Big foot will go to the ball!!

Big foot, clown feet, canoes, you name it I have heard it all. I have spend years, squeezing my not so little toes into those perfect shoes in a bid of ignorance to attempt to fit in the norm. Luckily I did not cause long lasting damage, just a few very painful blisters. In a world where people are becoming larger and growing taller, is it no surprise that feet are also becoming bigger?

As a nation it is universally known that we are all becoming larger,and obesity is a major issue than it was when our Grandparents were young, but why does that stop at the ankle? Why is it difficult to accept that our feet are also growing at the same rate? The high street caters for larger sized people and offers the same fashionable clothes that a smaller person may desire.

It seems the growth spurt ends at the ankle, an assumption that feet have not changed only our waist lines.This can’t be true, after all I am the not so proud owner of UK shoe size not exactly the dainty narrow feet that are associated with women.

It is a part of my body that I am unable to change, I can head to the gym to burn calories from the waistline, but it is impossible to slim down my feet to the ideal size. I admit for some years there was a lot of denial admitting that I have larger feet (I come in at a UK size 9 or 10), especially when the high street at the time did not offer much in the way of choice for those over a UK size 8. I know each and every time I try a pair of shoes on I ask the question, ‘do my feet look big in this’, but there is nothing I can do no matter how exasperated I feel. Those dainty shoes in size 5 look like colourful boats in size 10, not exactly the image you need when trying to find shoes.

The shoes I am offered in most high street shops to match my feet is limited. I am presented with a plethora of vibrant, delicious shoes which leave me gasping for breath such a a child in a sweet shop, only to be informed that those delicious shoes are reduced to a shelf that reminds me of a charity shop sale. The choice of walking boots or unfashionable flats adds insult to injury and in the possibility of finding a suitable pair to be told they do not have any stock makes me feel I have wasted the last half an hour of my life not being taken seriously. I think most shoe sellers believe that the customer that buys larger shoes must not have a clue about fashion and can barely afford the cardboard box they are accustomed to be sold in.

My teenage years were littered with forgettable memories of shoe shopping with my mother and her battle to try and find shoes that would be suitable for a girl of my age. An age when image matters and feeling like I had a physical disfigurement is not cool for school. What 14 year old girl wants to be told she will have to have the unfashionable flats when heading to the school disco? Well this is what happened. I often avoided such events unless my mum, and she did manage to find (who knows where from) some reasonably fashionable shoes which would be worn for the coming months to within an inch of their lives - even a hole in the sole didn't prevent me salvaging the last breath of freedom before being defeated and sent back to pile of grey miserable shoes I had become accustomed to.

I often find myself imagining my feet fitting snugly into those perfect shoes, a Cinderella moment, and in a state of denial I try to find my Prince Charming in the smaller shoe section, methodically analysing the shoes that may be the perfect fit... only to crash land into reality when my toes don’t even fit in the front of shoe, I then sheepishly head to the right department with my bubble burst.

However not all shops are inapt and identify there is a growing need to cater for the larger shoes, why not, if waist lines are becoming bigger, surely our feet must be following suit? Life has definitely improved when shoe shopping and those hellish memories of those hideous shoes that I have to grin and bear in my teenage years are a distant memory. I will go to the ball!

However having large feet can have its benefits. Having the same size feet as my boyfriend, much to his amusement means I will never run out of trainers, although he could say the same about my heels....