Loose Slips

Oh, forget the high heels. I remember something way more interesting than walking on high heels under awful conditions while living in New York. Rushing to my editorial job at the publishing company on those heels was a killer.

One day I was walking on one of those pairs of high heels from the subway to my editing job. I had a good 10 blocks to walk. I saw a woman walking ahead of me and she seemed to be having some type of problem. She was walking a bit funny.

Journalists tend to be a curious lot. And, I’m no different. I have to know or investigate everything. So I sped up, as fast as I could walk in those heels, as the blisters started forming on my toes. The woman, although having difficulty, was trying to speed up as well.

As I got closer, the woman, who was wearing a skirt, had a strange look on her face. I eyed her and noticed something was slipping out from under her skirt. At first I couldn’t make out what it was. Then I saw white lace. The woman’s slip was sliding down her legs! She desperately was trying to keep the slip from falling by walking with her legs further and further apart, knees bent.

It’s like, what do you say? “Need some help ma’am?” No, not in that case. I’m always there to offer to help someone in need. But how do you help a woman when her slip is falling right out from under her skirt? Part of me felt awful for her. How embarrassing. And, yes, part of me wanted to laugh.

So, what happened to her? Well, I trailed behind her for a while. And the slip continued slowly to fall. It finally fell to the ground. The woman stepped out of it and kept walking.

I’ll never forget that, and that was a long time ago. Not many women wear slips these days. But one thing is for sure, if I ever do, I’ll make sure the elastic holds.

Concrete and Heels

Something I remember from back in the early ’80s popped into my head over the weekend having to do with walking around on high heels in New York City. Some women out there probably will remember this, because I couldn’t possibly be the only one with these memories.

Before women carried their high heel shoes in a bag but wore their sneakers or running shoes to work, things were different. When I first moved to New York, I was mesmerized by all the well-dressed women walking around the city on their high heels. Like, “How do they do that?” Remember, at that time suits and corporate wear for the most part were a must. And the well-dressed woman also wore some three- or four-in. heels to go with the outfit.

And I followed suit. Til this day I don’t know how I did it. Rushing around in my skirt and high heels all over New York City. Up and down stairs to and from the subway. Rushing, or running, to cross the street to make sure a taxi didn’t run me over. Everyone seemed to rush wherever they went. I always found myself rushing to make sure I got to my editing job. All this on all that concrete.

Not only were my feet screaming in pain every day, my shoes took the worst beating. New Yorkers do a lot of walking. It’s one of the only cities in the world where that is done. Everyone walks everywhere. Walking on concrete all day, every day of the week is hard on the feet and the rest of the body. Add high heels to that, and your feet take an incredible beating.

By the time I would get to work, I didn’t think my feet could last the rest of the day. By the time the workday was over, which in the publishing world could mean late, I had to somehow find my way home in those same shoes!

Shoes wouldn’t last too long after walking around New York City. Most of my shoes couldn’t take the pounding on the concrete day after day, so the shoes wouldn’t have a long life. I found myself going through shoes like crazy.

So, you ask, why not buy more comfortable shoes with a low heel? At that time, so many women, myself included, wouldn’t hear of it. The look was the heel and that was that. I have to say, thank goodness, the trend changed after a couple years. I started seeing women walking around in their little suits and socks and sneakers. What a concept! A great idea!

I finally took to the new idea, bought myself a great pair of sneakers and just brought my nice, high heel shoes with me and changed at work. But now I have the bad feet as a reminder of those days of “conrete and heels.”