Shoe Size Angst

In many works of fiction, a character will be ashamed or made fun of for the size of their feet. If the character is female, then their feet will usually be larger compared to their peers, as large feet are considered unfeminine. If the character is male, then their feet will usually be on the smaller side, due to the stereotype about men with big feet. Female characters are often ridiculed more than male ones in this regard. Said characters will often be on the receiving end taunts and jeers from those around them, but they'll ultimately learn to accept their size by the end of the story, and maybe even find an asset in their feet.

Subtrope of Appearance Angst. May result in Prefers Going Barefoot.

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Examples:

Advertising

• A Volkswagen Jetta commercial follows the inconveniences experienced by a young man whose right foot dwarfs his left, such as his classmates tripping on it, and his need for shoes of mismatched sizes. After he presses the gas of the Jetta, the announcer calls it "a perfect fit".

Anime & Manga

• Ludwig Revolution features a version of Cinderella whose feet are abnormally large (at least for a Japanese girl, and most definitely for Cinderella), which she looks embarrassed to admit.

Comic Strips

• Yenny is largely about a girl whose biggest wish is to be a model, but is constantly hindered due to her massive feet (she wears size 18 U.S. Mens). Ironically the greatest successes for Yenny in the series so far have resulted primarily because of her feet, as when she becomes a foot model, earning a huge fanbase on Facebook.

Film - Animated

• Cinderella III: A Twist in Time: After going back to the day that Cinderella was fitted with the glass slipper, Anastasia is clearly distressed when she has to stick out her huge foot to try it on.

Film - Live-Action

• The Change-Up: After her husband starts acting off, Jamie has a breakdown during which she cries about her feet being huge (size 11) and having to order shoes online.
• Ghost Busters II: When the team have taken control of the Statue of Liberty, and are using her to take them to the museum, where Vigo is attempting to manifest in Oscar's body.
  Egon: "We're running out of time, Ray!"
  Peter: "Can't she go any faster?"
  Ray: "I'm afraid the vibration would shake her to pieces. We should've padded her feet."
  Egon: "I don't think they make Nikes in her size, Ray."
• Love And Sex: Adam, played by Jon Favreau, jokes about the size of Kate's feet at one point. She's played by Famke Janssen, who's known to have some big feet herself.
• Jodi from Netflix's comedy drama Tall Girl.
  "I'm a high school junior wearing size 13 Nikes. Men's size 13 Nikes. Beat that."

Literature

• The children's book Betty Lou Blue revolves around a girl who is made fun of for her big feet. She later becomes a hero after her peers sink into a snowdrift and she saves them when her feet make for a natural pair of snowshoes.
• Eccentric Neighborhoods: Clarissa's new maid, Xochitl, has never worn shoes in her life. Her feet are too big for anything available in women's shoes and Clarissa would rather die rather than have her maid appear barefoot in front of company. Fortunately Clarissa's daughter finds a solution: Converse basketball shoes, US men's size 16EEE.
• Sarene from Elantris blushes when she has to accept socks and shoes in men's size. It's only fitting , though.
• Grace from I Wish For You, by actress and writer Amy Huberman. For a relatively petite person, she claims to have large feet that she is pretty self-conscious about. She has to keep reminding herself that Audrey Hepburn had size ten feet.
• Modelland has Tookie, an awkward-looking girl who has, among her traits, snowshoe-sized feet, possibly a self-reference from the author, Tyra Banks.
• Asuka Tanako from Sound! Euphonium, whose large feet make it hard for her to find comfortable shoes, hence she prefers to walk barefoot.

Live-Action TV

• Friends: From "The One After 'I Do'":
  Chandler: What size shoes do you wear?
  Joey: Uh, eleven, eleven and a half.
  Chandler: Great, because my shoes are giving me a little problem on the dance floor. Can I borrow the boots from your costume?
  Joey: Uh, I don't even really know where I left those. Sorry.
  Chandler: (looking at Joey's feet) Those aren't eleven and a half?
  Joey: Okay, fine! I'm a seven, alright! I have surprisingly small feet, but the rest of me is good! I'll show ya!
  • Monica, according to Rachel in "The One On The Last Night", has some big ol' clown feet.
• Full House: In "My Left and Right Foot", Michelle begins to worry about her feet after a visit to the shoe store reveals they've grown two sizes. This culminates in her having a nightmare where her feet inflate until they begin to engulf the house.
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Dee's incredibly large feet (size 13) pose a big obstacle when buying shoes.
• In Northern Exposure, one episode had a subplot about Shelly's embarrassment over her unusually large feet, brought on by having to buy new shoes. This was apparently inspired by the actor, Cynthia Geary, herself having those feelings.
• Sesame Street: In one episode, Big Bird tries to join "The Good Birds Club", but their pigeon leader won't let him in because his feet are too big. When Big Bird asks Abby if she can magically shrink his feet, she obliges, but he's now unable to keep his balance.
• Shake it Up: In "Add It Up" Rocky confesses having enormous feet, big enough to wear her brother's shoes.
• Donna from That '70s Show. She's pretty insecure about her big feet and is teased by Jackie.
• Will & Grace: Grace often complains about getting "feet the size of canoes" from her father. In one episode Will looks through a box of her childhood belongings and finds a large pair of shoes.
  Will: How about these clown shoes?
  Grace: Those are my ballet slippers from fourth grade. I went from a 4 to an 8 in a month.

Music

• Suzy from miss A. Her feet are not even that big by western standards, merely a size 8.
  "My feet are too big to wear pretty shoes. Sometimes I put on heels that are too small for my feet when I go on stage, so my heels end up hurting a lot."

Stand-Up Comedy

• The late Richard Jeni once talked about how he once worked at a woman's shoe store to meet women (although he acknowledged it did not work in the slightest). He said a common situation was women being upset that their feet are too big to fit into the shoes that they want, and then becoming mad at HIM.
  "What do you mean I need a size 10? That's the largest size they make! Why do I need a size 10?" "Well, you put on a 9 and it exploded!"

Toys

• Monster High: Marisol Coxi's pet peeve is listed as following, in her own words:
  "Shoe stores that do not carry my size. My feet are a work of art, so is it too much to ask for a store to carry a variety of stylish "frames" in my size?"

Video Games

• Darkstalkers: As was shown in the UDON comic, the size and volume of Felicia's feet make wearing shoes a painful and uncomfortable experience for her.

Webcomics

• This comic by Zombiesmile.

Western Animation

• Dexter's Laboratory: Dee Dee is drawn with a pair of large feet and it causes her to befriend a sasquatch in one episode.
• The Fairly OddParents!: Vicky is drawn with feet that are similar in size to some of the men in the show like Mr. Turner and Denzel Crocker.
• Futurama: Leela wears size 12 shoes and is made fun of a couple of times because of it. Bender's nickname for her is "Big Boots" because of this.
• Hey Arnold!: In "What's Opera, Arnold?" Helga tries to lampshade Ruth by alluding to her big feet:
  Ruth? Hmpfh!
  Just like I stated, she's overrated;
  A big no-brainer with enormous feet!
• King of the Hill: A few episodes show Peggy being ashamed of her unusually large feet, which are also asymmetrical at both size 16 and 16 1/2.
• The Life and Times of Juniper Lee: Although never a true inconvenience, Lila's giant feet don't allow her to wear anything that's not open-toed. This makes sense since she's actually a sasquatch.
• Monster High: Marisol Coxi is Bigfoot's daughter, and as such she has huge feet compared to the rest of the cast. Turns out she has the smallest feet in her village, though, about which she was insecure.
• The Proud Family: The episode "Love Thy Neighbor" reveals that LaCienega is an amazing swimmer...because she has huge, flipper-like feet, a hereditary trait from her father's side. She is deeply embarrassed by them, especially when she's laughed at by the other students, but she learns to accept them after a pep talk from Oscar, and she wins a beauty pageant with a synchronized swimming performance.
• Teen Titans (2003): In "Transformation", Starfire goes through a metamorphosis equivalent to puberty, during which she experiences several physical changes. One of those changes involves the massive growth of her feet. Fortunately for her, this is only temporary.
• Total Drama: The episode "The Princess Bride" has the girls fight for the challenge of fitting into a glass boot. Lindsay then reveals to have huge feet, with only her big toe fitting in the boot, though this is never actually seen.
• Yin Yang Yo!: In "Smoke and Mirrors", Yang's new girlfriend, who actually intends to enslave him and use him for her weirdly familiar competitions, is compared by his brother with a fat footed mammoth, which she denies claiming to be big-toed instead.