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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 😄

That's a very detailed inventory you did! I never actually did an inventory of my heels. If I find that a pair is worn out or I don't like it anymore (which never really happens...) it has to go. And new pairs come by themselves anyways 😀

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 finally got a chance to walk around in a photograph my new shoes from Highest Heel. The weather actually approaced 0º yesterday, so I didn't feel like I was totally freezing every time I stepped out the door. The verdict is, I think they're quite attractive, and they seem to fit well. I cannot say that with 100% confidence because I never actually left my driveway, nor do I think this will happen anytime soon. Let's put it this way: No one but the across the street neighbor can watch me walk in them just yet, I won't allow it. Over the last couple of days, I've spent several hours each day in 11 cm shoes, but these 12.5 cm are a whole different level. To be fair, I didn't feel like I had it together anyway yesterday. I was not walking well in the 11 cm, much less the higher ones. I guess it was just one of those days. I was walking just fine at the jazz festival on Saturday in the same shoe (same model, different color), and I walked just fine at the grocery store on Friday in the same exact 11 cm shoes, but I could not seem to find my feet yesterday. Here's the specs: Model name of this shoe is Hottie (I wonder if it's a nod to the Hot Chicks), they are not real leather, but appear to be of reasonable quality, with a similar look and feel to my Steve Madden patent pumps. The actual heel height measures 13.3 cm, and when I run it through my 0.94 formula, I get the 12.5 cm equivalent to size 38. These are labeled size 9 USW. The heel width is 8 mm. Pretty narrow, but not super freaky fetish narrow. Here are some photographs: 1) A closeup, 2) the shoes with an outfit, and then for comparison, 3) the 11 cm shoes I actually wore to church with the outfit. Except for the height difference, I think the shoes are almost a dead ringer for the shoes I've already got.

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!

Yes, doing this with @mlroseplant and @higherheels has really made a huge difference to me. They’ve become virtual colleagues and I think of them fondly whenever I am practicing, even if I am bringing up the rear in terms of my skill level. Their encouragement has been a great help

Yes, they can’t read a map or tell time on a traditional clock. If we brought those two things back, plus stick shifts on cars and cursive writing we could take down the whole western world

Some of my lists and schedules are written in Latin on vellum with a quill pen. (Wax tablets have proved increasingly hard to source.)

This morning I was back in my 12cm stilettos and as I was tottering about making breakfast I realised that something just wasn't right with the left boot. It's not just lack of practice or an inability to make the jump from 10cm to 12 cm, but something wrong with the heel itself. I took the boots off and gave the left boot a thorough examination. When I placed the sole flat on my table, so I could crouch down and see how the heel met the surface, it was obvious that the shank has twisted slightly. The heel is definitely a few degrees off vertical. It wasn't just my imagination or lack of talent. It's a relief in some way, I've been feeling frustrated, thinking how @mlroseplant and @higherheels have made such splendid progress while I seem to be getting nowhere. It's depressing too. This is my only pair of 12cm heels. I've been looking at the offerings of Fuss-Schuhe as recommended by @higherheels in another thread, and I like some of their boots very much, but alas the magazine world is not so brilliant at the moment and it might be a while before I can afford to buy myself some nice new 12cm stiletto boots. In the meantime I am going for immersive practice in my 10cm heels - hoping to maintain my abilities!

Haha you're so funny 😀 I also like hand-writing. Writing on the PC may be more efficient, but a hand-written paper is just something different than a file or printed file.

Yeah, there's the rub. If you want something truly great, it's going to take your artistic imagination, and way more time and effort than I will ever spend trying to photograph my own heels. I always end up doing the same three or four poses on my back deck, junky extension ladder and all. The most exciting thing about the pictures is keeping everyone guessing whether I will get my heel caught in the gaps between the boards. But then, the purpose of my photographs is not to be great art. I'm not really sure what they're supposed to be. I share them with you guys and one other person, my friend from university. At least I don't take pictures in a dirty mirror anymore.

My first was a Minolta then a Canon AE-1. I loved film and could disappear into a darkroom for hours. I studied photography at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque back in the day when Route 66 still ran through the heart of the city (Central Ave). Lots of cool stuff to shoot. Much as I loved my hours in the darkroom I wouldn’t go back to that - I like digital. i want to try some shots in heels, but I want them to be stylish - artistically speaking even if the subject is not stylish at all!

I was barely an adult and at a funeral of all places when I first saw a sweater dress and ever since then have appreciated the style of that particular dress. My wife has a few, but my favorite is because of how we got it. We were having lunch in the food court of a mall and beside us was a boutique store. Way up high was this garment and so the gently quarreling that my wife and I so began. I said it was a sweater dress and she said it was a long sweater and so we went back and forth during our meal. Afterwards I asked the clerk at the store which it was and she said it was a very short sweater dress then asked us quickly if we wanted it. Needless to say, that very short sweater dress came home with us. That one was gray in color, but I admire the boldness of red too, in both the Red Dress and Fire Engine Red manicure. Good for you though the color defies your username! (Just teasing you Bluejay) I saw a woman at the store the other day wearing a bold red dress with red beret… something else I love for no apparent reason except I have always liked berets, and wanted to compliment on her outfit as she was older, perhaps 65 or so and wore it stunningly well, but did not want to sound creepy so I stayed mum. But I thought she looked sharp.

Wow, that is quite the inventory system you have there. IF... and I am in no way saying you have too... but if you switched that to an Excel spreadsheet, and then added a few columns for dates, hours worn and miles treaded you could have a detailed list of your heel's life history. Of how many miles on them, what days they were worn and where. By akl means, add what is important information for you. Compile that date into a graph and you could see just which shoes were worn the most, or how many had the most miles, and even in actual miles or by percentages. I do this with my money and it has its uses. You could do it with shoes...

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

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".

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 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.

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.

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...

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.

English shoe sizes are unisex.

I was look at a shoe company's website, can't remember which one, but they advertised an ankle boot as unisex. First time I've seen that.

As with mastering any new skill practice is the best conduit to success. Success is constructed with confidence gleaned through self-esteem and positive input from those around you. That practice can take the form of walking around the house/yard then doing tasks. Drive somewhere in your heels and practice in the real world. Once you can prove to yourself that you can do it better things are inevitable. HinH

Good topic. As to go-go boots I don’t have ant but understand their allure as some retailers have tried to cater to the cd/tg crowd or just guys looking for alternatives in bigger sizes. I really enjoy knee high boots with either stiletto or chunky heels. As to recessed heels I may have a single pair of pumps. High wedge sandals or platform sandals, 5” or higher, are my favorite buys. Once in a while a killer pump with a 5 or 6” heels might make its way into my wardrobe. HinH

Might be a contest in name only since I can’t remember any winner nor how many entries there were. Believe it’s probably best intended to be a communal fashion show. Our own interpretations and style of regular people. Besides that your reputation is already solid. You’ve already won us over.

I had a look at Fuss-Schuhe. I liked what I saw! Thanks for the tip. When I get a bit of money together - the magazine world is not great at the moment! - I think I shall buy some boots from them

I feel quite confident - even a bit cocky! - in my 10cm heels but at 12cm, although I’m improving, I’m still tottery and looking like a beginner in heels.

I still haven't had a chance to really try out my new shoes yet--I spent a good deal of the day yesterday at a jazz band festival with my son. I did wear 11 cm for a good part of the day, and walked at least a few hundred meters, total. I don't really know what I look like in 11 cm, but it does seem to be getting easier! I don't feel clumsy, anyway.

I do agree 100% on that point, it is really more about the attitude and carriage than it is about the shoes. Perhaps that is what makes it so intimidating for us. Almost anybody can get out there and stomp around in 12 cm heels, but to actually look like one belongs in them? Tricky business indeed. I trust that @Shyheels and I will know when we've got to the point when it's time to strut our stuff in the general public. @higherheels has a leg (or a foot) up on us, as she's already worn her 13 cm in public, just not for very long. Speaking of which, I have some exciting news. As you know, I was looking for a pair of 12 cm heels in order to meet this challenge. Actually, I have one pair, but I think they are fairly ugly. I was debating about maybe getting something from Fuss, but being unemployed at the moment, I figure now is not really the time to be spending what amounts to over 200 USD by the time you get them to my door. The Highest Heels look interesting, but they are even more expensive, and I think they're not even leather, at least not all of them. So I went on ebay and typed in "The Highest Heels." I found some black patent pumps, new in the box, for 50 bucks, delivered to my door. I believe them to be a non-current model. I had hoped that they were in fact the full 12 cm, de-rated and temperature corrected for my size 9. As it turns out, they are and then some, at 12.5 cm. And they actually fit. I have not yet really had time to mess with them yet, other than a few steps around the house, but I have a good feeling about these. I'll try to get some pictures taken in the next couple of days. I might wait a couple of days anyway, because the current temperature is -18º according to my thermometer, and by Monday it's supposed to rise above zero.

Been a while. Still kicking

I only know them because of their height chart that we already discussed. Of the two I only know Fuss-Schuhe, I have a few heels from them. I can recommend them, they're good quality at a fair price.

Incredible to see that hhplace and some of it's members exists for so long! I was still a child at that time and the Internet wasn't even really a thing for me until the early 2000s. However I do remember that when first looking for information about high heels I found hhplace 🙂