Friday, January 22, 2010

A Tale of Two Shoes

A colleague came to me with a demure smile on her face. "I want to show you something funny." She looked down and I looked down as well. And snickered.

Now, Cathy is someone I consider elegant. Her disposition goes a long way in influencing me, true, but she has a certain style. Generally in solid colors like black, or camel, or dove gray, her sleek figure wears simple clothes well. I know she doesn't enjoy shopping - I accept this, even if I don't get it - but she nevertheless knows what looks great on her. She once grumbled mildly that she "had" to get a pair of shoes for an event, which killed me, and then we talked flats for a while. She eventually bought a pair of one brand I recommended, Riekers, and that happy event led to this:


Which one of these things doesn't belong? She said she had stepped into two of the many black loafers in her closet and headed out the door. It took about an hour for to notice that something . . . didn't feel quite right.

This will never happen to me. For all of the things we have in common: we work together, we're both librarians, we have similar haircuts, we're about the same age, both moms to college students, I have no two pairs of shoes that look remotely alike. But I often want to look like Cathy. When I read the fascinating discussion on an Already Pretty post on "spicing up a twinset", I immediately thought of her. She isn't "camouflaging herself" or "hiding from the world". She just looks LOVELY every day, and she is a perfect example of what inspired this blog: A beautiful, stylish librarian. Welcome to our world.

4 comments:

  1. LOL, what a great story! I also don't have any shoes that look alike so I doubt I would do this either. But I have worn navy belts that I thought were black, and vice versa. I need a better light in my bedroom, methinks!

    Welcome to blogging. Looking forward to seeing your posts.

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  2. I find a shoe style or brand I like and just keep buying them. It's all about comfort for me. I buy them in brown, navy, black and tan. Unfortunately navy looks an awful lot like black when you're trying to get dressed in the dark, and when the styles don't vary they don't even feel any different. I've worn two different color shoes all day more than once!

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  3. I once wore an oversized sweater (hey, it was the 80s) to work. It wasn't until nearly noon that I realized it was on backwards. No one said a word to me. I stepped out of the public eye, pulled in my arms, and spun the sweater right 'round (baby, right 'round, like a record baby...)and continued on with my day. And yes, it was obvious it had been on backwards.

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  4. Brought back a funny, long-forgotten memory. In high school, I was so enamored of a pair of black and silver tennis shoes I owned, I bought them again - in maroon and silver. You guessed it - grabbed two different shoes out of the dark closet on my way to theatre rehearsal and TA-DA. I decided to immediately call attention to it, hoping it would give me an air of Cyndi Lauperish insouciance, rather than an air of theatre kid dorkiness, which I already had. At least they were the same shoe, just different colors, so I didn't feel wobbly all night. Great first post!

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