PaulS

I've got bolder in the latest week at work - I've been working very long days and so by the time I finish, I can't go out usual exit (which gets locked), so I have to walk through to the other building and past security. Thus, this week I have done my first public heeling in situations where I was knew I was almost sure to be spotted (albeit by one or two people). The first of these nights, I wore pointy-toed knee boots (with trousers out over the boots) with about a 2½ inch kitten heel. I enjoyed the long walk on the pavement outside to the car park I needed to get to, I heard a car pass, I expected they wouldn't notice at all, and of course they didn't. The second night where I had to do this, I wore another relatively low-ish heel (another kitten?), some matt black Mary Janes from Matalan. (I find that high heels seem manageable at home but there is nothing like a walk of distance on concrete or tarmac to show you just how much you need to improve). I went past security in these. One issue I was conscious of, was my bare feet in the shoes contrasting with my grey pants and black shoes. I'd been meaning to get some opaque knee length hosiery for these sort of outings but hadn't got round to it. At the bus stop between car parks, I could see someone was waiting at the bus stop. I decided to just do it and walk past, the lady at the bus stop gave me either a friendly smile or a wry smile (as in had noticed/heard the shoes), not sure which. Finally, today I had to work a Sunday due to pressure of work. I had the office pretty much to myself, and had finally bought some knee-high opaques at Tesco. Changed to some black patent mid-heeled t-bars when I got to my desk. Going between my desk, coffee machine and toilets, I felt confident. The more adventurous part was going to the restaurant for dinner. Took my meal to the micowaves, I had forgotten someone (a young lad) would be serving in the shop, but carried on and heated my meal. Took it from the plastic floor tiles to the tables on the wooden floor where the heels were even louder. I didn't panic about it, in fact I even took a detour to pick up a newspaper someone had left. Had a relaxed half hour meal eating, reading Blackberry and newspaper, then left the restaurant with loud heels. Common advice on this site is to blend into big crowds where you're not noticed. My experiences this week were a different side of the coin, where you will probably be noticed but couldn't expect a challenge (senior IT staff on premises, displaying ID, in a pro-diversity company...security and catering staff wouldn't even consider being hostile).

I'm currently looking to be leaving the office regularly wearing women's shoes. It's working fine at the moment when I have a lot of work and leave the office late. But suppose I'm able to leave at 16:00 due to not much project work, I fear I will not have the balls to strike a blow for fellow site members...

When I work late...say 7:30 - 8:00 pm-ish...I am starting to establish a routine of doing a few circuits of the office floor, going down 2 flights of stairs, and click-clacking over to my car at the far end of the car park. In theory, I could be seen by workers next door on lates, although I do a check for them before moving towards the building exit. I think the next step is, to be able to heel my way to the car when I don't work quite so late (say until 6:00), when I will be spotted for sure. My employer is a well-known airline that appoints diversity champions. I think I would like to just confirm with my diversity champion, that what I am doing is totally kosher. Not saying I would expect to be allowed to turn up at a meeting with an important customer wearing red patent 5 inch thigh highs with nil repercussions, but more like, can I arrive in man shoes and clack-clack out of the office in heels, 100% confident I am not breaking any rules? I think I need to send that e-mail soon guys! Anyhow, my walk to my car tonight matched some light chinos very nicely with Barratts nude courts...

I think it is ok for guys to wear pink heels, I have no problems wearing a pink T-shirt, pink tie or pink dress shirt out and about, might only wear pink heels outside in a bohemian area though!

On our holiday in Tenerife last year, we met a family whose 15 year old lad always wore bright colours including pink, and I mean trainers, polo shirts, shorts and he had no problems with it. (I think he might have drawn the line at heels though!)

I have been wanting a pair for ages.... Barratts did do a pair, but cant get them in my size:sad: but I have found this pair on banana shoes so might give them a go..

http://www.bananashoes.com/popup_image.php?type=D&id=601&title=Seduce%20420&area=C

I have those shoes. I think they were my second ever pair (out of 100+), bought from eBay seller StrictlyStilettos at the time (2007). Did you go ahead and buy them??

To be fair to FoxyHeels, you can't even see whether or not he's wearing makeup, and he did ask politely about the photos. Furthermore this is a shoe website and those killer heels really make the outfit work. That said, I take the point about how this is a site promoting that men should be 'allowed' to wear heels with their regular men's clothes. Personally I'm interminably busy and so I mostly just settle for wearing shoes around the house, and would like to wear and practice them outdoors in man's clothes without anyone so much as blinking an eyelid, so I'm also on the side of the mission of this forum. I think there's 2 distinct prejudices that need to be tackled in society. (1) That I might possibly get verbal abuse if I walked down Northumberland Street in man's t-shirt, man's jeans, and 5 inch black stilettos. (2) If I walked down the same street 'en femme' without passing, I might get even more trouble. Either prejudice is as bad as the other, but it will be interesting to see which of these 2 prejudices Western liberal democracies are able to address first...

I posted the following comment on the website in support of Lenny: Lenny Kravitz always looks cool in my opinion. It’s a little sad that some posters, who live in Western liberal democracies in the 21st century, feel they should tell Lenny what he should wear. ‘Live and let live.’ - Paul on January 28th, 2011 Above my comment was one from a female who likes the outfit, good on her, although there is still much to be done in battling prejudice judging by other posts. I will post my thoughts on this later when I'm not so busy at work...

I think the overall look is pretty cool for a rock musician, with the all-black, the shades, and the boots above all! A discussion point I would like to suggest, is the idea that, if anyone is going to blaze a trail for male high-heeled fashions, rock/heavy metal musicians might play a key part in leading that trend. Rock and metal music has previously included trends such as long permed hair, leather, eyeliner, etc. I witnessed at high school, some years ago, classmates experiencing harrassment purely for having long hair. This shows rock/metal trends go against the grain, and I wonder how far away rock musicians are from rounding their stage gear off with boots, spike heels, etc...?

I doubt ballerinas are 'a taboo subject??'...they are still pretty women's shoes as well as a recent trend...I'm sure no-one will mind. Ballerinas let you do the housework quicker, etc. They're still 'in', and offer you the chance to wear women's shoes without some of the drawbacks of heels...

Thanks for your reply jwhite44. I would say, why worry about sales assistants who just want to make the sale? I'm not saying my pulse rate wouldn't have increased had they come to my aisle while I was walking up and down in the heels as opposed to leaving me to it...but I guess that sales assistants should be on your side 99.9% of the time...? I've never yet tried on shoes with other customers on the same aisle though...

Interesting thread, I would not have even thought of the idea of sleeping in any shoes men's or women's before reading this. The next time my wife is not at the house overnight I will give this a try and see what it's like to wake up in heels.

I've not seen an immediately obvious message about this, but...what about 'crack of dawn' early mornings for the shy heeler? I know busy places are recommended by members who've tried and tested them, and they know what they are talking about through successful experience. But if anyone is still shy and wants to build up to that, or simply wants to practice the shoes on more challenging surfaces than the living room carpet - is it the case that very early in the morning is better than 'after dark'? Basically no chance of encountering people who are drunk, and the only people you are going to meet are the paper boy and dog walkers...what could go wrong?

This thread inspired me to try on shoes in a shop for the first time last week. This is a change for me because I own over 100 pairs of women's shoes, but this was my first ever trying on. After working late, I needed to do a little food shopping. The local retail park has a Brantano, and I pulled up outside it with this thread in mind, at about 7:45 pm, 15 minutes before closing time. Big 'Sale' signs on display... I resolved to go in to try on, and entered 5 minutes later. Asked the staff what closing time was. Went to the Ladies 9 section at the back of the store. With the place closing I had it all to myself. Saw some blue suede effect 3½ stilettos at only £5. Decided what the hell, and put on first the display model, then the left shoe from the box. Did an up-and-down the aisle walk in these easy shoes. I next tried some gorgeous red patent peep-toe stilettos, about 4½ inches. Another easy walk up and down the aisle, perhaps due to the concealed platform...sadly these were £26 and I have too many shoes but not enough money... I didn't like to try but not buy. So one more try of the blue shoes then I bought them. Asked the female sales assistants at checkout how long sale was on for. Also commented to the girl serving me that these shoes were a steal at £5, she agreed they were. Went to do my food shopping with a big smile on my face feeling very proud of myself. Strange to feel afraid of trying on shoes until you actually do it and it not only goes well, it positively makes your day...

Thanks to all of you for the replies.

It's an interesting point that you get less noticed the busier the place you go. So far in my limited outdoor heeling I've tended to deliberately choose places with very few people about but I suppose you can blend into a crowd and you don't have to worry about other people appearing because they are already there!

As you say IBL70 enjoy the excitement when it's there. On the odd occasion I've been heeling outdoors it's exciting if a little scary and something to feel proud of afterwards. One day maybe it will feel 'normal' like for some site members who always step out in heels.

Thanks for rosesforum.tv link, didn't know that forum so will check it out.

Hello! Would like to introduce myself before posting elsewhere... My interest in heels stems from a desire to wear women's apparel in general, i.e. I am a crossdresser (clothes, jewellry, wig, full make-up, perfume, false nails etc...), which I believe is beyond the scope of this forum. However, due to simply being too busy nowadays, that's not something I get to do nearly as often as the '1 day on most weekends' I would ideally like. To some extent I make up for this with shoes - I routinely wear them round the house. As well as enjoying wearing the shoes I appreciate the opportunity to practice high stilettos, at least to some extent...busy housework will see me in ballerina pumps or even...men's slippers! I am fortunate to have an understanding wife. When I get home from work and typically change into men's casual clothes and women's shoes from my collection of over 100 pairs, she enjoys a quick try to guess the style and colour. She even does my make-up on the occasions when we have the time and space for me to go the whole hog. I share the desire of many (or all? ) members to be able to stretch out outdoors for the challenge and enjoyment of walking any sort of distance in heels. I've done this a small number of times: * One Hallowe'en, my wife agreed to accompany me on a circuit round the block (that night I was answering the door to trick or treaters in full witch costume!). So in 5 inch Pleaser Seduce black patent stilettos, I did one circuit with her (uneventful) and then 2 on my own. The 2nd, I passed a lad who did a double take. The 3rd, as I was coming off the main road onto my street, 2 teenage girls were saying 'Is that a bloke?' and ran up to me. My 'excuse' was I was returning home from a fancy dress party which had been 'a good laugh'. They asked if the shoes were killing my feet, and had I borrowed them from my girlfriend? I'm 5 foot 8 inches tall and size UK 9 - I said I got them from Priceless for £10 (actually about £25 from an eBay site). * Following that, on lunch breaks from my workplace, I would practice those same shoes on the promenade by the river, with a plastic bag in my hand with my man shoes to change into should I spot someone walking my way... * After getting into this forum recently, I've done a little more outdoors. Today after work this evening I went away from my car, along the riverside, without any men's shoes in a bag as backup. I was only wearing 3 inch Mary Janes with a chunkier heel, but for the first time ever I clack-clacked past a man on one of the seats without changing to men's shoes first, and he could hardly have missed this on the quiet riverbank. I must admit I lost my nerve getting back to my car, where a lad close by was prowling back and forth (waiting for someone?). In the end when he was doing his 'back' stretch, I got to my car barefoot. But it's a start, today is the first time I've not changed to men's shoes the moment I saw someone. I have the Mary Janes and some high black stilettos stored in the under-floor compartments in my car for further opportunities...watch this space!