The Proper Shoe to Wear

1895

The Normal Shaped Foot Is the Handsomest One, After All.

"The nearer the normal shape of our feet we wear our shoes," says a veteran shoe man, "the better. If our feet have been distorted by improper shoes, the shoes should not conform to the distortions, anatomical shoemakers to the contrary notwithstanding, but should be made the correct shape, but of sufficient size to allow for and to accommodate the distortions, so that the foot will have a chance or opportunity in the shoe to come back to their normal shape. The exercise of walking in a correct shaped shoe will bring a distorted foot back to its normal shape, provided the distortion has not been of too long standing. The more we walk in an ill shaped shoe the more distorted our feet will become.

"The normal shaped foot, no matter how large it may be, is far handsomer than any distorted foot, no matter how small. In the normal shaped foot the phalangial bones of each toe lie in a straight line with the metatarsal bones of the foot, to which they are respectively articulated. And straight lines drawn lengthwise through the phalangial bones of each toe and the metatarsal bones to which they are respectively articulated and backward will all come out at one and the same point, the center of the heel, and radiate from that center like spokes from the hub of a wheel. What is wanted is a good fit and a shoe that conforms to the natural shape of the foot." — Shoe and Leather Facts.