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That's an accurate description 😀

They really scream 80s. Not my style, I'd even rather choose some flats than such pumps.

Jean Gaborit boots are lovely - well worth the expense

Fernando Berlin makes all kinds of awesome boots in tall sizes too: www.fernandoberlinboots.com Arollo has some of their boots available in big sizes: www.arolloboots.com Nice italian heels are sold by Shoebidoo Shoes: www.shoebidooshoes.com Be advised that Italian shoes and boots tend to run large. Typically you could fit one size smaller than your normal (non-italian) fit. For more customized heels: www.sanctumshoes.com If you like real designer boots (expensive!) then have a look at Jean Gaborit: www.jean-gaborit.com Happy shopping!!

What are those called? Cat heels? Very dowdy, nothing like the dangerous glamour of true stilettos

I did a little image search, and found these pumps from the 1980s. So many women/girls used to wear these, and now they seem very unimpressive. Not quite kitten heels, but too close to it. To be sure, they are far better than Adidas rubber slides worn with socks.

They are an offence. One of our former prime ministers used to wear them - no, not Boris Johnson, but Theresa May. It was not a great look.

Over the years I have done an about-face on my opinion of many things, but my hatred of kitten heels is not one of them!

I never though they were all that great in the first place. It's not that they are chunky looking, per se, but to me it looks like somebody took a normal stiletto heel, chopped it off, and then pressed this bent metal piece in behind where the regular heel was supposed to be. Having said that, I much prefer Blades to anything I've seen for sale in 2025.

Totally agree! An abomination!

Glad I'm not the only one who feels that way. Now that kitten heels seem to be popular, which is the absolute worst case when it comes to stilettos.

Yes! Tried but failed! Exactly the feelings these stubby stilettos conjure up.

In the early 2010s or so I really liked the Casadei Blade, I even thought of buying them. But now they look sort of chunky, not so sleek to me. Does anyone else feel the same or am I just getting old and boring 😂?

I have the same experience. Not only short-term, but also long-term. When I started wearing my Hot Chick 130 (and felt like not proceeding so much), any 12 cm heel felt much easier. It makes sense because it's basically a training thing, and when you got to the next level the previous one becomes easier. It's also somewhat like a selfmade challenge to me. I bought them, like them, so I also want to wear them 😄 I also agree with you on the height of stilettos. While I have many heels with around 8 cm, they're almost exclusively block or wedge heels. Stilettos require a certain height not to look like "tried but failed".

I agree with you - 8cm is a nice height for chunky heels but too low for the aesthetic of a stiletto.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, 8 cm stilettos, which used to be the gold standard when I was a kid, now look weirdly stumpy to me. I think if I could go back in time I would probably be rather disappointed by the shoes I remember so fondly. This probably has nothing to do with the shoes themselves, but rather my constant exposure to 11-12 cm shoes that makes 8 cm shoes look funny to me. I suppose this effect happens in other ways also. As an electrician, if I run large conduit for a few days or a few weeks, e.g., 3 inch, "normal" size conduit like 3/4 or 1 inch looks absolutely tiny and ridiculous.

For me platforms spoil the lines of a stiletto - not so much with block heels, but stilettos have a slender elegance that seem so much at odds, aesthetically, with a platform. It seems like fitting a bull-bar to a Ferrari.

I have a hard enough time giving my seven pair of heels a regular enough rotation!

I am good with 12 and 13 single soles with is +/- the 5" height. I have some 6" singles that are still ok. Really depends on the fit but the 5's are my sweet spot. I know some don't like platforms but I do have some that are 1/2" to an 1' and some concealed but I think that some platforms don't look good to depending on the shoe or boot

I can understand why walking or trying to walk in something extreme would then make 12cm seem relatively easy, but I’ll never try them. I really dislike the extreme heel heights. To me they just look ugly, obsessive, raunchy - not at all the sort of thing that attracts me to high heels. To me it’s all about the aesthetics with the heel forming apart of the overall look. I love the lines of 12cm heels with 10cm seeming to be a nice compromise between the imperious elegance of 12cm and real world walkability if it were possible I’d be interested in trying the 13cm Louboutins, just to see what it was like, but the extreme 14cm and up heels have no appeal to me at all. Same with platforms

I will admit to having a couple of pairs of extreme-type shoes, which I bought because I wanted to see if I could actually walk in them. The answer is no, and the problem is two-fold: 1) They are made so cheaply that they're not even nice to put on, much less walk in, and 2) I do not enjoy the experience like I thought I would. Even though no one has ever seen me in these shoes, I walk so badly and awkwardly that I feel silly. If I make myself practice, I do get a little bit better after a short time of warmup, but on the whole I do not like wearing them. And yet still I aspire to wear them. I cannot explain this paradox. I will say one thing for practicing in 13+ cm heels. After wearing them for 15 minutes, your 11-12 cm heels feel like butter! I wish I had some evidence to actually prove it, but I feel like I walk so much better in normal height high heels after spending a quarter of an hour in extreme heels.

I've got about half a dozen pairs that I wear regularly for each season, so there's about a dozen, or roughly 10%. Of these, there are some that I don't really wear out in public because they're a little beat up looking. It's not that I never wear the others, but the occasions are relatively rare. For example, I have a bunch of Steve Madden pumps that have gotten a lot of picture time here, but very little wear time in the real world. Speaking of wear time, I have been very lazy this month about keeping up on my walking. It's been an incredible year so far up until this month. Hopefully I'll get my act together again next month.

I am in the same boat. I have not counted lately, I really should, but 100 pairs seems in the ball park. And with limited opportunties to wear them, I am sure pretty sure I have plenty of shoes that have yet to see the light of day.

I tried 10cm heels. Worked a treat! 😀

@Shyheels try magnesium for leg cramps,