So What I Have Big Feet

Here’s a run down of some of my physical characteristics:

5′10

Size 10 in clothes

Size 11 shoe

About a 34′/36′ inseam in pants

Being tall and curvy is definitely something that isn’t catered to when it comes to the world of fashion and clothing, but that doesn’t mean I walk around naked either, because I can find the right clothes, so that really isn’t an issue. Now having a size 11 shoe, definitely causes a problem at times.

Yes, I have big feet.

Not big/ ugly feet, but just big feet.

No hammer-time or corny toes here.

Just a little larger than the average woman’s foot. I’ve had these  feet for my whole life (duh), so I’ve always had these issues. I remember as a kid, I think I was in 4th grade and wearing a size 8 woman’s shoe. I couldn’t wear the cute girly shoes all of my classmates wore. My mother always dragged me to the woman’s shoe section to buy my school & church shoes and needless to say, they weren’t always the cutest.

A pair of brown penny loafers vividly stand out in my memory. Not that I didn’t want to own these penny loafers, but after a few weeks of wearing them, they started to make this squeaking sound as I was walking down the hallway. Every time I walked anywhere, all you heard was “eek, eek, eek”. I can’t remember how many people laughed at me.

So yeah, needless to say, I was traumatized at an early age because of the size of my feet and the shoes I had to wear. Fast forward 20+ years,  shoes are still a big deal to me, and yes, I still have big feet. Up until I had my son, I was about a 10 1/2, but shortly after, my feet managed to grown and extra half inch.  Needless to say, finding cute shoes in size 11, isn’t always hard, but shoe designers/manufacturers don’t make it easy either.  Usually when I walk into a shoe store, every other size is available but a size 11, and if it is available, they’re a size 11 that doesn’t fit true to size.

Most of the time I’m forced to buy shoes online from stores like Samanta Shoes (which is owned by a black woman) Nine West, Evans, or Nordstroms.  Then it’s basically a guessing game as to whether I buy my  normal size or a size larger (*gasp* a size 12). Thankfully, usually Nine West shoes fit true to size, dont’ let there be a sale, because I can usually do some damage. Out of those shoe stores named, although it’s in the  UK, Evans, is definitely my favorite.  They actually specialize in different widths of shoes, because technically, I can wear a size 10, if the width was correct. Yes, I have fat feet, sue me.

The other morning I woke up to a size 9  1/2 in men shoes foot in my face.  It belonged to my 10 yr old son. Needless to say, big feet run in our family. I’m sure by the time he’s 13, he’ll be well about a size 13, like his uncle (my brother) was at his age. Basically, once I finish writing this, I’m going to call my grandmother and blame her, because I think she’s the one responsible for the big foot gene in our family, she wears a size 12. Imagine the look on my face when I noticed she decided to rock a pair of Timbs the other day, at the age of 79! I had to shake my head twice just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.

In any event, to all of my fellow big feet women out there, you are not alone. There are shoe manufacturers out there, who understand our plight!

Tags: fungke blak chik, fungkeblakchik, large feet, samanta shoes, shoes, size 11 shoes