Love Heels, Hate Pain

So, you buy a lovely new shiny pair of shoes and are excited to wear them out partying. They look fabulous, but alas, beyond the glamour boils blisters and blood. The new shoes have rubbed! You must walk home in your tights getting disapproving looks from shod folk, and your feet take a couple of weeks to heal their gory wounds.

Sound familiar? I have put my feet through hell in pursuit of a pretty shoe, but recently found a fabulous solution to the pain and trauma which I simply must share.

When I left uni I worked in Tabio for a month as a sales assistant; this is a Japanese sock and tights shop where rainbow hosiery and glittery legwarmer spill off the walls. The Japanese are notoriously inventive, and amongst our goods we had strange devices we referred to as 'footsies'. Now, these footsies would receive laughter and scorn from tourists (who tended to treat the shop as a museum) but they are actually wonderful and magic for the girl who must walk in heels.

The footsies have a round pad with a crotchet top that you slide onto your toes. This means that the pressure is taken off the bottom of your foot and the top coverage stops your shoes from cutting up your toes.

These glossy Mary Janes are a favourite, but notorious ‘pinchers’ that get my middle toe and top of foot every time. Slide on a pair of these footsies and I can dance all night! And they also leave a pretty decorative lace trim visible.

I also wear them under lacy net tights to stop my toes poking through them, and ruining the tights.

The secret is out!