All Activity

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.

The food ones are kind of speculative though. Yes, you are right that you are indeed paying for it up front, or at least by an X-number of meals, or x-number of months, but unlike coffee or wine, you know what you are getting. In that regard it is just a replenishment of what you consume, and most likely at a fairly consistent rate. But with prepared meal delivery like with Hello Fresh, that is not the case. You don't know what you are getting for meals, and that is the whole point of the service. You don't have to think about what to have for dinner, proportion size, or even calorie amounts. Its done for you, you simply have to decide; do you eat what is presented for a given day, or something else? In that way it is even more wasteful. We tried it, but the meals were too small for us.

Aldo shoes are a weird case. 20 years ago, their sizing actually ran very small, to the point where you needed a full number size larger than what you'd typically wear. Then at some point, they changed to closer match what everybody else is doing. This Stessy 2.0 model does not appear to be all that old, so I'm guessing it runs on the more normal sizing system. Howeveuhhh. . . the numbers you give for your own size are not consistent with themselves. Without getting heavy into the Melrose Plant size conversion chart theory, I'd say you need a U.S. Women's size 13 in Aldo. Maybe in some other brands, you can evidently take size 12, but probably not in Aldo.

I typically wear platforms of about 1 inch or so. I've some that are thicker, but none that even approach 2 inches. For me, it is judgment on a case-by-case basis. I sometimes don't mind a thick platform, but there has to be enough heel to go with it. I never cared for the early 2000s style, usually a pump, of 5 1/2 inch heel with 2 inch platform. Those were everywhere once upon a time, even in my town. If you were to go to any halfway dress up event, you'd see this style of shoe on many several women. At the time I always thought, "Too much platform, not enough heel." Now, I wish that style would come back. Those shoes are far preferable to what you see nowadays.

It's not sent out speculatively. The food or drink is not sent for approval. There is no time period by which you must return it or pay. It has already been purchased - your coffee of the month or wine of the month or whatever. Totally different from a transaction where items arrive unpaid for in the post and the onus is placed on the buyer to purchase or return by a certain date. And in any event I do not enter into any of these agreements.

What about adding a snowplow to a stiletto? (Teasing) Here is a picture of my wife in some 3/4 platforms. This is her preferred type of shoes as she has many of this type in various colors and styles.

Subscription service is a little different for food because there is a predetermined end-date to the service, but it definitely is speculative. In fact, more so because you must like how it looks, tastes, like the quantity of it, and quality... not to mention feeling like eating that food on a particular day. It can't be sent back and that it just it, it's not. It is thrown out when people don't like it, or if not in the mood for it; throw it in the refrigerator for later, and then in a few days throw it out. But if you are not in the mood for it, just head to town to the nearest pizza shop. Next week another package will come with food you might like... But in that, there is an ultimatum from the speculative food delivery services like Hello Fresh and others... you either eat it, or throw it out. You liking it only really matters so that you continue the service with them. I bet the amount of food thrown out in such a marketing and delivery system is HUGE. I looked but could not find the amount probably because its kind of a new way for people to get meals. But for those interested, in the USA anyway, food waste is 43%.

Nope. Nothing that was sent to me automatically and on spec, for me to keep or send back. They could not do that with foodstuffs anyway. Buying a subscription - receiving a coffee or selection of chocolates each month is not the same thing anyway. In that case you have purchased something from the start - twelve deliveries of coffee, say, over the span on a year. There is no speculative element to it. Unless the goods are faulty or spoiled you won’t be sending them back. They are not being sent to you on approval.

Hey guys, I'm looking at a pair of Stessy 2.0 heels. But I've heard that they "run small". I don't have any other pairs from this brand, so I can't really compare. Does anyone have a pair of these and can comment on the general sizing, especially around W12? Usually I wear M11 / W12 / EU44. And based on Aldo's size chart (we know how reliable those are...) I would take W12. But so many reviews of this shoe suggest to size up, but I also don't want to end up with a pair which falls off my feet at every step.

I like my platforms, from the hidden 1/4 inch VS Stilettoes (vintage) to my 1.5 inch types, sometimes more. I think my Jessica Simpson suede stiletto knee-highs with platforms are elegant, as well as my JS knee-high in flax suede with chunky heels.

Those shoes you forget to send back end up on-line and @mlroseplant and others purchase them unused at a discount. The only subscriptions clubs I've been a member of was one in the 1960's for quarterly 'Life' books on science and other subjects. And a cotton diaper service when my kids were infants. Not even a Tea-of-the-month club? Or a Gin-of-the-month club?

For me a platform adds an element of clunkiness that I’ll suits the elegance of a stiletto. They don’t go together. It’s like adding a snow plough to a Lamborghini

I agree. I’d never belong to such a “club” no matter what they were selling

These heels are probably far more subjective than the others I have posted. but TO ME anyway, they are kind of ugly. Other may not view them so harshly. At first I thought they were just strappy heels worn with gold glittered socks, but nope; that is the shoe itself! I guess they are heels made to look like you are wearing gold sparkly socks? Not sure why a person could not just wear gold, sparkly socks without having the two combined? Maybe I am missing an obvious point. This may not explain it for you and I understand it, but these are my wife's preferred type of heels. For better or worse, she likes peep-toed high heels, with a 1/2-3/4 platform to them with 4-5 inch heel. She can wear higher platforms, wear higher heels with some having 1 inch platforms to them, but that is the combination she likes. As for why. It has to do with her ex-husband who was very short. He forbid her to wear high heels at all even though she LOVES heels simply because she would have been taller than her if she wore them. So for 15 years, no high heels were an option for her. Then she met me. I am taller at 5'-11" so it does not bother me if she is at, or slightly taller than me. Maybe it is a deep-seated phycology thing where she feels her and I are at the same level physically and figuratively speaking, but since she was forbidden to wear high heels at all from age 20 to 35, really her prime years, now married to me, it is an out of control shoe fetish for sure! Don't get me wrong, she has other shoes other than this, and wears them, but this combination is her preferred type.

I am not sure how I feel about that either. In one sense I understand personal responsibility and the need to make quick decisions, but I also know life gets hectic, especially back when I had five young daughters. Sure, I want the wife to have a surprise come in the mail, but then she has FIVE YOUNG DAUGHTERS. If she does not send the shoes back, we have to pay for shoes she does not want. And worse, they are a shoe that a computerized bot has chosen for her from an algorithm from previous purchases. That not only makes that sent item dubious, but now that a pattern has started, more shoes she may not like. That requires more shoes being sent to us, and more chances of them not being sent back. At the time she was a mother of FIVE YOUNG DAUGHTERS. And the shoe company banks on that. Literally, that people will forget to send back their sent purchases. So it is kind of a questionable sales tactic to me.

I’m still plugging away in my challenge heels, although only in the boat - I’ve counted the steps. I can do about 20 each way - steps being somewhat shorter in 12cm stilettos than in hiking boots! It’s good practice. The towpath is a quagmire - definitely not suitable for heels! That said it’s quite cosy inside, listening to the fierce autumn storm raging outside, torrential rain lashing the windows and 50mph gusts. Snug in here, in my heels and jeans and jumper …

I had a minor setback last week--I injured my back to the point that it was difficult to do ordinary things. Luckily, I got over it pretty quickly, and am back at heeling (and working), but it was rather concerning there for a couple of days. I have decided to come at this gradually, so I've been wearing slightly higher than usual heels on my walks lately. Some of this involves shoes that I haven't traditionally worn for my walks. As a result, one of them got me yesterday. Put a blister on my right third toe. Another note for the files to make sure to wear a Bandaid on that toe before stepping out.