"We danced until we bled into our toe shoes!"
I don't know if it's just a trope, but I've heard several different vaudeville performers talk about their days working as child dancers, dancing until they bled into their toe shoes. ("And thank goodness they were red satin!") I remember a teacher of mine talking about whether those stories were real or confabulated. I believed them, though I also thought they were a bit whimsical. That said, every time I have bought tall boots -- anything above the ankle -- the breaking in process has nearly killed me and generally made me think twice about buying more. So I break them in through the pain and run them into the ground and when they are well and truly dead, I wear them some more because the idea of going through another breaking in process is horrifying. I had a pair of tall Docs for about five years, and didn't know the first thing about boot care. When I got rid of them, I didn't buy another pair of boots again because -- even five years later -- I remembered how bad it was the first time around. That was about four years ago now, and I've just bought my first pair of tall boots again. Leaving me with the dreaded breaking in process. I thought I'd be smart about it -- do a few hours a day for a few days to ease my feet and the boots into it. The last time, I made the unfortunate decision of buying my boots the day that I was assisting Barbara Hammer at the IFP Independent Film Market. I literally was on my feet, running, all day -- and I was determined to impress her so I didn't show a smidgen of the pain and made damn sure to keep up. I thought that first day of over-breaking my boots and my feet was my fatal mistake. (I used to say those boots broke *me* in.) But today, the second day, of my experiment in moderation has literally left me with my heels rubbed raw and two dried spots of blood on the inside seams of my new Corcorans. So much for that! It made me smile, honestly, when I saw the blood as I took the boots off at home after running errands in the city for a few hours. It felt so teenage punk rock hardcore. I don't suffer for my fashion very often, but when I make the decision I definitely go for it. And these boots are so worth it to me.