Tips for Happy Feet: How to Make Feet Appear Smaller

Christian Louboutin may have put it best, remarking:

 “Shoes transform your body language and attitude. They lift you physically and emotionally.” 

While this is a wonderful thing to say in the business of selling designer footwear, I’m sure we can all attest to how true it really is. Unfortunately, within the trans-community many experience great anxiety over finding shoes that flatter, especially with a shoe size most likely larger than that of the average woman. There is a common emphasis on creating the look of smaller feet, in any way possible.

Women’s shoe sizes typically run 1 to 2 sizes larger than Men’s. For starters, just add to your male shoe size, or even better, just get measured. Though not petite, I’m lucky enough to be a size 10 shoe which puts me at the upper edge of readily available, stylish shoes. To add to the difficulty of minimizing foot size, the selection of shoes larger than a size 10 in most stores is typically very scarce if existent at all (because transitioning needs more challenges, right?). As with any area of style, there are ways we can cope with this, allowing us to go from feeling like clunky scuba flippers to gracefully sleek high heels!

I know what you’re thinking… “This isn’t rocket science Kayci, there is an easy solution to solve this dilemma!” and you are totally correct, brilliant! The easiest way to make your feet appear smaller is to favor wearing shoes with heels over flat-soles. As we talked about in previous posts, heels shorten the horizontal length of your foot and add that length to the line of your leg… the higher the heel, the shorter your foot, it’s like magic! (or trigonometry if you’re of a more mathematical mind).

Problem solved right? …. Not quite, at least not to my satisfaction. I’m a believer that it is impractical to wear exclusively heels, probably a statement much to the chagrin of parts of the trans community. Wearing different types of heels (anything that elevates the foot) such as wedges or others with a wider heel itself will be more comfortable and better options for everyday use since they distribute your weight more evenly. Let’s explore what other options we have and also take a look at ways we can maximize the flattering magic of heels.

Whether wearing heels or not, we want to break up the line of the foot as much as possible to create the appearance of a smaller foot. This works for both width and length.

 Let’s look at the lines of the foot:

As you can see from the pictures, the Length and Width lines have been drawn in. I chose to put the length from the ankle rather than the back of the foot since that is how it is seen from above, however it really doesn’t matter, the idea would be the same. I picked these cute red flats as a good place to start for this example because they are very simple and do not go above and beyond to flatter my foot.

Let’s discuss the Length line first, since that’s what we are primarily worried about. The shape of the toe of a shoe is the first thing we should consider. These flats have a nice rounded toe which does not add any extra length, however many styles of shoes have pointed toes which literally add extra inches to that length line. Not something we want. Other styles include peep or open toe, square toe and almond shaped to name a few (all pretty self explanatory). Try to avoid wearing toe styles that add length to your foot, simple enough.

Next we can consider the vamp and upper section of a shoe. The variety of styles and options is wonderfully diverse here and this is where we can help give the appearance of shortening that length. The goal should always be to break up the line to make it look shorter… this can be done with straps and other shoe details. As a general rule the more skin you expose, the larger your foot will appear (nothing to break that length line!). A simple example of breaking things up is a Mary Jane style, one strap spanning the top of the foot, and essentially cutting that length line in half. Take a look:

Much like the tank top vs the spaghetti strap camisole from the necklines post, be careful with thin, tiny straps. When framed against a large foot, they’ll only contrast it, making things look bigger. Try to find straps on the wider side. 

All the same principles apply to foot width as do to the length. By the same logic, a peep-toe would be better than a sandal style that exposes all of your toes since the “peep-hole” breaks up the width line across your toes. I stick to the general rule, no more than 3 toes showing maximum. Likewise a strap or detail running through the width line will serve to break it up and make your foot appear thinner.

The last thing to consider when choosing the perfect pair of shoes is the color. Darker colors are more flattering than lighter colors, so aim for darker hues and avoid bright, flashy or pastel colors. Don’t feel like you need to limit yourself to only black, just stick to darker shades of your favorite colors.

To summarize these tricks, let’s look at an example of most of these in action:

Note how the length and width lines are broken up for an overall flattering style.

Our important lessons from this post: 

1. Wear a shoe that elevates your heel
2. The more skin you expose, the larger your foot will appear.
3. Avoid toe styles that add extra length
4. Look for straps and other details that break up the length and width lines
5. Stick to darker colors

Ready to run out and buy some flattering shoes? Unsure where to go? Try these places:

Online:

Barefoot Tess: Online store carrying only sizes 10-15 

Zappos: Sell all sizes, generally have a wide selection

In stores try:

DSW or Nordstrom Rack, they tend to have good prices and a wide range of sizes.