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A few days ago, warm day and I needed sandals.

Here's my first entry....a work outfit

It's also thick padding under rugs in plush hotels. I had troble in my JS 4+" knee highs and had to switch to my impo 3.5" high calf boots the next day. Several women told me that they had trouble in heels at the convention and asked how I managed to over come the challenge.

For me it is the girth of my toebox vs the narrowness of my heel. I have to use mens US 9.5 EEE to get my feet into most shoes, then have to deal with 1/2 inch of space on both sides of my heel. Women's regular US size 10 (sometimes 11 on pointed shoes) fits great most of the time. I just have trouble with vamps, especially all pumps and shoes with toe straps that aren't adjustable. I wish I had known this many decades ago and avoided numerous ankle and knee surgeries.

Even in blocky 3.5” heels a lumpy towpath can easily cause you to miss for footing or turn an ankle.

My feet are narrow and long and I’ve always had trouble finding shoes that fit with any precision. Footwear manufacturers just do not seem to believe that anyone has narrow feet - any more than they believe there are any females with feet larger than a UK8

The 20,000 steps wouldn't bother me too much, as long as it was on pavement of some sort. I have proven that a number of times in the past few years, exploring the limits of my stamina in heels. However, I still don't like to walk more than a few steps on anything soft like dirt or grass. Not that it has anything to do with anything, but my son and I noted last weekend that our two "big" lawns, and by "big" I mean about half an acre, require substantially more steps to mow than do our four "small" lawns combined.

It is a vague memory, but I remember that my pediatrician was concerned that my natural gait was too pronated. I had small lifts put in my shoes, underneath the inside parts of my heels. Not exactly arch supports, but something like that. I cannot remember them really feeling like anything. Whether they did any good, I can't say, but I will say that as an adult my shoes have always worn out evenly from side to side. What they should have done is put me in heels from a young age, then maybe I wouldn't have had a terrible looking walk for so many years. Men's or women's shoes make very little difference to me, it's mainly the narrower width that led me to women's shoes, ever since my favorite boot company quit making work boots that were both narrow and short. Evidently, they thought the only people with narrow feet also had long feet.

If anyone is interested in these shoes, they are being sold by Nieman Marcus. Look on their website.

Muddy towpaths wouldn’t do them any favours either

Walking on lawn's in stilettos also causes the stiletto to get very dirty.

As a kid I had metal taps put on my dress shoes. Hated those metal tabs. I also had to endure arch supports, which caused uneven wear. In the 50's early 60's that's part of what they did to control uneven wear on my shoes. The real problem was that my foot is very different from a 'average' man's foot, so all those those things they did to me was to try to force my foot into a boy's shoe. I now understand the damage it did to my knee and ankles. Women's heel is like wearing slippers compare to any ill-fitting men's shoe.

Those are beautiful. Only 1 problem i do not see them in larger size?

Yes that would just tire you out walking 20,000 steps - not the same kind of foolishness as heavy lifting, mowing lawns, or working locks on a canal (dangerous)

Yes, I quit wearing high heels in silly situations a long time ago. Some would argue that no, that's not the case, but you don't catch me mowing lawns or doing any sort of heavy lifting in heels anymore. I seriously doubt that I'll ever visit Disney World or any of its iterations, but if I did, I'd probably wear heels. That is undoubtedly bordering on silliness, but silliness that I'm aware of and can deal with.

I too have never worn metal heel tips nor would I want to for just the reasons mentioned above. Why trash your nice wooden floor or carpet, or somebody else’s? since most of my boots are block heels anyway it’s not an issue I worry much about. And I too dislike kitten heels - they’re neither fish nor fowl as the saying goes. If you’re going to wear stilettos they should be long and thin, like the blade of a dagger - not like the blade of a jackknife.

I do wear OTK boots with heels (and without) and they are a benefit - especially on cold mornings, either inside or standing at the tiller. Stilettos though would not only be silly but dangerous)

Thigh boots with heels (but not perhaps stiletto) would be of benefit in such an environment. Why not push the boat out?

Replacement heel tips (top pieces) in suitable material are readily available econominally online in a variety of sizes and are quite easy to fit with a minimum of tools. The size of the fixing pin can vary, as of course can the size/shape of the tip itself; the latter is not difficult to trim/shape to suit. I suggest that you give such DIY repairs a try, regardless of the availability of any local repairer.

I am in your boat. It definitely helps being on the physically smaller side.

Looks great! Well done!

I have never worn or owned a pair of heels with metal heel tips. When ever the heel tips on my shoes need replacing, I either did it myself using a set of tips that came with the shoes when I bought them or took them to the local shoe repair shop. Same for my wife’s shoes. As for what the tips were made of, I really don’t know for sure. Hard rubber or some sort of rubber/plastic compound, I would guess. Don’t know what I am going to do now since the only local shoe repair shop has closed. The closest one that I have found is 50 miles away from me. My wife and both daughters loved kittens heels. My wife tried to get me interested in them,too. But I managed to put her off without without expressing my opinion on how hideous I thought they were. Speaking of kitten heels, I opened a commercial browser a couple of days ago and saw a advertisement for women’s shoes which featured a pair of Penny Loafers with square toes and kitten heels. Now I love my Penny Loafers. I have two or three pair that are my favorites. Especially the black leather pair with 4” block heels. I just laughed out loud when I saw the pair in the picture. I can’t imagine anyone buying them.

Love the pumps and skinny pants! Bravo

If I'm struck down today my last pair will have been some dark grey suede OTK boots with 3" block heels. Lovely and warm on a cold damp day

Yes, a bold move to be sure. In my world stepping off a boat onto a muddy towpath in stilettos is not something I fancy trying.