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You may find this article from the Daily Mail's 'You' magazine (5 October) interesting, if discouraging: Why women are giving heels the heave-ho Once a devotee of stilettos, Esther Walker says that now the real ‘statement’ shoe is a flat ‘Oh no,’ said my husband, ‘not those again.’ He was looking at my putty-coloured rubber pool slides from the Australian brand Archies, which I have worn every day since May. It being autumn and too chilly for open toes, I think he was hoping they would be replaced. But no. I simply accessorised them with a pair of matching putty-coloured socks. I don’t know what to say, except the borderline scandalous comfort of slipping my 44-year-old feet into the squishy cocoon of these slides is a siren call I can’t resist. But everyone is at it. I walk a lot in my daily life and I’d say only one woman in 50 I see is wearing any sort of heel. Take the front rows at the recent Copenhagen Fashion Week, where editors and It-girls wore anything but heels, choosing ballet flats, trainers and – most popularly – black leather flip-flops instead. This is reflected in buying habits: figures from online shoppers at John Lewis show a 28 per cent decrease in searches for ‘heels’ in the year to June 2025. M&S has seen sales of heels slip so low that flats make up 77 per cent of its new autumn/winter shoe collection, and of its handful of kitten-heeled styles none is higher than 4.5cm. When I met my husband, I was 27 and exclusively wore high heels. I had them in black, white, gold and brown – strappy, spiky, studded. If I wasn’t in heels, I was barefoot; trainers were strictly for the gym. At 15 I’d started wearing my glamorous elder sister’s discarded heeled boots, which were a size too big. At 16 I got my own: they had a block heel and elasticated straps and were profoundly dowdy. But they made me feel like Jessica Rabbit. High heels became a non-negotiable. They signalled to the world that you were a grown-up. Then in 1998 came Sex And The City. It set a new standard for many things: cocktails as fashion accessories, multiple partners as a lifestyle and heels as essentials for striding down the street. I was good at walking in heels – I didn’t totter or stagger. So what happened to me? What happened to all of us? Well, a few things, the most significant of which was the then head of super-chic French brand Celine, Phoebe Philo, taking a bow at the end of her A/W 2011 show in a pair of white leather Adidas Stan Smith trainers. ‘That was a watershed moment,’ says fashion editor Harriet Walker. ‘Trainers worn not for sport or with leggings but very deliberately with tailored trousers. That juxtaposition looked so much cooler and more nonchalant than heels.’ It proved to be pivotal. Philo looked so incredibly chic, relaxed yet in charge, in her all-black outfit topped off with a dazzlingly white pair of tennis shoes. We all wanted a piece of that. Shortly after, I left office life and started working from home. Wandering about the house in a stiletto seemed a little strange. Then I had children – and kids and high heels just don’t mix. The physical demands of looking after under-fives mean you are constantly exhausted and in mild pain. The last thing you need is aching arches.

I'm not sure what mlr meant by 'giant' as the sandals, although a little on the chunky side as to strappery, are far from inelegant and, like most sandals, surely tend to minimise foot size? And the heels, although commendably high, are in proportion. I have the same size feet as Shyheels and have rarely felt awkward about their magnitude, whether in sandals, shoes or boots - with the exception of those with a thick sole and/or a very rounded toe, which I avoid. Whilst I do like pointed toes, they too can look out of proportion if exaggerated.

Assuming that you meant 'ill-suits', I completely agree. Even a 1/2" platform can upset the visual balance of stiletto-heeled footwear - anything above 1" upsets the physical balance too, and Crushed Vamp's wife's red courts are at the limit imho. I agree with your first statement (especially when there was a tiny peeptoe too), but am most reluctant to agree with your second. Certainly, there are many totally uninspiring footwear fashions around at present but big platforms are not the answer.

That’s nice that she’s supportive even while not wearing heels herself

Heels died out in the 1730s - early Georgian/Hanoverian. But they were big news before then, especially in the mid to late 17th century. I’ll have a look for Frank Moss Bennett’s paintings.

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.