radiodave

Nice look! Glad your outings are going well for you.

Nice adventure radiodave! When I was first reading your post, I was a little concerned about the socks. However, they looked quite nice with the shoes, so I assume that they were not conventional men's socks. Recently, I found knee high tights by HUE in a clearance rack and bought five pair and love them. The shoes were a nice choice for heeling! Also, you must be lucky to be able to find such good shoes; you must have a smaller foot than mine.

Keep it up!

Thanks HF! I can usually wear a women's 8.5-9 shoe, and my feet are narrow, so that's a plus for me. I bought a bunch of women's trouser socks so I had some thin socks to wear, and they work out well. I just have to keep my nails trimmed though; I had to retire a few after I put some holes in the tips of them .

Those are great stories! Thank you for sharing. Both pair of shoes are fantastic. What brand are they? Also, in your pictures did you pull up the leg of your trousers to show the shoes, or is that where they naturally fell on your ankle?

Keep it up...I am looking forward to more adventures.

The wedge sandals are made by Aerology, and the slingbacks are Vera by Vera Wang. I got both of them at Kohl's. I did lift up my pant leg a little to get a picture of them.

More adventures:

Tonight I put on my 4" T-strap wedges from Steve Madden with some thin dark socks (it was a little cooler out) wore them with my tan dress pants, grey sueded shirt, and went over to Radio Shack to get a part to fix my coffee maker. Almost a tragedy at my house this morning when my coffee maker wouldn't heat up, but it turned out to be a bad fuse. Why not replace the $1.69 fuse instead of the $30 coffee maker?

Getting out of the car, a guy was walking by with his son. I glanced over, realizing that these shoes were a bit on the noisy side. He didn't seem overly concerned, and I didn't look to see if he stared after I passed him. There was only the one guy working the counter at Radio Shack, and he seemed bored. Even the brief clop clop didn't faze him. I found my replacement fuse, he rang me up, and I doubt he even noticed. Maybe if I'd worn some 5" stilettos he might have noticed .

Coming out of Radio Shack, I'm walking along the storefronts to cross over to my car, and a group of Latinos comes out of a store. Hmm... These guys are wearing ball caps backward, chains, and it's looking like a possible entertaining moment for all parties. Suck it up, smile and nod in greeting, and don't stare. One guy kind of made a U-turn and walked right past me, and the others asked "Adonde vas?" (where are you going?). I figure I remember enough Spanish from high school that I'd be able to figure out if I'm the subject of their conversation, but I didn't hear anything else. The guy making the U-turn walked back toward the trash can at the curb, but he didn't seem to be looking down. The others were looking my way, but nobody started smirking or laughing uncontrollably, and they didn't seem to be staring at the shoes. I had to remind myself that folks will look, they might stare, and there's nothing wrong with that. Sure enough, all was fine! No laughs, no ugly looks, no loud epithets, and the world didn't come to an end!

I went over to another store, and browsing the racks a couple was too interested in whatever they were looking at to even notice. The sales lady might have noticed, but didn't seem the slightest bit concerned. She mentioned the sky was looking like it was going to try raining, and I replied that it's been going between rainy and sunny all day. She wished me a good evening, I did the same to her, and went on my way.

Sorry the pictures are a little dark.

I have a 1977 MG Midget convertible, rescued from a friend's garage. You can read about it and see a picture here. http://www.hhplace.org/discuss/hhplace_cafe_-_general_chit_chat/10460-hot_rod_s.html#post158595

Welcome!

I thought I'd start my own thread of outings, however brief they may be. My ex-wife and I discussed at length, and I'm ready to try more of them. We're still best friends, and she's cool with me wearing the shoes in public more, even if she's around. Yesterday, I had to run an errand to the bank, and went by way of the coffee shop on the way back. I wore some beige Dockers, a red polo shirt, and some wedge heeled sandals. Not the tiniest bit of reaction from anyone at the bank, despite the noise. Going by the coffee shop, a couple folks sitting inside must have seen them, but no stares. I had put some clear nail polish on, but it wasn't too noticeable. I had thought really hard about trying my slingback open toe heels for the morning's outings, but thought I'd play it safe. I headed over to visit the ex-wife, since she had a couple things she found I had left there. We chatted for a long while, and I wore the new slingbacks with the same outfit. She thought it looked good, and while it may not have been much of an outing since it was just driving to her house and back, they were quite comfortable. We talked about possibly going to see a play next weekend, and hinted I might wear a pair of heels. Her only comment was to be aware that most of the audience is of the senior citizen variety, so we shall see. Not much heel wearing today, since I was wrestling with my collector car to put a new fuel pump in. Maybe after dinner I'll go get some ice cream. Need to make some short trips with the collector car to make sure I really have the vapor locking problem licked before I go on longer ones. Speaking of the vapor locking little car, an interesting event last week, though not involving shoes. Some folks from work asked me to join them for a drink after work, so after a round of pints one of the ladies handed her friend a bottle of nail polish, either returning it or replacing it, not sure which. Anyway, the friend proceeded to half jokingly offer to paint the guys' nails around the table. Of course, the more "manly" ones flat out refused as though their manliness would be destroyed by a few dabs of red nail polish. Well, I half jokingly stuck my hand out and offered mine up. SHE ACTUALLY DID MINE! Well, there were a few guffaws from the other folks around the table, but I just shrugged it off (maybe that pint was starting to have an effect ). Well, it so happens on this day I had driven my little car to work, and it was hot that evening. Well, this ugly vapor locking problem stalled the car 3 times on the way home. The third time it stalled, I was in my development, and was literally 100 feet from the peak of the hill where I could have coasted the rest of the way to my house. Each time it stalled, I had to wait a few minutes for the engine to cool, then pull the fuel line off the carburetor and suck fuel (kids, don't try this at home ) through the pump to get the fuel pump going again. While I was trying to get it running yet again (while cursing the fine fuel pump design and wishing it could have made it just another 100 feet), a few of the neighbors there showed up to help out. So there I am with my head buried under the hood of an antique car, with the fuel pump cover off, tools in hand, trying to prime the fuel pump, in full view of several good Samaritans while sporting red nail polish. Heh heh, bet that's something they don't see every day. Nobody stared or said anything, and they graciously offered to push the car up the hill if I couldn't get it running. I didn't want to impose too much of their time or effort, so in one last ditch effort, I got the engine running briefly, thanked the good Samaritans, then gunned it to make it just over the hilltop, at which point it died yet again. Fortunately, it managed to coast all the way back into my garage. When I came into work the next day, one of the guys who was really having an aversion to the nail painting happened to glance and asked how I got the nail polish off, but nobody else (not even the lady doing the painting) mentioned anything else about it.

Nice look, Johnie!

Welcome Scot! You've come to the right place. Sorry things didn't go so well with your s/o. Lots of others here with wives and girlfriends who are cool with it. My wife was cool with them too, although we split for other reasons. Good for you for trying them outside, something I'm doing more of too.

Guess I should have elaborated. I wasn't feeling quite brave enough to wear them in public. I wore heels around my wife frequently at home.

If your ex-wife is also your best friend, what kept you from wearing heels around her? I

What makes you think I didn't?

At my local Nine West store, I found these.

http://www.ninewest.com/n/browse/product.s?source=search&productId=2923748

I think I am in lust.

Good choice, I have a very similar pair. I just wore them out this weekend with nary a reaction. Very comfortable, too.

Agreed, Gwyneth is looking pretty hot...

Fastfreddy: Thanks. She actually beat me to the dinner invitation, and she insisted since she was delayed in meeting up with me. She hadn't planned on being so late, but I did offer ice cream afterward. Mtnsofheels: I'm partial to sandals myself, even though many guys here focus more on boots and pumps. Guess I always thought sandals were cool, and hated the ugly sandals that guys normally have to pick from.

I was envying the sunny, warm weather outside, so I figured it was time to push the envelope with some sandals. I had a pair of nice wedges by Ralph Lauren http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/32926865/c/144786.html that I wanted to wear, because they were very comfortable and I thought they weren't too outrageous. I wore them with some beige Dockers, and a blue short sleeved dress shirt. Not a bad look, if I say so myself. I got rid of the few hairs that had grown back, trimmed my nails, and put some clear nail polish on.

I went over to Macy's, because I needed some new dress pants. Getting out of the car, I don't think anyone noticed. Following someone into Macy's, a car pulled up to the curb asking for directions to JC Penney's, which the person I was following answered for them. No response at all to the shoes. Walking along the linoleum floor there was a little noise, but nobody really noticed. Browsing among the dress pants, other shoppers were paying much more attention to the racks. I found a pair that was slightly long, so I went to try them on to see how much longer they would be. Walking into the fitting rooms, there was a saleslady on her knees doing some alterations to a guy's pants (boy, that could be interpreted many different ways... ), so I walked past into the fitting room. Now the strange thing was, the guy having the alterations done left his pants in the room I happened to pick, so I got caught with my pants down (literally!) when he came to get his old pants! Well, I think he was more embarrassed at walking in, so he apologized for the intrusion, and he pointed to his pants hanging on the hook. Surely, he had a good view of my shoes at that point, but he didn't seem to notice.

At the checkout I caught up with the saleslady who had been doing the alterations, and I think she glanced down but smiled and asked if there was anything else she could help with. A few stockboys noticed on the way out, but no looks of surprise.

I stopped by Starbuck's to satisfy my cafe mocha craving, and getting out of the car, there were at least two couples seated outside who surely saw the shoes. No stares, and they didn't seem too interested. Waiting at the counter there were a couple of older guys sitting around shooting the breeze, and apparently one caught a glimpse and mentioned to his friend, who turned around, looked at the shoes, then looked up. I looked back at both of them and just smiled a little, so they quickly looked away and went back to shooting the breeze. On the way out, the same couples seemed pretty uninterested.

Yesterday I went by DSW to look around, and found some extreme platforms by Jessica Simpson http://www.dsw.com/dsw_shoes/catalog/product.jsp?index=10&category=&prodId=169904&brand=300183. Completely impractical I'm sure, and probably not soon to be worn outside, but I can always wear them around the house. Trying them on in the store, nobody seemed the slightest bit concerned. Last night I had to meet up with my ex-wife to exchange a couple things, and she asked me out for dinner since we both hadn't eaten. I was thinking so hard about wearing some heels, but surprisingly enough, I couldn't decide what to wear! That and I wasn't feeling quite brave enough. At dinner she actually pointed out some nice heels as somebody walked past. Ah, too bad she's an ex-wife, but we're still best friends and want to keep things that way. She's even mentioned we ought to go camping once I get the camper (which she gave me) all set to go. Anyway, I mentioned I had thought about wearing some heels to dinner, and she almost seemed surprised that I didn't! She laughed when I said I couldn't settle on what to wear, but when I mentioned my DSW shopping she mentioned that I ought to put my increased confidence to work, hence today's outing. I told her I would have let her know if I had decided to wear them to dinner when she called, so she wouldn't have too much of a surprise.

I have two; a Magnavox console stereo from about 1960 (all glow-in-the-dark technology ), and a Technics head unit that was given to me broken. I repaired the Technics a few times for bad solder joints, blown dial lamps, and even a open transformer primary (thank goodness the other 120 volt winding was still available). I daresay the Magnavox has probably needed considerably fewer repairs, since I only sprung for a new set of output tubes. My folks gave me an original LP of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (I'm a big Beatles fan), and happily, the Magnavox can play it. Come to think of it, I think they have an LP of their white album too; I should ask if they can find it since they are coming over for the weekend.

Just bought a pair of BCBGirls "Nice" pumps. Very classic style, and they fit nicely. http://www.zappos.com/images/737/7374709/8521-537286-d.jpg

Sounds like a terrific outing! I've been itching to do more public heeling this summer as well. I've got vacation to use, and giving some thought to going someplace where heeling wouldn't raise too many eyebrows, bring lots of pairs with me, and wear them as I please.

Congrats! Hope you enjoy them! You might be surprised, but very few sales people give a second thought to guys trying on heels. I try them on in stores frequently, and even other shoppers don't pay much attention. I suspect in an adult store the sales folk are probably even more open minded.

Since the VA Tech shooting, I would not be surprised if suspicious folks are more likely to be questioned. That said though, my alma mater probably wouldn't have given a second thought to anyone walking on the grounds or through the student union. I've gone to the bookstore and to the theaters after I graduated and no longer had a student ID, but all was fine. You might raise more eyebrows if you go into other buildings where classrooms are, but if you are just wearing high heels I can't believe the security folks would single you out for just walking across the grounds. Just keep your other clothes on . Unless signs are actually posted saying only students, faculty or employees are permitted, then I don't think there would be a problem.

I went with straight, but my wife actually conjectured I might be bi. Funny thing is, since she mentioned it I gave it some thought and it's not such a far-out thought. Even she admitted she could be attracted to another woman given the chance. So, I won't rule out that possibility.

im sorry but i cannot lie. i don't like them!

Ah well, to each his own.

Radiodave...

I am so happy for your positive shoe shopping experience. It is always great when the clerk endorses the high heels that you try on, buy, and even wear out of the store, if you prefer.

It is good to here these shoe shopping stoies with the happy endings.

Good for you!

I was almost thinking of wearing them out of the store, but I got cold feet (pun intended ). Probably better that way, I went to put them on when I got to my car, and my dark socks had left black fuzzies all over my feet. Might have made an unusual look look much worse, and I think wearing my black work socks with them would have looked awful. Maybe someday I'll wear new shoes out of the store, but I think I'll wear something that's easier to change out of first.

Cool! Sounds like you had a good trip!

I went over to the Steve Madden store, because I had my eyes on this style.

http://www.stevemadden.com/item.aspx?id=40395

Not very discreet, and probably not my first choice to try wearing in public, but I like the style. There were two ladies working there (nice legs and heels ), and a few customers there. Found them in black, and the one helping me out didn't blink an eye. Only had them in 8.5 (I usually take a 9), but she helpfully said they tend to run large. So, I casually asked if I could try the 8.5. No reaction at all, and the other customers there didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed. They fit fine, even with my thick socks. The sales lady pointed out that these were on the buy 1 get 1 half off rack, and asked if I was interested in anything else. Not today but thanks anyway, I said.

When I got home, I couldn't find my cell phone. I had it tucked inside my pocket, where it sometimes falls out. I had this awful thought that it fell out in the store when I was trying the shoes on, and when I took a quick scan of my car I didn't spot it on the floor. So, I called up the store, explained that I was there earlier and wondered if anybody had found a cell phone. She said no, but apparently recognized me and said enjoy the shoes. I took another look around my car, and found my phone had gotten caught in the seat belt. Phew! The store was about a 45 minute drive away, and I wasn't looking forward to a round trip.

There was an episode of "Cops" (reality TV with actual police camera footage) where the police pulled over a guy, but were making light of the fact that he was in drag. "She" did not seem very amused at all. I recall they made her get out of the car to do a field sobriety test, but they at least blurred the face out. The officer didn't seem concerned, but the narration of the video was obviously trying to make fun of the fact that they had pulled over a crossdresser. I guess I can say don't drink and drive (you shouldn't anyway), but drinking and driving while going in drag could be worse.