Aglo

Dawn HH and Admin, Thanks for the welcome. I'd like to have started in a more active way, but I have a job which takes me well away from the net at times to remote parts of Nepal. And, to be truthful, I'm daunted at being able to match the thoughtfulness and eloquence of so many postings (which are such an enjoyable read). But meantime, I get on with the business of wearing heels in ordinary life. Not much in the house as it is four floors high, which allows me and the family to keep warm in the winter while rushing up and down, but is a serious handicap in anything over 2" (the house is recently built to my own design - I suppose everyone will say the building failed on a major ease-of-use requirement!) As my office is halfway up the house stairway I don't wear heels there. I've worn them once for a work meeting somewhere else, and really wondered if anyone noticed except my own staff who are already totally aware. But it hasn't encouraged any further experimemts. The international aid business in which I operate is VERY conservative dresswise and I can't go unsettling clients. One of them recently shook his head and commented about stupidity when a young girl secretary tripped and almost fell down some nearby stairs while trying to skip down in her (not very high) stilleto sandals. My reaction was 'nice look and sound, shame about the ending'. But when I go out around town out of work almost always it's in my 4" block heel ankle boots. I have a stilleto pair of the same height, but the heels have become ragged, one badly so because, on a marble floor, I stepped straight into a 6mm hole drilled for the sliding bolt on the bottom of a door. My first fear was that the heel had jammed in, but I got it pulled back out OK, only to see in anguish that the leather heel covering was all bunched halfway up the heel. The other thing that causes me difficulty with stilletos is that it is much easier to put your foot wrong and stumble. In my eyes, if a male is going to wear high heels, the shoes and the whole dress look should look suitable and stylish, and the walk must be perfect. (Well it seems some of you can do it on 5" pins. Come and see how it goes the streets of Kathmandu, I say! LOL) A stumble or a shake is just NOT allowable. I'm quite happy to wear pants that do not cover much of the heel, and do not stick on rubbers to dampen the sound. As so many have pointed out on the board, and in my whole experience, if you look good, show confidence, and have your own interest focussed on something else going on, people won't notice, moreover even if they do, they will mostly accept how you are without much of a second thought. The only high profile laugh I have had is from a young couple queuing for the plane at London Airport. I wasn't upset at all, but I regret not having turned around to look at them and discussed their behaviour openly - with my wife and in Nepali! Aglo

Yeh. Like JeffB I think I look good in the type of heels I wear, and certainly couldn't do it if I thought it looked ungainly, like I'm afraid an awful lot of women do here. Nepali women are short, so they appreciate the height, but newly aquired urban habits have caused many to become rather wide. But then again . . . some can still pull it off beautifully. I'm trying to work out just how they do it (besides the sexuality - there is more to it than that). Like many others on this board I subscribe to the whole-look stratagem - in my case, very long plaited hair which is tied with a band of the same colour as my shirt, a neat pair of straight jeans, a black sleeveless leather jacket, and matching black blocky heels. And, with reference to dr1819, if my son had not appropriated my rugby shirt, that would be in there too. I've not had many comments on this getout, but one from a free-thinking artist type girl of my aquaintance was completely positive. Cheers, Aglo.

Bernheels, Keep on with the experiments, but most of all enjoy yourself. My first venture on the horrible rutted and holed streets of Kathmandu was in nervous trepidation - but even in such a place, it was not just that people didn't notice, it was that when they did so their reaction was almost always a shrug (except for one or two young girls and boys who, let's face it, will giggle at anything to demonstrate their connoisseurship of what their group thinks is unhip). I have since continued to wear heals here and also in UK where, again, no-one seemed to take any notice (although my son reported some second looks behind my back). Chris100575, If you have problems wearing them for long periods get a comfortable pair. For me it's been a bit hit and miss, but I can recommend Faith's 'Sonto' as being one of the two pairs I have that I can slip on and forget about them. Cheers, Aglo

Thighbootguy, That all time favourite of yours just happens also to be on my hard disk. I really like the combination of the black boots and jacket with the tight light blue jeans. I'm not sure about tuck-in boots. For me its the visual proportion of the boots to the jeans. Jeans covering boots I think emphasizes leg length. So do over-the-knee styles. The tucked-in lengths in between don't have the same clarity of presentation (forgive the language - I claim it's the fault of being an architect!), and I have only seen them look really good on slim women, as more than amply demonstrated by donnawonna. Except for Keith Emerson on the inside sleeve of, was it, Tarkus, or Trilogy? I have a pair of OTKs, but the 125mm stilleto heels are just too high for me. I'd like to get a more wearable pair. And by the way, not only are they stylish, but also warm and comfy in cold weather! Cheers Aglo

Thanks MrsHeels, and thanks for your welcome. You're in a great situation with Gary. I've also always been totally honest with my wife about my shoeware and have only sorrow that she shies away from heels herself, even though I think she really fancies them - but she has incredibly wide feet so that a shoe that is comfortable in the width is all out of proportion and fit on the length. Mrs Aglo comes from a pre-Hindu tribe located in the east of Nepal. While this tribe, a branch of the Rai (pronouced 'wry'), is in many ways much more free thinking than the Hindu castes, particularly on the almost equal status of women, it has not been fully exposed to the outside world for long and retains its own standards and conception of what people should wear and how they should behave. On exposure to an almost completely different society, as represented by Kathmandu, and indeed the UK where Mrs Aglo has been many times, it is only natural to be diffident and keep to observed common standards. Unfortunately, on our trips to the UK, we have never met or seen any male but me in high heels. I'm sure that if it happened a few times it would mean her much easier acceptance. Nevertheless, the current situation is that she is easy on the subject: she acknowleges that I don't look bad in heels (a comment which I very much enjoyed!), that very few people ever notice, that my mum and the rest of my family are pretty relaxed about it, and my son's friends think it cool. As I've said before, I wear fairly conservative boots, but I've thought lots of times about something more exotic, particulary sandals. But Mrs A will have none of it, and I respect this totally. In fact, perhaps I should consider myself lucky; she's kept me away from the overindulgence followed by remorse which poor JeffB has had to suffer. And by the way JeffB, I also must welcome you back - you were a great contributor when I first started lurking, and with your return it just feels like things are back to normal again. From a cold Kathmandu (hey, we got power tonight!) Aglo

My first pair of heels WERE intended for men - the famous Western Ranch 5-inchers! What a mistaken purchase that was! Huge clodhoppers - I think the price must have been per kg, because they certainly weighed and cost an awful lot, LOL. Didn't look good on, and too high for me. Since then I've been happy to choose from the womens' department where you can easily get discrete and elegant styles. Of course being a size 41 helps . . . By the way DGMurdock, I also share your lack of enthusiasm for the 6.5's. In-betweenie shoes, neither heels nor flats.

Hi, Highfeeling, I have to think back now about my kids' initial reaction. Perhaps at first they were not old enough to perceive that my heels were in any way unusual attire. Now that my son is in his teens it has become more of an issue, with him and my daughter having been openly 'anti' (but not in any nasty way). What has been interesting recently is school friends seeing me as 'cool'! Being of an age when peer sanction is almost what you live for, both of them are therefore now much more relaxed about it, so that I can mostly put them on and walk out with them without the 'awww dad, not them' comments. This at least goes for my conservative ankle boots. Anything more exotic would provoke (polite) derision. I'd love to get into a pair of sandals in the hot weather but the family offers not a bit of support in this matter! HF, just keep going, raising a loving, interacting, and questioning family. Things will work out if you are, a) not completely outrageous, and keep everything in the open. Cheers

Thanks for the welcome. I might as well say now that I live in Kathmandu, Nepal. Believe me, not a town for stilletos! The idea of a flat and smooth pavement here is one for the next century. I've been here for many years and have married a fantastic local girl. She has given me a bit of grief about the heels (this is a VERY conservative society) but has now accepted it, one factor being, funnily enough, the positive comments of my son's teenage friends. So we can now go out together with the heels being a non-issue. I bought my first heels in Kathmandu Bazaar. Pretty frustrating as the maximum size available is a European 39 whereas I am a 41. But the first pair I bought were a 40 - must have been a mistake by the importer, or more likely, they were offered a load of leftover ones cheap in Bangkok, where most womens shoes came from until the flood of Chinese ones in the last year or two. At least they were very wide heel with 4" height and 1" platform, and so easy to walk in. My 'conservative' Faith boots mentioned in my first post are just right for the terrain. Wide and stable enough for me NEVER to stumble, while projecting a look I enjoy. Cheers By the way 'aglo' means high in Nepali!

Hello all! I'm yet another who has been viewing the forum for a year or two without registering. The recent changes to the look of the place has final pushed me to come forth. I am male and over fifty, happily married with two kids. I always fancied high-heel shoes but did not seriously think about wearing them until finding the forum and realising that my views were shared by many obviously normal, and often very thoughtful and perceptive, people. So now I wear heels out and around quite often (although not for work-related activites). I like the style and also the comfortable fit; I have very narrow feet and narrow heels which caused me great foot and footwear problems at school and during my mountaineering activites. I stick to fairly 'conservative-looking' ankle boots. Conservative being round toed, block heels, but with 4" height. Both my pairs are great quality Brazilian made from Faith in the UK. I have lived for many years in a fairly exotic location which poses interesting problems for a high-heel wearer, particularly a male. Perhaps as I get to know the forum members I will expand on this. Nice to be here!