High

Cardigan: TJMaxx
Top: American Eagle
Skirt: Boden
Tights: Target
Heels: Nine West
Nail polish: China Glaze, Fly

As a person of rather Amazonian proportions, I've received complaints/suggestions over the years that I should reconsider my ideas on footwear and what is acceptable for a woman who is 5'10.

To which I laugh and say it's my feet and I'll wear whatever I want.



It certainly discomforts some men, my short friends, and sometimes random people in the world when I wear heels. Some people consider it a point of shame for a woman my size to highlight her height, even in a tasteful way. I'm always surprised by this--these heels are 4 1/4 inches but most of the time the heels I wear put me at 6' or 6'1. I've had people come up to me and say that it's not fair that I can make myself even taller, I'm tall enough already, that I'm not some sort of model, that I shouldn't draw attention to myself this way.

Growing up horseback riding taught me a couple things about style, surprisingly enough. When buying a horse, colour is the least important thing to take into account (skin colour can be important but coat colour is superficial), and I extend this to the rest of my life. Colour, much though I love it, normally falls to the bottom of my list of priorities when it comes to buying clothes, shoes, cars, horses (still) and many other things. Another thing I learned is that past a certain point, height doesn't matter. A pony named Theodore O'Connor was ridden by Karen O'Connor in the Rolex 4 Star (think jumps the size of your car or bigger) and was short listed for the 2008 Olympic team before his very untimely death. In college I rode a number of ponies varying in pony sizes, including one who hauled me around courses of jumps like I was a fly on his back.



I wish more people understood that height doesn't matter beyond the point where health is a concern. Sure, I'm tall...and so what? There's a lot put into a person's height; sweeping generalizations abound that women won't date men shorter than them and if you reach a certain spot on the ruler it's assumed that you're an excellent basketball player. Well, I'm sick of it. I'll date a guy shorter than me! I suck at basketball! I don't mind being a giant and you shouldn't either!

Much like many other things, my height is really no one's business but my own. So I'll go on wearing my high heels. When people ask how the weather is up here, I'll ask if they know how big the atmosphere actually is. And, above all (ha ha), I won't be ashamed.