Full in Florence: LE DAME FOOTWEAR

As I sit in Florence and think of the Fran that has traveled within the different worlds that exist between happiness and acceptance, I find peace in knowing that I am comfortable in my own skin.

Clothes, and much like the barriers that society has created are no longer the limits that are set for the 21st century. Take Young thug and A$AP Rocky as prime examples of what fashion can be, when the walls are not closing in. I think of shoes like different mornings, or moments that exist for the night.

I remember 5th grade like a vivid dream. I remember being bullied for thinking Beyonce may have been somewhat of a goddess. I remember being called slurs a lot more than my own name and feeling pity within myself. But I sit here, in Florence, Italy feeling together again.

Le Dame Footwear is freedom on foot. A shoe company that features women’s shoes in men’s sizes is breaking binaries and building relationships without saying a word. A company that doesn’t hold itself to the idea of profit, but instead believes that acceptance is only as far as you give yourself room, and I, like many most, will do. So I sit in front of the camera with photographer Natalie Kirk, and her face is honest, and I think what brought me here.

I think of the times I wanted to end life before it could begin. I think of the moments that filled me with sorrow and how difficult it can be to know it’ll all be okay in the end. A brand that extends past the physical and the tangible, Le Dame Footwear is a brand for the beautiful, whatever it may mean, to you.

The Fran, is me. The shoe fits like love at first sight and this time, I am not afraid. Who you are means much more to the person you wake up to, and the person you believe in.

I understand how difficult it can be to know that the imperfections can be the hardest to overcome, but love never came easy, until now. Le Dame Footwear has allowed me to find growth within the healing. Even if it hurts, it cannot destroy you. Le Dame Footwear does not fit in the mold, but when did we ever want to, anyway?