How did I ever??

[Helen_Highwater]

I knew I'd left a few odd things hidden away in the garden shed. As I'd not looked at them in ages I thought it's time of send them off to the charity shops. Low and behold there was the first pair of heels I ever bought. This was perhaps the best part of 30 something years ago. Pre-internet I'd bought them from a shop, just before Christmas pretending they were a present for my SO. Larger sizes didn't exist so I, in keeping with the deception, I bought UK size 7's. I'm size 9.

It took a while. Stretching and pulling but somehow I got them on and would wear them around the house. Well I tried to get them back on last night. OMG how on earth did I ever spend more than 10 seconds wearing them. It felt like my toes were in a vice.

It just made me think of the measures we can sometimes go to in fulfilling our dreams and how lucky we are that GG's have got taller such that larger sizes are now available.

[Crystal 42]

Helen, I think it's a case of sheer willpower overcoming size limitations. I did the same once with a pair of Size 8 boots, I'm a UK 9 too. While they pinched my toes like mad I simply had to wear them but the zips wouldn't play ball with my calves. I struggled and cursed and probably cut off the blood supply to my feet but I got them on in the end and you know what? It was all worth it! :D

[Elizabeth G]

Hi Helen,

I know what you mean. I think I've got permanent nerve damage from squeezing my feet into shoes that were too small but fell into the "these-are-so-cute-I-just-have-to have-them" category :lol:

Elizabeth

[alwayshave]

Helen, my first pair of shoes were also small. I did not realize there was a sizing difference, it's not like there was a book on how to be a CD at that time 40 years ago.

[Teresa]

Helen,
My first heels were a pair I altered belonging to my wife, it took some doing, as she is size 3 and I'm size 8 ( UK). The extra heels were made from threaded book extenders we used when making up wedding albums , the gap in between was thick bin lining wrapped around cardboard, and held together by black PVC tape. I do have some pictures somewhere, they were so dangerous, because I kept screwing on more heel extenders until they snapped at the top of some stairs and I nearly went head first down them.

The first pair of heels I bought were from FHW, if you remember them , I contrived a story about having to buy heels because I was taking part in a Round Table charity show. The shop was empty but filled up quickly , the SA swallowed my story but she had the last laugh by dangling some knee highs in front of me and other customers telling me I have to slip them on before I could try the shoes . Just to reinforce my story I told her I would bring her some ticket for the show , that was my first High Street outing .

I don't think any of us forget our first heels !

[Maria 60]

Wow! You just brought my memories back 25years, how fast we forget our past. For me my friend would liquidate stores, I happened to be at his house and he had a basement full of shoes. He picked five six pairs in my wife's size and gave them to me, I remember getting home and my wife didnt like any of them. I spent hours trying to modify those shoes to make them some how fit. I did it, it wasn't pretty but I walked around with those shoes for the longest time until my wife got fed up with them and bought me a pair my size. The truth is the way I fixed them to make them fit they kept putting runs in my pantyhose, so the wife figured it was cheaper to buy proper fitting shoes.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane, the bumpy road that brought us here.

[DIANEF]

My first attempt at buying some heels didn't go well. I was nervous as hell, mumbled something to the SA about them being for my wife, and came out of the shop with some size 7s with a low heel (I take an 8). I tried them on, and genuinely believed the Spanish Inquisition could have used them as torture devices.
Funny now looking back when I now buy things without a care.

[Jaylyn]

When I was a little boy I wore my moms heels around the house and they were too big but I tried and thought I was just fine. I quickly out grew them in junior high so quit wearing heels. After I was married I found that my wife had a pair of wedges that she had discarded. I hid them and squeezed into the wedges as they had a webbing across the front. I wore them till the webbing finally pulled loose. I then went a few years without heels, until I gathered enough nerve to find a size 12 in women's heels. They hurt my feet but I would still prance around the house. After all the kids left the house I finally bought my size of 13 to 14s. My feet have spread as I get older. If I live much longer might have to go to 15 wide.
I love that the GGs have gotten taller with bigger feet.

[CynthiaD]

... how lucky we are that GG's have got taller such that larger sizes are now available.

Don't discount the effect of more liberal attitudes toward crossdressing. If larger sizes sell in enough quantity, manufacturers will make them, regardless of who buys them.

[jack-ie]

I've always used the two sizes up rule when buying shoes but recently I bought two different pairs of size 11( I wear a 9 in men) ladies shoes. 1 pair of flats , 1 heels and both were too large for me. Wondering if anyone else has noticed a change in sizing?

[Helen_Highwater]

Don't discount the effect of more liberal attitudes toward crossdressing. If larger sizes sell in enough quantity, manufacturers will make them, regardless of who buys them.

Cynthia,

This is very true. Market forces prevail. This is why when we present enfemme at the checkout to pay for that dress or skirt, bra or makeup or shoes, we're not turned away. Money talks. There is however a couple of points that relate to my position all those years ago. How many here still find it really, I mean really difficult to shop for femme things while in drab, and I'll include myself in that group, let alone going out enfemme to make those purchases.. Enfemme I'll shop for any femme item, in drab I'm still likely to pretend it's for my SO and buy the wrong size.

And I suppose that now begs the question, when we tell the SA, "It's for my wife", they think, "Yer right". I'm sure they've encountered it all before.