Shoe shopping

I'm not crazy about shopping. Actually, I'm more of an I-know-what-I-want, get-in-get-out kind of shopper. But shopping in south Asia really brings out the girly side of me.

As I've mentioned before, clothes in south Asia are customizable in terms of fabric and color choice, design, and fitting. With so many clothing options, it will probably come as no surprise then that there are also multiple options when it comes to footwear.

A common style of footwear that women wear in south Asia (especially with shalwar kameez) are what's known there as chappals (referred to as sandals in the U.S.). In south Asia, women wear chappals nearly everyday and with nearly every style of outfit (ok, maybe not pajamas).

The shoe stores that we frequent in Karachi typically carry multiple varieties of each color with multiple styles and heel heights.  Since there are so many options available, once some clothes have been designed and stitched, it's not uncommon to see women in the shoe store holding their clothes (or a small fabric sample) up to the shoe styles, trying to perfectly match the colors.

You see how picky I am about my shoes and they only go on my feet. ~"Cher" in Clueless (movie)

On my first visit, I admit that I was a bit skeptical (after all, they're only shoes!) but after seeing the selection, I was game to try them out. Reluctantly, I now admit that I'm the proud owner of 30-40 pairs of chappals. (Overboard much? No way, I need all those!)

For the past week or more, Macy's (Department Store) in the San Francisco Bay Area has been having sales in just about every department. So, imagine my delight when I stepped into the shoe department last week and saw so many cool styles and colors of sandals...all on sale! I felt like I was back in south Asia shopping for chappals. (The only thing missing was my fabric sample!) The sandals with their discounted price tags were difficult to resist (sure glad I didn't!).

I ended up buying 2 pairs of sandals that afternoon and then went back in the evening to snag another pair. The pictures in this blog post show both chappals that I've purchased in south Asia (on previous trips) AND the sandals that I got (on sale!) at Macy's. See if you can guess which ones are which.