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I saw these for sale and my reaction was, truthfully, "Ugly as can be." Maybe others will disagree with me but these are a mess as they look like shoes a clown would wear. I think they are personally hand painted.

Hideous. Truly hideous.

I can see them as part of a costume, but probably not for lunch. To each their own If someone does wear them, I'll congratulate their confidence level.

Frankenstein seems to be supplying the style cues to modern fashion designers

Yes, there are! And it's not just boots, either. I think they have managed to figure out a way to make heeled footwear these days that is even uglier than those of the Saturday Night Fever era. I didn't think that was possible. I saw a woman at a restaurant just two days ago wearing Mary Janes with substantial heels, but they were very Frankenstein's Monster-like. Worth a second look, but not a third.

My ex-wife was a flight attendant for American Airlines from the late 80s to early 90s. I remember reading through her material, and at that time, female flight attendants were required to wear no less than 1" heels in the airport and while seating passengers. There was a maximum, too, and I think it was 3-something inches? Can't remember. During the flight, the "allowable" heel heights were 0-1.5 inches. My ex-wife simply wore block heeled Ferragamo pumps, for which she paid a princely sum, but wore for years, with heels of 1.5 inches, and never had to switch shoes. It would seem, from recent experience, that all Asian based airlines still require their female flight attendants to wear heels except during the actual flying part of their jobs. If it's not required, they just all do it, without exception. To be fair, I've never ever seen a flight attendant in Asia with actual high heels. Their standard issue appears to be sub-3 inch. I know that for many people, that's a burden.

@mlroseplant I also think that your pumps look higher than the sandals. The 6 mm difference is visible, but for me it's also the heel shape. The heel of the pumps is more bent towards the front, so the distance between the arch and the heel is smaller - which also happens with a higher heel. So it's kind of an optical illusion of a higher heel. That's something I also thought about when it comes to heel heights. I think most people refer to their actual heel height in their size, but for the comparison of steepness and look it's irrelevant.

Passing through Leeds train station today. Although the overwhelming majority of people are in trainers, there are a surprising number of heels being worn including stilettos. Nearly all the heels being worn are boots, and generally chunky heels There are sure a lot of ugly boot styles out there …

I’ve made a virtue out of necessity by buying very good quality- but very few pairs. I think it’s worked out well!

Another all hands meeting today. While walking to a meeting, a woman stopped me to show me her "fancy" heels. She wanted to take a picture with our heels together. Also had several conversations about heels with women between breaks.

All hands meeting today. After the meeting I was walking to a breakout session and a friend (unofficial high heel club member) was stopped by two woman and was talking about how she can walk in heels (4 inch stilettos today). As we walked pass the group, my friend pointed out my 4 inch heels and my fingernails and toenails to the two women she was talking to. She also has exquisite nails. This "club member" is the same one that organized the tour in the post above.

Here is a comparison between the blue sandals I wore a few days ago, which actually measure 111 mm, and some D'Orsay pumps in the same color, which measure 117 mm. Is it just me, or does the shoe on the right appear to be significantly taller than the one on the left, even though there is only 6 mm difference (1/4")? I have no idea what they would be in USW size 7 or 8. I haven't practiced walking in either one this week. Bad for me.

They look like the perfect height to me... Tall enough to look great while still being able to walk well in them and enjoy wearing them

I have a whole lot of just shy of 12 cm heels, but very few actual truly 12 cm heels. Here is one pair that measures in at 11.5 cm (or 4 1/2"). Now that we have the challenge going, why do these look slightly stumpy to me? Wish they had another 1-2 cm on the heel.

Releasing pictures of my church OOTW for August 17. I chose to be blue, with my Steve Madden single band ankle strap sandals. Which feel really weird to me. And by weird, I mean they feel weird when I walk in them by their design. I don't know why this should be so, but it's probably because I have so few ankle strap shoes. I tend to stay away from them since my legs are so short, and I've heard that I should stick to mules to have a visually uninterrupted leg. I don't know if I believe that or not, but it's how I justify having so many mules. With the pants I chose, you can't really see the ankle straps anyway, so what's the difference?

I always choose my shoes first, then choose the outfit to go along with them. Sometimes, this ends up being the opposite of what I intended. For example, I was looking through my collection yesterday morning, and I thought, "Hmm, I haven't worn my blue suede single band sandals in forever! Although I based the outfit around them, nobody said anything about my shoes. I got a number of comments on my shirt! Go figure.

I got into higher heels to shorten my calf so that it could heal. A level 3 tear, they should have operated on it, but with a 65 cm circumference it was just too enflamed. I continue in heels for my hip. I will put my heels on at home and go to work, 8 to 16 hours continuously spent in 10 to 12 cm heels everyday I work. More hours in heels equates to less hip pain.

I have thought about this for a couple of days, and I still don't know what I would wear for a race. Actually, I absolutely know what I would wear, but they don't meet the 10 cm required steepness. I don't feel like any of my boots which do meet the requirement have sturdy enough construction for a race. I suppose I would wear one of the pairs shown below. Even though they are mules, they fit quite snugly and are sturdy. In fact, the black pair has over 275 miles on it (them?), and counting!