I really like shoes. More specifically, I really like pretty shoes. The problem, though, is that the pretty shoes I like – the ones with stiletto heels and elegant contours – are either really expensive, really uncomfortable, or more often than not, both.  Though I know many of our readers can easily bear the pain of eight hours in a cheap four-inch heel, others (including myself) don’t have such magic feet: our arches ache, our backs complain, and if we manage to go a whole day in heels, we spend the rest of the week making up for it in flats.

For us short, curvy girls, it’s even worse: we’re often expected to wear heels, but have more weight-per-inch to hold up on those smaller spines and tiny feet.  Add in age or injury (I was in a car accident that messed up my lower back at nineteen) and typical heels seem almost impossible.

The alternative is to spend a ridiculous amount of cash, but every once in a while, a well-timed sale can net you a lucky break.  This week, that lucky break comes from Gilt.com: starting Thursday, they’re having a sale on Dana Davis footwear.  Ms. Davis happens to be a shoe designer – a pretty shoe designer – with a penchant for orthotics.

“Dana Davis launched her eponymous shoe collection to support both high fashion and the health of the wearer. Before every pair is aesthetically designed, Dana consults with a team of leading foot care professionals, including surgeons and podiatrists to engineer each style with strategic cushioning, customized arch supports and built-in or removable orthotics. The result, are chic, design-driven shoes that are pretty and painless to wear.”

Here’s the thing about shoes: they’re often represented as universal.  Whether you’re fat, thin, tall or tiny, you can find hot shoes that fit, right?

Wrong. Shoes are just as expressive and elusive as every other fashion item, and “perfect feet” are just as covetable.  (I can hear the girls with wide soles and flat arches nodding in agreement.)  Finding a great shoe that looks and feels good is incredibly rare, and when someone does it right, then sells it to me at a decent price point, it’s worth sharing with the world.

Gilt.com is a members only sample sale website that features different high-end designers every day, and the Dana Davis shoe sale begins on Thursday at 9am Pacific.  This stuff usually sells out fast, so you’ll want to set your alarm and grab your size as quickly as possible.  If you aren’t already a member of Gilt, you can become one by clicking here.