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I saw a rather faded print of a painting by Frank Moss Bennett: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Moss_Bennett It showed a historical scene with all the men wearing heels, as they might well have done at that time. The period he specialised in was the 1700s and 1800s, so rather after the Carolingian period mentioned by @Shyheels in another thread. I can't find an online reproduction of the print I saw, where the heels are more prominent and perhaps a little higher than in the example on Wikipedia. Since FMB had clearly researched his period, I think we can believe his representations are accurate. They show that men's heels spanned several centuries, before dying out in late Georgian or Victorian times.

Unfortunately, my girlfriend doesn’t wear heels — she’s shy and doesn’t like to draw attention to herself. But at the same time, she says that everyone should wear whatever they want.

Those do indeed look big. I’d hate to imagine them in my size. One of the things I like about my stiletto knee boots is that they minimise rather than exaggerate my big feet - unlike my heavy Vibram soled hiking boots!

Those do look like great heels for walking distances in - sturdy and stable. And nice looking too!

I love boot season - although to be honest boot season for me extends year round. I’ve always preferred boots to shoes, ever since my childhood, growing up in the mountains. I much preferred the solitude of the mountains to my classmates in school and my hiking boots were a way of distinguishing myself from them and their natty street and town shoes. I’ve kept this bias all through adult life and have been fortunate enough to have a career that has allowed me to pretty much live in hiking boots or engineering boots. I’m the guy magazine editors send to the South Pole or Papua New Guinea, not the one they send to cover finance or politics! I’ve always envied the really cool selection of boot styles open to women and so when I finally decided to try wearing heels, it was always going to be boots. Aside from my stiletto knee boots, I’ve several pair of chunky heeled boots and a few pair of sturdy soled low heeled knee boots which I can and do wear daily along the towpath. I’ve become known for it. Hearing you describe your 12cm stiletto knee boots as easy and comfortable (compared to your Hot Chicks, admittedly) is both inspiring and dispiriting. I am so far from finding my 12cm boots easy and comfortable. On the bright side though, practicing in them has made my 10cm stilettos feel easy and comfortable! Thanks for the encouragement on walking in stilettos. I shall get myself a supply of heel tips and be a little more daring

@mlroseplant great job with your walk, even more after having an injury before. I don't have many mules but yes, they can vary widely. The straps on yours go high up, that will make them easier than others. Absolutely! I think that's probably the biggest beginner's mistake. For me, boots season finally started 🙂 So I chose to wear 12 cm boots out instead of the Hot Chicks. They're so comfortable and easy compared to the Hot Chicks. But I for sure will try to wear out the Hot Chicks a few more times until the deeper winter hits. But even with wearing them indoor I'm making a bit of progress by wearing them longer. There's no need to worry. Many of my stiletto heels have hundreds of kilometers on them. Yes, it happended to me that stiletto heels broke, but only on cheap pairs. What's more of a problem with stilettos is that the heel tips wear off quickly. But they're easy to replace. I always have them in stock and it's already routine work for me 😄

I present my Church OOTW for October 5. I was going to wear these giant Michael Kors Oksana sandals with bootcut khaki pants, but I had forgotten that I bought these sort of camel colored jeans, and I thought, "why not show off my big high heels for a change?" The only one who remarked was my mother, who also thought they were giant. At 5 1/2" (14 cm) with a 1" (2.5 cm) platform, they're pretty steep, too, for a non-designer shoe. I had a little chat with the woman who occasionally sends me shoe/foot pictures (mentioned above, somewhere). She was wearing cute little red wedges with a pencil skirt. She only shook her head and said, "I can't compete with that!" I said that I didn't know it was a competition. I'll probably see her tonight at my book club, and I'll be wearing heels. She won't. Different Shoe Worldviews entirely.

I don't suppose anybody but me keeps track of their mileage in shoes, with the possible exception of running shoes. I'm not even 100% sure how or why I thought of the idea, but it stemmed from my loops that I used to walk in regular walking shoes, and somehow evolved to high heels. This was after the super painful experience in the mall that I recounted elsewhere. Maybe I got sensible and realized I needed to build up to my goals slowly. Next up, coming in at No. 5 are shoes that are so old that not only do I not have them anymore, I don't even have any pictures of them. If I ever did, they must be on some computer with a blown-up hard drive. So I had to screenshot a picture from the internet. They are, or were, my Söfft Belicia mules. I walked 107.5 miles (173 km) in them. Most of this was in 2013 and 2014. I think I'd probably gotten rid of them not too long after that. I remember that the thin straps had gotten so stretched out after that many miles that my little toes would easily escape to the outside of straps, which is not exactly a good look. Another factor was that at 3 7/8" high with 5/8" mini platform (really just an extra thick sole), these are barely heels at all by my modern standards. 8 cm barely makes it into the mid-heel category for me. Nevertheless, they did serve their purpose of training me for higher heels. I spent many enjoyable hours tooling around the neighborhood in them. They do have a couple of distinctions--they were the first heels I ever walked a total of five 2 mile loops in, and the first heels I ever did a 5 miler in. They also have the distinction of having never been reheeled for their entire service life. I have no idea what these top lifts were made of, but they were still good when I had to throw the shoes out. Other Söfft models' heels wear out normally like everything else, maybe even a little bit faster, but these are different for some reason.

I’m assuming this is AI. In any case it’s hideous

Well, if you can't afford the luxury car, you can at least afford shoes that depict them I guess...

Yes, I can see The Vivian Effect having that kind of fashion pull, kind of like how the show Sex in the City made high heels fashionable for a while. The sad part is, Over the Knee Boots could actually help some types of figures and not make people look like prostitutes either. Over the Knee boots really make a pair of legs look so longggggggg when coordinated right. Pair them with a pair of skinny jeans, whether the same color or contrasting, and then add a bit of a high heel to them, and the wearers legs suddenly look miles long. As for sweeping generalizations: I call people out on them. I am not a jerk about it, but when people say, well, everyone is saying”, I might stop them and say, “Wait? Everyone? Really? No, who really says this”. Soon they are back-pedaling and typically when they get done, its is not “everyone” but in reality, at most one or two people. And I do it so that people realize their judgement mistakes, that making sweeping generalizations is hardly accurate. We had a woman at our church who wore knee High Boots a lot but for a very specific reason. She weighed about 97 pounds, was about 4’-11” tall and had seven kids… but she was going to protect them. Just inside her knee boots she carried her 9mm Kimber!

I have a pair of stessys but I do not know if they are the 2.0 or not, for me they run true to size I wear an 11 in all heals except for the designer stuff that always runs small, and in the stessy I also wear a 11.

Hmmm interesting. Thanks for the feedback! Of course I'm interested to hear your size conversion chart theory, as it seems like this causes us no end of trouble. If you look at their size chart it is not internally consistent either... The men's size chart says M11 - 27.9cm - W13 The women's size chart says W12 - 28.0cm - M10 and W13 - 28.8cm - M11 So the actual measurements we can compare to our feet are different.

Wear quietly elegant heels with a quietly presentable top and they don’t notice you at all

Wear the 'over-the-top' heels with an 'over-the-top' top and they only notice the top.

They certainly don’t owe you anything! I’ve not logged the miles on any of my boots, but I certainly have pairs whose heels have worn very well and comfortably. My Jean Gaborit boots are especially good in this regard

I think many of us just want to skip the slower progression of heeling progress and jump right into 4-5" stilettos! I surely did, and suffered all the usual pains and emotional set backs. Right now, I spend alot of time in my 3" block heeled ankle boots, which I feel keeps my muscles somewhat stretched in the right fashion....So, when I am lucky enough to be able to wear my stiletto boots, there is little or no pain/discomfort/lack of skill. I hear ya for sure, wearing my boots is a bit of a "double edge sword". I don't want to be to "over the top" drawing too much attention (perhaps negative attention). But, at the same time, I really do want others to notice, and approve. Sure, one of the benefits of my advanced age is not caring about what others think, to some degree. But, there is still a part of me that wants other to approve, perhaps be a bit envious..

Wow @mlroseplant that is truly impressive! I’m impressed with the durability of the heels too! That’s one of the things I worry about in terms of “real world” walking in stilettos. I’m acutely conscious of the slenderness and possible fragility of my stiletto heels and worry about breaking them. I have no reason to suspect the quality of my heels, none at all, but nevertheless I look at their needle thin slenderness and I worry. walking three kilometres in them is a serious accomplishment! Well done. With you going on such long strolls, and @higherheels walking hundreds of metres in 13cm Hot Chicks, I feel like I’m very much bringing up the rear.

I am almost certain that if my wife did not already like wearing high heels, I would wear them. I just really like how people look in them. And it is historical as well. While I would NEVER try to compare myself to @mlroseplant as I am not him, if I did wear high heels that is who I would most be like. We are in a strange situation here. Island life is so unique that it has to be lived to understand and never explained. It is just so different what living on an island is like; from the difference in crime, to just how people talk, walk and drive. It is so different. I dislike talking about same-gender relationships but for some crazy reason island life brings that out it seems. It is crazy how prevalent it is here, and this is a working-waterfront. So, islanders as a whole are very agreeable people despite being pure fishermen thru and thru. But I am not sure my wife would understand. Maybe because it would take away from "her thing" or maybe just because she is introverted so deeply, but I doubt she would like it.

Recently, I have set some mileage records for a couple of pairs of my shoes. I have decided to start a separate thread about this subject, and furthermore, I'm splitting up my top six mileage shoes into separate posts in the hopes that this will generate more traffic in general on the site. I'm always looking at ways to attract new members and more comments, not for my own sake, but for the good of the community. First up is my sixth place pair of shoes, mileage-wise. Bebe wooden mules, model name unknown. I would definitely place these squarely in the mid-heel category, as they sport 4 3/4" heels with a 1" platform, for a total steepness of 3 3/4", or about 9 cm. I have walked about 80 miles in these shoes, or nearly 130 km, over about two years' time. While they haven't caused me any trouble to speak of, they have become so worn and beat up looking in that time that I wouldn't actually wear them out in public. The stock top lifts (heel tips) lasted only about 15 miles, but their Vibram replacements have 65 miles on them, and while quite worn, still have a few miles left in them before needing replacement. Actually, they look pretty terrible, but since the rest of the shoe looks terrible as well, I have little incentive to replace them until they're worn to the wood. I guess you could say these are my version of trainers, not to be worn outside of exercise activities.

I made a definite choice this morning to train towards my goal, I walked 3 km in these 11.75 cm heels. By the time you adjust the steepness for my size 40, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 11 cm, or slightly less. I can't be troubled to do the math at the moment. I will post more about this on another thread soon, but I rarely take purposeful walks in stilettos. These are an exception, because I wanted to test the durability of heel tips on stiletto heels, and these are the shoes I designated for the purpose. For whatever reason, these mules are super easy to walk in, but I will not tell a lie, after 3 km, I am one tired puppy. It was one of those deals where I got into the walk, and decided that I was feeling pretty good, why not go a little farther than I had planned? I don't regret it, but it definitely wore me out.

Yes, heels are part of an overall look, which is one of the reasons I don’t care for exaggerated or extreme styles. It creates an unbalance, overemphasising the heels. They are a style element, and a fun one, that should suit the rest of your look and add to the whole.

The woman who founded Leviticus Fashions - a boot making company specialising in thigh high boots - is apparently quite a committed Christian ( which is why the Biblical name for her company) To be sure, Julie Roberts famously wore PVC thigh highs in her role as Vivian, the call girl with the heart of gold in Pretty Woman, and apparently bootmakers did notice what they called The Vivian Effect on the sales of thigh and OTK boots for some years afterwards - same as the makers of cowboy boots saw sales plunge after Brokeback Mountain. And yes, there are plenty of raunchy and suggestive styles of thigh highs and OTK boots, just as there are many chic and sophisticated styles of these same boots. But to all but the most mediaeval minds it’s a matter of using your brain and not making sweeping generalisations

I think high heels make a poignant point by themselves, with a lady, but even more so upon a man. But that being said, I think when an outfit matches the heels not only in color, but also style, it often becomes not a match that can be easily stated, but someone just knows, together that works. Your post on 08/18 kind of proves what I am saying. You just look put together in that photo, but it is the totality of it @mlroseplant

I am sorry in that I did not see this post until now. I cannot top your post in terms of ignorant statements, but I can debunk the ignorant comment. My wife wears her thigh high boots sometimes. It is not often, and has to be a specific event like us having a dinner date out or something. She would not wear it to a church function for one of our daughter's granted, but at times she likes to be wild and emboldened. A sort of, "look what I am wearing, Hun" kind of thing that makes our marriage fun and exciting. The fact that she is married and never once been a soiled-dove speaks volumes to the ignorance that the above reply states. I will say that she is going for a "wow" kind of factor, and perhaps... dare I say... a suggestive look? She typically wears them with a black miniskirt for a certain look since its telling: "I am wearing a darn short miniskirt". But she has done the same kind of emboldened, out-in-public look before while wearing fishnet stockings and seamed stockings with her high heels. I remember once I was surprised to see her wearing them, knowing full-well we were going out but we had just found out we were about to have our fourth child, so she explained it away easily. "I know I'll be sporting a baby-bump soon, so no more wearing sexy outfits for you, so why not be bold?" It was a statement I could not argue against. But again, yes my wife wears thigh high boots, and no she is not a soiled-dove, is married, has five daughters, even goes to church every time the doors are opened, and just believes life is short so have some fun. My only caveat to this is: it is really hard for her to find thigh-high boots that fit. She only has two pairs.