I buy men sneakers and I still manage to destroy them in under a year, doesn't matter if it's cheap stuff or famous brands. I've kinda stopped caring at this point.
I probably walk more than average but still...

Kitalpha Hart wrote:Plus anything oriented towards women has this weird tendency to be deliberately made with much lower quality materials

Often because men care less about price imho.

Men are ok with having just a few pairs of shoes, so they can splurge in pricey high-quality shoes.
Many women want to have many different shoes for each ocassion, in different colors to match this or that, etc. So they tend to consider price much more, and are more easily tempted to buy lower quality (so they can afford owning more!).

I know I'm generalizing - I don't fit the stereotype myself - but I think many shoe brands cater to those women because they are their best costumers.
There are still a few good brands around, I tend to stick to those.

Akili Li wrote:How long does it normally take you to get ready in the morning, jacobgrey?
I always wonder that when I see people in styles that are clearly carefully constructed... it looks so good but it also looks so hard...

Not long, to be honest! But that's probably because I like to consider the outfit possibilities at the time I buy the item and also later on, rather than only thinking about it when it gets to the day. If I have a big occasion coming up that I want to look particularly good for, for example when I'm attending shows during Fashion Week and I need four or five different outfits ready to go, I will spend some time in the week before planning my outfits and trying them on to check they work like I imagine in my head. Practice helps as well, after a certain time you get to be able to think, "ahh, this piece would look good layered with a long coat" or so on, and then it's easier because you know you have a long coat already.
If I tried to spend lots of time in the morning, I would be late for everything, because I'm not at all a morning person All I can do at that point is throw on the clothes, put on some makeup, and go haha. And I don't always manage the makeup XD

Ms_Zuralli wrote:Shoes on the other hand are f-ing terrible and I have to plan buying them around my check, because even though I'm going to return what I can't wear, I still need to get several sizes of one shoe as my feet have decided that every shoe has to be a different ordeal even though I've worn an 8 1/2 since at the very least middle school...

My sister on the other hand tries to play it off that she has small feet. We found out one evening when they were helping me get ready and she wanted me to borrow a pair of her heels, that she wears almost 2 sizes bigger.

LOL. Though I get her, I feel kinda self-conscious about having bigger feet myself. And I myself always have difficulty finding shoes that fit because my feet are so f-ing wide, so I need to not only go for shoes with a wide fit, but also wonder if they'll fit anyways because I also have one foot slightly longer than the other!

Kuuki wrote:And I actually wear the same shoe size as my husband so I have been borrowing his sneakers/hiking shoes a lot ^^

That's definitely convenient! xD

Akili Li wrote:I buy my everyday shoes in the men's section because everything in the women's is too narrow in the toe (or falls off my heel because it's too wide in the heel). Means everything for nicer/formal wear has to be cobbled special. So I feel you.

Same. And good thing I legit don't need to wear formal wear (or ever want to), so I get by with owning a couple of pairs fancy flat sandals or slightly heeled slip-ons, for the slightly formal-er events. (Events I could probably even get by on sneakers, but I do have at least some measure of class. xD)

Yes, mostly I don't have to deal with formal wear, but weddings and funerals are the exception. I need one good pair in black and one in anything but black. I got both as closed toe, and if it's hot out I just put up with it, because it's better to swelter than to have to face more shoe shopping....

Been to one funeral and no wedding, so that's that for me lmao. And mine are all black, because my formal wear is basically black or dark colors.

And that's the beauty of sandals. Even if it's hot out your feet don't care. :)

Except mine do because my formal sandals are leather. xD

Two weddings
Three if you count the one I'd been fresh out of newborn hospital for
Two wakes
No funerals tho

I did not attend many weddings either.
My cousin's, another cousin's, my brother's, one of my husband's friends, and of course mine.
Plus my uncle's when I was a toddler, of course, but that hardly counts xD

I've attended way more funerals though, more than I care to count.

I'm at two weddings (one being mine) and just like Amura too many funerals to even remember or start counting.
Little brother and I are some of the youngest of the family so I guess that explains it. That and I'm/was my mom's emotional support when she had to go.

Funerals in France don't exactly require formal wear though as long as it's all black and even if it's not no one really cares anymore.
I do have one pair of formal black heels and I'm not giving them up for anything in the world. Took so much time to find

Huh.
At this point, I'm not even able to count.

I wonder if that's a small town vs city thing?
In a city, you only attend the ones you are invited to.
In a small town, you are expected to attend every single one, and if you aren't there then people will show up at your door with food because they think you must be ill.