Glinda Slingback Flat (Women)

Online and out of the box, these had exactly the look I wanted: a timeless, classic, and sophisticated profile in a mix of metallic shades that I could wear with a wide variety of outfits, from relatively casual to very dressy, and that would match jewelry and other accessories in silver, gold, platinum, and other metals. When I tried them on, all still seemed well: They were flattering; my toes didn't poke out between the leather bands, as I'd feared; and the adjustable ankle straps kept the shoes secure on my feet. But as I test-walked them, I started to feel like one of Cinderella's stepsisters trying to force her foot into the glass slipper. My feet aren't particularly wide or narrow, and I'm reliably a size 6, which is what I purchased. Still, somehow, no matter how many times I adjusted the buckle on the ankle strap or repositioned the strap's place on my leg, and no matter how much I moved my feet backwards or forwards or side to side, or scrunched or stretched my toes, to try to find a place that my feet could land without the shoes mounting an armed defense against them, the strap and bands seemed set on slicing into my feet like dull but determined butter knives. I loved the way the look of the shoes, but I'm no little mermaid; the pain wasn't worth it. I returned them.