Uncommon Ground's Top 5 Styles with Founder Krissy

Uncommon Ground is an online footwear shop that a size-11 Krissy Crawford started in September this year as a stylish solution for young women with big feet to find good shoes. Stocking December Forever, I Heard They Eat Cigarettes, Nat-Sui, Provensen and WhyWho, there's beautiful boots, heels, wedges and clogs and a total lack of patronising sales assistants giving you 'pity eyes' when you ask what size they go up to, because at Uncommon Ground there's women's 9 - 14. We asked Krissy to tell us her top 5 in-store styles at the moment, saying, "these are the styles that I either head over heels love or were a big-foot related surprise."

1) Saddle Lace Boots by I Heard They Eat Cigarettes

When I first spotted these lacy ladies, it was part excitement, part doubt. But as soon as you put them on, they just make perfect sense. They're completely smashing with black jeans and completely inappropriate for summer, but I've longed for killer black boots forever so summer can go screw itself.

2) Runaway by WhyWho

These are the type of shoes that I've always seen my friends running around in. The shoes that I always wanted, but could never find in my size. And that's pretty much exactly what this site is about; opening up a whole new shoe world to the girls who haven't had these kind of options before.

3) Weave by December Forever

I've never been able to buy proper girlie shoes for myself, and therefore I've never gotten the hang of wearing the sexy painful heel, so I'm pretty heavily into comfort over fashion. And these little guys tick all my boxes. I love how there's a little bit of masculinity in the style but on foot they manage to make everything look perfectly proportioned.

4) Braided Snake Sandal by Nat-Sui

This one was a complete revelation. It's definitely not a style I'd have ever gone for, mostly because, as a rule, girls with large feet HATE having their feet exposed. But the ladies at Nat-Sui convinced me to try them and they actually look fantastic. The straps cross your feet at exactly the right spots to keep everything in proportion. Plus they're water snake skin which just rules.

5) Sal by Provensen

The Sal is more of a sneak peak towards AW12. It's the only Provensen style that we were able to get our hands on for summer, but for AW12 Provensen are going to be increasing their size range up to sizes 44 and 45 especially for Uncommon Ground. Apart from being completely fantastic that we can stock one of our favourite Australian designers, it's also the direction that we want the site to grow. We want to be able to prove to fantastic labels that there is a market for them to start going into larger sizes.

www.uncommonground.com.au

Ingrid Kesa