GOOCHLAND COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — It took a cancer diagnosis for Kelley Williamson, of Goochland County, to set aside the idea that “beauty is pain.”
Rooted in the 19th-century French expression “il faut souffrir pour être belle,” the expression is recited to many girls at a young age and endures for a lifetime.
The societal expectation for women extends from grooming and restrictive shapewear to footwear. And it’s that third segment that Williamson hopes her damaged foot will help her upend.
“I call it my superpower,” said Williamson, inside her Goochland home. “It’s like a built-in comfort meter.”
Several years ago, Williamson learned there was a tumor in the ball of her foot. Removing it also meant excising the portion of her foot needed for balance in a flat shoe, let alone the striking, brightly-colored high heels she was often seen wearing around Central Virginia.
“The ball of your foot does so much,” Williamson said. “80% of your weight when you put on a heel is on the ball of your foot.”
This is why, after the successful surgery, her doctor told her she likely wouldn’t be able to wear heels anymore — a prediction Williamson refused to believe, as she repeatedly tried to wear her closet favorites.
“I’d be at my desk, and I would put on my heels, my beautiful shoes that would complete my outfit, have me feeling my best self,” Williamson recalled. “And I wouldn’t even be able to stand up.”
She paused, blinking a few times as she remembered that time in her life.
“I couldn’t even stand up,” Williamson repeated.
Williamson said she knew other shoe options could work better for her. But she bristled when friends and family tried to soothe her by reminding her of the trendy sneakers and embellished flats that would complete her outfits, too.
What she wanted was the choice.
“I either needed to accept that as my reality or do something about it, and I decided I wanted to do something about it,” Williamson said. “So I designed Kelley Kouture.”
Instead of just commissioning several pairs of custom shoes for herself, Williamson designed a luxury footwear line so women without cancer, with feet intact, could more comfortably wear heels too.
