, long arches?, but I am not a foot expert. My arches are pretty average, not high not low.

Bijou

Veteran

My feet are never like this in heels, but I do suffer from flat feet. I don't wear 4 inch heels because I really cannot walk in them!

KikiG

Veteran

Shoes that fit me like this are an instant fail. I know they won't be comfortable and I will be miserable. My feet are flat and roll over when I stand on them. I can wear high heels if/when the shape of the shoes conforms to and touches the entire bottom of my foot, because my entire foot is supported. Comfortable flats are harder to find than heels, interestingly enough, and I just look like a duck in a lot of flats that flatten out with my poor rolling over, wide-looking foot (which isn't wide, it just looks like it.) Happily, orthotics can rescue some mid and low heel shoes.

Ginger

Veteran

I know my feet are not flat. My brother has very flat feet (arches touching the ground, ankles rolling inward) and my feet absolutely do not do that. (Quite the variety of feet in my family, apparently...)

Anonymous

How does the same pair fit 1/2 size up?

catseye

Veteran

Yes. You have high arch.

I have friends who has flat feet and they told me they are the most comfortable in heels.

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I agree with catseye- high arches. Mine are more flat, so they look very different.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Yes. Toes falling through the front. Too wide. Smaller size is too short. I GET IT.

cindysmith

Veteran

I have really high arches and I have trouble finding comfortable heels. They never support the arches of my feet. I have the same problem in flat shoes only worse.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Very interesting. I don't know what you call this.

There is instep and arch to consider as well as overall foot volume and toe length.

My feet look quite different than yours and sound a bit like your mother's -- in that I also wear down the outer edges of all heels, always.

Anyway, I think I have high (ish) arches; the inside of my arches never touches the ground. And shoes rarely touch my foot at the arch. Flats are the worst and generally hurt me unless I use a special insole. 2- 2.5 heels are generally best -- the last will typically be better and even if it is not my comfort will be greater. I generally rule out any shoe that fits anything like this because I know it will cause agony -- I look for a brand whose last is *close* to my own foot shape.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

I think your arches do look high. Those shoes look insanely uncomfortable for your poor foot! When you walk on sand, what shape footprint do you leave? Is there anything at the side or only the ball and heel? It sounds lucky to me that you fit as many shoes comfortably as you do. Some brands promise "arch support" but I don't know how good that is.

Ginger

Veteran

Ryce, I only ordered the one size, and they come just in whole sizes. I may try again, though. I wanted them to work with my new BCBG dress.

Thanks, catseye! I'm glad to know WHAT this is. Interestingly, I don't find either flats or heels inherently more or less comfortable.

You totally got it, Angie! That's exactly what goes on around here.

cindysmith, I'm kind of in the same boat, though maybe a little more tolerant of being uncomfortable. (Growing less tolerant by the year, though.) My arches never hurt, though. It's the balls of my feet, since they take ALL the pressure.

Suz, wearing down the outer edge of heels is what I've heard as a key symptom of high arches. (Your arch isn't supposed to touch the ground anyway, unless you have flat feet. Do you mean the outside of your foot? That doesn't touch on my mother's, and lightly touches on mine.) I really can't tell a difference between flats and heels for comfort.
To be honest, none of them are comfortable for a really long day on my feet. My weight tilts toward the balls of my feet and they will end up sore regardless. Flats would be the preference because it lessens the pressure somewhat, but that's really the only reason. Disneyland last summer just about killed my
feet (20K steps/day), and that was in the Cole Haan sneakers that had never bothered me before. My vintage shoes (cuban heels, well-balanced, 2-2.5" heels, contoured soles) truly are the most comfortable heels, though they never were cushy. I wish I could find a last that does fit my foot! The closest are a pair of 1.75" heel Naturalizers, c. 1950.

Jenni, it's been so long since I've walked on sand I don't know! :p I remember seeing my footprint in water on tile. There's a little bit at the side, but pretty narrow. I'm beginning to think I really am lucky at how many shoes I can wear. I haven't really tried for comfort shoes, since I can usually make do okay.

LaPed

Veteran

I won't attempt to diagnose, but remember it's the shoes that are abnormal, not your feet.

There's quite a lot of research suggesting that any shoe that doesn't let your foot flex the way it wants to is unlikely to be comfortable, and that the whole notion that we need arch supports to make our feet work properly is a myth:

http://www.npr.org/sections/he.....e-flexible

Ginger

Veteran

Good reminder! A fascinating article, thank you for the link. Mostly I'm trying to figure out what this is, and IF it is an issue (beyond finding shoes that fit more closely), and what factors I should be looking for. It's interesting that the most uncomfortable shoes on my personal list are those with inflexible soles. Wedges, stiff flat sandals, and rigid heels.

I wonder if my dance background may have something to do with the way I walk. Nowhere near professional level, but I danced (tap and ballet) for 12 years. I don't walk on my toes and I don't turn out my feet. But I have excellent balance, especially on my toes, and walk heel-toe even in heels. I do not step flat-footed.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

High five, foot twin. Diane and Shevia have the same feet as us too.

Anonymous

Ginger, the reason I asked about a different size is that trying lots of different shoes can help you figure out what your own foot is like. If the arch in the larger size fit better, it would mean length of arch is the issue, as opposed to slope of the arch - if that makes sense. So whether that particular shoe works or not, you'd have some useful info.
Also, it looks like you don't have your full weight on your foot in the photos. So hard to tell how much support you are actually getting.
At this point, I can often look at a shoe and make a reasonable estimation of whether it will work on my feet - high arch, medium volume, long widely spread toes.
LaP, that article is interesting. I definitely find I can stand longer in shoes with an arch support, but the insert I sometimes add is silicone and very flexible, so maybe that is why? I also perhaps this explains why I especially love to wear flip-flops - the foot is free to bend. Very cool!

Aziraphale

Veteran

What you describe is what I had assumed was the definition for high arches -- i.e. arches that don't touch the ground. When you leave wet footprints, the entire middle part of your foot is missing, right? With high arches, the arch itself leaves no, or barely any, print. A "normal" footprint would show everything but the instep, and with a flat foot you can see a print of the entire foot, instep and all.

So yah, I think you've got high arches. I agree that the shoe you're wearing in these pics looks weird and uncomfortable on you. I'm not sure what to suggest for a fix, though! Out of curiosity, how do runners/trainers fit on you?

Ginger

Veteran

Ryce, the few times I've tried a bigger shoe it's usually a much worse fit. They're simply too long in front. Which means that even if the arch fit better, my foot would simply slide forward out of the heel and cram my toes (if it was closed). Occasionally I can size up in an open-toe style, IF the fit/straps are narrow or adjustable enough to keep my foot from moving. I'm wearing some sandals now that have a lot of lacing. The soles are long, but somehow it's mostly at the back than at the front and doesn't bother me. No arch to worry about, either.

I'm not balancing on one foot (I couldn't keep the phone steady), but much more than half my weight is on that foot in these pictures.

Aziraphale, there is a little bit of the middle that shows in a wet footprint. Maybe .5". I need to try again and see! I very rarely wear trainers, to be honest. The last time I got some I had to try on a lot, since my heel moved up and down in most of them, even when laced snugly.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I meant the outside of my foot, yes -- if I do the sand imprint thing the middle part of my foot is there, but only a bit, if that makes sense. I'd diagnose my arch as medium-high, not extremely high.

Shoes hurt me more to the extent that I have to cramp to keep them on, and flats with low vamps are the worst because I have a narrow heel, so my toes work overtime to hang onto the shoe.

I don't wear super high heels any more (rarely wore them anyway) but when I get foot pain it is never my arch, either -- it is always ball of foot, where pressure goes if in a heel, or front of foot (cramping to keep flats on). Now, after a running injury, I also get plantar fasciitis, but that's another thing entirely!

Ginger

Veteran

I understand! Interesting, I never get the toe cramping. (I get arch cramping when wearing toe shoes, and that's a totally different thing.) Possibly I don't have the narrow heel. Maybe that's the difference. Or maybe it's just my dedication to ankle straps! I don't wear shoes that want to slide off my heels, period.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Ankle straps help me a lot, too.

Without them, flat shoes with low vamps (or even high vamps, like loafers) will not stay on me, no way, no how.

It seems as if everyone's feet are so different....so much variation, no wonder shoes are hard to fit.

Ginger

Veteran

No kidding! I'm trying to be nice to my feet now while I can. I'm cluing in that I could be in for a lot more trouble ahead.

JAileen

Veteran

Your foot looks *very* uncomfortable. I don't know how my foot looks in such high heels, because I never wear them. I do believe in being kind to my feet. Thirty years ago, when I was pregnant, I stopped wearing heels to work. After my baby was born, I decided that heels did not contribute to my being a good accountant, so I never went back to them. Soon after, we moved to a casual resort town, and eventually to our present location. Now I only wear dressy heels at Christmas time.

Ginger

Veteran

It's honestly not uncomfortable. These particular shoes are being returned, because the front band is too big to hold my foot. But it's not painful as-is. I'm pretty used to the feeling. (Which is probably a problem in itself!)

The rose gold oxfords actually seem to have arch support. It was such a strange feeling to have a shoe pushing back at my arch! And even then, my feet were really tired after 5 hours of shopping.