I blame Cinderella for triggering my biggest body insecurity.
asserted
I → blame → insecurity
She made dainty feet desirable way back in the 17th century – and here I am, 400 years later, loathing my size 8 (OK, maybe 9) clodhoppers.
asserted
I → make → clodhoppers
I’m not alone.
asserted
I → ’m → ?
Elle Macpherson (size 10), Kate Winslet (size 9) and Audrey Hepburn (size 8) have all reported feelings of hatred towards their hooves.
asserted
Macpherson → report → hooves
Getting school shoes required traipsing around the whole of Birmingham, from Clarks to Start-Rite to Dolcis via Barratts and Saxone in the hope of finding a pair that fitted.
asserted
that → get → pair
When we did, they were always, always aesthetically unappealing.
asserted
they → do → ?
My mother forced me to wear the ones in my size, but once I had autonomy over my footwear purchases, I rammed them into too-small shoes because they were easier to find and looked way better.
asserted
they → force → shoes
This means I have suffered almost four decades of blisters, sores and numbness.
asserted
I → mean → blisters
I have limped, I have bled, I have walked home barefoot post party in the dead of winter through jettisoned hypodermics and broken glass, because that was preferable to wearing my skin-lacerating shoes.
asserted
that → limp → shoes
Peak discomfort arrived during the glossy magazine days in my 20s where the shoe samples we 'borrowed' were a size 6.
asserted
we → arrive → 20s
No one was going to get between me and a free pair of Pradas.
asserted
one → go → Pradas
I know, I know, it was all so self-inflicted.
asserted
it → know → ?
I reached my nadir in Paris.
asserted
I → reach → Paris
Desperate to have a FROW-acceptable pair of shoes, I wandered into a designer store with my first big pay cheque and enquired if I could try a style on in my size.
uncertain
I → have → size
The shop assistant looked horrified, verging on repulsed, then gathered her colleagues round to marvel at my enormous pop-socked foot.
asserted
assistant → look → foot
Then something even worse happened.
asserted
something → happen → ?
At the age of 30 my feet grew one whole size.
asserted
feet → grow → size
Thanks to a surge of the relaxin hormone and the extra weight, my arches flattened and when my baby boy emerged, I found myself with a whole bunch of shoes that I would never fit into again.
asserted
I → flatten → that
I briefly toyed with the idea of foot surgery.
asserted
I → toy → surgery
I’d heard New Yorkers were having operations to narrow and shorten their feet to fit into their Manolos – but decided against it, as it was a) ridiculous and b) ridiculous.
asserted
it → hear → it
Strangely there aren’t many studies into whether the nation's feet are getting bigger, but a poll by the College of Podiatry back in 2014 reported British feet were getting larger and wider – with the average woman’s size going from a 4 to a 6 as we’ve got taller and weightier.
asserted
we → be → 6
Since then, I’m guessing feet have only grown, yet still it’s a struggle to find decent women’s shoes in an 8 and above.
asserted
it → guess → 8
The advent of online shopping helps a little, but set the filters to bigger sizes and the offerings are still meagre.
asserted
offerings → help → sizes
I talk to Laura Schofield, founder of Otto + Ivy, a company whose mission is to deliver larger shoes that flatter and fit.
asserted
that → talk → shoes
Her styles are beloved by Alison Hammond, Angela Griffin, Gemma Collins, Caroline Hirons and Caitlyn Jenner.
asserted
styles → belove → Hammond
The latter, upon trying them on, said they gave her a ‘Cinderella moment’.
asserted
they → try → moment
Kate Winslet wears a size 9
Laura is the font of all knowledge on larger shoes.
asserted
Laura → wear → shoes
The former TV presenter on shopping channel TJC is an owner of size 9s herself and so she knows the pain and disappointment that comes with ownership of an outsize foot.
asserted
that → know → foot
She discovered she was not alone when, in 2010, she created a blog called All The Tall Things and found a community of equally frustrated women.
asserted
she → discover → women
In 2020 she launched Otto + Ivy.
asserted
she → launch → Otto
I ask her why most high street stores stop at a 41 (size 7 and a half), because to the outsider it feels it would be easy for them to just scale up.
asserted
them → ask → outsider
‘The short answer is it costs more to create larger sizes.
asserted
it → cost → sizes
They require more materials, incur higher shipping costs and sometimes require expensive specialised tools or moulds to manufacture them.
asserted
They → require → them
And because retailers need to price all sizes equally, the higher cost of producing larger sizes would drive up the price of their smaller, more popular sizes too — making them less competitive – so they just don’t do it.
asserted
they → need → it
She tells me her larger shoes require careful design because many of those blessed with bigger feet are self-conscious about it.
asserted
many → tell → it
‘Designing flattering shoes for women with longer feet is an art form.
asserted
Designing → design → feet
Most tall women don’t like sky-high heels, yet a frustrating truth is that high heels make feet look shorter.
asserted
feet → like → heels
A low heel on a size 11 foot can look completely different to a low heel on a size 5 foot.
asserted
heel → look → foot
This means the proportions must be perfect, or the shoe risks looking clunky, or just not right.
asserted
shoe → mean → ?
We work incredibly hard to strike that balance, and use lots of clever techniques (panelling, additional seams, embellishments), to make them look flattering.
asserted
them → work → techniques
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
