Coffee Klatsch, Oh Ja, Stearns

Well Heeled

More of us are turning our backs on heeled footwear.

The pandemic has triggered lots of things, including saying meh to the stiletto.

The question isn’t why, but what took us so long?


Scanning the footwear sections at Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom while in San Francisco, and at Macy's in San Francisco and in St Cloud, Minnesota, I saw that many of the shoes and boots had pointy toes, high heels, and spiky embellishments.

I do like a cheeky embellishment. Never mind that with the passing of decades my own spectacles, shoes, and attire have acquired a stern librarian vibe.

I still like to look at such things, despite zero desire to actually wear thigh high boots with layers of fine chain, five inch heels, and spider killer toes that could squash anything moving in a bar’s dim corners.

I take photos instead, which I happily share today.


It’s no surprise that women are saying they can be sexy and cool without wearing heels. That if pain-inducing footwear is what it takes to attract a mate, we’ll settle for a cat, a book, and a pair of warm slippers.

A friend who loves stilettos once reached under her desk for her purse, and her back (and smile) froze into a painful rictus that took weeks to settle.

“You’ve got bunions, arthritis in your toes, and your bones are thinning,” her doctor said (rather cruelly, I thought). “No more stilettos.”

My friend’s grief lasted a few minutes, until she found a cute pair of low-heeled houndstooth pumps. For such things exist, and she now lives happily (and comfortably) ever after.


Nevertheless.

In San Francisco I was bewitched by the red plaid stiletto boots encrusted with gems. I spent some minutes examining and photographing them and wondering who might buy and wear them.

Women in Stearns County are too sensible, surely, to be tempted by such things?

With winter at our heels, those brave enough to pull these deadly pretties over their goose-pimpled calves risk permanent coccyx damage on icy mornings.

Yet here they are, on display at Macy’s in St Cloud, a sister pair of dazzling blue plaids, alongside red Dorothy you-know-what-me shoes with statement ankle bows and heels tall enough to port her back to Kansas.

Will the blue plaid boots make an appearance soon in the clearance racks at Macy’s St Cloud?

Or will someone buy them at full price despite the looming snows, if only to admire now and then, shimmering on a closet shelf in the darkest months of winter?


If you see the boots while out and about in Stearns County, do tell us here at LenaMina.com

Let us know if they are navigating the frozen sidewalks of St Cloud, Kimball, Rockville, or St Rosa.

If so, make time to photograph the reactions of others – an image that could go viral, like the expression on that woman’s face as she watched Mary Tyler Moore throw her tam o’shanter skyward at the Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis for the opening sequence of her iconic 1960s TV show.

Seeing Hazel Frederick’s reaction to Mary’s famous hat toss always gives me that Minnesota feeling. Mary’s shameless exuberance immediately marked her as an outsider to Hazel and other disbelieving Nicollet Mall bystanders back in 1969. As Lou Grant once said: Oh Mary. You had to learn the hard way.

The red plaid boots are indeed on sale at Macy’s, alongside fringed and rhinestoned pairs in fashion colors from Jessica Simpson. I won’t include the sale links, as we like our posts to have lifespan here at LenaMina.com – and the beautiful boots will no doubt sell out in record time.


One thought on “Well Heeled”

  1. Lois Thielen says:

    Those boots look so uncomfortable and mostly so ugly! I like a sleek classic leather boot. I cannot imagine wearing lime green plastic boots. I cannot imagine where I’d wear them to. I guess I’m just too plebian for the high fashion world.

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