Today's Rant

[JWCooley126]

Forum needed a new topic so here's my 2 cents. Peds and no show socks are the some of the biggest letdowns in the world! Had a woman (early 20s or so) at my job for an impromptu meeting in which we were all standing. She had on a pair of espadrille wedges and judging by her movements sooner or later her feet would come out. I was spot on and about 10 minutes in the foot shuffling and heelpop emerged. To my chagrin she had on grey no show socks so couldn't see anything! It gets worse as the meeting went on she alternated taking one shoe on/off and curling her toes. Standing dipping and removal at its finest but with opaque grey socks aghh. Would've loved to see her toes as she was quite attractive but a total dud of a show with the socks. Can't win em all I guess. What's your take on peds/no show socks?

[Kenneth Cole]

Actually they are a disappointment for me too, but for the opposite reason. I like women who wear dressy ooaque trouser socks with their flats. The ped socks are a way to eliminate those and bare feet at the same time.

[tobydole]

You know, I would have agreed with you... until several months ago. I'm not sure why, but something clicked in my head and now I can't get enough of ped/no shows. I always love a good barefoot show but something made me ridiculously attracted to them. Something about the 'secrecy'/hiddenness of them maybe idk.

[paradigm88]

My relationship with peds is a bit like Stockholm syndrome, I think.

My wife wears peds a lot. She doesn't like the feel of wearing her flats barefoot, but most knee-highs and trouser socks are tight on her calves, so they feel uncomfortable. So if it's too warm for tights, she's wearing peds. She's a bit fussy about them, too; she prefers low-cut peds to avoid them peeking out of her shoes, but they can be hard to find sometimes. And some brands don't stay on her heels well, so they fall off easily in her shoes.

But ballet flats and peds are better than sandals and flip-flops, so in the warmer months, you take what you get.

But as tobydole puts it, peds aren't meant to be seen, so there's a certain rush in seeing them. If we visit friends or we get home from a date, my wife will take her shoes off but she'll keep her peds on. Seeing her sit there with stockinged toes is better than nothing.

Also...she has to be cautious, because some of her peds are VERY silky, and her flats won't really stay on, especially her more worn-out flats. I bought her some nylon ankle socks and those have the same issue. She'll wear them for a date night, but she needs to walk very carefully because her shoes will not stay put.

I actually went on a date with a girl once who hinted she was going to "try something different" with her outfit that evening. When we met up for dinner, I saw that she'd worn peep-toe wedges with gray polka-dotted peds, so the little white polka-dots peeked out through her toes. (At the car she slipped one wedge off to show me her polka-dots.) I thought it was delightful and I wish more women would do that.

[JWCooley126]

A very interesting take so far. I'm still a bare kind of guy, but I can definitely see the allure a little differently now.