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I think if you’re going to wear heels you really need to be able to wear them well, especially the loftier stilettos. It can be easy to look foolish or a little desperate. The trick is to make it look effortless. i can see where 12cm could be hard to pair up with something nice for the office. I’m fortunate in working from home, my boat, and can wear jeans and stilettos whenever

That's a good idea to change into your heels once you're off the boat, so you don't have to limit yourself by that. I know that feeling, I also always want to be sure that I can walk well enough in my heels before I wear them out. Probably I shouldn't worry too much, but I'm a bit vain when it comes to that 😉 No, actually I never wore any 12 cm heels to the office. The highest ones were 11 cm. 12 cm+ heels are way harder to combine with a outfit, not to stick out as overdressed I think. Also I sometimes have to walk quite a bit over the day. As I said, around 1,5 km sure is the minimum. 12 cm heels would be OK for that, but not as comfortable as something lower. Maybe after I fully managed 13 cm the 12 cm will be so comfortable that I'll wear them to the office as well, we'll see 😉

@higherheels - yes boat life can be challenging on many fronts and certainly isn’t for everyone ! It does make wearing heels problematic as the towpath and grassy banks are tricky in heels and can easily wreck a pair of stilettos. I can wear my chunky heeled ankle boots (8cms) and often do - but stilettos are tough. If I’m moored in a city I can do it - tied alongside a paved wharf. Otherwise the way to go is to change into stilettos once I’m off the towpath. It’s one of the reasons I’ve procrastinated about taking up my 12cm heels - it’s easier not to bother. But now that I’ve started this I’m going to make the extra effort! There is a park about 3kms away with nice paved footpaths for practicing, im rather shy about being seen in my 12cm stilettos - not because im embarrassed to wear them but because i am not good at walking in them yet, i need to boost the skill level. @mlroseplant - I am really impressed with your distances. Like you I like the athletic challenge of mastering heels - and if I can master my 12cm stilettos I shall be well pleased with myself! I know you walk quite long distances in 10cm - distances that would be beyond me. I can walk quite well in 10cm in pottering about but I’ve never attempted a long walk @higherheels - are you walking 1.5kms in 12cms? That’s a real accomplishment if you are! And inspirational. i might as part of my training take my 10cm as well as 12cm to train in the park. i really would love to master the art of 12cms …

Maybe I'll get into stretching a bit to avoid shortened tendons, can't be wrong. As you say I'm not full-time in heels anyways. Only in the winter there can be times when I only wear heels for a few weeks, but even then I'm barefoot at home. I also don't understand why anybody would want to have shortened tendons. Maybe it's the other way around - they want to wear extremely high heels all the time and therefor accept if their tendons shorten. @Shyheels Sounds like a rather difficult lifestyle for heels if getting in/out your home is already a challenge, but very interesting! @mlroseplant Heels as an athletic challenge is interesting, why not. Somehow I can relate to that, as working up to new heel heights is always an athletic challenge. Once mastered, it's not a challenge anymore but always a different style of walk compared to flats or lower heels, which I enjoy. And that's a lot of walking in heels! Now I'm curious on how much that would be for me. But with at least 1,5 km on office days probably something similar. I never used any specific tactics for high heel training. Only starting with short wearing times/distances and then increasing. Also pausing for a few days respectively going for the standard heels that I'm used to. Endurance then always came by itself. I'm sure that will also work for your 12 cm challenge.

For me it is very much the elegance and the aesthetic lines of the 12cm heels with the athleticism involved an attractive bonus. The degree of difficulty adds to the imperiousness and majesty of being able to walk gracefully in them. I agree - Anyone who wants to shorten their tendons is just an idiot in the end it’s just footwear - fun, stylish, chic and with skill attached. But that’s it

Haha, none of these shoes were meant for walking! On average, I break more shoes than most people buy in a year. However, in 2025 I don't think I've had any shoe failures so far (knock on wood). My interest in heels takes two different paths. Besides liking the way they look, I think of them as an athletic challenge, and most of my physical exercise consists of walking in heels. I have walked a documented total of about 4,000 km over the past decade in heels of at least 7 cm, and in recent years, I don't have anything lower than about 9 cm that I walk in. The 12 cm challenge proposed here will be something totally different for me, because now I will be going for sheer height/flexibility rather than endurance. And I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to accomplish that. As far as shortened tendons, I can really tell when I've slacked off on the foot exercises and calf stretches for several days. I have to be very careful of that because of the nature of my time in heels. On the other hand, I don't live full time in heels, either, because I can't. I think you'll probably be ok with just the slightest attention to stretching your achilles, because you are not in heels full time, all the time. Whoever wishes for shortened tendons (and in real life, that number has to be exceeding rare) is a complete moron.

I’m headed back to the 80’s,,,,,, BIG hair, awesome music, and definitely heels!!!!

Yes, welcome! I would like the 60s too. It was the era of the go-go boot and fun.

The outfit for today - simple with a timeless/classic feel to it.

Hi Luvmaryjanez! It appears that this is your first post and if so, I would like to welcome you to this forum! I agree with you that the heels of the 60's were so elegant. They were simple and always had a timeless design to them. Likewise, the simple black pump without any sort of embellishment will always have a timeless elegance to it.

I would like to get a time machine and go back 60 years. All those beautiful heels. The music and the cars too. No boring nude color but a pretty taupe. I watch Perry Mason and see all the greatest of the 20th century. In the last season Perry is sitting at a table where there is a party for the new newspaper president. Behind him is a woman in the most perfect 4" heels you could ever hope to see.

Definitely worth it! These will fit beautifully and last for many years - on that basis a bargain

For sure, someday I will have a pair for sure.

Interesting. I like it! Might just have to add something like that to my want list.

2 shop, both italian : gianrico mori https://www.gianricomori.com/ https://www.ebay.com/str/gianricomori 1969 italia (you can bid on new pairs on their ebay store) https://1969boutique.com/ https://www.ebay.fr/str/1969italiaboutique and one german: https://www.fuss-schuhe-shop.de/

Yes shortened tendons can become a problem - although I think you have to be pretty much living in high heels and over a fairly long period of time for it to become a significant problem. You’re doing a lot of hiking by the sounds of things so you should be fine but there are lots of Achilles tendon stretches one can do. I used to loads of stretching back in my marathon running and fencing days, something I really want to get back to - and not just for wearing heels. @higherheels I can totally sympathise about lack of opportunity to wear lofty heels. I live on a canal boat. Towpaths are usually muddy or stony and even getting off a narrowboat in heels can be a risky proposition - a great chance of breaking a stiletto heel or toppling over into the canal. I am probably one of the very few people living on the canal who owns high heels, let alone 12cm stilettos. And I’d be willing to bet almost anything nobody owns a pair of Hot Chick 130s!

Mirose, I don't wear my skorts to church. Shorts are not allowed for us ushers, so it's long pants but heels are a different case! Happy Heeling, bluejay

I agree with you Gige. I always match my heels to the color of the top I'm wearing and then my skorts, slacks or leggings are just a compliment to them. Happy Heeling, bluejay

While looking through the forum about training for higher heels I repeatedly came across the topic of shortened tendons. Is this something we should take care of? I remember even in my earlier days of getting more into heels this was already a topic, but I never had any problems so far. Apparently some even want to achieve shortened tendons so they can wear only a certain minimum heel height, but I want to stay flexible. On one hand I'd like to wear my 12 + 13 cm heels out more and maybe even try some higher ones. On the other hand I go hiking a lot, where of course I want to continue wearing my hiking shoes 😉 I'm worried that the high heels part might become too much (especially in winter when there's not much hiking going on) and my tendons might shorten. Any opinions/tips are welcome! @mlroseplant That's absolutely true, 1 cm makes a big difference in higher heights. 11 to 12 cm is still alright for me, but 12 to 13 cm is very noticable. I think the Hot Chick 130 weren't designed for walking in the first place, more for sitting/posing. But hey, that's part of the challenge! I'd say that I can already walk kind of well in them, but there's sure room for improvement. My bigger problem is that they get uncomfortable quickly and so I'm very limited with the occasions where I can wear them.

I didn't get in any 12+ cm time yesterday, but I did get a lot of 11 cm time in. I got in 5 km of walking between rainstorms yesterday, which was accomplished in the below pictured Prada mules. They are actually 15 cm, but with a 4 cm platform. They are freshly reheeled, as well. I call them my rain shoes, because they keep my feet out of the puddles! For church, I wore my Miu Miu sandals, which are 14 cm with 3 cm platform. I spent the majority of the day in those. It is amazing how much difference an extra centimeter makes. I am fairly competent and comfortable at 11 cm, but 12 cm is really pushing it for me. @higherheels I am glad that somebody is working on learning to walk in Hot Chicks. I have never actually seen anybody walk very well in them before, even on social media. I know that in my size, which is 40, the heel height of Hot Chicks is more like 137 mm, so that is indeed an accomplishment!

Thanks Shyheels for creating this thread, that was a good idea! Alright, so let's start with my reply to your posts in the other thread: @ShyheelsWow, you're practicing a lot already. Good to hear that your calves are doing rather fine so far. You're living on a boat, wow that's cool! But sure can make your practice more difficult sometimes 😉 @mlroseplantNice that you're joining us too! I have nothing new to tell you so far. I'm planning on wearing them indoors for at least once a week. I'll also try to wear them out more, but they don't fit every occasion and I wanna make sure that I don't have to walk/stand too much. My goal is that I don't have to think too much about how much walking/standing there will be, because I can handle it anyways 🙂

A separate thread is a good idea! I'll write my reply in the new thread already. @Gige yeah, nobody would make such an cartoon-advertisement these days, really interesting. The fact that they're not so different from nowadays shows how timeless certain heel styles are. Can't tell that about other shoes. 13 cm heels to the office, that's an achievement! At my stage right now I think my feet would die at the end of the day, but I also have to walk a lot sometimes.

For the longest time I've wanted to master the art of wearing 12cm stilettos. I've always loved the asthetics and lines of that height a heel and wished could manage them - although without ever really putting in the necessary time and effort to accomplish this. I own a pair of elegant chocolate-brown 12cm stiletto knee boots, which I try on wistfully every now and then, but take off when my calves start cramping up and because I feel too teetery in them. In the course of breezy exchanges with @higherheels who wanted to master her 13cm Hot Chicks and @mlroseplant who wanted to improve his already formidable skills (both of these members are way beyond me) I've been making a concerted effort to put in some time in my 12cm stilettos every day, even if its just sitting down to write and getting up every now and then to make coffee or fix myself a snal, or take another fascinated turn around the room. It's not going badly - and it's certainly fun. Today I'm in Scotland on assignment, and have brought along my 12cm knee boots - for hotel room practice Even if I ws competent in them, they're not exactly suitable for waling in the heather!

As I sit in a hotel in Scotland this morning, where I have come on assignment (and yes I brought me 12cm stiletto boots!) I am wondering is we oughtn't to start a separate thread to support each other in our effects to aim high? I thought I would start one in the For Everybody column if that's all right?

The woman in this picture is someone who holds a somewhat infamous place in annals of American history but her identity is far less important than that which she is wearing. What is amazing about her outfit is how the heels are the focal point of it - they are certainly "statement" heels without being excessively so. I absolutely adore the entirety of her ensemble as the colors are perfect and accent her heels so well. I love the idea of simple solid colors from the same pallet matching or complimenting "exotic" or "statement" footwear. I am utterly entranced by this and have had the ability to start putting together outfits along this concept. Even if the heels were block or kitten height//type heels, they would still complete what is an extraordinary simple yet beautiful outfit. Heels play so well with wide leg trousers, regardless of their height. A frequent commentor on this forum recently noted a disliking for "kitten" heels and there is certainly good reason for such. But, given the right outfit, in terms of style and color, most any pair of heels can be perfect. This, to me, is houte couture in a very simple manner. Always remember - it never goes out of style to have style!