Soul Mates article

For those who wanted to read the shoe article but could not access it online or get a copy of the actual paper , here is the text as it appeared in the October 10, 2006 Winnipeg Free Press. For your convenience, I have highlighted my quotes.

Sole mates

Love shoes more than you love chocolate or your children? You're not alone

By Cheryl Binning

IT'S not every day that you're walking down the street and a guy holds up a sign that reads "Nice feet." But it happened to Rachael this summer while on a business trip to Toronto.
In between meetings, she managed to squeeze in a pedicure. As she walked back to her hotel, a man in a car slowed down beside her. She was astonished to see him holding up a card on which the admiring "foot note" was scrawled.

She glanced down at her sandal-clad feet sporting shiny new polish, then back at the man. He motioned her towards his car. She hesitated, then decided to see what this was all about.
Rolling down his window, the man said he was a connoisseur of feet. Hers were among the nicest he had ever seen, and would she meet him across the street for a drink?

Curiosity got the better of her. She agreed to meet him in the pub. Over a beer, he offered a proposition: if she agreed to be his foot mistress, he would keep her continually supplied with new shoes -- expensive shoes -- whatever shoes her heart desired.

"I was so tempted to say yes," sighs the 35-year-old Winnipegger, who had visions of Manolo Blahniks and Jimmy Choos dancing in her head. "I would have done it just for the shoes..."
The would-be shoe daddy could have been an axe murderer, and yet Rachael -- an otherwise intelligent and relatively cautious woman -- actually considered taking him up on the deal (she did take down his e-mail address). Such is the allure of the high-end shoe.

Paola Jacobbi, a Vanity Fair correspondent based in Italy, explores the female fervor for footwear in the new book I Want Those Shoes! She agrees that women will do some crazy things for a pair of heels.

"Fisticuffs for the last pair of leopard-skin shoes in a size 6; elbow jabs to get to a ridiculous pair of gold sandals; insults exchanged for an absolutely ordinary-looking pair of brown ankle boots," she writes.

For many women shoes are a passion; for some they are an obsession.
Jill B@rr0tt considers them a best friend.

"Each pair of shoes I wear has a story," says B@rr0tt, a 25-year-old Winnipeg professional.

"I can tell you how we met, how I waited for them to go on sale -- or how excited I was to find they were such a deal -- what we have done together and the places we've been.

"It's like picking up a man, but even better. I find a pair, admire them from all angles, try them on, admire myself in them and imagine us walking together down the street. It's falling in love, except without rejection."

The female fascination with shoes tends to begin at an early age. Just about every young girl can recall slipping on a pair of her mother's or aunt's high heels to play "grown-up."

As children, we learn to associate shoes with romance and magic. Cinderella gets her prince because of a glass slipper and Dorothy finds her way home to Kansas with the help of ruby shoes.

Jacobbi, reached at her home in the Italian countryside, says her own shoe craze started as a child. She was flat-footed and forced to wear "horrible little ankle boots" to fix the defect -- except for on Sunday when she was allowed to put on her patent leather shoes with tassels and shiny buckles.

"So every morning, before setting off for school, I would secretly slip my so-called Sunday shoes into my satchel and as soon as I was out of the house I would change into them. My feet are flatter than ever."

Expensive designer shoes have become a fashion craze, thanks in part to the now-concluded TV series Sex & the City, in which footwear played a starring role.

Female viewers were riveted not only by the dating exploits of Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her hip New York friends, but by their $500 shoes. The show proved that even intelligent, modern, independent women can get weak knees over beautiful wedges, platforms, kitten heels and boots.

Annette Woodroffe understands. "My heart rate actually goes up when I enter certain shoe stores," says the 32-year-old environmental lab analyst, who has 50 pairs of shoes and says it's not enough.

Whether it's functional brown loafers, strappy sandals or elegant pumps; a pair of casual sneakers or sexy stilettos, Jacobbi says that what we wear on our feet is an act of communicating who we are to the world.

"At any given point in our lives, and even at different times in a single day, shoes are indicators of our age, mood, desires," says the author. "Consciously or not, shoes are part of the message. They are our personal exclamation mark."

Jacobbi isn't the only one to think shoes are a window into a woman's "sole."

"Shoes really say a lot about you as a person," says Robyn Thomas, who keeps her own shoe cupboard well inventoried.

She has seven pairs of sneakers and six pairs of athletic shoes; 15 evening/formal occasion pairs; six pairs for everyday; six pairs of boots and about 13 more pairs she puts in the "other" category.

"I love the excitement of finding a pair of shoes that reflect aspects of my personality or how I am feeling at a particular moment," says the 25-year-old Winnipeg contemporary dancer and occupational therapy student.

"Sometimes I buy shoes that are a surprise, something I never would have expected to buy, and that tells me something about myself I hadn't yet realized or maybe wasn't comfortable showing until I found these shoes. Often I feel that my shoes know more about me than I do myself."

B@rr0tt says the 52 pairs in her closet help her create different personas.

"Each pair gives me a different attitude to carry through the day -- flirty, sweet, professional, sport or vixen. They're a way to present your personality, or to try one on temporarily."

But shoes can be a double-edged sword, admits 31-year-old Amara Lehmann.

"They can boost your confidence, but they can also bring you exquisite pain -- during the breaking-in process -- and ravage a paycheque."

They can also ruin an otherwise promising date.

Rachel Horton is a 28-year-old microbiologist with a passion for shoes. Her high regard for foot fashion extends to potential suitors.

"I have actually skipped out on a date because the guy turned up wearing terrible shoes," she says.

"He was wearing dark jeans and these really white trainers. It looked so terrible I knew I couldn't go through with it. I stayed for a drink, said I was tired and he drove me home. Then I didn't return his calls ... it's immature, I know."

Footwear Facts:
* The word bootleg (used to describe something done illegally) originated from pirates and smugglers who typically wore big boots that were large enough to hold stolen goods inside.

* In the original Cinderella story, her slippers were made of fur -- not glass. The story was changed, accidentally, in the 1600s by a translator who got confused between the French "une pantoufle en vair" (a fur slipper) and "une pantoufle en verre" (a glass slipper).

* Imelda Romualdez Marcos, wife of former Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was rumoured to own 3,000 pairs of shoes. She denied it, telling the media that in fact she only owned 1,060 pairs. Other shoe accumulators were Joan Crawford, who had 300 pairs, and Jayne Mansfield, who owned 200.

* Up until 1850 there was no right or left shoe. They were designed absolutely straight to fit on either foot.

* The most popular heel height is between five and seven centimetres.

* For catwalk fashion shows heels can be as high as 12 cm, but are lowered to 10 cm before they are retailed in stores

* Sneakers were first made in America in 1916 by Keds.

* The first lady's boot was designed for Queen Victoria in 1840.

* Toronto's Bata Shoe Museum features more than 10,000 shoes and related artifacts.

* The shoestring was first invented in England in 1790. Before this time shoes were commonly fastened with buckles.

-- Compiled from I Want Those Shoes!
and various websites
© 2006 Winnipeg Free Press. All Rights Reserved.