Footwear for Work

It has become a challenge for me to find comfortable shoes for work as the office dress code is much more formal than my previous companies. Plus I find it stressful on the feet to be in heels the entire day even though I am basically desk-bound. So I much prefer to wear flats or low-heeled shoes. That means covered shoes, no more dressy sandals as those I have showed too much skin and I do not think they are that appropriate for work.

I am so thankful that I did purchase some flats over the last few years even though I hardly wear them as they are pretty much my staples for footwear now. Still, what I have is not enough and so I did buy another pair of shoes.

Ta-dah! My very first ballerina flats from Tod's. I have been wanting a pair of Ballerinas Dee from Tod's since 2009 but somehow never got around to buying them. Unfortunately what I wanted (Anthracite from last year collection) was no longer available and this was the next best thing. I do not know what is this color but it is kinda dark silvery lilac. This is such a hard color to remember that I am never able to visualize it in my mind.

While this is very comfortable, I found out it is not meant for walking for a long period of time as it is a bit too flat. Apparently we need a bit of heel for walking otherwise the pressure is on the feet. I must marvel at the construction of this pair of shoes.

The first time I wore them, my feet were a bit sore and raw at the front. They were red but I did not get any blisters at all. I wore them again a few weeks later and they were perfectly molded to my feet. They were still buttery soft and there was even some breathing space. This is a very good reason to splurge on quality shoes ~ blisters free.

Digging out my other proper shoes, I found this pair of Easy Spirit pumps which I bought in 2008. I properly only wore them a couple of times before they were relinquished to the cold storage. The grey-taupe pumps were pretty comfortable, unfortunately I developed blisters at the back of my feet after half a day of wearing them. I have not wore them again yet. I probably would need to since I don't have that many pairs of shoes to rotate around.

This was another pair of flats which surprised me. The red patent ballerina flats from Bellerinas (available at Tangs + Co) were actually comfortable when I wore them again. The main reason why I hardly wear covered shoes were because I tend to get blisters either on the front or the back of my feet. So I thought I would get the blisters again when I took them out.

Somehow they were ok on me and was actually quite comfortable (but not as comfy as Tod's). At least these looked smart and added a bit of color to my drab office wear (typical black and grey or white ~ I missed the days I could wear bright colors, maybe some day soon).

Another reason to love shoes from Bellerinas is that they made my wide feet look slim. The black pair is still a bit harder than the red patent, but hopefully it will soften over time. This also did not give me any blisters this time round.

Maybe the trick to not getting blisters is to leave them alone for a while?

I have another 3 pairs of covered shoes which I am currently using for work ~ 2" court shoes from Hush Puppies (gave me blisters though) and a black pair of ballerina flats from Aldo (also no more blisters this time) and a pair of silver ballerina flats from Hush Puppies which used to give me blisters but are ok now.

The back of my feet were so badly abused by the various covered shoes the last few weeks that they are almost permanently black from the scars. They are better now and hopefully the scars would lighten and disappear over time.

In the meantime, I am still on the hunt for comfortable sandals which are preferably backless and could be used for work. Then I can wear them when I get blisters again.