Shoe Series: Brown T-Straps

They were one of my last pair of brown dress shoes.  I’d just been having such a hard time finding new brown dress shoes that I stopped trying and figured I’d make do.  The few other pairs I had before were gone and I was down to these brown t-straps I think I’ve had since undergrad and a pair of pumps I always forget about.

They’re cute and sort of retro in a late ‘30s, early 40’s kind of way.  Rounded toes with leaf cutouts on top and around the heel.  A medium brown with some color texture blending a little darker and little lighter in spots, making them ideal for matching with a variety of brown shades.

I last wore them with my fabulous stretch knit dress with the brown and  tan cane pattern over a white background and some olive knit tights from Munchkinhead.  During the work day, the right shoe started squeaking when I walked, the kind of broken metal rubbing on broken metal squeaking that is too familiar to someone who’s broken a few shoe supports in her lifetime.  I could feel the top piece pushing up into the shoe, rubbing against the sole of my foot.  I figured the shoes wouldn’t last long, but I wasn’t expecting what happened next.

While walking from my office to the train station, I felt like I stepped in a hole.  This isn’t unusual as the sidewalks have very large gaps between them.  But then there was another hole, and another.  I looked down and the left heel on my shoe was bent in half!  Severed from the back mostly through, it was fixable in the sense that I could bend it back into place.  So I did, and I kept walking.  Then, the hole feeling again.  I lifted my foot to fix the shoe again and discovered the heel was gone.  Completely gone.  So much for these shoes.  Good thing I know how to walk on the balls of my feet.