Women and shoes: A love affair in pairs no different in SL than in RL ...

For women shoes can become an all-consuming obsession. In RL some shoes can cost a fortune; yet while money itself does not bring happiness, a pair of new shoes brings on a kind of exaltation. Unlike clothes, shoes have a distinct advantage. Whether you're fat or thin, short or tall, beautiful or ugly, you can buy all the shoes your heart desires. They are capable of making you feel sexy, elegant or sporty at a single stroke. But in Second Life the fat thin rationale does not fly, yet we are still as obsessed about our shoes as we are in RL.




In RL we all aspire to owning Hermes, Gucci, Caovilla, Ferragamo, Blahnik, Laboutin, in SL it is Stiletto Moody, Maiyterya and FM Shoes.



Our intimate relationship with shoes begins shortly after we learn to walk. As soon as we want to feel "grown-up," we slip on a pair of our mother's shoes, preferably high heels, instantly heightening our sense of what it means to be female. And then what happens? We grow up and get to be the same size as Mummy and our personality begins to assert itself with the first independent purchase of shoes. As adults, we ask shoes to be our representatives. At any given moment, they are indicators of our age, mood and desires.

More than anything else, women's shoes speak the language of sex. You don't have to be a moralist or an anthropologist in order to understand the message transmitted by a girl in a pair of rubber-soled loafers versus one wearing noisy stilettos. But that's only a first impression. That old chestnut (heels = sex goddess, flats = nun) is constantly challenged by variations in fashion and customs. And yet, one thing remains certain: a high-heeled shoe is the object of apparel that - more than any other - marks the difference between men and women.

Shoes have featured prominently in the popular female narrative, be they Cinderella's glass slippers (clearly a symbol of virginity) or the stilettos worn by the metropolitan predators of "Sex and the City" - women who share two great weaknesses: men and shoes.

What’s more what about all the options we have since we have the option of wearing skirts, pants, or three-quarter length pants and that opens up all sorts of shoe possibilities. Then there are the seasonal choices we have to make, i.e. in the summer, we can wear open-toed shoes, in the fall we can wear pumps, and in the winter we can wear boots.





So with that alone, we have to have a black, brown, and a neutral pair of each type. That is nine pairs right there. Those shoes also double as going out shoes. Then we must have nice shoes in the event we have to wear an evening dress somewhere. We have a pair for the winter and the summer. Then, we have our sneakers. We have our working out sneakers and our stylish sneakers. Then we have an array of flip flops and sandals. So to our men out there, you see how we easily rack up that many shoes. ...It’s all about options.