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Just got my new mani for Valentine's. I got my usual clear/pink gel on my fingers, with special decor on my little pinkies. On my left pinkie a white base with a red heart and on my right pinkie a red base with the word love and two very small hearts in red. I decided that I was going to add something new to my mani. I had her add a fire engine red top coat in acrylic to my ring fingers, so that if my wife disapproved of the red on my ring fingers, I could easily remove if for her. So far she's OK with the red. BTW I wore my red Lands' End sweater dress with creme colored, fleece lined, tights with my red patent knee boots and a creme colored puffer jacket. I got a couple compliments from both my nail tech and another woman customer on both my mani and my ensemble I was wearing. Happy Heeling, bluejay

I do that often enough with my professional work!

For those who are curious, this is what the first page of my inventory looks like. Obviously Old School. This one took me several days to complete, working a couple hours a day. It seems like once I get going, it's actually kind of fun, but it is such a daunting task to think about, it's difficult to get started with it. I have a "slot" system, in which the number on the sheet corresponds to a numbered spot on the shelf. As you can see, No. 23 line is blank. That means I actually have a space there to put more shoes if I so desire. At the moment, I believe my mechanical metronome lives there, but I digress. I have at least three pairs which are not long for this world, I'm afraid, so the number may drop even further in the future. Or it may not. Who knows what my mood and finances will be in 2026?

Of course the beauty of it is, if you hate the results, or they're not up to your professional standards, you never have to admit having done it in the first place. I'll certainly never tell!

There are also differences in clothing and shapes from region of the world to region of the world. I only know this because I once watched a real-life crime show where skeletonized human remains were found in an extremely remote area. One of the few clues they found was the metal button on a pair of jeans. It had a special insignia similar to how Wrangler puts the W on its button, but it was one none of the detectives ever seen before. Finally, a friend of one of the detectives, an importer of goods recognized it. It came from a denim jeans manufacturer operating only in Asia. Ultimately from that they found a missing Asia woman (a mail order bride murdered by her husband who had ties to that remote area) who only liked the special cut of the jeans this manufacturer used. So she imported jeans from Vietnam to wear. It was because the curve of an Asia person’s bottom is different and that particular manufacture made the seat of the pants for that region of the world. I did not realize the European sizes of shoes were unisex though. Thanks for teaching me something new!

Very nice! I like that style

I'm afraid I went in the opposite direction - long Covid was not good to me and I need to lose about 7kgs and it doesn't seem to want to shift....

My collection is far more modest: 1 pair stiletto knee boots with 12cm heels 1 pair stiletto knee boots with 10cm heels 1 pair suede OTK boots with slender 9cm heels 1 pair suede OTK boots with chunky mid-heels 2 pair leather knee boots with chunky mid heels 1 pair ankle boots with chunky mid heels and because I like tall boots of all descriptions, 4 pair of low-heeled knee and OTK boots

I think my wife is around that number as well. I do not do the high heel inventory that you guys do but knew we had a lot of shoes in the house a few years ago... so I started counting. Between me, my wife and our four daughters living at the house at the time, I counted 404 pairs of shoes between us all. The wife had the most, including having a walk-in closet just for her shoes. It was not big by any means, 4x8 feet that we endearing called "the shoe barn".

Here are my latest acquisition. I got these for less than $20 in a thrift store. The brand is Fashion Nova, And they go up to just above the knee. They are an almost half black, and half grey, suede like material. and they have a 4" block heel.

I am usually around the hundred mark myself. When I do an inventory it is pretty similar to yours, Except, I don't do anything with heel height. I just separate them by shoe or boot type. and count each group. then I post the results, Then my last number is the total number of shoes and boots I own.

I was a size 10 but lately moving down to size 8 and some size 6 fit.

My size is almost identical to yours. And yes, It is weird that women's waist size for pants is less than our actual waist size. But then again, women's natural waists are higher up than a mans. Maybe that has something to do with it?

I actually have a fair bit of professional expertise is self captures with camera, tripod and programmable timers, but I’ve never tried photographing or videoing myself in heels. My stuff is more expedition oriented. I’m kind of interested in trying. It would be an interesting challenge

I finally got around to doing a shoe inventory for the first time in two years. I'm evidently "down" to 101 pairs of heels. I've never had a lot more than that, but I actually have a few empty spaces on the shelf now. Some things have changed. For example, I'm down to 9 pairs of clogs. I don't remember how many I used to have back in the day, but it was a lot more than that. What has not changed is my enthusiasm for wooden heeled sandals. I have 28 pairs of those. This time around, I did a couple of things differently. Although I did record such data, I did not compile any statistics about the absolute height of the heels, choosing instead to focus on the steepness alone, that is, subtracting out the height of the platform, where applicable. Out of 101, I do have 60 pairs that have that feature. However, if you subtract out the clogs and the wooden heels, where that's a necessary built-in feature for those styles, I have only 23 pairs of platform heels. The other thing I did differently this time around was change my definition of what is a "high" heel to adjust to a standard size 7/38. I did stay with imperial units. I have always considered 4 inches the start of "high" heels, but now my "high" heels start at an actual measured height of 4 1/4 inches, once adjusted for my size 9/40. Here are the numbers: Total heels: 101 Low heels <3": 4 Mid heels <4": 42 High heels <4.75": 52 Very high heels 4.75+": 3 Pumps: 21 Sandals: 58 Boots: 7 Mules, including clogs: 54 Stiletto heels: 43 Wedge heels: 10 Shoes I ain't worn in more than a year: 3 (not including my one pair of "men's" dress shoes. It's been a lot longer than a year.) If I calculated height in the "old" way, not corrected for size, I would have 70 pairs of "high" heels. So I guess that means 18 pair of my mid heels are toward the upper end of the range. Now that I've finally got that out of the way, maybe I can get something useful done.

I use a tripod and my phone, but not so often to take video, only the still pictures that I post on here. My gauge in general is that if I catch a glimpse of myself in a storefront window or on a security camera monitor, and I don't reflexively cringe, I've succeeded for that day! Seriously, if you do decide to video yourself, be prepared. It's not pretty, but it is instructive. I liken it to doing vocal work at a music recording studio, and then having to listen back to your own voice with zero reverb. It's brutal, but often helpful. I'm sure you do fine, Don.

Wow congratulations! Mastering 13cm heels puts you in some pretty rarified company. Even among high heel aficionados very few can rock 13+cm boots or Hot Chicks! Well done!

There is a shape difference in shoes. Men's shoes are like boxes, very little difference in width between the toes and heels. Women's show have more of a pear shape, wider at the front and narrower at the heel. For me it means in men's I am a 9-9.5 EEE just to get my toes in, but then I have 1/2 inch on both sides of my heel and at the toes, 'clown shoes'. Lead to numerous ankle and knee issues (operations ad sprains). In women's I'm a regular size 10 and size 11 in some narrower heels. I can't get my feet into pumps, but that's alright, there is plenty of others I can.

Some great news here 🙂 @mlroseplant Great new heels! I'm sure you will manage them soon after a bit of practice. I'm totally with you that it's not that much about the shoe itself but the ability to walk properly. Here we all have our standards of how much skill we want to have before wearing them out. What I don't really have is that there are better and worse days, at least not for the heels up to 12 cm. Maybe that would happen if I'd take a few days or even weeks off. For the 13 cm heels however I could feel the difference when I was wearing them more or less. I wore my 13+ cm boots out 3 more times and can say that I'm finally done with practicing at home 🙂 It's really fun to wear them out and I'm glad I have some winter time left to do so. Afterwards I'm also looking forward for the Hot Chicks again, I wonder how easy they might feel then 😄

Cool!

I have oftened wondered the same thing about myself. Just wish there was some way of recording my stride in boots to get a true idea of how I look. I might be very disappointed, or perhaps I would learn how to improve...

I just don’t get as much real world practice as you and @higherheels. This past year I have been more or less stuck in this very rural - albeit very pretty - stretch of canal for various reasons and have no place to practice short of walking a mile along a towpath first, changing into my heels, practicing, then changing back and hiking home along the muddy towpath. Not impossible but the commitment in time to do all this has seen me duck out and confine my practice to home. I do plenty of standing and a reasonable amount of pacing (and much sitting at my desk) but that’s no substitute for your long walks or @higherheels visits to Christmas markets. I’m hope this year the canals will be a bit more navigable and I can get to places where practice is as easy as stepping off the boat

Oh, I don't know if you can say with conviction that you're bringing up the rear. After all, you have only my word as evidence. I say that my standards are high, but you've never actually seen me walk. I might be terrible! My main concern in real life is to avoid looking like a complete idiot. I do not feel like I succeeded in that on Sunday. Yesterday (Monday) was an incrementally better day.

I am fairly lucky when it comes to women's shoes and clothing. I'm fairly predictable. Size 9 USW shoes. Or maybe 8.5 for sandals. Size 4 bottoms, not size 6, not size 2. Which sometimes translates to size 27. . . 27? Don't ask me. My actual waist size is approximately 30". Also, it's better if whatever it is is labeled 4P (for petite), otherwise, I have to get it hemmed. We won't even get into odd-numbered juniors sizing, which you would think would fit my non-curvy body better, but it doesn't.