Arctic

17 hours ago, jeremy1986 said:

Some great looking boots. Love the last picture

Oh thank you, here is a larger version of that picture

Edit, quality does not turn out to be that much better. Sorry 

The brain goes in mysterious ways sometimes. I have developed a liking for female fashion through western inspired footwear - go figure.

When I was young, I already liked western boots, and when I figured out that women's western boots had higher heels than men's, the obvious thing happened. More heel more better, right?

Every so often, cowboy boots inspire mainstream fashion, and when it does, it still tickles an itch. Around 2012 or so, Nine West had a thing with the western theme. They also tried a more premium less polished brand, "Vintage America", which of course involved western boots. That experiment produced two styles, which I've been luckily enough to both collect, but it has taken a lot of time and money. 

The cleanest cut is the black "Comete" bootie, of which I removed the buckle. I like is more "elegant". They sport a true 5" heel, and I have a 1/4" heel pad added to them, giving an effective 5 1/4" height. They have to be my tallest non-platform heels. 

The hottest, I think, is the "Creepin" style - the knee-high one. The color is a bit weird, between tan, brown, beige, grey, nude. Whatever that means. But it works on the boot. The shaft is tall and hugs my calves nicely. I like the look, the picture is of myself just last week - I took it to send to my girlfriend.

The least successful style is "Claret", the brownish ankle bootie. It is made on the same last as "Comete", but the leather is not as nice as either Comete or Creepin.

I'm not sure if Stuart Weitzman shoes are considered "designer", but for my pocketbook they are "too expensive to make sense" so I'm giving them a pass.

These are a 2015-2016 model, and I love them mostly because they have a tall shaft, right up to under my knee, and are a superb fit for my 160lbs legs. Body weight, not the detached limb [rolleyes]. 

What makes them special is that I find them elegant, yet they manage to achieve that without a stiletto heel. I wear stilettos 4 days a week or so, and sometimes I feel like something else.

I bought them at retail at Bloomingdales, which wasn't a painless experience, but I am really happy that I did. They are listed on amazon as a 4.25" heel, but those have to be metric inches, because they definitely feel like 5-inchers. Perhaps they were measured one a size 4.

I started another topic about the Yves Saint Laurent Janis style, that is generally recognized for its timelessness. But there's another pair that comes close, designed by Kenneth Cole in 2013. They were expensive, $350 I think, not YSL territory at $1400, but I'm happy I put down the money. They are essentially half a size too small for me, but I had them stretched and now fit great. Kenneth Cole made them only up to 10, and I'm a 10.5. 

They aren't the most ergonomic of shoes, and while I wear nothing under 4", and up to 5" without platform regularly, these are a bit unstable.

But they are so hot - incredible. I've never understood why they weren't more popular. Kenneth Cole designed these for the Kinky Boots Musical, https://broadwaydirect.com/kenneth-cole-on-kinky-boots/ , and there is a clip on youtube somewhere of a TV host wearing the leopard ones, which I have never seen in real life - I have the black leather ones.

I've been lusting over these for a while now, but I can't bring myself to putting down $600 for a pair of boots that is, while attractive, in essence fairly classical. And then there is the thing about sizing, I don't own any Yves Saint Laurent boots yet, so I can't really say if their "41" is going to fit me well. 

Is there anyone that owns this model and can give some feedback on fit?

Cheers

Sure, my avatar is me. 

Thanks everyone. I'm doing great!

The advice I would give is incredibly simple. Just do it, and you'll be amazed how amazingly simple, self evident, comfortable and "how come I ever made a problem out of this" becomes.

Hi All

I got an email from hhplace.org reminding me I haven't logged in since March 2012. It feels like yesterday. So why not come take a peek.

It seems that not much has changed here. Same problems, new people. I hope some of the old timers have "graduated".

While I had some self imposed restraints way back when - one of the reasons why I ended up on this forum in the first place, in the meantime I've been totally freed from any self imposed constraints. Nowadays I wear whatever I want, every day. 5 days a week or so  that means 4-5" stilettos. I haven't had a single negative experience for many, many years, so why wouldn't I? We all should.

If there's someone that still remembers me, give a shout.

Ok, another one is in the can! It was good to get to see and hear the people who make up our sandbox in cyberspace. When I was waiting for my car on the way home, I realized that there are not many interests that cover all of the western world, cut through all demographics, and span a large age range - we had people in their twenties and in their seventies participating. However, heels seem to keep you young, as the most senior person would easily pass for someone a decade or two less seasoned.

Ok, I've caught up a little. Seems like I'll join you for dinner on friday and we'll take it from there. My boot collection is already deep into the triple digits, so a strategy that keeps me away from the stores is preferred - so I am going to leave you guys at that. I'm trying to embargo myself a little... There is too much good stuff out there: Yesterday I popped into the Nine west store on 44th, and walked out again with a stellar find - for next to nothing. (Knee boots, style Kedan). That's after bumping into a pair of 60% discounted Via Spiga boots, ("Mimosa"), a week ago. Oh yes, there was the pair of Nine West "Glamo" booties as well - but they turn out to be not too practical.

Last minute update - if I am not travelling (10% chance I will be) I'll be joining as well - perhaps both days but most likely friday only. I'll need to go through the thread, I haven't been on the board for a few months.

Welcome. Plenty of shoe nuts here

Certainly true. And I, too, visit my corporate customers in a suit. That's how it goes.

In that case it might surprise you I'm an engineer by training, and blessed/cursed with a hyper rational mindset. All the soft psychoanalytical stuff isn't my cup of tea. If it were, I'd have been a Kneehighs at 15 years of age.

Now, this is going to be bringing water to the ocean here, but KH illustrates here clearly that most people on this site think that the shoes are bigger than the person. Meaning, it doesn't matter what the person does or says, making other people accept men in heels will never work. This is bull, and we know it. Just look at KH: he wears whatever he feels like, but he carries a personality. The shoes are what they really are - small inanimate objects, and have no bearing on how other people think of his personality. The big KH is the big KH, in stilettos or combat boots. His social standing is what it is, because he is who he is and what he does. If we are insecure and lack confidence, we shrink ourselves to the size of the shoe. The shoe is what catches the attention, the person wearing them goes unnoticed. Does he look smart? Rich? Stylish? Tired? Underfed? People wouldn't be able to say. Now I'm by no means a poster child of the Kneehighs class, but I'm bigger than my shoes. If you're even modestly socially competent, and you introduce and present yourself as a person, rather than a pair of shoes which contracted a commodity service provider to move them around, people will treat you as such. You meet a stranger, say in a store. You reach out, occupying their mental bandwidth with how you introduce yourself. They temporarily park the shoe image to deal with what you are saying, and instead of forming an opinion based on what they saw on the ground, they form an opinion based on what they hear and what they see in facial expression and body language. One of two things happen: extroverts lock onto your dynamism and just forget the shoes for a minute, but later they can be used as the pepper and salt. Introverts might feel a little intimidated, but if you just dial back, use eye contact, and listen, that often just disappears. Works almost every time. I'm not a natural, so I have turned into a process of sorts, but the thought that what you have on your feet would define you as a person, is a absurd if you think about it. Thankfully, the instinct of the KHs of this world helps the rest of us understand how it should be done. If I would have come to this insight in my twenties, my moves on the dating scene would have been of a totally different caliber. Oh well. Hindsight... About the Swedish girls - I married a prototype Scandinavian (at least got that foresight) but as strong and liberal as they are, they can be opinionated too. Just a small heads-up

There's progress. These days I'm out in heels pretty much all of my free time, and reactions are changing. For the better. After a decade of heeling, and about 5 years in-your-face, I've gotten pretty good at it I guess. Skill and confidence might have something to do with it - but the reactions I get these days are surprise, curiosity, and some admiration. No more laughter, sometimes a giggle, and nothing offensive at all. And I'm sure there are youtube clips and Facebook postings of me out there as cellphones still get pulled out. But, in the same way as a red Ferrari makes it onto Facebook walls, admiration is part of the reason why people share. Regardless, I almost spit out my morning coffee when I stumbled upon the article in the paper version of the Times that morning. It was a great event no doubt, but the two gentlemen are just a little bit too edgy for the cattle out there. It has some kind of in-your-face effect, while a real undercurrent style change would be less like a punch and more like a gentle sustained push. For a split second I expected a picture of myself there - there have been plenty of pictures taken. While I'm not hiding, being in the NYT in 4 inchers is not my objective as the corporate circus in which I monkey around, wouldn't get it and it would cost me traction there. Thankfully, I'm not even close to making it to the NYT standard, so seeing myself in the paper would be more of a shock for that reason, rather than the heels. I'm certainly way less fashionable than these two men - practical 3.5-4.5" heels, skinny bootcut jeans, a turtleneck and leather jacket perhaps - and get away with it, pretty much all the time, everywhere. I have disappeared into the noise. These fellows go for runway-edginess, and will never go under the radar, but that's not what they want. More power to them. It was a great article. Could have been better for this community if it pushed the boundaries just a little less, but an article of that size in the NYT does way more than all of us here moaning about how much the world is getting it wrong. Get your boots on and get out there. Wearing out your keyboard won't move the needle.

Well, in the end of the day it is still pretty simple. Going towards my forties, I realized last year that I would be happier if I would be able to open up my personality a little bit. Dressing a little less conservatively would be part of that. I had been into wearing heels for a long time, but never found anything that went great with them. Until I learned about women's skinny jeans. Of course they didn't work on me, being 5-11 and 210 lbs (179cm/95kg), so I decided to loose some weight. A year later I weigh 150lbs (68kg), my waistline went from 35" to 28", and I can wear whatever I want. Previously I rarely gave women's clothes a second glance, but now I buy more than half of my jeans and tops from that part of the store. I did exactly the opposite of what the "biggest looser philosophy" suggests, which I find stupid and not sustainable. The only thing I did was: 1) being consistent. No cheating to yourself. 2) moderation. You don't want to wish to quit, collapse, relapse, regret. 3) persistence: focus on the invisible 12 month goal. Track progress in excel. 4) drink >1gal water per day 5) no potatoes, white pasta, white bread, white rice. But I eat everything else. 6) when there is a choice between high fat and low fat, take low fat 7) reduce portion size by 1/3rd no elevators. Always walk. It can be done.

Where exactly? Could have been me

Now this is an interesting thread. I'll have to read it a little later before I'll contribute.

if it's in NYC, count me in. However... I'll be damned, it seems I need to be in Vegas on the 9th. So I might just as well come to say hi there too - even though I don't like the city

I buy routinely from them. Great service (especially if you are a prime member). Zappos has even better service, and Endless is not bad either. Both are Amazon companies, by the way. Amazon rules the online space. They have a huge catalog, their prices are ok, their service is stellar. My annual spend with that company is 5 digits. Thankfully not on shoes only.

I can confirm, I bought these Aldo boots too, and the US 10 is more like a US 9, or a small UK8. Nowhere near I expected them to be.

The practical aspect mentioned above is a fact - Vegas is not heel friendly due to the horizontal spread. On the casino floors themselves, there is carpet everywhere, so that is a good thing for the stiletto fans, but lobbies indeed tend to be bursting with marble. The most important reason, however, why I have a dislike towards Vegas is that it is actually a very conservative place - from a freestyle fashion perspective, that is. Vegas exists primarily for its liberal attitude towards gambling, old-school sexual escapades, and abundant booze. Somebody might not agree about this, as it is also the #1 conference destination in the US, and I have to say that I have been to absolutely excellent restaurants in Vegas as well, but those are actually a side effect of the adult entertainment industry. Now, it is true that you can wear high heels in Vegas without repercussions, as you can in pretty much every other western city in the world. The town, by its sheer design, promotes the pushing of boundaries, and for high heel wearing people that may make the difference between being comfortable and not being comfortable in heels in public. If you are of the more more conservative type but are walking around with an escort girl in Vegas, and see a bunch of men in high heels, a "don't ask, don't tell" approach seems a good way of dealing with the situation. Compare this to, say, New York, San Francisco, Stockholm, London or Amsterdam, where you are much more likely to have an actual appreciation for being fashion-forward. I wear high heels pretty much everywhere, including Las Vegas. The vast majority of comments I receive, or the discussions I end up into, are out of curiosity, interest, or appreciation - a phenomenon most heel wearers (male or female) are familiar with. In Vegas you get NO comments because of the "I haven't seen you, you haven't seen me" protocol, with the exception of Casino Security, who will approach you if you are hanging around without spending money. So, if you want to be tolerated and invisible because you all are doing something equally naughty - Las Vegas is great. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. If you want to engage in a fashion forward movement and interact with society in a way that is more likely to have a lasting result, such as having genuine discussions with people you run into, any other destination is better. Since I do not feel I have anything to hide, on the contrary, I refuse to go to a place designed for people to live out desires they actually do not endorse when back home - as that would reinforce the perception that wearing high heels is wrong. But hey, that's just my view, I'm not trying to sway the majority here.

Way too many times. Between 15 and 20 I think, my business has taken me there 3 or 4 times per year for quite a while. And I really hate the place - to the point that I would say that I'd prefer Minneapolis, Little Rock, or even Anchorage over Vegas. McCarran is nice and functional, if it weren't for those one-armed bandits greeting you the second you exit the jetway. But once out of the door the decadence starts suffocating you. But that's just how I feel about it, I'm not trying to convince anyone that my opinion carries more weight than yours or anyone else's.