Okay, well it’s Fat Foot Week and there’s no better place to start than the bottom. Flats. Love ’em or hate ’em, a girl’s gotta have at least a pair. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t have any personal experience with most of the brands we’re going to be dealing with today, so caveat emptor and whatnot.
First up are these little “Neve” ankle-strap skimmers from Gabriella Rocha. I’ve never worn any of her shoes, but they’re pretty cute and modern-looking, with good lines and fun colors. We’ll be seeing more of them this week.
Next is the Geneva from Romantic Soles. They come in a mess of colors, but the beige looks very much like the Chanel and Delman flats with the sculpted leather flowers on the vamp, both of which I’ve always liked.
Speaking of Chanel, you can definitely see the Coco influence in the cap-toe “Buffy” by Fitzwell. They’re all man-made materials so these might be a good pick for those of you who don’t like to wear leather.
Also animal friendly are the “Gable” slip-ons from Annie that come in wide and double wide. They come in five colors, but I like the purple velvet suede treatment the best.
Finally we have the grossly misnamed “Burlesque” from Hush Puppies. These are the exact sort of shoes that people go nuts over because they think they have some sort of “naughty librarian” thing going on and I just have to shut up and try not to make faces because I just.don’t.get.it. But here they are and they come in narrow, medium, wide and double wide so have at ’em.
As someone with extra-narrow feet, I’m often given even fewer footwear options than the wide-footed out there. Naturalizer is one of the only brands that carries my size, and I have the above shoes in copper. I don’t see them as “naughty librarian,” but I do think they’re a great casual shoe for jeans and trousers in the warmer months.
Comment by Katie — January 18, 2011 @ 2:08 pm
@Katie, Ferragamo doesn’t carry your size? They do super narrow, all the way to AAA I think. Also, FWIW, French shoes made in France are almost always cut on a very very narrow last. It may be more than you want to spend, but Robert Clergerie in particular designs for women with very very slim feet. Again, I may not be super helpful when it comes to high-street brands, but I gave a pair of Clergeries I ordered (no returns) to a friend with extremely narrow feet and they fit her perfectly.
Comment by Miss Plumcake — January 18, 2011 @ 2:18 pm
Those are “naughty” librarian? What do regular librarians wear, foot burkas?
Comment by daisyj — January 18, 2011 @ 2:31 pm
@Daisyj: Do not get me started on the craziness of the whole librarian thing. I just don’t have it in me.
Comment by Miss Plumcake — January 18, 2011 @ 3:07 pm
Fat feet don’t wear ankle straps. Just sayin.
Comment by Harri P. — January 18, 2011 @ 3:37 pm
@Harri: Maybe YOUR fat feet don’t. Mine look amazing in them, Fred.
Comment by Miss Plumcake — January 18, 2011 @ 3:38 pm
I’m sorry, but that last pair of shoes look like something a nun, or a nun-wannabe, would wear.
Comment by Margaret — January 18, 2011 @ 3:57 pm
@Margaret: You’re preachin’ to the choir. I don’t get it either, but the silent majority that got Nixon elected had babies, and they’re buying those shoes.
Comment by Miss Plumcake — January 18, 2011 @ 4:11 pm
The ankle-strap skimmers are making me reconsider the ankle strap, but then it looks in the photo as though the fat-feet shoes do not come with a fat-ankle strap. One would hope the shoemakers would consider the possibility that the wide feets are often attached to the wide ankles.
Comment by Jezebella — January 18, 2011 @ 5:14 pm
@Jezebella: Closer inspection shows a hidden elastic loop on the ankle strap. Of course there’s elastic and there’s elastic. For example the elastic on my favorite Kate Spade ankle straps is extremely generous but the elastic on my Manolos baaarely stretches. I don’t have experience with this brand but looking back on my own collection usually the less expensive the shoe, the more generous the strap (and stretchier the elastic). Of course there’s nothing saying you have to wear the straps with those skimmers at all. I’ve been known to replace ankle straps with ribbons, costume jewelry necklaces, and pretty much anything I can lace through, or just go sans straps totally!
Comment by Miss Plumcake — January 18, 2011 @ 6:19 pm
My experience with ankle straps is this. They look bad on big girls IF they are worn too tight. But if you strap them a little loosely, so that you can easily fit your pinky between the strap and your skin, then it makes a world of difference as to the aesthetic of it all.
That being said, I would like those purple flats now, please. I love that they’re not flatflatflat. And that they’re purple.
Comment by La Petite Acadienne — January 18, 2011 @ 6:49 pm
I would not be at all surprised to find those last shoes in the closets of at least three of my friends, for the exact reasons you laid out. That said…there is a right way to do the “hip intellectual” look, and there is a wrong way. This is the wrong way.
On a totally unrelated note: are you featuring sandals as part of this week’s roundup?
Comment by Emily — January 18, 2011 @ 7:45 pm
I have the Gabrielle Rochas, and would actually strongly recommend against them. They have no arch support, and their extremely shallow vamp crushes the tops of my toes (although this might be corrected by going up a size, as recommended by some of the commenters on Zappos). The shape and ankle strap are cute, though.
Comment by Kate — January 18, 2011 @ 11:45 pm
Those hush puppies would get a gal kicked out of the Naughty Librarian Club, without hope of appeal.
Comment by Friv — January 19, 2011 @ 12:24 am
I love the Gabrielle Rochas–ankle strapped flats are the only flats I wear, if I wear flats (and they really look good on my fat feet). But I do understand there is no arch support. I’ve never found a pair of flats with arch support (and maybe that is why I’ve always found flats to be incredibly uncomfortable).
Comment by ChaChaheels — January 19, 2011 @ 8:04 am
My favorite super-basic flat right now is the Clark’s Book Pump Flat, which comes in wide sizes. It is extremely, very, way basic, but it comes in nice colors (pewter!) and has some arch support.
Comment by Jezebella — January 19, 2011 @ 12:24 pm
I have v. v. big feet (12 EE) so I’m glad to see some of these are in extra wide. I’m curious if the Hush Puppies EE is really extra wide. I ordered a pair of Naturalizers in supposed EE and they were waaaay too narrow for me. Also thanks for reminding me about Annie. Haven’t looked at them in a while but I have a pair of their heels that are very comfy and super cute. Also I totally covet the blue skimmers and am so sad they don’t come in my size!
Comment by Becs — January 19, 2011 @ 12:33 pm