Hierarchy of Footwear

After I posted a picture of my clothes closet(s), someone asked to see my shoe closet. Sadly, I have no such thing. Most of my work shoes live in boxes under the guest room bed. After consideration, I thought maybe the commenter actually wanted to see my shoes, not my storage system, so I thought I’d oblige.

I’ve lined them up from oldest to youngest, left to right and back to front. The eldest pair is the lime green Colin Stuart pumps and the baby of the family is the plaid pumps. They’re only a few minutes older than the green peep-toes (both purchased just yesterday).

Studying the shoes and their chronological sequence is an interesting peek into my shoe psyche. Although I clearly show a frivolous side early on (lime green pumps), I stick to mostly brown, black, and, the classic, red for the first few years. (Not pictured here are two pairs of black pumps, a pair of khaki pumps, and one pair each of black and khaki slingbacks that I wore to death.) As I progressed through the Maslow hierarchy of needs (red, black, and brown shoes = the physiological needs and safety), brightly colored shoes met my requirements for love, belonging, and esteem, until I finally reach self-actualization with a pair of freakin rad plaid pumps.