About once every 3 months on a Sunday, I find a couple of hours to go shopping at the downtown Sacramento mall. It's not so much that I really enjoy shopping as it is a necessity in my line of work. When my husband is out of town, it's also an alternative to having to do my own laundry. If I could get away with wearing t-shirts with holes in them and beat-up jeans, that's what I would wear to meet with clients. But as a Sacramento short sale agent, my sellers expect me to dress the part. It kind of goes with the territory.
I used to be a woman who always wore a suit. No matter what. Suit, hose and polished shoes. Then one day I asked myself why? Why did I need to take myself so seriously and dress like corporate America? That's an image all right, but it's not me. I'm not St. John or Ann Taylor.
I'm much more counterculture. I grew up in the 1960s. You know what was really hard to find in the '60s and '70s? High heel shoes. My feet would support a 6-inch heel back then, but they were few and far between in the stores. If you wanted spike heels, you had to buy them at a store for hookers, and then they looked like shoes you bought at a store for hookers.
What wasn't hard to find was girdles. They were everywhere, and they came in all sorts of sizes and shapes. One of the best things to come out of the women's movement and modern fashion was the disappearance of girdles. But guess what? They are baaacck. Oh, they call them body shapers now, but they are taking over lingerie departments. Just when you think it's safe to breathe again without strapping yourself into a corset of bones, the body shapers come along. It sounds sinister, and it is. Who decided this?
I was in the shoe department at Macy's because I can't go to Macy's without visiting the shoe department and buying 2 to 3 pairs of shoes. I learned a few things. First, the downtown Macy's is suffering an inventory problem, just like all the other Macy's in Sacramento. If you want to buy a size 6, you better show up when product arrives because they don't keep much on hand. In this down economy, they are struggling. Macy's is trying to reduce overhead yet remain competitive, and it's not working.
Second, many of the shoes on display had 6- to 10-inch heels. That's definitely the new trend. Trying to find a shoe with a 3-inch heel was pretty difficult. When you get older like me, the padding on your feet thins. So, if you wear a high heel, you can experience pain in your arches. You can buy gel pads online, the kind with a loop for your toe, or you can try Calvin Klein. Calvin Klein shoes are manufactured with built-in gel cushioning pads.
Third, I could not believe this woman's family telling her she looked like a dog in the shoes she was trying on. She was an African American, and her sister said she needed to get a suntan to wear the shoes. The shoes she had strapped to her feet were platforms with 8-inch heels. I told her she's gonna fall over and kill herself. But she giggled and assured me she was used to wearing shoes like these. Oh, my god, I was sounding like my mother.
I thought about not saying what I felt should be said next. I considered leaving those words inside my head. But then I didn't know this woman; she didn't know me; and I'll probably never see her again. She didn't ask for my opinion, but I offered it anyway, because that's just the kind of person I am. I told her the shoes on her feet looked exactly like the kind of shoes that Elton John would wear.
Well, it was time to leave Macy's and go home anyway.
---
Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.
Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.
Elizabeth, I understand completely. After foot surgery, there is no way I can wear shoes with that type of heel and it is difficult to find a shoe that is comfortable.
Hi Elizabeth,
Thank you for my morning laugh! I guess I am guilty of wearing hooker shoes once upon a time long, long ago. Now it's all about comfort because those shoes made my feet throb. Anyone else remember that?
Make it a GREAT day.
Sw
Elizabeth, yet another thing we have in common - Macy's and shoes! But I have to confess that I have a few pairs of those 'six inch heels that are so in". But you know what? They are really platforms with like only a 3 1/2 inch heel. I bet you could do them!
Body Shapers (and Control Top nylons) are two torturous inventions! I'm off the hook on the 6" heels. At 5'10" in my bare feet, I look like I am trying out for the Women's Lakers when in 6" heels - at least that's my excuse when I wear comfortable 2" heels. Smile.