It’s finally time, time for me to stand up for my rights and those who are like me in the world.  It has now gone too far and I am not going to put up it with it anymore.  I am standing up for women everywhere with small feet before they phase us out altogether.  Yeah you heard me women with small feet.  Discrimination against us has been going on for decades and I for one have had enough and feel that I need to stand up against every shoe maker and manufacturer and say “Enough!  Make some size fives!!!”  I don’t have an “or else” otherwise I would say that as well :).  

The size five is so elusive these days it is like hunting for the perfect boyfriend at age 40-something.  I know he is out there but I am so exhausted with looking for him that giving up altogether might be the only option left to me.  I am destined to be shoeless as well as boyfriendless and I honestly don’t know which one is worse?  Perhaps shoeless.

This issue has been plaguing me for as long as I can remember.  I have on many occasions gave in and bought shoes too big for me.  Actually, it is probably more than on occasion as I look at my shoes and boots and realize I have a lot of size sixes and even some six and half pairs that I just don’t wear.  Just recently I bought the nicest pair of grey suede boots in a size six because I really wanted them.  I now wear two pairs of socks and my feet slip around inside of them when I walk but they are so damn adorable.  Open toe shoes are a no go for me and flip flops and sneakers are always from the children’s section.  I am small in height as you can imagine so high shoes are a must for me in my daily life.

The last straw was in Lord & Taylor last week when the sales associate quite literally sniggered at me and said “I’m sorry miss we just don’t do size fives, our ADULT shoes start in a size 6” and then walked away as I stood there with the cutest shoe in hand begging to spend money!  What am I if not an ADULT?  I am discriminated against, that’s what!  There was a tear in my eye as I walked slowly out of the store feeling blue from another failed shoe buying trip.

Its not like I haven’t found small sizes, I have but they are getting more and more hard to find.  To be fair, a lot of high end designers like Louboutin, Chanel, Jimmy Choo and Manolo do make smaller sizes but I can’t go buying $500-$1000 shoes every time I have a hankering to buy a pair of shoes.  I have a lot of hankerings to buy stuff – I would go bankrupt.  That all said, I was in Saks ready to buy a stupidly expensive pair of shoes as a big treat for myself for Christmas and was met with a similar response to the person at Lord & Taylor and then no follow up of “may we call our other stores to check for you!”  I mean isn’t the sales associate on commission at Saks?  Why wasn’t she helping me spend a ridiculous amount of money?

I stalk the shelves of DSW not even looking at the shoes but looking to see if they even have a size five before building my hopes up.  If I spot one I then look at the shoe, which usually leads to total disappointment because it’s an ugly flat loafer that my grandmother with her shrinking feet would wear.  Just for a moment all of you size sixes, sevens and eights imagine my sadness at seeing you leave the store with fantastic bargains that I can only dream of purchasing.  Zappos on occasion has been my friend, however a lot of their size fives tend to be eight feet tall stripper shoes.  Not quite the look I am going for working at a consulting firm.

On the more affordable end of shoe buying, Aldo’s does have the odd size five but I am not sure what they put in their shoe makers coffee because they are more like a size seven.  The woman actually said to me “oh we make to European standards!”  Well, I am British and I am exactly the same size there as I am here – a SIZE FIVE (or three in the UK).  This is a different type of discrimination, which makes you think you have finally made it to cute size fives only to realize you are walking out of the store new shoeless.  It’s like always thinking you were a size two and then having to buy a size six.  It just makes you sad.

I must say I have wonderful friends who call me when they spot a bargain size five at say, Marshalls.  I immediately run out of my office, sometimes when I am in the middle of a meeting (I am sure they would understand) and head to Marshalls to locate the shoes in question.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but my friends are always looking out for me and I appreciate that.

So, can one woman with little feet change the world for women with small feet begging for darling little shoes everywhere?  I hope so, I am not giving up.  EVER!