Penny For Your Thoughts!

voltee ♦ May 20, 2011 ♦ 5 Comments

Ok. I realize that many of your are puzzled at this moment. Actually, it is my sincerest hope that most, if not all, of you are puzzled.
Because there are so many reasons to be puzzled.
First of all, I am back. After a long, seemingly endless hiatus, suddenly, here I am!
Second of all, this is not my usual format. There is no Trixie, there is no garment, there is just…hmmm.
Third. There is a picture of high heeled sneakers on this post.
Puzzlement ensues!
Let me explain, in no particular order. I was waiting to feel inspired again. I had a blouse with a story, fitted on Trixie, that I looked at every day for weeks.
But I felt nothing.
I just couldn’t do it.
I wondered if my fickle muse had left me, for good.
And then, one rainy afternoon, inspiration struck me like a lightning bolt.
A lightning bolt in the form of high heeled sneakers.
Please do not worry. These are not my sneakers.
What happened then was this:
I was at my gym, having my afternoon treadmill break, watching The Office on my cell phone. It’s really not a lot of fun to work out in you place of employment. I always have one ear and one eye tuned into what’s going on around me, just in case anyone needs any help with something.
That day, I heard someone being excessively loud on a treadmill. Sometimes this happens when a person has never been on such a device before- they bend over the monitor, and walk very flat footed, making resounding slapping sounds that echo throughout the gym. Usually I will approach the loud walker, and show them how to walk.
This time, though, was not the usual culprit. This time I had to stop running, just to make sure that I was seeing things correctly.
I was.
It was a woman, on a treadmill, wearing high-heeled sneakers.
And now I was in an interesting dilemma; do I approach this misguided Gaga wannabe, and let her know that, despite appearances, her shoes are not actually athletic footwear, and site safety concerns?
I have had to apprehend many an inappropriate footwear offenders in my gym; flip-flops, dirty work boots that leave a trail of mud everywhere, a sweet old woman who thought that her Puma socks replaced the need for sneakers, and even plain old bare feet.
High heels, though, was new.
So what could i do but resume my run, watch her progress, and think?
I thought a lot.
Sure, she was engaging her calf muscles a little more- basically an extreme form of Shape-Ups. So much so that she did not even make ten minutes on the treadmill. She then headed for the elliptical, which presented much more of a challenge.
Just when I decided that I had to stop her before she got injured, she decided to end her workout.
But I thought about it all day. Should high heeled sneakers be banned from a gym? I do truly believe in my heart of hearts that they are not made for that purpose. And yet I had a client tell me a few weeks ago that she wore a pedometer to the office and found that she walked almost three miles every day in her stilettos. Shows such as American Idol routinely put teen-aged contestants in the most towering platform feels and expect them to not only sing, but perform, with actual movements. Let’s not forget the Rockettes, and those red shoes. And lately it seems like any self respecting diva in the music industry is trying to find a way to dance in the tallest, most ridiculous, un-shoe-like apparatus imaginable. I’m just waiting for someone to come out with an elegant, bedazzled pair of stilts.
And so many celebrities and big names in fashion, like Heidi Klum and Norma Komali, have designed high-fashion workout wear.
Who says you need to look like a bum when you work out??
To me it just raises the question of where the line between fashion and stupidity actually lies. Sometimes it’s a very, very thin line.
Sometimes I just want to scream, “But think about how much cleaner you could dance/longer you could walk if you just wore appropriate footwear??”
And sometimes I just mutter, “Yes, well, when has fashion ever been about being appropriate? Wear what you feel!!”
How much is too much to suffer for the sake of fashion? For individuality?
I don’t know what the answer is, but I would really be interested in your opinions.