When comfort wins over style

MANILA, Philippines - It started a little more than two years ago in the middle of a crowded sidewalk in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. There I was, hurriedly prancercising towards Silvercord mall when my entire left foot cramped up. While I was sure that I was willing to give up an afternoon of shopping to curl up in my hotel room in pain, I was also pretty sure that I couldn’t move from the spot where I was struck down by the orthopedic gods. I hobbled around aimlessly until I allowed myself to be scammed by a lady holding a sign for a HK$100 foot massage. Fifteen minutes later, the massage ended and the lady asked me if I wanted an additional 15 minutes. For another HK$100. That was all I needed to hear to fight through the pain and head to the nearest MTR station. Though that was pretty bad, it could've been worse: YStyle editor Celine Lopez once broke her foot while texting and walking around HK in heels. She was trapped in a cast, then in a wheelchair for over six months.

Like most lessons we are reluctant to learn, I had to endure several more footwear-related mishaps before I swore off cheap flats. There was the time when I ended up buying a pair of Bensimons after my sandals from Korea snapped on my way down from Wrong Ramen (this has happened twice this year alone). And that time I became a cripple while walking from Glorietta to Greenbelt, so I ended up buying Keds halfway, in Landmark.

But a girl can’t live on tennis shoes alone (yes, these are the kinds of profound thoughts that cross my mind while groggily trying to figure out what to wear). And though I have reintroduced Nike and Doc Martens to my shoe closet and I have my eye on a pair of New Balance sneakers, some outfits just call for something a little more… dainty. It doesn’t help that my boyfriend vetoed my only remaining pair of sandals because he found the gartered gladiator style baduy (in his defense, I’d already vetoed several items from his wardrobe). And flats, cheapo ones or not, are pretty much out of the question already because I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I am flat-footed. There is a reason ballerinas like Audrey Hepburn popularized flats: their feet are equipped with the arches to wear them without fear of cramping.

So really, I should be happy about Birkenstocks making a comeback in fashion. Since Celine debuted the luxe “furkenstocks” (think mink-lined and bejewelled) in their spring/summer 2013 show earlier this year, the “ugly shoe” debate began in earnest. Alexander Wang and Jeffrey Campbell followed suit by sending down their versions of the Teva, another popular ‘90s sandal that looks better suited to hiking trails. Then the high street followed with J. Crew collaborating with Birkenstocks and Urban Outfitters teaming up with Teva. Vogue gave their seal of approval with Birks and woolly socks appearing in Paris Vogue last February and Vogue.com published a piece entitled “Pretty Ugly: Why Vogue Girls Have Fallen for the Birkenstock” earlier this week. Then a couple of days ago, Into The Gloss’ Emily Weiss published a photo of a fresh-faced Kate Moss photographed by Corinne Day while wearing a pair of rolled-up pants and white Birkenstocks — an image frequently bandied about by pro-Birk enthusiasts — saying “a sensible, ergonomically correct sandal has never felt so right.” Ergonomic? Yes. Sensible? Hmmm.

The fun thing about fashion sometimes is testing to see how far you’re willing to go just to try out a look. For me, a hefty price tag is enough reason to back off. Case in point: Though I adored Isabel Marant’s wedge sneakers from last year (I think I have a thing for contentious footwear), I knew in my heart that I would rather wait for the high street knockoffs than part with upwards of $800 for a pair of shoes. This time though, I can’t argue with the fact that I can afford a pair of Birkenstocks, Tevas or Adidas Slides (oh, yes). And while I do think they’re kind of cute in their ugliness (sort of like pugs), they’re still a tricky thing to pull off. Unlike with a safe pair of ballet flats, with orthopedic footwear, there’s a pretty thin line between looking quirky cute and looking like you stepped out in your house slippers by mistake, which has happened to me before. (#fashiongirlproblems) Also, just because Emmanuelle Alt managed to make them look cute in an editorial, when it comes down to it, they’re still cork sandals that make even the narrowest of feet wide.

Then again, perhaps Birkenstocks are an extreme example. After all, there has to be other choices out there don’t look like they belong to a sasquatch. After Refinery29’s Connie Wang posted “One Editor’s Ode To Ugly Shoes” on their website, I searched through the comments for the brand of a sandal that she said were “made with real tires,” only to discover that they were Riudavets avarcas and, like most things I want in life, they’re only available online. (Long story short: Online shopping is one of the major reasons why I’ve never applied for a credit card.)

Then I spotted Shu Uemura makeup artist Cathy Cantada sporting a really cute pair of sandals at the YStyle documentary shoot last week. As it turned out, they were Sanuk, yet another brand that falls into the “comfort over fashion” category. As Cathy gushed about how comfortable they were (they’re made with the same material as yoga mats), I started to feel disconcerted by the fact that I found them kind of pretty. I mean, these sandals weren’t ironically ugly-pretty like Juju Babe heeled sandals. To my mind, they were almost like the sandal equivalent of Crocs flats, which in a moment of weakness, I shamefully admit to having owned once.

A week passed and I couldn’t get the sandals off my mind, so I trekked to the presentation of the latest collection of Sanuk Yoga Slings. While I still haven’t gotten my own pair, I was at least sold on the comfort factor and I decided that if I stuck to the solid-colored and tie-dye styles and steered clear of the checkered and striped prints (which really do veer towards the fugly side of the ugly-pretty spectrum), they just might do until I probably, eventually go off towards the deep end and also end up buying a pair of Birkenstocks. In silver.