Sensible Shoes

Whether you’re a girl or a guy (although this is more of an issue for girls) your outfit for the Formal is a huge part of your individual experience for the night.

Many of you will spend countless hours out on shopping (more like hunting) trips seeking out just the right dress / suit in the right fit and look and the right colour and design to make the statement about who you are and how you want to be remembered.

A very big part of this will doubtless be the accessorising that goes along with the outfit and no less important in any of this is your footwear. Although most of your decision is going to be based on how your shoes “look”, you really shouldn’t get caught in the trap of making that the only criteria.

Take a moment to also think about 2 equally important factors that most people rarely consider but can have a dramatic affect on your night and in many cases can be the cause of the night being your biggest disaster.

As well as “how do they look?” ask also “how do they feel?” and “how well can I function in them?”

For many girls, the high-heels you wear for the Formal will be the first seriously high-heels you’ll wear. Even if you wear heels all the time, you’re young and simply do not have the years of experience wearing heels that is necessary in the variety of situations you may find yourself on Formal night.

Although heels aren’t that much of a factor for guys, fit and comfort are equally important.

Here’s a list of the things that should cross your mind when deciding on shoes…

• Between getting ready, the pre’s, the Formal, and possibly an after-party, you may be wearing these shoes for longer than 12 hours but certainly no less than 8.
• New shoes are always stiff and inflexible and need lots of time to soften and conform to the varying physical features of your feet. That’s why blisters and grazing often occur when you wear in new shoes.
• The souls of the shoes may be hard and therefore may slip when coming into contact with concrete driveways, terrazzo tiled venue floors, toilet floors and above all dance-floors.
• You will be dancing in these shoes for hours.
• If your heels are ambitiously too high, and you roll an ankle slipping or tripping, not only will you look a bit silly but you may end up causing yourself a serious injury that will ruin your night for certain.
• You won’t be permitted to take your shoes off at the venue. That’s OH and S Law and security and venue staff won’t let it happen.

Select shoes for the night that look great but also are walkable, danceable, don’t rub or stick you and have sensible souls & heels that you can manage well with for long period of time.

In the end these shoes may cost you serious money and the last thing you want is to wear them once and never be brave enough to wear them again.

I’d suggest that you buy them carefully, make sure you have an exchange or refund guarantee when you purchase them, then take them home and spend some serious time seeing if they stretch & conform to your shape, and can be worn for hours at a time with comfort and ease. Do this well in advance and there won’t be any nasty surprises on the night.