Friday, April 9, 2010

Nude Heels

Nude is one of this season’s hottest trends. Nude not as in clothing optional, but nude as in (Caucasian) skin tones.  In other words, beige gussied up with names like oatmeal, flesh, and taupe, as well as spring’s perennial pinks and peaches. Not only is this palette “in,” but wearing heels in a color that matches your skin will make your legs look longer, at least according to best-selling fashion author Charla Krupp, quoted in an interview in “O” magazine. At 5”3”, I can use all the illusion I can get, so off I went in search of nude heels.

Surfing the fashion blogs turned up a pair of peep-toe stilettos by Giuseppe Zanotti in a patent leather pale pink that looked as though they would “make your legs go on forever,” as the description on TheShoeGoddess.com suggested. The only hitch was  that I’ve never mastered the peculiarly feminine art of walking in high heels. Mastering as in being able to walk down the street with my usual long strides in the delicate, sexy shoes my eyes are invariably drawn to. Despite the fact that I’ve ended up giving away or returning virtually every pair of high heels I’ve ever bought,  hope--or marketing-- springs eternal. Perhaps this time I would find a shoe that was sexy, comfortable and matched my legs. Surely, that was not too much to ask.

My first stop was the Nordstrom shoe department, primarily because of its generous return policy. I tried on two pairs of Cole Haan pumps with Nike Air heel pads, one with peep toes, the other closed, but the toe box in both felt too confining and the shade of beige was too yellow for my coloring. A pair of Athena Alexander leather slides in a cream color were fairly comfortable, but not vamp enough. And then I spotted the Nine West ankle strap pumps in a variety of colors, including a deep metallic blue and a pinky nude. The latter were the closest match to the color of my feet, and fairly comfortable, but the blue ones also tugged at my heart strings. I could imagine wearing them for a night out with black tights and a little black dress or even to work with black tights and a navy dress. In contrast, the nude heels would have to be worn with bare legs or pale fishnets and couldn’t go to work. I tried not to think about the fact that both pairs had three-inch heels, and put both on hold, heading off to the gym to ponder my choices.

The next day, I settled on the nude heels. My boyfriend suggested I wear them to an upcoming party. After prancing around my apartment for an hour in my new three-inch shoes, I felt my back noticeably relax when I removed them. I went back to the store to look for another pair, a lower-heeled, more comfortable one, but alas, the only one I found was a taupe snakeskin slingback with a kitten heel, which at $278, was several times the cost of the Nine West pair and out of my price range.

Saturday night came and we arrived  in San Francisco’s Mission District. Once we were inside the party, I slipped on my nude heels. In the dim light, it took me a few minutes to find the right hole in the ankle strap. At first, I walked hesitantly but by the end of the evening, I was dancing in them. I felt not only taller, but also sexier and more confident. No one mentioned my shoes but one woman told my boyfriend, “Your girlfriend is hot.”

At the end of the party, I took off my magic slippers, releasing my foot from its arched position-- a position that mirrors the foot’s natural tensing at certain moments of bliss.  Perhaps that, rather than any leg lengthening, buttock lifting, or back arching, is the real reason for the allure of high heels.

As for me, I’ll wear these again indoors for a few hours, but I’m still looking for that sexy comfortable pair, the ones with the grace and delicacy of a Manolo Blahnik, the sexiness of a Christian Louboutin, and the comfort of Pumas. Those would truly be magic slippers.