Style AND comfort?

Oh dear, I'm turning into my mother! In my younger years I swore I'd stay in my high heels and generally not forsake style for comfort. But I'm afraid the tide is turning.

Patti of the excellent blog Not Dead Yet Style recently posted about comfortable clothing and I found myself identifying with many of her points. Her post made me think about why some of my clothing, shoes and accessories just don't work. Comfort is a key factor.

Below are is a picture with approximations of things I've bought but am either sending to the charity shop or just not wearing because they're not comfortable enough.

Big, heavy jewellery just doesn't get worn, no matter how pretty it is. Just today I removed a couple of strands of a multi-strand cut glass bead necklace. It looked stunning with the whole set of five glittering strands but it was just too heavy so I didn't wear it. Better to have three strands and a wearable weight. 

Uncomfortable things/ failed purchases by eleanorbirdy 

The platform booties are there because they really weren't comfortable enough for miles of walking during a weekend, the fur trim made them too seasonally specific and they were too casual for even relaxed work days. A good idea but just didn't work for my lifestyle. I do still wear heels (even stilettos) but not above about 3 inches and only for office work. Also, I'm really fond of the less-frumpy shoes from comfy brands like Clarks and Footglove from M & S.

The dress was also a good idea (in fact I have several similar ones) but somehow the hemlines seem to magically shrink. This is a psychological comfort issue. I am not comfortable with my thighs on display. 

I really don't know what it is with the hems on dresses but I often have this issue. Do I pull them down when I'm trying them on in the shop? Or not walk around enough to check if they ride up? Do they shrink in the wash? Is it me getting fatter or just less confident? Anyway, I now have several floral print jersey dresses that I'm not wearing. I'm keeping them in the hope that something might change. What, I don't know... I just can't bring myself to send them to the charity shop yet.

One last thing that always turns out to be a shopping fail are tops that need ironing. They're not uncomfortable of course, I just don't iron so they hang around unworn for months on end. A shocking waste. I must train myself not to buy tops that need ironing. (Or start ironing, you say? Pshaw, get away with you!). 

Where do you stand on the comfort versus prettiness spectrum? Do have shopping traps that you regularly fall into?