No, I Don’t Feel Guilty About Amassing a $30,000 Designer Shoe Collection
When I was growing up, money was tight.
There was no concept of popping to the mall on a Saturday afternoon to pick up a thing or two. Shopping for essentials like clothes and shoes involved a lot of planning and forethought — and usually a special occasion, such as the start of the school year or the Muslim Eid holiday.
Being overweight during most of my teenage years, I did not have an interest in clothes. In fact, clothes shopping was a special kind of horror for me. Nothing fit quite right — if I could fit into it at all.
The girls' clothing sections at the stores in my city never carried my size. I had to go to the boys’ section to buy jeans that would button up comfortably around my waist. Of course, jeans that fit around the waist were too long — so we had to get them hemmed.
The shirts in the girls’ section would always stretch uncomfortably across my waist and ride up the rolls of fat that pooled there. So I had to wear my father’s shirts.
I didn’t take any pride in my appearance as a teenager.
Shoes, on the other hand, I loved.
