I was so excited about buying these online because I tried some on in the store, and they must have been &#34;tried on&#34; quite a few times and broken in because when I received my pair from online ordering, I couldn't believe how stiff they were.  Typical patent leather shoes in my book.  Looks great, but breaking them in is like trying to break a horse to barrel race and jump...painful! They ran a little small from my store experience so I bought a half size up and then were just so tight and pinched in one spot on my right foot.  Left was perfect!  Go figure, my feet are not that different from one another though.  I'd say give them a try, perhaps my experience was just an odd one.  Also try the normal leather ones even though the patents looks nifty!