The Gayle Madwin Shoe Museum

[queerbychoice]

Six photographs of my very own fabulous feet in a variety of outfits—all dedicated to arsenothelys.

Everyone else: Don't mind us, we're just odd like that.


Welcome, friends, to the official Gayle Madwin Shoe Museum! Here you will be treated to a special guided tour of six pairs of shoes owned by the world's one and only Gayle Madwin. It should be noted that all six pairs of shoes were originally marketed as men's shoes—size 9 in American men's shoe sizes. One of the goals of this display is to demonstrate (particularly to arsenothelys) that plenty of men's shoes go perfectly well with skirts and do not give an unfeminine impression in the least.




On display above, we have my current everyday pair of shoes—the only pair of shoes in this entire collection which I ever actually wear anymore, except for the purposes of museum display. The rest of the shoes in the collection have all formerly served as my everyday pair of shoes, but were retired for some reason I can no longer discern or remember, as they still appear to be perfectly good shoes. It's rather difficult for me to alternate between different shoes on different days though, because in order for me to wear any pair of shoes without crippling myself, I have to first tape a double layer of extra arch supports into each of them. I do not own enough arch support inserts to tape them into every pair of shoes I own.




Here we have a pair of shoes I quite adored. I adore all shoes with buckles on them. Unfortunately they're often difficult to find.




In the photograph above I'm wearing men's socks in addition to men's shoes. Men's socks are exceedingly stupid and colorless and boring, so I generally strive to avoid them. Unfortunately, women's socks do not really fit my feet quite so well as men's. My mother, whose feet are half a size larger than mine, always wears exclusively both men's socks and men's shoes because they fit better. But I have more effeminate tastes than her, and with my half a size smaller feet I can mostly get away with wearing women's socks. Alternatively, I suppose I could just buy a lot of plain white men's socks and a lot of brightly colored fabric dyes, and make men's socks turn interesting-looking.




On display here you find my bare sexy feet nearly entirely exposed! Foot fetishists, you may now commence salivating.




The color is a little off in the photograph above; those are lavender socks I'm wearing and the skirt is the lovely lavender circle skirt I created myself from a tablecloth some eight or nine months ago (also depicted on my LJ userinfo page).




Here is my sixth and final pair of shoes. The astute among you will have observed that not one pair of shoes in my entire collection possesses shoelaces. (The decorative bow things don't count because there are no eyelets; the bow is just glued to the top of the shoe.) This is because in matters of appearance and time-consuming tasks to be undertaken before leaving for work in the morning, I am so absolutely exceedingly lazy that I don't even have adequate words to express it.

Please also take note that my legs have not been shaved since 1994 at the very latest. Not once. This is a point of particular pride.

Thank you for visiting The Gayle Madwin Shoe Museum!

Comments

[sapphiretrance.livejournal.com]

I wear a dirty old pair of sneakers 99% of the time. Only go more fancy when I'm trying to make an impression, which is not much. ;) Men's socks are indeed very staid and boring. On the plus side, though, they go with almost anything, shoe and clothing wise. This is vital to me in the mornings when I do not want to have to decide on a pair of socks that goes well with what I'm wearing, and I am not obsessive enough to prearrange "outfits" either. So that sells them for me. However, in the summer I wear anklesocks exclusively (these are much less jarring). In the winter my socks are usually hidden by jeans or a dress. This is how I solve the sock-problem, lazy-mikie style.

Otoh, I don't mind tying my shoelaces as much. Perhaps this is because I've grown accustomed to it wearing almost exclusively sneakers for almost my whole life. My mother and uncle have tried in vain to get me to wear more proper or professional shoes, mountain shoes, boots, anything but my trademark dirty, old pair of running sneakers. ;)

They have met with some success. I did grudgingly agree to get some.... what are they called? Loafers? But I refused to get them in brown, black or grey. Absolutely refused. I just can't stand those colors for my shoes.

I found a singular pair that are deep pink. (in the men's section, actually!) I got those. (My mother gasped, "did you get those from the WOMEN'S section," and my uncle, "you'll look like a girl with those!" but I just made believe I didn't hear them. Amusingly, however, when we got back home, my aunt took one look at them and remarked, "Oh wow, what beautiful shoes! I really like them. You have very good taste." I just smiled broadly and said, "Why thank you." This happened in front of both my mother and my uncle and I revelled their muted wincing.)

I got a pair of waterproof casuals that were blue, quite beautiful. My mother worriedly told me, "you'll wear those [the blue ones] more, I bet."

But oh no. I still wear my dirty old sneakers wherever I go. To work -- I don't want to get my good shoes dirty, besides I want to be comfortable. To class -- I'm not wearing my good shoes to class, what's the point? To parties -- there's no way in hell I'm going to a college party with puke and beer on the floor in my good shoes.

I suppose I'd wear my good shoes to a job interview.... or to a formal gathering. Or if for some reason I had an urge to dress up. But otherwise they're practically for house decoration. ;)

I will have to wear my suit and tie and everything for my teaching job in Mexico, though, I think. That ought to be interesting since I just haven't ever been able to figure out how one ties a tie (not for want of trying) and the business suit is my most hated form clothing EVER! The tie my most HATED accessory! (well perhaps beaten by the pocket protector....) I suppose I'll have to wear my business shoes with those. Goddess I hate those things. HATE THEM! (they're black, btw.... black shoes! and they're uncomfortable!)

Anyway I can definitely stand out sometimes when my clothing is more stereotypically feminine or whatever because of my beloved dirty old sneakers. I have some very beautiful, elaborate pattern skirts with matching blouses and hair-ties and jackets, etc.... and yet, there they are, completed with.... a dirty old pair of sneakers and white socks. ;) Hee hee.

~sapphiretrance

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

I always wore exclusively dirty old sneakers all the time up through the end of sixth grade - always with skirts and dresses, because I've always always always worn skirts or dresses every day. My mother commented on the mismatch when I was ten or eleven, informing me that "Of course you might think dresses and skirts are fun to wear every day now, because you're so young you can get away with wearing them with dirty old sneakers. But when you're an adult it will be improper to wear skirts or dresses without also shaving your legs and wearing pantyhose and high heels with them. So then you'll want to always wear pants like me instead."

I told my mother this is ridiculous. When I entered seventh grade I did concede to wearing slightly more fashionable shoes, but the rest? NEVER.

[elfbabe.livejournal.com]

Gayle = furry!

Furry is definitely better. At least in my case when it's either furry or dry-and-prickly-and-clearly-visible-after-about-eight-hours.

As time goes by, I become less and less taken with making my body hair go away, while abhorred becomes more and more so. Eventually I will be Sasquatch and he will be... like one of those hairless cats, but without the effect of giving people the willies.

Girly-fur is nice.

[donutgirl.livejournal.com]

you have more hair on your legs than my Boi and I have together, on our entire bodies, when neither of us has shaved for a month (an unusual occurence). Wow.

[elfbabe.livejournal.com]

Also, I quite like the first pair of buckly ones. They go well with red.

[princesswitch.livejournal.com]

Well, I knew you were secretly hankering to start your own fetish site. After reading the comments, maybe it should be devoted to female leg hair?

BTW, that's about how my calves look if I get mosquito bites (therefore, can't shave around 'em).

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

There's already a hairypits community on LJ. I was rather disturbed, however, when my membership in that community caused some random male to instant message me about his fetish.

Random Male: Hi, I live in California and I think hairy women are really sexy. I noticed you belong to the hairy pits community. Do you really actually have hairy pits and legs?
Gayle: Yes I do, and I also have absolutely no interest in your interest in them. Go away.

[allyscully.livejournal.com]

Shoooes! I adore the buckly ones. And the red skirt they're beneath looks pretty too. :o)

I admire your conviction to not shaving.. see, with you it's actually a conviction. With me it's "oh, I haven't? Well, I'm *lazy* and wear pants. Meh."

**looks down** The only shoes I wear are leather boots or black sneakers. And I'm not wearing them now. **wiggles toes**

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

My conviction began with laziness at fourteen and progressed to conviction by eighteen. ;o)