For our modern purposes there are two kinds of footwear shopping: Need-shopping and want-shopping.
NEEDSHOPPING
From “my shoes got lost” to “I need workboots for a job that starts next week”, assuming you have “A” pair of shoes, everyone finds themselves shopping essentially because they NEED. The need-shopper is in need of a two-footed solution pronto. They may even leave the box at the store and walk directly into oncoming life.
WANTSHOPPING
Food-clothing-shelter perspective: Shoes can be both clothing and shelter. May your shoe’d-up feet go and get the food. We hope you have at least ONE decent, properly-fitting pair. “Our fundamental shoe needs are taken care of, now I want some _____________”. This way, any shoe beyond one’s needs can be a luxury and you may keep the box as a memento*.
empty shoe boxes make great storage for spare computer, phone and TV cables !
The original run of BBC’s time-traveling alien serial from 1963 to 1989 contained some memorable shoe moments: The first doctor offering to fix Susan’s shoe at the culmination of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, the third doctor hiding the TARDIS key in his shoe before escaping from the hospital in Spearhead from Space — the fourth doctor humorously admonished companion Romana for putting on stilettos in The Stones of Blood (later she almost falls off a cliff). As a superfan of the show when it ran on US public television in the 80s I was excited to pick up the Costume Design special edition of Doctor Who Magazine (no affiliation) that came out (in America) a few months back and glean.
The hand of Eldrad and Sarah (Hand of Fear, 1976)
Sarah wore Kickers in “The Hand of Fear” (1976)
Fan favorite companion Sarah Jane Smith (played by Elisabeth Sladen) rocked one of her most iconic outfits in The Hand of Fear (costume designer: Barbara Lane). Most of the garments were from trendy Kensington boutique Bus Stop*. But what were the sporty red trainers? Kickers! A UK-based brand you don’t often see in the United States. For fun I hit the Kickers website, clicked WOMEN, clicked RED to see if they had anything like the ones from the 70s (no). These Kick Hi Classics turned out to be the closest match:
They look like something the seventh doctor’s companion Ace (1980s) could have worn.
Ace (Sophie Aldred) was patterned after a street-smart punk-rocker and started off wearing Dr. Martens though they switched to a softer leather boot by women’s brand Hobbs (London). Out of a time-traveler-like curiosity, I went to the Hobbs site to see what they had for black boots in 2019 and the closest match to Docs would be these Nicole Chelseas:
The costume design special is full of wardrobe trivia and anecdotes from the classic and modern versions of the show. I wanted to add about Bus Stop (*)— that there is a wonderful shoe shop called Bus Stop Boutique in Philadelphia Pennsylvania that I’m guessing is a deliberate ode to.
The gnarly name kidskin or kid leather refers to leather made from goat or lamb skin— sometimes even kangaroo. It was never a particular brand of leather and we suspect its meaning was adapted at times by advertisers and copywriters to mean any hide that was soft and pliable.
Dr. Scholl’s ad from Boston Globe August 7th, 1961
Kid leather has a history in bags, gloves, bookbinding, and of course shoemaking.
Jordan Marsh ad, Boston Globe May 16th, 1963
Check out more classic shoe ads from my post yesterday on the Apollo anniversary.
I had the pleasure of slicing through some historical records (old newspapers— mostly Boston Globes) pertaining to major historical events in US history, including the exciting sequence leading up to Neil Armstrong’s walk on Earth’s moon fifty years ago today. Reading about the astronauts’ ITMG boots equipped with utility pockets layered under a lunar overshoe was of course fascinating, but for us it’s all about the ads. What was on the shelves back then?
The Jordan Marsh Company Great Basement Store advertises women’s shoes in multiple widths
Consumers could get a better fit in ’69. Look— just look at the widths offered by popular retailers of the time. For perspective; the average off-the-shelf women’s width is a “B”. For guys it’s “D”.
Jordan Marsh newspaper ads from the 1960s
“Otter Smooth Leather”, “styles in all wanted heel heights”. “fabulous assortment of evening and cruise shoes”.. the copy on these are pure gold. Solby Bayes was even advertising AAAAAAs (that had to have been a joke). In reality these products were filling a need that modern footwear has dumbed down and ignored. As you can see, it was not uncommon for women to to have a wider foot than “B”.
“Bone punched calf” at Solby Bayes and Coward’s Nylon Mesh “Gadabout”
This one is so excellent it may be worth framing (Globe, May 16th 1963)
“American Girl”
Popdiatry readers know that “A” is the thinnest, “E” is the widest and that multiple letters denote even thinner or wider. So AA is thinner than A, AAA is thinner than AA, EEEE is about the widest you’ll ever see. In 2019 it’s very uncommon to see “C” or multiple “A”s and many companies have done away with the antiquated letter system in favor of “M” or “W” but if you pride yourself on being super-scientific, knowing your Brannock width is the first key to the game.
I like a good phone as much as the next guy, gal or gender X— just got this device a few weeks ago and was inspired to drop a little Who, What, When, Where, Why(in reverse order) for anyone interested. My first phones were rotary. Then came push-button. Cordless evolved into mobile with little retractable antennae, to flip & candybar to these infernal things we have now..
Smart. When I’m rolling with the Palm I get a feel of my favorite cell phone of yesteryear, the Motorola PEBL (which was an SUV’d-up RAZR). Knowing I have all the modern maps and apps at my disposal is a better feeling than using them frivolously. This isn’t a phone that begs for your attention, so we like it more. Someone was bound to do this sooner or later, and I’m happy with what the new iteration of Palm brought to market.
My favorite celly back in the day
WHY?
Because who wants to lug an impulse-driven power-phablet around all the livelong day especially since they’ve become so devilishly smart? Mentally the new Palm lends lends itself to the essence of what our mobile phones were circa 2005. It’s the tiniest a phone can be without even being a thing at all. A bit like the watch (on your bill at least), but something else (you could strap this to your wrist and make it so). Not every blip needs action, and this gives you plenty of options to let only VIPs through. Cloud notes can be scribbled for later access on bigger screens. Synced-up contacts and a simplified version of Android allow you to create a mini version of your phone, but one with a size advantage that can go any way depending on your imagination.
WHERE?
Wear wherever! Preferably pocket. The Palm is so small— uncased it could so so easily fall beneath a carseat, in a grate, down a chute— faster than you could say shh. It’s wearable in that it’s your responsibility to keep it from falling—or falling out of the wrong hands. This means you shouldn’t let anyone examine it, which is fine because since it’s barely a thing at all, it looks much better hidden. One of the reasons I wrote this article is to direct curious askers to it if they ask to see mine.
WHEN?
When you want to be polite, social, busy. When you bicycle, go to dinner, play handball. You can always switch back to your main phone when you’re done with your minimalist mission. Face it. Socially, once you’ve reached the people you need to be with, the big boppin’ phone isn’t always a good look. The Palm is great for times you want to go against the obsessive, phone-addicted, picture-fiend aesthetic that’s so common in today’s public spaces.
WHAT?
Palm calls this a cell phone the size of a credit card. They’re right. I’m using the companion version. It is also available as a standalone. It runs a simplified version of Android, has one single button and one USB-C slot.
WHO?
palm.com (no affiliation)
Less = more is my philosophy with this and I’m slowly adding apps based on how essential I deem them. “Subway Time” works fine on here as does the freelancer-friendly work app “When I Work”. I checked into flights, used the flashlight, took some pictures— having another smaller phone with the same number is something I’ve wanted as a consumer so I was happy to buy into this. I’m looking for suggestions on a good weather app. Feel free to tweet us with tips. Here’s a raw unedited Palm camera photo of the Ferris Wheel at the Brockton Fair a few days ago:
Popdiatry occasionally writes about apparel and accessories in our feature Off The Path.
I made my first sneaker purchase of 2018 and it was love at first fit. $150 factory fresh straight off the manufacturer’s site- no raffles, lines or reseller hijinks. From a distance, the average consumer wouldn’t even notice how hype they are, but up close the beauty blossoms, and on foot- they make me feel bad for other sneakers. Time reveals the true soul of a shoe so I’ve decided to rock these for a year before claiming they’re my favorite sneakers ever. Maybe I’d even buy a second pair- does anyone ever do that? Off the top, here’s why I think they’re so great:
They’re from a longtime maker of athletic footwear, but not the “big 2” (Nike & Adidas), who both frankly bore me these days.
The branding/logo is present, but very tastefully incorporated into the design to where a fool would have to zoom in to see what kind they were unless they were a sneaker hawk expert.
They’re majority leather (meaning cowhide, sorry PETA) – two different textures on the outer, and smooth leather on the inner lacedeck and heel. Meaning they’ll last better and won’t get stinky like your boy’s petroleum-based overpriced sneakers.
The removable insoles are leather topped. You have no idea how disappointing sneaker shopping can be when shoe after shoe asking over a hundred have the same chintzy fabric-coated insoles that you’d find on any Payless cheapos. Nothing feels better than leather- the perspiration absorbing qualities will keep your feet fresher longer while molding to the shape of your footprint in a way inferior synthetic coating could never.
The insides of the tongue are leather- a nice buttery padded leather that rests against the bony foot tops ever so lovely you can almost hear thy feet say “ahhh…” when I give that final tie-up.
The outside of the tongues are suede. After trying many brands of leather sneakers, my observation is that leather tongues (due to the nature of athletic shoe construction) rubbing against leather insides of the lacedeck can elicit a creaking sound while walking. A little dab of Obenauf’s or petroleum jelly has remedied this on past sneakers, but these with the suede up against leather- brilliant! No squeaks, no goo needed . The tongues never slide too much and they don’t even have nor need lace-slots.
The laces are perfect length. Minor thing, but seven times out of ten I replace the stock laces when I buy shoes because they’re usually way too long. Everyone removes their shoelaces and measures them upon purchasing right? They’re 49 inches and that’s the sweet spot between the 54″s that come stock with most sneakers and a more manageable (yet too short) 45″. Like Minnie Riperton sang “The simple things…”
They look killer and I feel like a superhero when I put them on.
So these sneaks are great at first step. I feel like I can wear them anytime with anything dressed up or down, but let’s see how I feel a year from now. Peace!
Elite walkers are in tune with those around them and know when it’s best to let parties go by. Full stop. Sometimes it makes sense to do a freeze and keep another walker’s lane open. The smoothest full-stoppers continue unbothered, losing only measly seconds for the good of crowd fluidity. When approaching points where we’ll have to stop anyway (street crossings, elevator banks, stair entrances), try decelerating while avoiding impeding anybody. Is someone very young or very old or differently-abled crossing? We can use full-stops to take a breath, look ahead (the next intersection/next road/next floor) and set good examples at crowded multidirectional intersections.
We’ve all done this one. Structure-hugging is when you walk close to a building or something to avoid getting more wet from a storm. The technique is certainly a wildcard dependent on wind-direction and variety of precipitation. We just had a wet nor’easter in the northeast Friday, and I did a little structure-hugging myself. I didn’t want to carry an umbrella- it was a short walk to the subway so..
This technique comes with its own challenges. Structure-hugging walkers must be mindful of opening doors from said structures, and some buildings are going to drip even more than what the sky is giving- defeating the whole mission. Advanced walkers can usually spot another guinea pig trying it ahead and gauge efficacy accordingly.
Side-gliding is when you turn your torso sideways to avoid bumping others. It’s very useful on walkways with limited width and anywhere there’s a crowd. I often side-glide through grocery store isles, and the technique is virtually necessary when walking on a crowded subway car or platform.
A great cinematic example of this action is demonstrated in the film Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, or (for younger readers) The Matrix– where the hero employs a side-glide technique in order to dodge bullets (though we do not recommend extending your arms like Neo).
Dodging other walkers is certainly easier than dodging bullets, and we suspect many of you have been side-gliding through throngs for years. Mastery of the technique is not only a polite exercise of human mobility- but at most can reduce chances of becoming involved in a street fight.
