Manolo the Columnist
Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.
Dear Manolo,
I have a ten year old granddaughter who is 5 feet 10 inches tall and wears a size 10.5 or 11 wide shoe. Got any ideas what we can put on her feet other than sneakers and hiking boots. It would be nice to be able to dress her up.
Robin
Manolo says, ayyyy! What are they putting in the milk these days! Everywhere the Manolo looks there are giant childrens: middle schoolers who tower over their parents, grade schoolers who look like all-in wrestlers, and pre-schoolers who can kick-start their own Harleys. It is the epidemic of the over nourished!
Despite this, the Manolo still believes that children, regardless of their size, should be treated like children. The ten-year-old girl with the body of the twenty-year-old Gabrielle Reece, is still the ten year old, and should be dressed appropriately to her age.
Happily, this year, the cute and girlish flats and skimmers have been in style, and the big-boned grade-school girl can find the shoes which are dressy, and yet not trashy in that annoyingly precocious Bratz way.
Look, here is the Suzie, the dressy blue suede skimmer from the Type Z available in the size 11W.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Ayyyy! Bad manolo! How can you possibly reccomend these horrors for a ten year old? When grandma buys you shoes you have to wear them, maybe even to school. I am still traumatized by the rust colored nurse shoes my grandma made me wear at age 10. The reviews even said this shoe fits smaller than true size. Grandma, let your granddaughter look at some of the fabulous flats and skimmers from Etnies. Cute, dressy enough, comfortable to play in, and average price under $50. Maybe the Myra, the Ace or the Low slip V.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Sadly, what they are putting in the milk these days is hormones, lot & lots & lots of hormones. (Well, they put the hormones in the cows, but you get the idea…) Ask any pediatrician and they’ll tell you. Giant feets at age 10: yet another reason to give your kids organic foods!
September 7th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Those are nice shoes for a 10-year-old to wear when going out to Sunday brunch with Grandma. I had shoes not unlike that when I was 10 (which was only 12 years ago, so not quite the dark ages). Like this young lady, I completely skipped the “juniors” clothing section, going straight from the children’s department into grown-up clothes, and it was difficult for my mother to find age-appropriate clothing for me, although I was only 5 feet 5 inches–I feel for this tall girl.
Freeheels, the Etnies shoes you recommend do not appear to come in wide widths, which was one of the requirements. (And in my opinion, they are not very dressy, although this depends somewhat on the young lady’s taste, of course.)
September 7th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
these seem acceptable shoes if the young lady has to attend a dressy event. But i would put in a plea as well that if she likes sneakers and hiking boots for every day, that’s ok too! Some 10-year-old girls (and older!) don’t want to wear girly shoes (I know, what am I doing on Manolo’s blog) and prefer to run about it sneakers - i don’t necessarily get the sense that grandma is talking about the child’s wishes here. for a dressy event these do seem appropriate enough if not with much personality.
September 8th, 2007 at 8:10 am
You hit it on the head, it is *exactly* what they are putting in the milk cows these days: rBGH, recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone. I wont get political here, but if you’re only going to buy one organic food for your family, for your kids sake make sure it’s the milk!
As for those shoes, dearest Manolo, my large and ungainly 10-year old tomboy self received many such attempts to “girly” me up. Items such as these shoes caused sheer terror in me, and upon getting them home from Grandma’s house were promptly shoved so far under the bed as to never be seen again!
Luckily my forty something, but still large but less ungainly self eventually girly-ed up just fine and this granddaughter should have the freedom to do the same at her own pace. Plus, these shoes are a little mature for any 10 year old unless its for the dressy church or synagogue event or something. Just because kids LOOK older for their size, doesnt mean they ARE older.
Grandma should just plan to wear these shoes herself.
September 8th, 2007 at 11:04 am
I can’t wait until my daughters’ feet are large enough for women’s sizes–there are more flat options available for women than there are for little girls! I have a terrible time finding them dress shoes without a heel or sandals that aren’t platforms or wedges. It’s so hard to dress a girl like a GIRL these days . . .
September 8th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Manolo, you make me laugh like none other! :-)
September 8th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
As a fellow big foot (size 11), I can say that there are actually a lot of options out there now for girls with big feet. Zappos.com carries lots of flats and has free shipping each way. As these are shoes for a 10 year old, who might still have growing feet, Target and Payless actually have quite a range of large sized, cute and affordable flat shoes.