All 5 Pairs/ New Gaynor Minden Pointe Shoes!
DING DING DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!
The GM's came in yesterday (finally! 8 weeks later!), I can't even tell you how freaking excited I was. I've been contemplating these shoes the entire time I've been en pointe, and they definitely live up to my expectations. On top of all that, they fit great! Whew. It only took 5 different pairs in 8 months to get it right.
I grabbed the box from my back door and opened it up. I have to say, they put my packing slip and the copy of my invoice in plain view for every UPS driver to see, including how much I paid and such. Dear GM, you should fold those up to hide the potentially sensitive information.
As a reminder for those just joining us, I ordered the following size:
11.5 (I wear size 10 street shoe, smaller sizes were too short!)
#3 Box
Narrow
Deep Vamp & Heel
LUXE
I literally opened the packages and sprinted to my dresser to find some knee high tights, hence the ridiculous mismatched socks in the pic:
I have to say I was really nervous after trying them on at this stage. You can see a crease in the box area and the heels look pretty weird, but that's kind of standard for GM shoes. Other than the crease, the shoes felt great. Not fuzzy house slippers, but my toes lay flat and can't curl, my metatarsals are very supported, and I can roll all the way through the shank.
I considered the whole thing for awhile, and ended up sewing the ribbons & elastic on. I'm really happy I did!
The crease is still visible after I sewed everything on. There is a liner like glued into place right there inside the shoe that even after only trying them on once started to curl towards the tip of the shoe. That's annoying. Luckily I wore a GM box liner tonight in class, and the crease disappeared. I also learned I've been wearing the boxliner the wrong way in my other shoes. The white part should be touching your foot, fyi.
I still don't like the point of the heel either. It looks terrible, I am going to change to regular elastic because invisible elastic is not very supportive, so I may switch things up and put a loop at the heel, hopefully that will make a difference. Another thing I dislike is the cut of the vamp. I'd prefer if the wings were higher and the vamp was in more of a V shape rather than a U shape. I think the U looks really weird from the front on almost every person I've seen wearing them.
Dancing in class tonight was a new experience. I actually felt confident that my left foot wasn't going to collapse! The platform is perfectly flat, so no chance of crazy instability in one or both shoes. I've struggled with every single pair of shoes I've tried-- It's been impossible to find some semblance of stability on my left leg. I've had a fear of one footed work on my left foot. Even the newest Bloch Serenade were impossible to pad correctly and terrible on my left foot.
Tonight everything changed. My teacher was thrilled with how they fit my feet, how well I can articulate through the shoe, how much more supported my feet are, and most importantly how confident I am doing center work in them. I'm sold.
Wrapping this up, I'm ending with my typical shoe comparison pic. Someday I'll take these all over again in the same lighting and background.
I admit, I think the Bloch Serenade & Capezio Contempora looked the nicest on my feet, but I'm willing to sacrifice how pretty the shoes look for the new found confidence I feel while dancing. I'm also never going to be a professional dancer, so comfort plays a huge role in what I need in a shoe.
I'm going to stick with these for awhile. When these die eventually, I'll re-order and get the hard shank.
Well, happy dancing!
The GM's came in yesterday (finally! 8 weeks later!), I can't even tell you how freaking excited I was. I've been contemplating these shoes the entire time I've been en pointe, and they definitely live up to my expectations. On top of all that, they fit great! Whew. It only took 5 different pairs in 8 months to get it right.
I grabbed the box from my back door and opened it up. I have to say, they put my packing slip and the copy of my invoice in plain view for every UPS driver to see, including how much I paid and such. Dear GM, you should fold those up to hide the potentially sensitive information.
As a reminder for those just joining us, I ordered the following size:
11.5 (I wear size 10 street shoe, smaller sizes were too short!)
#3 Box
Narrow
Deep Vamp & Heel
LUXE
I literally opened the packages and sprinted to my dresser to find some knee high tights, hence the ridiculous mismatched socks in the pic:
I have to say I was really nervous after trying them on at this stage. You can see a crease in the box area and the heels look pretty weird, but that's kind of standard for GM shoes. Other than the crease, the shoes felt great. Not fuzzy house slippers, but my toes lay flat and can't curl, my metatarsals are very supported, and I can roll all the way through the shank.
I considered the whole thing for awhile, and ended up sewing the ribbons & elastic on. I'm really happy I did!
The crease is still visible after I sewed everything on. There is a liner like glued into place right there inside the shoe that even after only trying them on once started to curl towards the tip of the shoe. That's annoying. Luckily I wore a GM box liner tonight in class, and the crease disappeared. I also learned I've been wearing the boxliner the wrong way in my other shoes. The white part should be touching your foot, fyi.
I still don't like the point of the heel either. It looks terrible, I am going to change to regular elastic because invisible elastic is not very supportive, so I may switch things up and put a loop at the heel, hopefully that will make a difference. Another thing I dislike is the cut of the vamp. I'd prefer if the wings were higher and the vamp was in more of a V shape rather than a U shape. I think the U looks really weird from the front on almost every person I've seen wearing them.
Dancing in class tonight was a new experience. I actually felt confident that my left foot wasn't going to collapse! The platform is perfectly flat, so no chance of crazy instability in one or both shoes. I've struggled with every single pair of shoes I've tried-- It's been impossible to find some semblance of stability on my left leg. I've had a fear of one footed work on my left foot. Even the newest Bloch Serenade were impossible to pad correctly and terrible on my left foot.
Tonight everything changed. My teacher was thrilled with how they fit my feet, how well I can articulate through the shoe, how much more supported my feet are, and most importantly how confident I am doing center work in them. I'm sold.
Wrapping this up, I'm ending with my typical shoe comparison pic. Someday I'll take these all over again in the same lighting and background.
I admit, I think the Bloch Serenade & Capezio Contempora looked the nicest on my feet, but I'm willing to sacrifice how pretty the shoes look for the new found confidence I feel while dancing. I'm also never going to be a professional dancer, so comfort plays a huge role in what I need in a shoe.
I'm going to stick with these for awhile. When these die eventually, I'll re-order and get the hard shank.
Well, happy dancing!
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