vol. 1: your soles and your soul
In this inaugural edition, we cover shoes ranging from the practical to the philosophical.
I’ve always believed that building your personal style is not so different from building your career. The way we dress for work and the way we move through it are one and the same; both are expressions of how we take up space, communicate, and navigate our inner worlds. Each week, I’ll deconstruct a specific garment or accessory to share the philosophical lesson it holds, and more importantly, how you can put that insight into practice.
In this first edition, we’ll cover the practical—like which shoes can actually get you through a 10-hour day (spoiler: it’s rarely heels)—and the philosophical, like how our seemingly trivial style choices reflect our preferences, and on a deeper level, how we care for ourselves.
My earliest memory of shoes was hearing them before seeing them. My mom was a hard core, shoe fanatic, acquiring them the way people acquire pieces of art. I would hear the click, click, clack of her shiny, angular heels across the wooden floor. Those clicks will never not sound glamorous to me.
However, heels, in reality, weren’t for me. The thin strap would scratch the back of my foot like a razor after 14 hour days on my feet. I learned that any attempt to wear shoes with a dramatic heel and little to no support ended in a medieval-style, blood-soaked disaster and blisters all over my feet.
I felt wobbly and out of sorts standing in them. That perhaps should have been my first clue.
I worked in a rotational program at NBCUniversal called the page program AKA I was Kenneth from 30 rock for a year and a half of my life:
The days were chaotically strung together by early mornings that collapsed into late nights spent on my feet. I would attend the equivalent of a concert each night to listen to the musical guest from The Jonas Brothers to Taylor Swift, handle customer facing questions regarding ticketing, and find ways to stay firmly planted on my feet to hold back the screaming Harry Styles fans for SNL. For this, my soles needed heavy, reinforced boots that would withstand the wrath of the wild west of production.
I was stepping across glass, spilled water (or wine, among other substances), which punctured, etched, scratched, debased, and soiled every pair of flats, boots, and sneakers I owned. At first, these physicalities were simply external, but slowly, my patience mirrored the state of my shoes. My mind, along with my shoes, were absorbing the chaos of a career path that felt increasingly abrasive. My soles just knew it before my soul did.
I started to question this route I had taken. It was adrenaline inducing and wacky and I could pull out my rolodex of all the A-Lister’s I brushed shoulders with on the daily. It was like joining the circus for a year, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to live in it forever.
And after a while, my shoes started to wear thin. No brand of sock or sneaker insert could fill the daunting realization that this was mismatched: both in shoe and work style.
The right footwear isn’t just about fashion; it’s about survival.
After all, in Latin, solum refers to the lowest part of anything: the ground, the floor, the bottom of a foot. Shoes are the subtle, the aesthetic, while also being physical things that root you to the earth. Primal reminders that we each need different things to physically move through our days. It is our point of contact with reality. They feel the terrain first and whisper to us when it’s time to change direction.
My soul needs a few of the following:
A pair of easy, sturdy platforms
A work / life balance that makes it easy to pop into yoga, spend an extra 10 mins building a fun, nourishing meal, and take care of my body
A low block heel with a supportive insole
Work friendships built on trust and direct communication
A team that knows how to laugh, and then laugh again
A stylish loafer with a cushioned footbed
A pair of flats that are tried and tested (you don’t wince when thinking about wearing them to the office, out to dinner, and back. Not a single blister in sight). These are rare to come by, but don’t settle for anything less!!
Always being clear on “the plan”
A funky, ugly sneaker that’s good for just about anything
Are you comfortable feeling your way through the unknown areas of your life in these shoes? If needed, could you trek across a muddy, uneven break in the sidewalk?
Like a lot of things, it’s never really about the shoes, but how they let you comfortably inhabit who you already are and who you may need to become.
GOOD SOLES FOR YOUR SOUL
Some of these are totally within budget while some are priceyyyy but the cost per wear has paid for itself 50x over. And your ~soul~ deserves it.
So fun! I love that you were a page - must have been a very cool experience. 😊
Love this, specifically the shout out to my beloved shoe collection!