"I went in crocs to frost": Girls about buying large size shoes
under the category of "non-standard" size absolutely everything can get in - sometimes it seems that things are sewn according to parameters that do not exist in nature. The size range in stores often raises questions - we talked to girls, whose foot size is over the fortieth, about where and how they are looking for shoes.
I have the 41st leg size, if I buy non-athletic shoes, and 41.5-42, if I go for sneakers. Of course, the size range is different from brand to brand, and I even have a few pairs of 40th size, but this is rather the exception.
The fact that I will have a big leg, it became clear already in high school; by the ninth grade, the foot has finally grown. I remember how embarrassing it was when we went shopping with mom and she started screaming from the doorway: "Do you have forty-two size shoes?" Once, three teenage boys, who were sitting in the hall, noticed my feet and began to laugh. Now, fortunately, the world has realized that the 40th size for girls is far from the limit. A breakthrough in this matter happened thanks to the mass market - it was there that I first saw the rails with the numbers "41-42". In recent years, COS shoes often suit me. I love Marina Rinaldi - this is the only store in my memory where, if you don’t fit the 41st size, bring the 42nd. Unfortunately, in online stores it turns out to buy only proven models, so I always try to bring some new pairs from trips.
At the same time, there are pluses: firstly, many cool men's sneakers just start from size 41, secondly, my husband has exactly the same foot as me, and we often change shoes. If you can not buy a couple you like, do not worry. Did not work with this shoe? Do not worry, there is another. Few shoes don’t rub me with the first few socks, but I also got used to it - you just need to walk more in a new pair in wet weather, and at home put it on a thicker sock.
But all this is nonsense compared to what I encountered during pregnancy and after giving birth: all the shoes became small. I was lucky that it started in the late spring and I was able to pass five months in two pairs of birken stocks. It turned out that many after childbirth irresistibly increase the size of the leg. When you have 41-42, from the prospect of finding shoes even more want to cry. But it seems to be lucky - my foot began to return to the past size.
I remember I was about twelve years old: early autumn, my mother complains that my leg has grown again, saying how difficult it will be to find shoes. It was in a small provincial town, where the choice was small. Even then my foot had grown to almost the 40th size, and that autumn I walked away in sneakers. I remember very embarrassed to wear them with dresses - glad that now it is fashionable. Dad joked that he would put his feet in the pads so that they would not grow anymore.
Over time, the foot reached 42.5, and this very “half” also creates a lot of problems. The 42nd is small to me, and the 43rd is completely loose, so I often buy shoes with laces. Mass market is not for me. I never learned to wear heels, even now it is impossible to find them in my size. The point is that my rise is low and my leg is narrow. So, boots in size are usually high in rise and wide in the ankle. I had the experience of working in a store - so women came there every day with a size 40 foot, sighing and leaving with nothing; so I know that not one such. Somehow I was brought to a shoe exhibition, where I asked the manufacturers why they do not make sizes larger than 41. They replied that it was not: "Your buyers simply do not buy it."
Mostly I wear sneakers and sneakers, but it must be soft leather: my stiff shoes cause cramps. From what I could advise, unfortunately, only Ecco remained - however, even they only wear sneakers for my size. Previously, you could always find something in Rockport, but they left Russia. Some models of adidas are also suitable for me on a piece: I wear men, pulling on the laces a lot. Most often in men's footwear the foot dangles in width and height, and because of this creases appear. At the same time, my young man can calmly wear my shoes, although I cannot be after him already - she stretches.
Sellers always, when they hear what size I have, are diverted from the female department to the male department. Somehow I wanted red winter boots, but in the men's section they were only in gray - I had to buy and paint them with paints on the fabric itself. As a result, she wore them with pleasure for several winters in a row. Couples of my size on discounts remain, but these are most often sandals (which are practically not needed in cool Moscow) or sports trekking shoes. Yet the specialty stores that I met are simply fear.
I have the 42nd Russian size, but depending on the brand and the pad, it varies from 42nd to 43rd - unfortunately, I often see the second digit. The fact that the foot is growing rapidly, it became clear in high school. Everything that was "on the market" at that time was not very pleasing to the eye. Large sizes shoes were not to be found, and the “Martins” and “Grinders” proved to be the salvation - they still carry them. Now, in my opinion, the problem is not so acute. The fashion has changed, everyone has become relaxed, and I can, for example, calmly put on a classic Cat or Timberland model with an evening dress for a party.
I have not just a big size - one leg in the ankle is wider than the other, while the rise is high. All this complicates the choice: I can not pull on models with an elastic ankle, so I often choose shoes with zippers or lacing. My outlet - sneakers and sneakers. Sports shoes are comfortable and versatile, in addition, there are models with improved stability and other features that reduce the load on the legs. I wear men: women in my size there. But I would not call it a big plus and plus in general - this is a necessary measure. It's a shame when cool collaborations appear in the female line.
I do not buy in online stores, because you can always miss with size and lift. But several times acquaintances missed in the “plus” and I gladly took their “mistakes” from them - but they were all the same “martins”. Once in an outlet I attacked sandals of the 43rd size and took three similar pairs at once, although I didn’t need that much. Then they laughed for a long time at how the injuries of the past make themselves felt. By the way, I have never come across rudeness or add-ons from consultants regarding my size. On the contrary, I always meet interest and desire to help.
I have the 41st leg size, or rather, 26.5 cm (in some rulers, the 41st is 25.5). I have a wide foot, and it is almost impossible to buy women's shoes of suitable size. Now, however, I wear sneakers and unisex shoes. Although there are some peculiarities: male models have a different lift and they are not always convenient. In general, women with my foot size are not uncommon, so shoes do not live to sell off. But the guys with the 41st size is not enough, so I often go to the men's department and take all the cool things there at the sale.
I did not order shoes in the workshops: usually it is expensive and the price is often unjustified. Shoes can be bought. As for shoes, it is more difficult, I don’t remember when I wore them myself. The school had a dress code, sportswear was not encouraged. I had ugly worn shoes, I was ashamed of them. My mother always perceived my foot size as an excuse for jokes and lamentations: she herself is 37th, she easily finds a pair on any sale.
Due to the fact that I have a wide leg, it is difficult for me to find summer shoes. Somehow I bought a size 41 MM6 sandals. Terribly happy, but not for long - they broke literally on the second day of their socks. In general, I like to walk and in the summer I practice daily walks of ten kilometers a day. Few what shoes it will stand if it is not in size. Therefore, most often wear sneakers, and the change of seasons, recently bought the “Blendstone”. The worst thing was during pregnancy: summer, heat, legs swell. In the end, I bought crocs and went through them almost to frost. Later took sports boots with velcro.
My favorite shoe brand now is adidas. I really like their sneakers, and the sneakerheads look at me with respect. I have been torn off for all the years of suffering, when I had to break my fingers and heal corns. In the summer, in the heat I wear birkenstocks, although in Moscow there is no particular need for this - the most in sneakers. In online stores I try not to buy shoes. This year I decided to take a chance and missed twice: first I took loafers in a big way on ASOS, but the usual came uzkachi. And the aforementioned MM6 with Farfetch just broke my heart.
I used to think that I have the 40th shoe size, now I often buy shoes of the 41st. It is difficult to say whether the size grid has changed or if the foot has become larger. I will not say that it is especially difficult for me to buy shoes; It feels like the big sizes are being bought first, but I can't say for sure. Occasionally, even the largest pair in the lineup turns out to be small to me - but this is in cases where the shoes are of small size and are recommended on sites to be larger.
Not to say that I am complex about shoe size. I am tall, and the size seems to me quite suitable. But every time when shoes come out of an online store, which turns out to be great, I am overwhelmed with a feeling of joy: how good it is that there are people with a bigger foot size than mine. In general, I probably jumped on the last car of the outgoing train: if my foot were half a size larger, I have no idea where it would be necessary to look for new shoes.
I have several pairs of shoes in my wardrobe, which I really like, but I can’t wear them for more than fifteen minutes. Most often this happens with models of European brands. I don’t buy shoes from the men's section: I have a narrow leg, and men’s pairs are usually wider than women’s. The exception is sports shoes, so almost all of my sneakers are for men. Here, by the way, I have an advantage: for some reason, it is easier to find laconic models for men for sports for some reason. Even in my childhood I was convinced that girls with large feet cannot wear shoes with a long nose - I didn’t wear them for a long time. Now, of course, I don’t think about it at all.
I am tall and my foot size is in perfect proportion with everything else. Unfortunately, this does not eliminate a single shoe problem. I have the 41st leg size, this is 7.5 on the British grid, and the left foot is slightly larger than the right one. To say that it is inconvenient is to say nothing.
Probably the happiest shoe period in my life was ten or eleven years old when I grew to my mother's 38th size. She had very beautiful "foreign" boats, and I dragged them to school until she saw them. Black with gold thread and brown with velvet inset. Then all the secret became clear, and I flew. After that, the golden times were over, and my leg quickly grew to size 40. I was very ashamed of it: my parents ached all the time, how fast I grew up and supposedly, again, I had to buy new shoes for the price of an “adult” department.
Of course, size limits me in choosing. For example, I can not wear sharp-toed shoes, because my size and long, sharp toe look together, not even like skis, but like a snowboard. Can't wear beautiful stiletto sandals. All this is terribly offensive, because any outfit begins with shoes, and it’s not a joy for me to build a wardrobe around sneakers, because I love dresses and pencil skirts. Nike sneakers and Dr. boots are best for me. Martens. I want elegance, but instead I look like a native of the 90s. At the same time, I am ready to pray for someone who normalized a couple of years ago wearing sneakers with dresses. When they tell me that heels would fit here, I just pretend that my sense of style is above that.
The most comfortable feminine shoes at an affordable price produces the British brand Clarks. At the same time, most of her styles are frankly orthopedic, but in each collection there are always a couple of pretty models. Of course, nice in the framework of "sensible": a rounded toe, a steady, low heel. I don’t buy men's shoes: they are too wide for me and, in principle, the same models can be found in women's collections.
Unfortunately, my size is one of the most popular, and I never get the discounted balances of collections. On the contrary, they are snapped up first, and you have to either wait or agree on models of other colors or styles. Feel free to buy online with this size and shape of the foot does not work: the chance to send the shoes back is 70 percent, but this is normal. In Scotland, where I live, the process of returns and exchanges is usually painless, quick and free.
Now I have a stable 42nd size - or rather, now I know about it. I used to come across the fact that the 41st is the biggest (and many brands don't even produce it), and didn’t even think that you can search for shoes even more. As a result, I bought shoes in which my feet ached and got tired, which I rubbed, and accidentally got comfortable wearing over the years. Now I’m sure that many (though not all) complaints about the pain of heels and narrow shoes are associated with inadequate sizing.
Of course, the choice is very limited, but I'm used to it. But I do not spend time in the shops: I go in and ask what is the largest size they have. If this is the 40th or 41st, then leave and forget. Everything, this brand for me no longer exists. Up to discounts, shoes of my size never live. Jimmy Choo works in Barcelona, my friend, and she calls me when a new collection arrives - says that the size 42 was brought, for example, only two models of one pair. One by one! Before the sales, she also calls, but in the format "maybe, mom or girlfriends will buy something" - it is clear that there was nothing left for me there for a long time.
In the past seven years I have been living in Barcelona, having given up the car (before that I was always driving in Moscow), and many-kilometer walks in combination with tiles in the streets and the climate dictate their own rules: I almost always wear sneakers or flip-flops. But I love loafers, ankle boots, and even stiletto heels; however, if lovers get at least one day a week, then heels are honored with rare exits to the theater or to a gala dinner.
Favorite brands of sneakers are Nike, Onitsuka Tiger, and there are also adidas, Reebok and New Balance pairs. With the latest joke, my husband and I bought a pair of the same at a wild sale; Apparently, when marking the sizes, there was some kind of failure, and as a result I was approached with the size of 43.5, and he was 44 (that is, one and a half sizes larger than usual). In the summer I wear Birkenstok or the usual Havaianas, I also love Crocs slippers and sandals, they are bright and bright and not at all like "classic crocs". I have several pairs of Melissa sandals (oddly enough, the 41st size came up), I’m already tired of them in a few years, but they don’t do anything, but it’s a pity to give or throw away.
Of the more elegant shoes, I adore Nicholas Kirkwood, their classic loafers are Beya Loafer, I have two pairs, and this is almost comparable to sneakers for the convenience of shoes. They are full size 42; You can buy such loafers from the same brand with personalized colors and finishes, and even with initials, I dream, but I don’t decide yet - it’s very expensive. If heels, then only Jimmy Choo - they are worth every cent spent. I generally think that a large shoe size makes it easier to wear heels, because the height difference falls on a larger foot length, that is, the angle of elevation is lower. Therefore, for me, an eight-centimeter heel is conditionally perceived as five-centimeter at the foot of the 35th size. A couple of times I bought Charles Philip Shanghai brand loafers, they are cheap, comfortable and my size - but the quality is poor, for a couple of months I completely lost my appearance.
Men's shoes like shoes I do not like, and sneakers, although I buy them in the men's departments, by and large not men's shoes and not women's shoes, they are exactly the same. There were even funny stories a couple of times in this regard: for example, the Nike I liked in black and white colors were from the "female" collection, so the maximum size was 41st. Among the "masculine" the same model began already with the 42nd, but there was no black with white, but there were white with gray suede. Why so - a mystery. Another, of course, terribly annoying sellers manner to the question of the size of the 42nd answer to answer: "And try on the 39th or 40th!" I once could not resist and asked: "And what size do you have? The 38th? Would you measure the 35th?" But usually I do not get involved in an argument and just leave.
At fifteen, my foot stopped growing at a size of 42, or 26.5 cm - even then it was hard for me to pick up something from the classic models; Sports has always been much easier. It was possible to find couples in the male 42nd, but as a teenager I wanted a riot of colors, and male models were mostly black and white. At sixteen, I was at a sports camp in the United States and brought home a separate suitcase with shoes. The biggest luck is pink basketball sneakers.
I have long accepted the fact that beautiful designer shoes are not for me. Basically, I choose Nike, because I know exactly what size I need. I love their running models very much - I now have more than fifty sport pairs in total. Perhaps sneakers for me is a forced decision. It happens that some sandals of the last size or Italian models of shoes are suitable for me, but this is rather an exception. Во всех сетевых магазинах последний размер женской обуви - это 41-й, но вообще редко бывает хотя бы одна пара больше 39-го. Иногда умудряюсь найти что-то на ASOS. Если вижу там подходящее, моментально покупаю, потому что мой размер разбирают в первую очередь.
Я не могу посоветовать ничего насчёт классической обуви - это как повезёт. Каждая модель разная, и даже если написано "42", не факт, что это он. При этом мужской обуви у меня много. Проблема в том, что 42-й - самый популярный, и получается, что даже в мужских отделах он встречается редко. Я не могу просто заехать в магазин и купить нужную пару, обычно поиск занимает месяц.
Однажды мы были на выезде в Черногории, и в магазине итальянской марки мне приглянулись резиновые сапоги. Они стоили всего 50 евро и были в 42-м размере. Я готова была взять их и так, но решила убедиться и примерить. They sat perfectly, but I could not remove them there - I had to buy and go into them. In the hotel with the help of a friend, I took off 40 minutes first one and then the second. As a result, they had to just cut. It was the most stupid waste for my entire trip - then I just went to Nike and bought myself two pairs of sneakers.
Photo:apidachjsw - stock.adobe.com, Lana Langlois - stock.adobe.com, romiri - stock.adobe.com, BestStock - stock.adobe.com