My feet are currently in a lot of pain. I am breaking in a pair of heels that I want to wear to a wedding, and this pair of heels is about 2-3 inches tall – far taller than my ol’ reliable 1-inch heels. It really isn’t just about wearing heels to a wedding though, I recently decided that I need to get my feet used to heels for professional contexts. If heels were comfortable, I wouldn’t think twice about the norm of wearing them in professional settings. But they aren’t comfortable, so I’m thinking about it a lot.
This summer, I worked full-time in the Development and Alumni Relations Office for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, and I had a wonderful time. I really enjoyed the work and the meetings with donors. My previous two internships were both in church contexts, so switching to a business-type role resulted in necessary mental and wardrobe shifts. Years of wearing church-chic to work meant that I was unprepared for business casual and business professional on a daily basis.
Something that stuck out to me was when my coworkers decided to put on heels and when they opted for more comfortable shoes. Certain types of meetings and events called for different types of shoes, and I knew that I would have to become comfortable standing a few inches taller on some days if I want to make a similarly professional impression.
While I am the type of person who questions the reasons why things are in place, I do respect that norms exist for a reason. For heels, I am willing to put them on, but I really can’t understand why they seem to elevate an outfit to another tier of fashion. Maybe, in the professional world, they allowed shorter women to stand tall and confident next to their male peers when women were at a place of constantly proving themselves. Maybe the professional world has not grown its fashion sense despite your average women not choosing to wear heels in casual environment like they might have once chosen. Either way, I will be training my feet for the next few months so that I can feel as professional as my peers in my future job. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
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