From The Writer’s Vault: My Favorite Fashion Moment

Homecoming. A rite of passage for every high school girl. A night of fun and dancing that almost everyone looks forward to – no matter what age you are. One of the best parts of the night is getting to dress up, doing your hair, your nails and buying that stunning dress with the perfect shoes. The perfect high heels. High heels always made the dress. Girls would look everywhere for the perfect pair of heels to make the dress – except for me. I was always a little taller than everyone when I was younger, but when the summer between 6th and 7th grade, I hit a growth spurt, continued growing and didn’t stop until I was 5’9-5’10ish.

I’ve gotten used to my tall height, but when homecoming comes around, that’s when I get a little self-conscious. Most of my friends who are shorter than me, like 4 or 5 inches shorter, have no problem buying high heels. They always say to me, “You’re so lucky you’re already tall,” and I would smile. Now, don’t get me wrong- I loved being tall back then, and I love it now. But I didn’t like towering over people in shoes. When some people wear heels, they’re as tall as me, but when I wear high heels, I stand around 6’1 or higher. I was already taller than a lot of guys and wearing heels just made my height different even more noticeable, so for most of my life, I stuck with low heels, low wedges, and flats.
So one day, a few weeks before my junior homecoming, my friend asked me to go shoe shopping with her. I am not one to ever turn down a shopping trip and the mall is one of my favorite places, so I immediately said yes and we made plans to go to the mall on Saturday. I looked forward to the day, and finally, it came. As we were casually strolling through the mall, we passed by one of our favorite shoe places and the window displays immediately drew us inside. My friend pranced around the store and just started picking out shoes to try on. I wandered around, checking out the collection and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the most beautiful show. It was black and simple, but it was shiny and sparkly, my favorite. My friend must have seen the way I was eyeing at the pair because almost instantly she was at my side with an arm full of shoes. A smile grew on her face. “Try them on, try them on!” she said, but I was reluctant. They were almost 4 inches high. “I’ll be so tall in them,” I said, even though deep down inside I wanted the shoes. My friend didn’t listen to me insecurities speaking and grabbed the shoes.

“Excuse me, ma’am? Can we have these in a size 9?” she said to the sales rep and within seconds, the size 9 shoes were sitting on the ground next to me. My friend stood eagerly over my shoulder waiting for me to try the shoes on, so to please her I slipped the heels onto my feet. I didn’t have to buy them right? The shoes fit perfectly and I loved the way they looked on my feet. They were beautiful. “Well, aren’t you gonna stand up?” my friend asked, snapping me back into reality. I guess I should stand up, I thought to myself, so I did. And I felt different from how I usually did when I wore heels. I didn’t feel like a giant. I didn’t feel like I was towering over anyone, even though I may have been. I liked how I looked in the 4 inch heels. I don’t know if I had changed as a person, or if the shoes changed me, but something about those pair of heels made me feel as confident as I had ever been.
I bought that pair of shoes and have bought many pairs of high heels ever since. I’ve embraced my height as something that makes me beautiful and I wouldn’t want to change anything about it. I guess it just takes the right pair of shoes to help you take the first step.

Image found here!

What’s your favorite fashion moment? Share yours in the comments!