Full Disclaimer: I ran a version of this post on my own blog last week. But I thought you might find this story interesting—and might have missed it.
I wanted to wear red shoes with my new dress for the SCRAPBOOK OF SECRETS launch party. I thought the shoes would add just the right pizzazz, with a little intrigue. Good for a mystery author, right?
Thus began my search. The online store where I found my favorites didn’t have my size, so I thought I’d look around here. No luck in my town of Waynesboro—the only red shoes I could find were very high. (I wanted to look good, not kill myself in them!) I sent my husband to a neighboring town’s shoe store. He works in Staunton and could pop over there at lunch time—just to see if they had red heels that he thought I’d like. He called me back later that afternoon. “They don’t have red shoes. The sales clerk said they never have red shoes because Staunton is labeled an agricultural district by the headquarters.”
Um, WHAT?
Who are these people that think because women live in a rural area they wouldn’t wear red shoes? I despise them in the same way I despise people who think all New Yorkers are rude, all Southerners are sweet, or people that think all women should be tall and thin to be considered beautiful, or that smart people aren’t sexy, or well, you get the point.
But really—red shoes? Why red and not pink, or yellow, or purple? What is it about red that has some buyer in New York say “No, I don’t think farm girls will buy red shoes.” What is this 1959? Are we really in the United States of America? Shouldn’t I at least have a choice about this at my local shoe store?
Well, in actuality I do. We all do. The choice is take our business elsewhere. I found my shoes at another on-line store. This is one of the best things about the Internet—it’s evened the score a bit for those of us that don’t live in the big cities and are at the mercy of some man behind the desk in New York City that doesn’t know the first thing about us. We don't fit into your little mind's preconceived notions for us. We are smart, we are strong, short, tall, round and thin and yes, country girls and women want red shoes, too.
10 comments:
I have a pair of red shoes that I just love! Does living on the edge of Minneapolis mean I'm "Big City"?
LOL! Maybe. As far as I know, it's just one store in Staunton. I was able to find red shoes in other stores, but they were way too high for me.
I admit, Mollie, that I probably wouldn't wear a pair of red shoes since red isn't my favorite color. But I'd be as outraged as you if purple shoes weren't available! (Not that I wear mine that often.)
Okay, so now I wonder if I can get some purple shoes at this shoe store...
I have red Mickey Mouse Crocs I wear every time I go to Disneyland. How funny that rural people aren't supposed to want bright shoes.
I love red shoes! I was looking for a new pair at Christmas, should have been easy, right? Who knew how many different shades of "red" there are!
Betty, I don't think it's that rural people aren't supposed to want bright shoes, it's that rural people are always out of style. When "gray flannel suit" was the dress uniform of city businessmen, then rubes wore bright colors.
Thanks for commenting Shirley. Yep--many shades of red, even in shoes. Interesting, Betty.
Well said and Amen to that. From New York to Timbuktu, from LA to an Alaskan Eskimo's igloo, if a gal wants red shoes it is absolutely no one elses's business to decide if it's appropriate for her or not,
When I went to work at a large chain bookstore, the shop I was in had practically no business books, very few DIY books, but lots of Tractor books. I'm in the midwest and rural people didn't need books like that. We had one of the large state universities in our town that trained teachers. But we were rural. Took some work to rectify that problem.
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