mlroseplant

At No. 3 we have. . . BCBGirls Bonny beaded wooden mules. . . Wait, didn't I just list that two posts ago? Yes, I did, but this is pair No. 4. The above was pair No. 2. Pair No. 4 has somehow managed to survive and squeak by pair No. 2 at 117.3 miles (189 km). I honestly didn't think they would make it, because pair No. 4 has had what I perceive to be weak shanks from Day 1. The heels on this particular example of the breed have always been more flexible than what I would like. I would never have guessed that they would last longer than pair No. 2. However, since 2022 when pair No. 2 yielded up the ghost, I have changed my walk significantly, and I do believe I am much easier on heels than I used to be. But wait, there's more! In the very last miles, right before I was to surpass my previous Bonny record, I tripped on an uneven part of the pavement, and both shoes went flying. Somehow, I managed to stay upright, but I lost both shoes rather violently. I thought to myself, "Well, that's the end of those, and right before I broke the record, too!" Amazingly, there was no damage to either the shoes or to me. I do not know if anybody actually saw this happen, so it may be that my pride managed to escape damage as well. A word about mules in general, as @higherheels alluded to elsewhere. To me, there are two broad categories, and I'm not talking about open toe vs. closed toe, stiletto vs. block heel. I'm talking about flappy vs. non-flappy, categories that I am claiming creation of, because I've never heard anybody else refer to them that way before. To me, it's THE most important distinction. The Bonnys are flappy mules and have but a fairly thin leather band across the toes, which means that with every step, the insole of the shoe comes away from the bottom of the back half of your foot (similar to the much-hated flip-flop), then returns with a flapping sound. We'll save sound preferences and dislikes for another time, that being an intrinsic part of the flappy mule experience. Non-flappy mules typically come up much higher on the instep, and in this way, full contact between the bottom of your foot and the insole of the shoe is maintained at all times. Non-flappy mules have a sound that is indistinguishable from any other high heel with the same heel type. Despite being flappy mules, and being very easy to kick off (and put back on) at will, they are very good walking shoes. Don't ask me to explain it, but among four pairs so far, I've got 350 miles of walking experience, and I still enjoy them for that purpose. They've even been to Chicago on vacation! Stay tuned for the runner-up spot, and the winner, coming to a forum near you.

Coming in at No. 4 are my BCBGirls Bonny beaded wooden mules (pair No. 2). I often say that these are my favorite pair of shoes ever. I don't know in my heart of hearts if that's really true, but at least in a certain category, it is true. The downside to loving these shoes is that they're not super durable. I've owned six pairs of this exact model and color (I don't know if it came in any other color), and so far I've been through four, with two in reserve. What happens is that after about 100 miles or so, the shanks break. I managed to coax 115.6 miles (186 km) out of pair No. 2 before that happened. Ironically, I was feeling energetic one evening back in 2022, and I decided to take the Bonnys out for a 5 mile spin, which I'd never done before. The route I chose was largely on a bicycle path, so the plan was to walk 2.5 miles linearly, then simply about face, and come back home. Unfortunately, about 1.5 miles into the journey, something began to feel quite mushy and strange. Yes, the right shank had snapped in half, allowing the heel to flex radically. I had to limp home very slowly, and that was the end of Bonny No. 2. I posted about it if you want to scroll back in my "Ruminations" thread far enough. I love wooden heeled mules, and I have quite a number in my collection. Why this should be my favorite, I don't know. They aren't super tall, effective steepness being less than 4 inches (10 cm), and they tend to get worn looking fairly rapidly if you wear them like I do, but they've always had a appeal for me.

Haha, I do the same thing! In my case, it's for kneading bread dough. Better in every way when you can get your body weight into it. Your wife's idea is not so strange, it's practical.

An explanation of my "giant" shoes, and why I called them that. Those are really my mom's words, and for whatever reason she decided to comment on the height of my heels this week, and not other weeks. I have several pairs of 14 cm heels with 2.5 cm platforms. In fact, looking back at the last few months, I have worn shoes that are equally as tall as the most recent pair on at least two occasions. I think the reason why these appear to be super tall compared the other 14 cm in my collection, is because the color of the heel is darker than the color of the rest of the shoe. This is not true of my other vertiginous examples.

I present my Church OOTW for October 5. I was going to wear these giant Michael Kors Oksana sandals with bootcut khaki pants, but I had forgotten that I bought these sort of camel colored jeans, and I thought, "why not show off my big high heels for a change?" The only one who remarked was my mother, who also thought they were giant. At 5 1/2" (14 cm) with a 1" (2.5 cm) platform, they're pretty steep, too, for a non-designer shoe. I had a little chat with the woman who occasionally sends me shoe/foot pictures (mentioned above, somewhere). She was wearing cute little red wedges with a pencil skirt. She only shook her head and said, "I can't compete with that!" I said that I didn't know it was a competition. I'll probably see her tonight at my book club, and I'll be wearing heels. She won't. Different Shoe Worldviews entirely.

I don't suppose anybody but me keeps track of their mileage in shoes, with the possible exception of running shoes. I'm not even 100% sure how or why I thought of the idea, but it stemmed from my loops that I used to walk in regular walking shoes, and somehow evolved to high heels. This was after the super painful experience in the mall that I recounted elsewhere. Maybe I got sensible and realized I needed to build up to my goals slowly. Next up, coming in at No. 5 are shoes that are so old that not only do I not have them anymore, I don't even have any pictures of them. If I ever did, they must be on some computer with a blown-up hard drive. So I had to screenshot a picture from the internet. They are, or were, my Söfft Belicia mules. I walked 107.5 miles (173 km) in them. Most of this was in 2013 and 2014. I think I'd probably gotten rid of them not too long after that. I remember that the thin straps had gotten so stretched out after that many miles that my little toes would easily escape to the outside of straps, which is not exactly a good look. Another factor was that at 3 7/8" high with 5/8" mini platform (really just an extra thick sole), these are barely heels at all by my modern standards. 8 cm barely makes it into the mid-heel category for me. Nevertheless, they did serve their purpose of training me for higher heels. I spent many enjoyable hours tooling around the neighborhood in them. They do have a couple of distinctions--they were the first heels I ever walked a total of five 2 mile loops in, and the first heels I ever did a 5 miler in. They also have the distinction of having never been reheeled for their entire service life. I have no idea what these top lifts were made of, but they were still good when I had to throw the shoes out. Other Söfft models' heels wear out normally like everything else, maybe even a little bit faster, but these are different for some reason.

Recently, I have set some mileage records for a couple of pairs of my shoes. I have decided to start a separate thread about this subject, and furthermore, I'm splitting up my top six mileage shoes into separate posts in the hopes that this will generate more traffic in general on the site. I'm always looking at ways to attract new members and more comments, not for my own sake, but for the good of the community. First up is my sixth place pair of shoes, mileage-wise. Bebe wooden mules, model name unknown. I would definitely place these squarely in the mid-heel category, as they sport 4 3/4" heels with a 1" platform, for a total steepness of 3 3/4", or about 9 cm. I have walked about 80 miles in these shoes, or nearly 130 km, over about two years' time. While they haven't caused me any trouble to speak of, they have become so worn and beat up looking in that time that I wouldn't actually wear them out in public. The stock top lifts (heel tips) lasted only about 15 miles, but their Vibram replacements have 65 miles on them, and while quite worn, still have a few miles left in them before needing replacement. Actually, they look pretty terrible, but since the rest of the shoe looks terrible as well, I have little incentive to replace them until they're worn to the wood. I guess you could say these are my version of trainers, not to be worn outside of exercise activities.

I made a definite choice this morning to train towards my goal, I walked 3 km in these 11.75 cm heels. By the time you adjust the steepness for my size 40, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 11 cm, or slightly less. I can't be troubled to do the math at the moment. I will post more about this on another thread soon, but I rarely take purposeful walks in stilettos. These are an exception, because I wanted to test the durability of heel tips on stiletto heels, and these are the shoes I designated for the purpose. For whatever reason, these mules are super easy to walk in, but I will not tell a lie, after 3 km, I am one tired puppy. It was one of those deals where I got into the walk, and decided that I was feeling pretty good, why not go a little farther than I had planned? I don't regret it, but it definitely wore me out.

Aldo shoes are a weird case. 20 years ago, their sizing actually ran very small, to the point where you needed a full number size larger than what you'd typically wear. Then at some point, they changed to closer match what everybody else is doing. This Stessy 2.0 model does not appear to be all that old, so I'm guessing it runs on the more normal sizing system. Howeveuhhh. . . the numbers you give for your own size are not consistent with themselves. Without getting heavy into the Melrose Plant size conversion chart theory, I'd say you need a U.S. Women's size 13 in Aldo. Maybe in some other brands, you can evidently take size 12, but probably not in Aldo.

I typically wear platforms of about 1 inch or so. I've some that are thicker, but none that even approach 2 inches. For me, it is judgment on a case-by-case basis. I sometimes don't mind a thick platform, but there has to be enough heel to go with it. I never cared for the early 2000s style, usually a pump, of 5 1/2 inch heel with 2 inch platform. Those were everywhere once upon a time, even in my town. If you were to go to any halfway dress up event, you'd see this style of shoe on many several women. At the time I always thought, "Too much platform, not enough heel." Now, I wish that style would come back. Those shoes are far preferable to what you see nowadays.

I had a minor setback last week--I injured my back to the point that it was difficult to do ordinary things. Luckily, I got over it pretty quickly, and am back at heeling (and working), but it was rather concerning there for a couple of days. I have decided to come at this gradually, so I've been wearing slightly higher than usual heels on my walks lately. Some of this involves shoes that I haven't traditionally worn for my walks. As a result, one of them got me yesterday. Put a blister on my right third toe. Another note for the files to make sure to wear a Bandaid on that toe before stepping out.

Welcome from far away in the USA!

Interestingly enough, I happen to own ShoeDazzle AND Just Fab. One pair each, although evidently, they're the same company. They're not bad shoes for the price.

Good grief! How many times have you had to replace the sole/heel?

My own sense of style has gotten quite a bit more casual in the last 10 years. When I first started wearing heels in public, I felt obligated to be dressed up as a part of that look. I went through a period of wearing a lot of sport coats with button down shirts when I was outside of work. That was unusual for this town, but not rare. Remember, this was before Covid. People actually used to dress up for office jobs and maybe stop by the grocery on the way home. Were I to dress the exact same today, I would be much more of an outlier, heels or no heels. It is no wonder that my tailor friend lost her job at Mr. B's, which is a men's clothing store. I assume it still is, anyway.