About 6 months ago, one of my good friends arrived at my apartment ready for a night out wearing tight-ish jeans, a black shirt and white squared-toed dress shoes. It looked HOT. I’d never seen a girl wearing men’s square-toed dress shoes and she was totally pulling them off. As a shoe lover (heels, sneakers, gumboots – anything!) I felt like a whole new world of shoe options had just opened up and I just had to find a pair of my own!
Now these shoes have been everywhere for a couple of years now, so I thought it would be as simple as going to my favorite outlet shopping center and taking my pick of the bunch. If only it were that simple! I found the shoes no problem, but ran into a huge hurdle when I discovered men’s shoes only go as small as a size 6. I’m a size 7 in women’s, which is a size 5 in men’s and apparently most shoe manufacturers just don’t go that small. I tried the 6, but they looked like clown shoes and so, after searching through every store in town, I went home and moped.
For the next 6 months, it became an obsession. I couldn’t go past a shoe shop without going in “just to see” if they had my shoes. I tried department stores, boutiques, leather stores, and even online – ebay became a daily hunting ground. I even tried to find them in a kid’s size, but found they became more functional than fashionable. I’d all but given up and decided that I’d have to have a pair made if I ever made it to Thailand or India. Would the trip be worth it?? They’d want to be awesome shoes!
Fortunately, a trip to India wasn’t required as all my shoe-dreams came true while shopping in Vancouver. And it wasn’t at a boutique or department store – it was at Payless For Shoes! They actually had a small section for size 5 shoes and had one single pair of black square-toed dress shoes. Of course I bought them immediately and asked about additional styles and colors. They only carry black so the hunt for white, cream, red and brown size 5 square-toed men’s shoes continues so if you know of anywhere, please let me know!
The shoes were CAD$55+tax and are a perfect fit for my size 7 feet. I wore them with my skinny black stonewash jeans (no belt) and white tank top, silver necklace and my new black watch. I think the minimal accessories really put the focus on the shoes. You can check out the Payless website for more styles in size 5 and above.
