The Shoes I Wore

Driving Ethan to school today, I couldn't help but notice the shoes of the girls walking to middle school: Uggs, Converse, tall fringed boots, and many shoes that actually looked like slippers.

I feel pretty sentimental about my middle school footwear, even though in retrospect, many of my footwear choices were not super practical. Still, the 80's were a good time for shoe fashion. Not as good as the 70's, but since my mom never let me get that pair of Bare Traps to wear with my Dittos, or the vinyl go-go boots to wear with everything else, my loyalties really lie with what kept my feet looking sweet in the 6th and 7th grade.

Every girl in 7th grade had a pair of white Minnetonka moccasins with the red and black beaded thunderbird. There was no way I could have shown my face in the halls of Canyon Middle school without a pair of these beauties. I wore them with my Jordache jeans (but not 501's because my mom said they were "boy pants" and would not buy them for me) or a pair of burgundy cords. They really went with everything. These shoes didn't really do well in the rain, but sometimes wet feet are just a sacrifice you have to make for fashion.

My Cherokee wedge sandals were a sixth grade mistake that took me from an awkward 5 foot 8 inch 12 year old to an even more awkward almost 6 foot tall 12 year old. I could barely walk in these shoes and wore them exclusively to church with my favorite Jessica McClintock Gunnesack dress. I did not own a pair of genuine Cherokee wedge sandals because they were expensive. I bought a knock-off pair from Ross for $9.99. I did learn a valuable lesson on parenting from these shoes, however. That is, sometimes it's best to bite your tongue and let your kids make horrible fashion mistakes and hope they will learn not to be so stupid in the future.

What could be more cool than the wavy sole of the Famolare sandal? Nothing! My exact pair of Famolare's were a little lower than these shoes and I wore them with nicer pants, including a lovely pair of lavender pants that went with some kind of unicorn-rainbow shirt. Of course, because of my extreme height, these shoes pretty much made any pair of pants I owned into floods. Good thing I was oblivious because these shoes were comfortable and stylish and I loved them.

In the 80's I loved espadrilles and ankle books (the more funky the better) and Keds. But my favorite 80's shoes, and possibly the best shoes of all time, are the fringed white majorette boots that went with an awesome white patent leather bag and a white Esprit angular jacket. I wish I had a picture.