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Believe it or not, the asking price was $100/85 Euros/75 Pounds. Seriously?

True...

As a good friend would say: "wouldn't be caught dead in a ditch" wearing these...

I saw these for sale and my reaction was, truthfully, "Ugly as can be." Maybe others will disagree with me but these are a mess as they look like shoes a clown would wear. I think they are personally hand painted.

Frankenstein seems to be supplying the style cues to modern fashion designers

If the heel height is actually the same, yes. But many makers scale the height of the heel to the shoe size, as per the Italian Heels size chart above.

Sounds monstrous.

I have always felt that larger sizes were much easier to navigate given the same heel height due to the smaller angle from heel to toe

During my time at AA, the female FAs were indeed required to have two pairs of shoes: "inflight and higher heels for the terminal". Ridiculous, very few conformed with these rules. I was there from the late 90s thru last December. I also remember initial training, and the ridiculous requirements for females. In my class, there was a male instructor who was in charge of "female image requirements". This was really awful and unfair. I still remember women coming out of image sessions crying.

Yes, there are! And it's not just boots, either. I think they have managed to figure out a way to make heeled footwear these days that is even uglier than those of the Saturday Night Fever era. I didn't think that was possible. I saw a woman at a restaurant just two days ago wearing Mary Janes with substantial heels, but they were very Frankenstein's Monster-like. Worth a second look, but not a third.

My ex-wife was a flight attendant for American Airlines from the late 80s to early 90s. I remember reading through her material, and at that time, female flight attendants were required to wear no less than 1" heels in the airport and while seating passengers. There was a maximum, too, and I think it was 3-something inches? Can't remember. During the flight, the "allowable" heel heights were 0-1.5 inches. My ex-wife simply wore block heeled Ferragamo pumps, for which she paid a princely sum, but wore for years, with heels of 1.5 inches, and never had to switch shoes. It would seem, from recent experience, that all Asian based airlines still require their female flight attendants to wear heels except during the actual flying part of their jobs. If it's not required, they just all do it, without exception. To be fair, I've never ever seen a flight attendant in Asia with actual high heels. Their standard issue appears to be sub-3 inch. I know that for many people, that's a burden.

@mlroseplant I also think that your pumps look higher than the sandals. The 6 mm difference is visible, but for me it's also the heel shape. The heel of the pumps is more bent towards the front, so the distance between the arch and the heel is smaller - which also happens with a higher heel. So it's kind of an optical illusion of a higher heel. That's something I also thought about when it comes to heel heights. I think most people refer to their actual heel height in their size, but for the comparison of steepness and look it's irrelevant.

They were white wedges with a holographic vamp but only a 3 inch heel. Not fancy to me, but to her they were.

Passing through Leeds train station today. Although the overwhelming majority of people are in trainers, there are a surprising number of heels being worn including stilettos. Nearly all the heels being worn are boots, and generally chunky heels There are sure a lot of ugly boot styles out there …

I’ve made a virtue out of necessity by buying very good quality- but very few pairs. I think it’s worked out well!

That's an interesting chart, and I'm surprised I haven't run across it before. Pretty much what I thought--I have to have a full 5 inch heel (127 mm) in order to have any hope of ever navigating So Kates. I'm not saying it could never happen, but I'd have to actually purchase decent heels of that height. I don't currently own anything that high that's not very poor quality.

Were they, in fact, fancy?

Another all hands meeting today. While walking to a meeting, a woman stopped me to show me her "fancy" heels. She wanted to take a picture with our heels together. Also had several conversations about heels with women between breaks.

According to the Italian Heels heel height chart, a 12cm heel is actually 14.5cm in a size 45. As you can see they base their nominal heel heights on a size 38. So you and @higherheels will be pretty close to the nominal heel height, but I don’t get to “cheat” by having longer feet. The lines, proportions and the steepness will be the same as yours. Which is nice, even if it means I can’t cheat and have to work just as hard to master 12cm heels - it’s not the number that I like but the aesthetics and so I am pleased to have the same aesthetic despite my larger size. How frustrating it would be otherwise! Sizeaaaaaaaaaa 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 . Heel 8 cm 07,0 07,5 08,0 08,3 08,5 09,0 09,3 09,5 09,7 10,0 Heel 10 cm 09,0 09,5 10,0 10,5 11,0 11,5 11,7 12,0 12,3 12,5 Heel 12 cm 11,0 11,5 12,0 12,5 12,7 13,0 13,5 13,7 14,0 14,5 Suede is not readily worn in Britain either although this year you can pretty much wear suede with impunity. We’re having a drought here, our reservoirs and rivers are at historic lows and some of the canals are closed because there is insufficient water to work the locks.

I really tried to get the angle of the photograph to be neutral, but it's very difficult without taking two separate photographs. Anyway, I like them both, but don't wear either very often. Suede and Iowa often don't mix very well. We've finally had an entire week without rain (and here we were talking about drought last year). Speaking of steepness and appearance, I can remember back in the early days of HHP, somebody told a woman not to be impressed when some dude said he could walk in 5 inch like they were carpet slippers. Said dude also took about a size 15, and his 5 inch were not really all that steep. I take and refer to the actual heel measurements as they are on my shoes, which are either 8.5 or 9 (39/40, something like that). You mentioned that your 12cm are the right proportion to your size. I am curious as to what the actual heel height is on your 12 cm?

The ponds are where the highway builders took dirt to build up the bridges.

All hands meeting today. After the meeting I was walking to a breakout session and a friend (unofficial high heel club member) was stopped by two woman and was talking about how she can walk in heels (4 inch stilettos today). As we walked pass the group, my friend pointed out my 4 inch heels and my fingernails and toenails to the two women she was talking to. She also has exquisite nails. This "club member" is the same one that organized the tour in the post above.

The one in the right definitely looks significantly taller, although I can also see where it could be an optical illusion too. But 6mm would definitely make a difference in terms of wearability - especially at those lofty heights. I wore my 12cm boots for a couple hours this morning - making breakfast (in the midst of which I had to go out on my well deck (bow) to change gas canisters! Right as I was heating water for coffee.) I still have a long way to go to achieve anything like effortlessness in 12cm stilettos

Here is a comparison between the blue sandals I wore a few days ago, which actually measure 111 mm, and some D'Orsay pumps in the same color, which measure 117 mm. Is it just me, or does the shoe on the right appear to be significantly taller than the one on the left, even though there is only 6 mm difference (1/4")? I have no idea what they would be in USW size 7 or 8. I haven't practiced walking in either one this week. Bad for me.

Great news!