I have a thing – a shoe thing.
In high school it was all about flats. People who even thought about wearing heels to school were mocked, and if your sandals had the slightest wedge people shamelessly stared at you.
But high school dances were a different story. Girls of all heights arrived teetering in sparkly stilettos. The harder to walk in the better. The shoes that so perfectly accentuated their.. assets? Were immediately tossed aside when the booming music instructed everyone to “Get low”.
In college, everything changes. It’s not only acceptable to wear heels out, its encouraged. It doesn’t matter if you have no idea where you’re going, or the distance you’ll be covering, you just wear heels.
Enter the Jeffrey Campbell Lita Boots. Equipped with 2 inch platforms, 5 inch heels and laces that tie at the ankle. These shoes don’t mess around. I’d long dreamed of the day I’d be cool enough to strut (at least attempt to) in them.
Over the summer the website NastyGal had a sale on Litas. Naturally I pounced on the opportunity. My mom laughed in my face, “Are you sure those shoes are practical?” Practicality was the farthest thing from my mind; I had to have them.
I ordered the shoes and they arrived beautifully wrapped, in a box decorated with cats (cats are seriously everywhere these days). The shoes were perfect, everything I had imagined. But just one problem, I was terrified of them.
Describe the Litas in one word, you ask? Intimidating. The shoes sat in my closet for weeks in their protective bags. But then one fateful Thursday night.. I decided to give them a try.
I removed from the shoes from their designated hiding spot in my closet and cautiously removed them from the bags. My feet slid into the shoes with ease. The laces were pulled tight and tied at my ankle, giving me extra support. For a girl who stands at 5’3’’(and a quarter inch), the Lita boots are her best friends.
I could not get over the comfort level. I was beyond excited. But seriously. I felt on top of the world. I actually did the “running man” for about five people in my hall while wearing them – to those unfortunate enough to witness this, I apologize.
Victoriously, I called my mom bragging about my choice of footwear for the evening. She advised me once again to be incredibly cautious, while simultaneously congratulating me on my ability to walk in them. I hung up the phone and carried on my way!
I won’t say that my feet didn’t hurt by the end of the night, because they did – but my walk from Sellery to Langdon and back was surprisingly manageable. The usual achy feeling I get from heels was completely absent and balancing on them was nowhere near an issue. Thanks to the minimal pain and the severe height boost, I’d consider my first experience with the Litas a success.
At the end of the night a friend and I decided to sit outside, talk for a bit, and briefly rest our well-dressed feet. Two police officers walked by—presumably in search of rowdy college kids—and one of them spotted my shoes!
“You should really consider registering those as a legal weapon”, he said as he walked away laughing. My friend and I erupted in hysterics. Good to know that even the cops find the Litas daunting!
