barney15c

Just heard on the news that Barratts is going to lay off 1500 staff and an undisclosed number of shops closing as they have failed to find a buyer that would have kept the business going as a going concern. Of course i feel sorry for those that have lost their jobs but i am also gutted as this was the one company that sold very contemporary and stylish large sized shoes, and is going to be a very big gap to replace in the market. A great pity, fortunately i bought enough pairs from them (over 40 pairs) to keep me going for a while!!!! Maybe they might be able to keep going as an online business, but im not raising my hopes.

I watched a program on channel 4 ( A UK TV Channel) called 'Big Fat Gypsy Christmas" which showed a number of very young girls (some as young as 6 or 7 i imagine wearing 4 inch heels) to a gypsy wedding in Ireland. I have taken a screen grab from youtube showing a girl who can't be more than 7 or 8 wearing such a pair of shoes that are high heeled mary janes with a twin ankle strap. I was going to post this purely to illustrate a point but need to seek the advice of an admin as it may be considered inappropriate and i don't want to get myself in trouble or the site admins as it does show a minor in a short dress but otherwise covered over. But people get funny about such things, and rightly so. The video is at youtube and the clip starts at 28:45 if you want to see for yourself. My personal opinion is that such young children shouldnt wear them or some of the overtly sexual clothing shown in the program, its a bit wrong. Search for 'My Big Fat Gypsy Christmas'

They did go into administration in 2009 but obviously managed to get out of it only to fall back in to it again. Lets hope they are able to continue trading without shedding the big shoe boutique brand, would be a real shame as recently they have been selling some lovely larger sized ladies shoes.

Correction i meant Priceless.....Bad news for us larger footed folk in the UK, Barratts who own the Big Shoe Boutique brand are one of the few mainstream / high street retailers that sell larger sized (upto UK10/11) shoes. They have recently been selling the type of fashionable shoes that we would not normally have had access to at high street prices. I sincerely hope they manage to sort out their financial difficulties as choices of large sized up to date styles are far and few between. I will only be left with Evans and they are patchy when it comes to modern styles.

They're nice, both colours

won't be much use to you liveandlearn (as zappos dont ship overseas) but for our US based extra large footed members, they may be interested in these from Zappos , these models are in a US14,15 and 16!! though because they are sale shoes not all models are in all sizes.

So you don't have to have just fetishy shoes if you are a very large size.

http://www.zappos.com/womens-shoes~1i7#!/women-heels/CK_XARC41wF6BNQE1ASCAQSwGK8YqgECBQbAAQHiAgUBGA8CFQ.zso?s=goliveRecentSalesStyle/desc/

i found that lasting pincer tool, not cheap though.....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CS-Osborne-Lasting-Pincers-Pliers-Osborne-Ref-233-Leatherwork-Tool-/260879346536?pt=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item3cbd9eeb68

These are quite an old style deffo remember seeing these a couple of years ago.

Could these be the shoes, they look very similar... they are still available upto size UK10 just (UK11's sold out) ?

http://www.bigshoeboutique.co.uk/en/double-strap-block-heel-court-shoes-238057

Yep its not even saying awaiting approval now, typical cowardly Sun copping out when its something they don't agree with, so much for free speech. I was thinking, maybe Stylo the parent company should take legal action against the sun and Mrs Shafi for slander or is it libel? Its obvious what Mrs Shafi done was cynical, i mean the likelyhood is that there was only one pair of shoes in this size 1 kids section put there by mistake by probably another customer, were there any on the other size 2 or size 3 childrens sections?..of course not. Did she bother to check the petite womens size 1, 2 and 3 sections where she would have found them in abundance?...of course not. This woman knew exactly what she was doing , what makes it all the more repugnant was have her daughter pose on a national newspaper in a short skirt and heels and putting her daughter through this ordeal , that to me is the most disgusting thing of all. I hope that priceless/ stylo decide to take it further (in all reality unlikely) if only to show these two sorry excuses (the sun and Mrs Shafi) up for what they are. GRRRR rant over. I have posted a picture of the real shoes taken from her twitter site, she has the appropriate twitter name of @rudewoman, too true! Sells bespoke tool and scissor pouches for the hair stylist market (amazing what you can find out on the net!) PS by some twist of fate i actually bought the shoes in the Sun picture, they have blue soles and a squared off toe, they are quite ropey really and wish i hadnt wasted my money on them!!! They have a heel height nearly an inch higher than the open toe ones so more deception there by the sun.

This has pissed me off so much i have left my own comment, read it before its probably taken down. Havent papers learnt anything especially since the phone hacking scandal.

Here is what i have written.....

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3844857/Shops-stilettos-for-girls-aged-6.html

PSJust noticed its awaiting approval although i can see it on the web site i can't tell if anyone else can so it may well not appear seeing it is critisizing them.

"Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story then eh The Sun, more sensational claptrap.

The mother in question has posted her story on her twitter page and the heels in question are not the same as the ones you feature in your story, the ones she bought were peep toed not closed toed and before you say that the heels pictured are illustrative to the story rather than the actual ones may i remind you of your caption "Shocked ... mum Sarah measures kids' 5in high heels" indicates these are the shoes bought, pure deception . This is nothing more than a stupid stunt to sell more papers and dress up a mix up in a shop into something more sordid like paedophilia shame on you The Sun and shame on you Ms Shafi for subjecting your daughter to this tacky stunt."

While trawling the net i came across something quite interesting... the university of Worcester has an small archive of old Kays Mail order catalogues (most UK forumites will have heard of it) which they have scanned and put on line, they date from the 1920's up till the 90's. Its interesting to see the different styles of shoes over the years. I have put a small selection of pages to give you a taster of whats on offer, the shoes arent all that attractive but i havent been through the whole archive so it might dig up some interesting tidbits if you have the time to look more thoroughly.

The scans are much bigger than the previews posted on here.

note the comment on the last pic " Slightly warm patent shoes before wearing"

http://www.worldofkays.org/

I bought a pair of backless black suede closed toe mules from 6 inch heels forever a couple of years ago, which are made in China. True they cost a small fortune, (close to £100 with the postage) but the quality was outstanding, very solid and well made, far better than pleaser, ellie etc. So yes if you pay more, Chinese manufactured footwear is as good if not better as anything produced in Europe.

Basically a conventional ballet flat shoe with an 8in heel.....Louboutins apparently.

Nice but a bit daft IMO

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3915812/Shoes-that-are-tutu-high-to-go-out-in.html

BTW i have uploaded picture but its not showing for some reason.

Must have been a quiet news day so needed to stir up a bit of a hornets nest....the usual Sun B****cks.

Give them a more conventional heel and i would wear them, otherwise too 'out there' for my tastes/

Just ordered the same boots.

Ian

You won't believe it but thse boots have sold for £102 in a size 11 twice (2 seperate pairs) on ebay...incredible, you can get the same pair for £25 on barratts site even less if you do their 20% off promotion, absolute madness!!!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SIZE-11-BLACK-ALMOND-TOE-STILETTO-HEEL-MILITARY-STYLE-LACE-UP-BOOTS-BNWOB-/200664946985?pt=UK_Women_s_Shoes&hash=item2eb8901929

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SIZE-11-BLACK-ALMOND-TOE-STILETTO-HEEL-MILITARY-STYLE-LACE-UP-BOOTS-BNWOB-/190586096540?pt=UK_Women_s_Shoes&hash=item2c5fd10b9c

I have recently been buying some pairs of ankle / knee boots that are laced with 4 inch heels and cleated soles see picture, what kind of fastening on boots do you like?

Just ordered these of Big Shoe Boutique in a size UK10, great write ups and love this style (remind me a bit of the High Heel timberland boots but without the pointed toe). Cant wait for them to arrive, i have a similar pair i bought of Payless a few years ago.

Shameless plug, it it breaks forum rules admin please remove

http://www.hhplace.org/high_heels_sale/20720-aldo_black_suede_boots_us_11b.html#post291573

When i sell shoes on ebay i usually put ... 'suitable for the taller/ larger footed lady or male'. I don't list any shoes in the mens section mentioning high heels. The large size is normally enough to get me a male buyer 9/10 of the time.

They are very comfortable, especially with insoles or party feet. I really think I've found some heels I could spend all day on my feet in.

Be warned though! According to barney15c in my Big Shoe Boutique thread on the pay sites forum, BSB have been known to run very small on some shoes. However, the pair I got are actually a little large.

HighCurious

BSB have had lots of complaints recently about their 'continental sizing' on some of their later heels i can testifty to this having bought a pair of platform heeled court shoes a size bigger than i normally wear, they felt 2 sizes smaller, very p1ssed off as they were beautiful shoes and just what i was after, a stupid sizing error meant they were almost impossible to wear. The current run of shoes seem to be fairly true to size. One would like to think they have taken heed of this constructive critisism for fear of alienating a sizable clientel who buy the larger sized range. Time will tell though . I can confirm the block heel ankle boots are lovely and fit very well. I bought the tan and the black, if the longer length ones come down in price i will have those too. By the way the block heel court shoes they are selling are also great and seem true to size. i have a pair in black lace (which are beautiful and look far more expensive than their £17 price tag) and a pair in black suede, they are very comfortable and smart. Confusingly they do a block heel almost identical in red suede and black matt and patent, they only go to a size 9 and 10 and are £30??? (why the price hike), the perceptions are they are small fitting too - which i find odd. Well done with you purchase High Curious.

Check out this Video from 2003 of Kosheen performing All in my Head.

Loads of shots of the lead singers shoes, all in water, either swimming or walking around a flooded room.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvPncUtOdf8&ob=av2e

OOPS sorry they aren't steel heeled, nice shoes nonetheless!!!

I found these screen grabs on a picture hosting site. It is a report on UK Breakfast TV from about 4 years ago by a reporter called Cordelia Kretzschmar about retractable heels (change from a high heel into a lower heel). The look doesnt come of as far as i'm concerned as the bottom of the heel projects inwards under the sole and looks clumsy design wise. As anyone heard of these before?

Susan Maughan, for the benefit of our overseas friends is an English actress best known for a long running coffee advert in the 80's and 90's with Anthony (Buffy) Head. Also currently a contestant on BBC's Celebrity Masterchef. And wife of Actor Trevor Eve. She is 61 now but the boots are a modern style so even allowing for that she must have been in her 50's at the earliest when this photo was taken. Still looks absolutely stunning especially in these boots!!!!