mlroseplant

To be fair, I'm not out there walking in Hot Chicks. At this time, I cannot even imagine walking even 200 meters in something that steep. As many know, I never wear stilettos to walk, simply because they wear out too fast. When I say it takes me half a mile to get my rhythm (some days), I'm typically wearing something like this: Thicker heel, somewhere around 10 cm height difference once you subtract for the platform. The trouble is getting from there to 12 cm stilettos (or in my case, evidently 12.7 cm).

I supposed it's like any other skilled activity--you'll have days where you think, "I think I finally know what I'm doing!" And then there will be days when you think, "I feel like I've never done this before." Not every time, but many times I feel like I don't get into a rhythm until about a half mile down the road. This does seem to be a big step because like I've said for years, one can't learn how to walk by doing dishes and sweeping the floors at home. Eventually, one has to step out in the real world of less-than-perfect walking surfaces. Please do keep us updated on your progress (and/or your setbacks).

Wow! Congratulations! That's quite a haul. On the other note, we are still getting shipments from Germany, the U.K., and Oz just fine (motorcycle parts via DHL). We are paying mo' money, though. As one would.

Yes, there are! And it's not just boots, either. I think they have managed to figure out a way to make heeled footwear these days that is even uglier than those of the Saturday Night Fever era. I didn't think that was possible. I saw a woman at a restaurant just two days ago wearing Mary Janes with substantial heels, but they were very Frankenstein's Monster-like. Worth a second look, but not a third.

My ex-wife was a flight attendant for American Airlines from the late 80s to early 90s. I remember reading through her material, and at that time, female flight attendants were required to wear no less than 1" heels in the airport and while seating passengers. There was a maximum, too, and I think it was 3-something inches? Can't remember. During the flight, the "allowable" heel heights were 0-1.5 inches. My ex-wife simply wore block heeled Ferragamo pumps, for which she paid a princely sum, but wore for years, with heels of 1.5 inches, and never had to switch shoes. It would seem, from recent experience, that all Asian based airlines still require their female flight attendants to wear heels except during the actual flying part of their jobs. If it's not required, they just all do it, without exception. To be fair, I've never ever seen a flight attendant in Asia with actual high heels. Their standard issue appears to be sub-3 inch. I know that for many people, that's a burden.

That's an interesting chart, and I'm surprised I haven't run across it before. Pretty much what I thought--I have to have a full 5 inch heel (127 mm) in order to have any hope of ever navigating So Kates. I'm not saying it could never happen, but I'd have to actually purchase decent heels of that height. I don't currently own anything that high that's not very poor quality.

Were they, in fact, fancy?

I really tried to get the angle of the photograph to be neutral, but it's very difficult without taking two separate photographs. Anyway, I like them both, but don't wear either very often. Suede and Iowa often don't mix very well. We've finally had an entire week without rain (and here we were talking about drought last year). Speaking of steepness and appearance, I can remember back in the early days of HHP, somebody told a woman not to be impressed when some dude said he could walk in 5 inch like they were carpet slippers. Said dude also took about a size 15, and his 5 inch were not really all that steep. I take and refer to the actual heel measurements as they are on my shoes, which are either 8.5 or 9 (39/40, something like that). You mentioned that your 12cm are the right proportion to your size. I am curious as to what the actual heel height is on your 12 cm?

Here is a comparison between the blue sandals I wore a few days ago, which actually measure 111 mm, and some D'Orsay pumps in the same color, which measure 117 mm. Is it just me, or does the shoe on the right appear to be significantly taller than the one on the left, even though there is only 6 mm difference (1/4")? I have no idea what they would be in USW size 7 or 8. I haven't practiced walking in either one this week. Bad for me.

It's kind of difficult to express dry humor through the printed word, but my comments were not intended to be critical. And anyway, I absolutely did NOT do as you have suggested I have done, and matched my heels to my top color. I matched my top to my heel color, as God intended.😆

I have used the Sharpie trick many times. It usually works well, as long as the damage is in a fairly small area.

I went and remeasured, and they're actually about 11.1 cm, and that's actual measurement in a size 39 equivalent, but now that I'm looking at them, they do not appear as steep as one might think, yet the tape measure says what it says. I have another similar pair from the same brand (Steve Madden) that measures 11.7 cm up the back of the heel, and yet this pair appears much steeper for some reason. When I get time, I'll have to snap some pictures so we can all geek out trying to figure out the differing high heel curved profiles. Got to run!

I did not go purposefully seeking AI, but I was sending somebody a DM with a picture of me in shorts and heels (I don't have time right now to look it up), and after I sent it, the phone suggested some AI alterations. There were categories like "Classic," "Futuristic," "Cartoon," and so forth. In over 50% of the cases, it lengthened my shorts to suburban dad length, and gave me ugly shoes, though it didn't always put me in 100% flat shoes. However, it did give me my hair back in all cases!

I have a whole lot of just shy of 12 cm heels, but very few actual truly 12 cm heels. Here is one pair that measures in at 11.5 cm (or 4 1/2"). Now that we have the challenge going, why do these look slightly stumpy to me? Wish they had another 1-2 cm on the heel.

Releasing pictures of my church OOTW for August 17. I chose to be blue, with my Steve Madden single band ankle strap sandals. Which feel really weird to me. And by weird, I mean they feel weird when I walk in them by their design. I don't know why this should be so, but it's probably because I have so few ankle strap shoes. I tend to stay away from them since my legs are so short, and I've heard that I should stick to mules to have a visually uninterrupted leg. I don't know if I believe that or not, but it's how I justify having so many mules. With the pants I chose, you can't really see the ankle straps anyway, so what's the difference?

I always choose my shoes first, then choose the outfit to go along with them. Sometimes, this ends up being the opposite of what I intended. For example, I was looking through my collection yesterday morning, and I thought, "Hmm, I haven't worn my blue suede single band sandals in forever! Although I based the outfit around them, nobody said anything about my shoes. I got a number of comments on my shirt! Go figure.

The problem with the park, and I have this problem also, is that it still doesn't solve the problem of having to learn a difficult skill right out there in front of the public. I suppose there is a case to be made that at our age we just shouldn't care at all, but in this case I certainly do. I'm already presenting myself in a way that is unusual and perhaps a bit shocking, I do not wish to look comical or foolish as well. Isn't that kind of the opposite of what we're going for? I am not sure what the answer is. There are only so many times I can walk back and forth in my garage, and that certainly does not prepare me for the real, uneven, hilly, broken-pavement world.

Whoa! Matching your shoes to the color of your top? That's close to blasphemy. It oughta be the other way round, innit? 😆😆😆

I am not usually a big fan of designer stuff in general, but Miu Miu brand seems to fit me very well. I have three pairs, all of which I managed to snag at a deep discount (used) on either Poshmark or ebay. I wish I could remember what I paid for them, but I'm sure it was well under 100 USD. Those sandals are actually pretty comfortable for what they are. I don't know that they'd be my first choice for wearing to Disney World, but they'd probably be ok to wear to the mall. A parting thought: The other problem with Miu Miu, besides the retail asking price, is that the vast majority of the designs are pretty ugly. Evidently, Miu Miu is Prada's sort of fun, wacky styled line. Also, as I'm sure people are resignedly used to by now, they don't make them above size 42 (which I'd consider a USW 11).

It's an amalgamation of the words "shoe" and "bootie." I don't think they necessarily have to have laces, but they are essentially a very short ankle boot. There may be some debate as to exactly what the definition is, but heck, we can get into an argument here about what the definition of a sandal is. I commandeered a pair of Swedish clogs from my ex-wife, which was my first sort of inkling that maybe I could wear something with a little more elevated heel in public and get away with it. This would have been around 2000 or so.

Yeah, it would have been nice to start earlier, but everything has a time and place. Had I actually started wearing heels when I wanted to, I believe my life would have been harder, not easier. I'm just trying to imagine me wearing heels in high school in the 80s. I probably would have been literally beaten at some point. I may have gone my own way about a lot of things, but I certainly was not ready for those challenges at that time.

I definitely have different sets of shoes for walking vs. dressing up. There is some overlap, but not a lot. I rarely wear stilettos to walk in, but sometimes I do it just for the fun of it. Here are some recent examples of dress up shoes and walking shoes. I'm sure it will be obvious which is which. Neither of these are 12 cm height difference. Still workin' on that one.

Church outfit of the week, 10 August, 2025. Miu Miu strappy sandals in nude patent. 5 1/2" heel, 1" platform. I should wear these more often. As I was saving the photos to the folder entitled "HHPlace," I realized that I wore this exact same outfit to church about 2 years ago. Shame on me! 😆

Haha, none of these shoes were meant for walking! On average, I break more shoes than most people buy in a year. However, in 2025 I don't think I've had any shoe failures so far (knock on wood). My interest in heels takes two different paths. Besides liking the way they look, I think of them as an athletic challenge, and most of my physical exercise consists of walking in heels. I have walked a documented total of about 4,000 km over the past decade in heels of at least 7 cm, and in recent years, I don't have anything lower than about 9 cm that I walk in. The 12 cm challenge proposed here will be something totally different for me, because now I will be going for sheer height/flexibility rather than endurance. And I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to accomplish that. As far as shortened tendons, I can really tell when I've slacked off on the foot exercises and calf stretches for several days. I have to be very careful of that because of the nature of my time in heels. On the other hand, I don't live full time in heels, either, because I can't. I think you'll probably be ok with just the slightest attention to stretching your achilles, because you are not in heels full time, all the time. Whoever wishes for shortened tendons (and in real life, that number has to be exceeding rare) is a complete moron.

I didn't get in any 12+ cm time yesterday, but I did get a lot of 11 cm time in. I got in 5 km of walking between rainstorms yesterday, which was accomplished in the below pictured Prada mules. They are actually 15 cm, but with a 4 cm platform. They are freshly reheeled, as well. I call them my rain shoes, because they keep my feet out of the puddles! For church, I wore my Miu Miu sandals, which are 14 cm with 3 cm platform. I spent the majority of the day in those. It is amazing how much difference an extra centimeter makes. I am fairly competent and comfortable at 11 cm, but 12 cm is really pushing it for me. @higherheels I am glad that somebody is working on learning to walk in Hot Chicks. I have never actually seen anybody walk very well in them before, even on social media. I know that in my size, which is 40, the heel height of Hot Chicks is more like 137 mm, so that is indeed an accomplishment!