pointy shoes
In getting ready to fly home for Christmas and have a couple interviews, I realized that my wardrobe is not winter-ready. In the biz-cazh climate of California, the closest things I own to a suitcoat are a lime-green one-button blazer, and a corduroy number that has been through the washer almost more than its $30 self can bear.
I didn’t really think that lime-green was appropriate for interviews in Minnesota in the middle of winter, as I would be forced to either buy lime-green pants to match (unlikely), or wear my bright white trousers. Please imagine me in a snowy landscape, my pants disappearing into the white background, my lime green blazer reflecting all the sunlight into the eyes of my interviewers. At that point, I don’t think it would matter how good my resume is.
So, time for a new suit. I ended up with a thick brown number that Matt says looks "dirty," but that my girlfriends feel is the height of fashion. I then considered my footwear: my brown ‘professional’ shoes are tiny little sling-backs. Please stop again to imagine me in a snowy landscape, with my bare feet covered to my ankles with snow (remember, in California, we don’t wear hosiery either).
Off to find a pair of dress boots…of which there are 400 variations, and none that meet my criteria. Most wanted to give me a three-inch stiletto heel with ‘wicked witch of the west’ pointy ski-toes. Please now imagine me in a snowy landscape, upside down in a snowbank, with my witch toes in the air and my resume in the mud.
After three hours at the mall, I finally settled on the most average pair of shoes I could find. They are taller than my ankle, but not by much. They are pointy, but keep me out of Kansas. The heel is a skinny little stick, but is only an inch high. And they were 50% off. Thus, I now own a pair of brown, pointy, stubby, spats. But I can wear socks with them, and at this point, that is all that really matters.
I leave tonight on a red-eye to the homecountry - I just finalized my second interview in MN and had to adjust my flight such that I will be gone for three weeks. Perhaps when I get back, winter will have arrived here, and I will have more opportunities to wear my pointy shoes. Chances are, they will serve more as a memento of an event in time rather than a functional piece of footwear. I wonder, if I filled them with potting soil first, they might hold water.
-l
