My Shoe-Whoring

So in case you didn't know already, I'm a guy.  But in a lot of ways, I'm kind of a girl.  I like girly drinks, even though I almost never order them in public.  I care about my clothes, and spend a lot of time choosing them.  I use a separate cleanser for my face.  I'm typically in touch with my feelings, and the feelings of others.  I have watched two straight hours of "Queer Eye For the Straight Guy" with another guy friend who shall remain nameless.  

But all of this pales in comparison to my latest obsession: Internet shopping - specifically for things I would never have thought to buy on the internet before.  My curent binge?  Shoes.  

Until about November, I had a lot of the same shoes in my wardrobe that I did before I left for South Africa.  Obviously, at least some of them had to be updated or donated to charity.  Since about September, I have bought 5 pairs of shoes.  And total, I probably own about 15 pairs. 

Before you freak out, remember that two of the shoes are replacements for older pairs.  And each serves a distinct purpose in my wardrobe (though some of my total group are now outdated).  Nonetheless, I recognize that I am a bit of a shoe-whore.  Here is the list as I remember it today:

1. Sandals


2. Soccer cleats 


3. 2 pairs of track spikes


4. Hiking boots


5. Wood-soled formal dress shoes


6. House sandals


7. Technical running shoes


8. Pool/beach sandals


9. Brown casual lace-ups


10. Black casual lace-ups


11. Black casual slip-ons


12. Off-white (natural) casual slip-ons


13. Casual running shoes (pumas)


14. Chunky grey casuals

Okay, so now I should explain.  The early shoes in the list are specialty shoes; they only get worn when I'm engaging in a sport or other targeted activity (obviously, I haven't worn the track spikes in years). 

Now for the casuals.  Everyone needs a pair of brown casuals and a pair of black casuals.  Some guys would say you need a pair of black formal and brown formal, but I only have black formal because I don't find brown to be a particularly formal color.  The Puma running shoes only get worn in warm weather; the techincal running shoes only get worn when I think I'll be very active, and usually only in good weather.  The chunky grey casuals are winter shoes; they have a very thick and elevated sole. 

Two of my shoes (the off-white and black slip-ons) are by Aldo.  Three of my pairs (the grey chunky, the black formals and the black lace-ups) are by Kenneth Cole.  The hiking boots are technical hikers by Raichle(sp?), bought when I did NELP in college, and at $200 are the single most expensive items of footwear I've ever purchased.  None of my other shoes cost me more than $100.

You may be wondering: why the lace-ups and the slip-ons?  Well, I'm kind of in transition.  I am moving from being all about slip-ons to being all about lace-ups.  My black slip-ons used to be the only casual black pair of shoes I owned; frankly, I got tired of wearing them all  the time.  They've been to South Africa and back, and have remained in remarkably good shape despite all the travelling they've done.  The off-whites can be work with either black-based or brown-based outfits, and serve as a changeup to my black and brown shoes.  The new brown casuals replace my old, old browns bought in 2003 (the new ones are Zappos, the old ones are Kenneth Cole Reaction).     

Some of these shoes will surely be tossed to charity of to the trash within the next year or so, to make room for the new.  But I think my current number of shoes is a good number.  And I know it's hard to believe, but I know guys who are even worse than me...not to name any names coughcoughjoeyangcoughcough. 

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