Wow, I've done a lot of talking so far. And that makes sense, since it's my blog! But I know a lot of you are out there. I see the stats. I observe the number of hits each day. Anyone up for saying anything? Like, how it all started for you?
As a kid, I had a fascination with my mom's shoes. I think most boys can claim the same thing, as I doubt there are many out there that didn't fit their tiny feet into their mom's comparatively large high heels and drag them across the bedroom or living room (I did, and my mom got mad at me because she feared I would break the heels). As I got older, I was still drawn to them, and satisfied my interest by somehow convincing my childhood friend (the girl from down the block, who was about two years younger) to wear them when we were alone in the house. I'd go into my mom's closet, take out a pair of shoes and she'd wear them, even though it was a bit of a struggle because she had no experience whatsoever in wearing heels. Yes, this was before we were of the age when we would have started using that alone time for other things.
I figured it was a passing thing but when I got involved with my first real girlfriend, I was instantly drawn to her shoes. It began innocently enough when we were working the same shift and she gave me her keys so I could put something in her car. On the floor was a pair of generic brand Keds-style canvas sneakers that I had seen her wear before. Free from the imprisonment of her feet, I could see they were completely worn out. She was a heavyset girl and I enjoyed observing the way her self-proclaimed habit of being hard on her shoes left her with a collection of nicely trashed and abused footwear. The unintentional destruction of the shoes was something special to witness.
Her Keds-style sneakers wore down in the expected ways- the canvas uppers started to lose their shape and started to grow holes where the big toes rubbed against them, the gum-like rubber soles became smooth and began separating from the uppers in a few spots and the once-pristine white insides got smelly and sweat-stained. A pair of black leather lace-up booties were stretched out and the soles worn unbelievably thin, with the small blocky heels seeming to have lost a quarter inch in height. Other shoes collapsed under the pressure of their trashing and abuse in more entertaining ways. A pair of old leather Reebok sneakers (not sure what they're called, but the kind every woman seemed to wear at some point during the 90's) were constantly torqued to the side with the uppers appearing to swell over the sides of the soles, as part of her "hard walk" was walking on the outer sides of her feet. A pair of slip-on leather sandals had the shanks- shallow as they were on sandals with such low heels- crack in half and more or less be held together by the material that made up the lining. Her one pair of heels were at least fifteen years old with ripped leather lining, leather that was stretched and torn in places and top pieces worn down at an angle that caused the shoes to lean dangerously to each side when left unattended on the floor, almost in a admission of defeat. Her shoes were the first ones to make me wonder what shoes would think, if they could think at all. I'd look at her shoes and suspect they were left screaming in pain and wishing for any kind of peace, even if it meant being thrown in the garbage and left for dead in a landfill.
Over the years, I had other girlfriends that occupied opposite ends of the spectrum. One was so madly in love with me after the first date (I know... I'm irresistible... haha, just kidding!) that when she wore a tattered pair of flats on our second date, I demanded that she hand them over to me on the third date... and she did, although I sweetened the deal by taking her to the shoe store to buy her a new pair of shoes... and she did, having driven me nuts by trying on pair after pair of towering stilettos before deciding on one just before I was ready to explode. On the flip side, another girlfriend scoffed at the idea of keeping any pair of shoes past the point where they were mildly worn and had no desire whatsoever to keep one pair for the purposes of trashing and abusing.
So, what's your story? Where did it start? And how to you indulge? And if you're a female reader of this blog, what do you think about all of this?
It all started when I was in grade school in the early 90's. There was this girl who would wear these Keds-knock-offs from Target. They would get holes in the toes really quickly and would wear them without laces. But shoe would keep on wearing them, even until the front rubber outsole completely ripped away from the front of the shoe. Recess would totally trash shoes. Then during the late 90's the canvas shoe fad died, unfortunately, but in high school around 2003ish, Converse Chucks became popular. I was into them for a few years because many of the girls would wear them trashed, but they were not my thing compared to the thinner, more feminine canvas shoe. In college, Vans Lo Pro and Toms became popular. Women started wearing these shoes sockless and the hole in the toes of these in the feet of beautiful women makes you wonder how it makes them feel when they wear them. I used to hate Toms, but after seeing how popular they were with the cute girls and the fact they wore out in a matter of months, I have taken a huge liking to them. Those thin pieces of canvas and soft sole of the Toms don't stand a chance. It seems that my canvas shoe fascination evolves based on the women I have crushes on.
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Ah, Keds. I'll admit I love a trashed pair of Chucks but there's nothing like a pair of Keds (or Keds knock-offs, as everyone was making them at one point). I remember my mother having a pair of canvas Keds that took on all the qualities of a worn out pair: holes above the big toes, yellowed canvas material and rubber soles worn smooth and beginning to separate from the uppers. In the early 90's the girl two houses away (that I had a crush on) got a new pair of leather Keds at the start of the school year and I saw them steadily go downhill throughout the year. At the time I wanted to pay her a visit and find a way to rescue them but now I'd probably want to leave them with her and bribe her to wear them until they fell apart. Keds are so rare these days, and it's even more difficult to find a worn pair for sale. As for Chucks, a few years ago I bought a pair on eBay that were ruined to a ridiculous degree- I'm talking falling apart to the point where the duct tape holding them together was in terrible shape- and foolishly gave them to a friend that I thought would abuse them so more. She ended up giving them away. Too bad because they probably would have been the headline attraction in this blog.
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