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Somewhere out there, there must be a clown missing their shoes.

Neither of my grandmothers were exactly storybook characters either - unless you're thinking of a wicked witch. One was a psycho and the other was in the rackets.

Yes! Here in England, even in London, one seldom sees stilettos out and about. You're more likely to see them up north in Manchester, Leeds or York, but even so, not many. Knee boots with chunky 7-8cm heels are relatively common - although nowhere near as common as trainers - but stilettos or tall slender heels of 10cm and above are rare.

They remind me of my Grandmother's Tole Painting endeavors. A lot of people hold fond memories of their grandmother, but not me; mine was abusive and full of pure hatred. Yet, she could not stand people praising someone else up. That included my grandfather who built amazing working wooden toys. To get in on the act she would paint them, and it looked like those shoes. Like a five year old painted them in art class. Yep, she sucked at tole painting. So did whoever painted those shoes.

I agree with @pebblesf . Intrigue arises when we cannot deduce the two most difficult questions of life: why’s and how come’s. A man wearing high heels answers the question very simply: because I want to, and I do not really care what other people think of me. Living today in a culture where social media posts would lead you to believe everything is just ideal in a person’s life… then two weeks later they announce they are getting a divorce… you just realize, people are really only being fake. They know it, so people everywhere are teeming with imposter syndrome. A pair of high heels worn by an unapologetic man might as well be a mirror because it reflects what is in the viewers heart. They may, or may not want to wear high heels, but the real truth is they really wish they did not care what other people think about them. The mirror image the high heels reflect back to them? They do care what people think of them and that contrast is overwhelmingly defeating. The intrigue? Why @mlroseplant does not care about other people's opinions, and yet they do. That causes introspection.

I’ve never worn pumps or sandals - I have to admit now that I am practicing so much in my 12cm boots, and hearing about you, @higherheels and @mlroseplant in your sandals and pumps and Hot Chicks I’ve become kind of curious to try lofty stilettos in these styles as well! I’ve even been looking at a few 12cm styles … I expect I'll find them a bit more challenging than boots, less ankle support for one thing, but I am kind of fascinated by the additional challenge ...

I think he was secretly intrigued...

The painting titled "An Elegant Company Playing Music by Hals Nicolaes has a man not only wearing heels, but rather strappy heels. Not a huge high heel, but they are heels. I thought one of the numerous reasons Luncheon on the Grass was so scandalous was because of the men wearing heels, but my memory is bad I guess and getting worse, because they were not. I did have to go check the painting to see however. 😞

In such a climate I can also imagine wearing boots all year. In Germany the summers mostly aren't that hot, so it would somehow also be possible to wear boots all year - but when should I wear my sandals, wedges etc. then? 😉 Yes, 12 cm stilettos definitely are timeless classics, I love them so much. Doesn't matter if boots or pumps. I realize that even though I'm actually practicing in the 13 cm Hot Chicks, I'm also really looking forward to the benefits I can get in 12 cm heels. It would be so nice to wear them for some shorter trips maybe.

I had a very professional lady here at the house today. One of those careers where even ten years ago she would be wearing high heels. Maybe she would swap them out in the car, but definitely have them on as she came in to conduct business... Today she wore flats.

I can definitely see that trend in my environment. Almost everybody is choosing flats, even for dressier occasions. I don't mind. I'm old enough to know what I want and will do that regardless of current trends.

Very interesting story. I am from the USA but love woodworking and metal work have dreamed of, but never actually made a pair of high heels. I would love to though. I have read articles and watched videos of those in Holland making wooden shoes and while not the quite thing, what you have DONE is what I always wanted to try. Good for you and even better at wearing high heels.

Yes! I grew up in boots! Hot summers aren’t a thing over here in Britain - 25°C is considered a hot summer day. But I used to wear hiking boots as a regular thing even when I lived for many years in Australia and I’ve often worn them on assignments in the tropics. (Knee boots not so much!) I guess hot weather just doesn’t bother me much. I still love proper boot season when I can bring out my more fashionable tall boots Thank you for the encouragement. I really love the lines and imperious elegance of 12cm stilettos and would love to be able to walk effortlessly in them. Our little high heel support club has been so helpful. Im starting to imagine it now

Ah, so you basically grew up in boots 🙂 How du you deal with summer temperatures and boots (or don't you have hot summers at all?) Please don't feel dispirited! You're doing fine by even wearing your 12 cm heels at home this often. It's just easier for me because I'm used to this height for more than a decade already. One day you'll be wearing them and they'll feel like your 10 or 11 cm boots do now 🙂

Indeed very supportive from your girlfriend, that's a good thing.

Well, that’s her. Fair enough. It may be the present trend, it may not be. There is nothing in that first person account, other than the title, to suggest that her experience is universal nor is her experience or story telling very compelling. It sounds like she got bored with heels and moved on - something that’s a matter of interest primarily to herself

Ah yes but I often wear skinny jeans as I like to wear my tall boots over them. Skinny jeans snd hiking or mountaineering boots looks a bit unbalanced

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!