at9

First time I've seen a .webp image. Not even heard of the format before. Irfanview opened it OK.

Not really my style but good luck anyway with finding the boots.

Like Shyheels, I was struck by "heels = gay" assumption. I have no real evidence to support this but I suspect that the fraction of gay men who wear heels is smaller than the fraction of straight men.

Some very crude methodology. If we use the common assumption that gay men are about 10% of all men then the fraction of gay men here at HHP seems lower than that.

I've seen white ankle boots in shops in London. Haven't noticed anyone wearing them.

Loads of videos of her playing heels such as:

I mentioned her in another thread a few years ago but can't find it at the moment.

May I encourage people to read and understand this book. The subject has far wider application than men in heels.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Lie-Statistics-Penguin-Business/dp/0140136290

Some examples I found online.

https://picclick.co.uk/Vintage-1970s-Mens-Platform-Shoes-Brown-Tan-173292622473.html

First image here: http://www.hotboots.com/bootinfo/special.html

@Shyheels, I have seen men, as men,  in high heels. I exclude fancy dress parties, Rocky Horror, drag shows, rock stars, cross-dressers  and suchlike as high heels would be commonly seen on men in these circumstances.

I'm old enough to remember the 1970s when heeled footware for men was commonplace. I wonder if or when it will ever come round again. More recently I've seen men in heeled footware around Camden Town in London. But that's the sort of area where you'll see all sorts of unusual clothing. Aside from that, perhaps the occasional pair of cowboy boots with a 2" heel. I've seen expensive heeled footwear for men on display in high-end stores such as Selfridges. Not seen it being worn.

A couple of years ago I went to a halloween Rocky Horror at the Phoenix cinema in East FInchley which isn't far from my home. I went dressed up and won the "best dressed up" award by audience acclamation. It was fun being a rock star for a few minutes. Amongst other things I wore my avatar shoes. There aren't any usable photos which is a shame.

The other day I was at a battle re-enactment (Wars of the Roses) not far north of London. In the middle of a grassy fied. One woman was wearing stiletto heel (about 4") ankle boots. Not ideal for the conditions. At least it was dry and the ground fairly firm but she was still sinking in. At least she was a visitor, not one of the re-enactors.

Many of the people at the event were in medieval style clothes, including guys in thigh high boots, some very nicely made and fitted. Not high heeled though.

On 2/24/2018 at 2:00 PM, gibby said:

I play  drums at my house.   And yes  occasionally I will wear sandals with about a 4 inch heel no platform because i want to be able to feel the pedal on the bass drum and hi-hats.    Builds up your calves and ankles and also changes how the attack of the feet to the pedals and really does improve your control,  and time signatures on the drums.   (I play jazz and old rock and roll)    A lot of control to keep my feet and the heels from sliding off the pedals.   ( I play heel down on the pedals  and if I do toe down! in heels I get a  lot more power  on the bass pedal and a louder  thump!    Sheila E from Princes band always wore heels standing or sitting playing percussion,   And she can work those legs and high heels and not lose a beat exceptional Drummer check out You Tube videos on her style of percussion.   And the gorgeous   heels she wears.        Nice Question.

Another drummer who wears heels:

There's some confusion in this thread between patents and trademarks. Intellectual property is a complex field with much scope for interpretation. Here's a reasonable introdcution: https://yourstory.com/2016/06/difference-trademark-copyright-patent/

A red sole cannot be patented. It might be possible to make it a trademark but courts have disagreed.

They give a UK address which is just a brass plate. It's an address where lots of companies have their registered office, possibly an accountant's practice. It's harder to tell where they are really based. Probably China.

You also need to be a little wary of size conversions. EU43 is meant to be UK9. Deosn't matter whether men's or women's. I've seen plenty of women's EU42 called UK9. I've tried so-called UK9 at Aldo and reckoned they've been about EU41. That may or may not reflect Aldo shoes in general.

Conversion to US sizes is more complicated as men's and women's sizes are different. I think of UK9 as US men's 10 to 10.5 and US women's 11 to 11.5.

Ultimately it either fits well or it doesn't, regardless of what size it says on the shoe. I realise this isn't entirely helpful for online shopping

For actual shops you can visit in person the choice is limited. Magnus and Elephant Feet in Chiltern St, London: https://www.prettybigshoes.com/blog/post/womens-shoes-in-large-sizes-in-central-london

Long Tall Sally in St Albans and possibly elsewhere.

Possibly Evans if they're still in business.

For more extreme styles Alternative Footwear have a big selection online: https://www.alternative-footwear.co.uk/

I assume you've googled the problem before raising it here. What make and model is the phone?

In central London you're likely to see lots of people out in fancy dress around halloween.

Thanks for the correction. @Alphax, glad you got your money back from the card company.

Does anyone know if Ilias Little Shoe Box still trading?

In the phone settings on my phone (an old Samsung S3) there are 2 different ways for it to connect to a PC. From memory (fallible) one is as a storage device, the other is as a media device. Ihave it connected as storage. It's fairly slow, takes a few seconds to recognise that the phone has been connected and occasionally needs a 2nd attempt.

1 hour ago, Tacchi Alti said:

I can't upload it direct as I'm on a computer, the photo is on my phone, and I've never found a simple way of transferring files as the SD card is not recognised as a drive when I attach the phone to the computer! I have to take out the phone and insert it in the card slot on my computer, and this computer has no working card slot...

Idea:  Email the photo to yourself from the phone.

I transfer photos from my Samsung phone to my PC witha USB cable. The PC recognises the phone as a storage device. Have to go down the file system to DCIM\Camera to find the photos.

As well as giving them a suitable platform on which to perform.......

I'm not vertically challenged (just under 5'11") but some of the shelves are high.

1 hour ago, Shyheels said:

I play the iPod.

Footwear does not seem to affect the quality of the performance. 

That's the modern version of "I play the gramophone" :-)

Heels can actually help here, by making it easier to reach a record down from a high shelf, somethng that doesn't trouble ipod users.

I started a similar thread about 18 months ago:

Fernando Berlin also look like a genuinely european maker: http://www.fernandoberlinboots.com/en/

The conclusion is that if you're prepapred to spend the money, there are some very nice looking boots made in europe. The Polish maker I mentioned 2 posts ago is definitely not expensive, perhaps a quarter of the price of Jean Gaborit.

Arollo appear to be German and their boots certainly look nice: https://www.overknee-stiefel.net/Boots/

These appear to be made in Poland: http://www.fashion-style.com.pl/en/38-women-s-shoes/48-high-boots/51-leather/boots-leather-13cm-heel-solution-36-47-info

I say "appear to be" because unless there is an explicit and credible claim then it's always possible that the actual manufacture is subcontracted to China.

I forget the name of a UK based supplier who have taken customers' money and not supplied the goods or refunded. There was at least one US based member of HHP who was very much on the warpath about them.  It might have been http://iliaslittleshoebox.co.uk   This is possibly a successor to the famous "Little Shoe Box" which used to be on the Holloway Road in North London. In any case the company has been dissolved: https://www.duedil.com/company/gb/07969910/ilias-little-shoe-box-ltd though this doesn't prevent the former director continuing in business as a sole trader (the pun is inevitable).