In the “Sex and the City” movie, an audible gasp went through the theater when protagonist Carrie Bradshaw stepped into the dream closet her fiance had built for her. It had drawers and cubbies, sleek panels to hide clothes and huge racks for shoes. Lots and lots of shoes.
At Lee Brown’s Reston home, things weren’t conceptualized by a Hollywood set designer. In fact, it was her husband, Seth Salmon, who installed the first of many shoe racks as a Valentine’s Day present. In the years since, they have added many more racks for shoes. Lots and lots of shoes.
At last count, Ms. Brown, an engineer, has more than 500 pairs, including a big collection of boots. She has turned a small bedroom in her home into a combination exercise room and shoe closet. Racks stretch over two walls and are considerably taller than the 5-foot-tall Ms. Brown. More racks, boxes and hanging bins go floor-to-ceiling in the walk-in closet.
It has been a few years in the making - Ms. Brown and Mr. Salmon have lived here since 1999 - but Ms. Brown finally can see her whole collection.
“I was storing them in different places in our old house,” says Ms. Brown, 41, “but I couldn’t see what I had.”
What she has is a vast inventory. Some of the pairs go back to when she was a teenager looking for ways to add personality to her Catholic school uniform. Almost all are high heels - a big load of flats and sneakers has been exiled from the shoe room to the basement.
There are serious shoes in serious colors. There are florals and patent leathers. There are several pairs in the same style but different colors. There are a couple of designer names, but most are from off-the-rack discounters including DSW and Zappos, Ms. Brown says.
There are fun shoes - such as a custom-made pair of pink printed Chuck Taylors some of her air-traffic-controller friends had made for her and a pair she calls her “taxi shoes,” which feature yellow patent leather and big black-and-white checks.
“Lee knows it is a good day if someone tells her her shoes stand out,” Mr. Salmon says.
Says Ms. Brown: “Shoes are a huge part of our culture. It is a great way to express yourself. This is a fairly innocuous way to indulge. I don’t really drink. I don’t smoke. I do my own hair and nails. Shoes are my indulgence.”
Meghan Cleary knows what Ms. Brown means. She has about 120 pairs and would have more “but keep in mind I live in a small New York apartment,” she says.
“I am shoe-obsessed,” says Ms. Cleary, a former Wall Street consultant who maintains a shoe blog at www.missmeghan.com and is the author of “The Perfect Fit: What Your Shoes Say About You.”
“My shoe collection is exploding in a big way,” she says. “They are like little animals. They keep popping up everywhere.”
Many shoe lovers, including Ms. Brown, say they see the appeal of shoes because they fit everyone. You can be too fat or too short or have a bad hair day, but shoes always love you back (except when they cause blisters, but a true shoe lover will not let that stop her).
“Great shoes are great shoes,” Ms. Brown says.
Ms. Cleary says shoes affect her physiologically as well as psychologically.
“Shoes actually affect how you are standing,” she says. “You will walk and carry yourself differently. But more than that, shoes reveal a state of mind of women in that moment. Women are creatures of many moods. You can be in a clog mood one day and a stiletto mood the next. Shoes are objects of desire of who we want to be or who we aspire to be - even if it is just for that day.”
Take Ms. Cleary’s Asian-inspired metallic-and-linen ballet flats with metal toe caps, for instance.
“When I wear them, I feel chic and fashion-forward,” she says. “They are really gorgeous. And they are neutral, so they go with everything.”
Ms. Cleary says she is more practical than a movie character - especially one clearly living beyond her means buying all those pairs of Manolo Blahniks on a freelance writer’s paycheck. Still, she understands and appreciates what Carrie Bradshaw has done for shoe lovers.
“I hate to say it like this, but she brought women’s shoe obsessions out of the closet,” she says.
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