He Says She Says 27/05/10

This week: Why do women need so many shoes?

He Says:

As a man, I’ll probably never really understand a woman’s obsession with shoes.

That’s not to say that I won’t voice my opinion at the truly staggering statistic that states seven out of ten women own shoes that they’ve never worn – and in many cases the footwear is still in the box.

At first, I thought this had to be a typo - and asked our listeners to verify whether this was the case. I was shocked to hear that despite owning fifty pairs or more, a woman will still need to buy more when buying a new outfit, having admitted to never wearing shoes they already own.

This is a blatant waste of money that no relationship can afford or justify.

As a parent you wouldn’t buy your kids more sweets if they hadn’t eaten the last lot you gave them. Women need to learn how to shop smarter, to look at what you already own and consider buying something that will go with it.

At the very least, donate shoes you have no intention of wearing to charity so I can get a little more cupboard space for my few pairs of rather tatty looking shoes that I will continue to wear until a piece of cardboard separates my feet from the pavement - and I eventually give in and buy another pair that will see me through to the grave and I may even be buried in them.

I honestly believe that if you own more than twenty pairs of shoes ladies you have a problem. There can be no reason for needing anything like the numbers I have heard since they really don’t vary that much. Please, the next time a woman moans that a man has wasted money on an item they believe to be pointless let’s remind them of those shoes in the cupboard that have never even seen a foot.

She says:

I have to say I am guilty of buying shoes that I have never worn, but I’m not alone, I know loads of women that do it. We don’t do it on purpose, we never set out with the intention of purchasing shoes that we’re not going to wear - it just happens.

Let me explain. We go out to buy a new outfit, perhaps for a party or a wedding, we find a lovely dress that is perfect in every way, we buy it and then we stand outside the shop with the outfit in the bag wondering if we have any shoes to go with it.

We try and visualise all the shoes we have at home and consider whether any of them will go with the recent purchase.

After considerable deliberation, we decide that none of the shoes we have at home are suitable and therefore we must buy some that are.

Then what happens is that on the day of the event that we originally bought the dress for something changes. It might be too cold for the outfit you’ve got, or maybe your friend calls you to tell you it’s more of a casual gathering and your newly acquired dress is way too smart, or simply that when you put it all on again you just don’t feel right in it and decide to wear something else, therefore making the new shoes redundant.

This is why we end up with shoes that we don’t ever wear. Our intentions are good - we were going to wear them honest - but things change and they end up in the bottom of the wardrobe with all the other shoes.

I understand why men find this incredible, but they really do have it easy when it comes to shoes. One black pair, one brown pair, which pair goes with which suit, it’s that simple.

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