Ugly ugly ‘fitness’ shoes December 15, 2009

I am baffled the Sketcher Shape-Up shoes exist and even more baffled that they’re flying off the shelves.  They look like the shoes you wear when one leg is longer than the other. The reason I’m blogging about these on “Tall Tales” is because these shoes also look like platform shoes, which I (and other tall people) will never have to wear.  Ok, it’s a stretch but I felt like writing about these so I’m manipulating it to fit my blog.

Julie Deardorff, a Chicago Tribune reporter, recently blogged about these hideous “Fitness shoes” and said that although they “contain an unstable sole which causes the muscles to work a little harder as they try to stabilize the body, … there’s little-if any—credible scientific evidence that these new fitness shoes provide a higher level of muscle engagement.”

So really, people are wearing these to get buff and beautiful and are not only NOT reaping the benefits, they’re also resorting to ugly footwear.

Is anyone out there really buying into these?

Suri Cruise’s high heels December 13, 2009

She’s three years old and wears higher heels than I do at 26?  I think I need to start taking fashion tips from Suri Cruise.  The majority of the blogosphere thinks it’s weird and health professionals are criticizing Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise for allowing her to wear them, but if 3-year-old Suri can rock the heels, methinks I should as well.

Ok, I’m only half kidding about taking fashion advice from her.  And I do think it’s strange that she wears these outside the house in her OWN size!  It’s normal for a little girl to play dress-up and wear her mommy’s oversized heels around the house while showing off her pink-feathered boa, but to have her very own pair of high heels and wear them OUTSIDE the house crosses the line.  I think that perfectly explains the difference between celebrity kids and the rest of the public.

Best tall girl Halloween costume! December 12, 2009

My friends and I were talking about my freakishly long spaghetti arms last night and I compared myself to Gumby. It only took a few seconds for one of them to suggest it as a Halloween costume.  Now I can’t WAIT for Oct. 31, 2010!!!

Survey: Height & Relationships October 26, 2009

To help out one of my blogger friends, I’m including a link to her survey.  It’s only two pages long and took me about 5 minutes or less to fill it out.

She is studying the results for about the next week and is hoping to find some interesting conclusions.  Please take a look when you have a free minute!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=HbQ_2fbKGPncZ1ZPs76rS9vA_3d_3d

Adjustable heels, anyone? October 22, 2009

This blog entry works for both tall AND short women. How many times have you gone to a shoe store and found the perfect dress shoe but in the wrong heel height?

Personally, I tend to walk through stores with one goal in mind: low heels, low heels, low heels! I realize that some people’s reaction to that (my cousin, Mike, for instance) would be, “No! Be proud of your height! Wear those heels! Work what God gave you!” And I do on occasion and, of course, those people are right — it makes me feel sexier, more professional, etc. BUT every other day when I just want to go to work or go to a dressy function with my boyfriend who’s slightly shorter than me, I am not in search of that extra inch or two. I would love to be able to go to a shoe store (online or in person) and find ANY shoe that I fancy in whatever heel height I desire. I can’t even remember the amount of times I’ve found shoes that I adore … in my size! … and then put them down because I’d rather have a lower heel. I’m assuming other tall women have this problem (speak up if you do/don’t!) and shorter women probably have the opposite problem. And after many conversations with some of my female coworkers in their 50s, I’ve learned that high heels can actually become increasingly painful to wear the more you age.

So this brings me to my point of adjustable shoes. I did a quick Google search to find that I’m not the first to have this idea (surprise, surprise!) but I couldn’t find it executed exactly how I’m picturing. I found a site/store, CAMiLEON, that makes dress shoes with adjustable-height heels built in:

CAMiLEON Heels – the first fully-functioning, adjustable height high heel shoe for women. The ability to vary heel height according to need or desire clearly provides substantial positive effects for women who choose to wear high-heeled shoes.

Extremely good idea but they also start out at about $210 per pair and usually only go up to size 10 or 10.5.

I think it would be extremely lucrative for a company to create styles of dress shoes (and boots, too) that can be purchased with anywhere from 1″-3″-heel heights. This would obviously be much easier for an online store to stock. For instance, Zappos.com, which has a phenomenal assortment of shoes to begin with, could possibly add that feature and allow shoppers to choose their heel height just as they choose their size or color!

Ahhh one can only dream, I guess!

The space around us October 19, 2009

Every morning during rush hour when I ride the very crowded L to work, I am constantly reminded how uncomfortable people are to be around someone my height.  It’s as if people think the amount of personal space they need to give me is proportional to my height.  Just because I’m 6 inches taller than you, doesn’t mean I deserve 6 inches more space around me while riding public transportation.

I tend to feel extremely claustrophobic in small, tight areas so I secretly love being given this extra space.  At the same time, though, it makes me feel like an ogre because I usually end up with enough room to read a newspaper while everyone else is huddled in the corner of the train car staring up at me in amazement at my size.

This phenomenon happens elsewhere as well.  My immediate family is all either around 6′ or above (my brother being the tallest, measuring in at 6′9″) and when we go out to public places that are even slightly crowded, it seems like an invisible fence is drawn about 3 feet outside the circumference of our group.  We’ve all noticed this before and laugh because it’s as if people think we have this horrible disease they don’t want to catch.  Either that or shorter people are just afraid that we’ll flail our freakishly long arms and hit them.  Those are really my own two theories to explain the added space we receive.

Any other suggestions out there for this?

Tall Girl CanNOT close! October 8, 2009

All U.S. Tall Girl locations are closing! I never thought I would become so distraught over the closing of a retail store because I’ve never been much of a shopper but this isn’t just about shopping; it’s about finding clothes that FIT! Sure, the Tall Girl Web site says to visit Long Tall Sally — the other tall girl retail store — but they don’t have U.S. locations to try things on. And let’s be honest…if you’re tall, you know things fit awkwardly sometimes.

Nooooooooo!!!!!

I feel like I should start some sort of “Save Tall Girl” fund! Who’s with me?

Dating a tall guy September 18, 2009

It’s official! The world has a new tallest man. Sultan Kosen measures in at 8′1,” is 27 years old, hails from Turkey and is lookin’ for love.

Through an interpreter, Kosen explained that “Up until now it’s been really difficult to find a girlfriend. … I’ve never had one, they were usually scared of me. … Hopefully now that I’m famous I’ll be able to meet lots of girls. I’d like to get married.”

As a tall person, I wish I could say I’d like to be one of the women who would date someone as tall as Kosen, but I’ve dated a very tall Turk before (6′11″), and I’m sorry to say I felt a bit weird turning heads as “the gigantor couple” walked into public places. It’s one thing to have half the couple be 6′3″ or taller, but for BOTH people to reach that height is a little jarring.

And what about the children aspect? If I procreate with a man my height or shorter, our children have the possibility of wearing clothes purchased at Big and Tall or Tall Girl, but if I knock boots with an 8′1″ man, we would be buying baby clothes at those stores.

So it’s not that I would fear a man of Kosen’s height…I just fear what we might produce.

And as far as the photo of Kosen most news sources are using, it appears as if the photographer was sitting on the ground. I realize he or she was merely trying to emphasize how tall he is, but taking a photo at this angle is using horrible news judgment because it skews the perspective and makes him look much taller than he actually is. Give the guy a break!

A walking advertisement August 4, 2009

I normally don’t think twice about what my shopping bag says unless it publicizes an embarrassing purchase. I’m talking mainly about the bags at Tall Girl (my most accommodating clothing store).

For one, I have an issue with the lack of creativity in the store name, “Tall Girl.” Really? You couldn’t think of a better name than Tall Girl? What about Long and Lanky or Statuesque? And secondly, I laugh just thinking about what others think when they see a tall girl walking down the street with a bag in her hand that says “Tall Girl.” It’s like, “Duh!”

The funniest part about this whole thing is that I complained to my mom about how much I hate their bags and she, without much thought, pointed out that all I have to do is turn the bag inside out. Thanks, Mom.

Per Sara’s request: Why being tall rocks July 30, 2009

My wonderful friend, Sara, is my most dedicated “Tall Tales” reader and she mentioned listing the pros of being tall since I’ve taken the time to list the cons. So here goes…I’ll start with the most obvious pros and get more specific as I go on. Co-Talls (I’ve now created that name for my fellow tall friends), if you have anything to add, feel free!

1. We can reach things on most shelves.
2. No matter where we stand in a concert, we don’t have anyone blocking our view.
3. We don’t need to wear clothing or shoes that make our legs “appear” longer–they’re already pretty long to begin with! Which brings me to #4…
4. We don’t have to bother with uncomfortable, numb-feet-by-the-end-of-the-night heels.
5. Whether we want to or not, we always stand out in a crowd and get double-takes on the street.
6. People tend to give us more personal space in tight areas (I think I’ll blog more in depth about this later).
7. Tall people are said to be more successful in life. (A 2004 study found that every inch of height amounts to a salary increase of about $789 per year.)
8. We can eat more because we have more room for the food to go (this is totally unscientific and something my mom always told me to make me feel better when I was younger and got sad that I was so much taller than the petite cheerleaders.)
9. We never have to worry about making the height requirement for “America’s Next Top Model.” (good contribution, Sara).
10. Most people associate height with glamorous models.
11. Some very cool tall famous people inclue Michael Jordan, Conan O’Brien, Maria Sharapova, Brooke Shields, Kristen Johnston, Geena Davis, Barack and Michelle Obama, John Wayne, Christopher Reeve, Clint Eastwood… to name a few.
12. During adolescence when all you want to be is older and more mature, we look older and (sometimes) more mature.
13. We can ride roller coasters at a younger age.

I could go on, but I might start getting too obscure.  Plus, I want to leave room for you, Co-Talls! So fire away!

Good and fun exercise, though, Sara!