mlroseplant

I think that is one of those things that doesn't translate directly or literally. Accelerator, perhaps? For the record, I don't think I've ever damaged anything with my heels, at least not that I'm aware of.

22 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

What other heel material do you have. Hardened rubber, plastic (worst) and steel tips are all I'm aware of. 

I hear Kryptonite works great. It's kind of hard to find, though.

I did talk about this subject with my only remaining friend from university, the fashionista lady. She works in a retail clothing shop (Loft), and is required to wear at least some of the things that the store sells. She is also very honest with me. I asked her if I am too old to be wearing Daisy Dukes. She said without hesitation, "You can get away with it." Meaning me personally. So I guess I won't worry about it.

Having said that, I really can't think of any women my age who wear short shorts. I can think of one, but she's a youngster at 49, and her appearance is much younger than that. I do know one woman who wears skinny jeans at age 60, and she doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, but again, you would never really guess that she's 60.

Not a lot to say this week. The Asian festival is over, everything is packed up and back home. The second day I wound up wearing my Bruno Magli blue suede wedges both for setup and teardown. We got back home at midnight, and then I had to get up too early to prepare for church. I feel like I keep repeating myself, and this week's picture is not all that great.

22 hours ago, pebblesf said:

For sure.  Normal looking heels, not the crazy stuff seen on runways that most would want to wear.  I've seen Harry in a few pairs, they all seemed pretty tame to me, would be interesting to see pics in the heels you are referring to....

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/red-carpet-dresses/a9645702/harry-styles-heels/

I don't know if this link is going to work, but here is an example of what I'm talking about. Those aren't heels! Not really.

It is true that many of our active members here are More Experienced. In fact, at 56, I may be a little on the young side. Nevertheless, I sometimes worry about silly things, like whether I need to quit wearing skinny jeans and shorts.

I have no idea how much such shows influence pop culture. I haven't owned a TV for 12 years, and I haven't watched any kind of series for much longer than that. I will say that at least his heels are real heels, unlike those of some other male stars (Harry Styles comes to mind). In other words, even if he hadn't pointed it out, one would kind of notice that he's wearing heels. Even at that, they aren't crazy, and they go with the rest of the outfit.

Our family, along with three other families, took a trip to Chicago nearly six years ago. I wore heels the entire trip despite the tremendous amount of walking we did. None of the girls even attempted, even though it seems like something they would have done when they were younger. What is your secret for endurance in heels?

1 hour ago, peterborough said:

Well here we are in london with my partner and her mum and dad.

they know i wear heels and seen me in them but not 4”

was a little worried. 
 

was walking around the streets and i was just in front of her mum when i heard her say yo my partner “his feet are going to hurt in them” my partner to my surprise said “he walks better in them then he does trainers”

omg 

amazing. Spent from about 13 hours in them yesterday. Busy day today.

That's what people always think, init? My wife would not answer in such a way, she would say something to the effect of, "he is super-crazy!" But ever since the Chicago trip back in 2018, she never questions my choice.

As it turns out, my presence was not really needed after the setup and settling in. I was only there for about 3 hours in the morning and a couple right around closing up time (10 p.m.). I wore some Bebe wooden heeled sandals with an effective 3 3/4" heel, and they didn't bite back. I was actually rather glad to have them when it came time to open up the side wall of our tent, as I am barely tall enough to reach the hooks. Their one inch platform with 4 3/4 inch heel gives me an effective 3 1/2 inch boost in height. Perhaps today I will choose some type of shoe with a really big platform for that very reason. Nah, probably not. Today I will have my son with me, and he will be my effective boost in height.

One person said something to me the entire time I was there, and it was some random 20-something woman, who simply smiled at me and said "Fabulous!"

Oh yeah! I remember the clogs now that you mention it. But that was a thing when I was somewhere around 10 years old. I'm sure I noticed such things at that age, but my preference for heels did not fully form until several years later. I know I never cared for the giant disco platforms of Saturday Night Fever. I rather liked the Dr. Scholl's exercise sandals, which were also everywhere during the Clog Era. Both on college campuses and the elementary school classroom.

A long time ago, I mentioned something about my wife partnering with another Vietnamese woman for the purpose of selling food and making money. At the time, I think I mentioned something about not wearing heels to meet her so as not to project myself into something that is none of my concern. Today, that partnership truly begins, and I have already forgot about being invisible.

There is an Asian festival taking place in the city, and it's one of those things that is well organized, well funded, and well attended. We went to set up some things last night, and I didn't even really think about it, but I wore some casual heels. My wife didn't say anything, the other woman didn't say anything, and her husband didn't say anything.

Today and tomorrow, the festival is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. I am assured that I will not be obligated continuously for that long, and I hope that's right. I am not finding any joy in any of this. But, I am seriously not sure whether to wear heels to work this thing. Since I won't have a vehicle available right there (we have to park several hundred meter away), do I carry backup shoes with me on my person? I cannot recall ever needing the backup shoes in the past when I have brought them. And if I do decide to wear heels, which heels? Naturally, it is thunderstorming outside my window as I write this. It's supposed to be over by the time the festival starts.

17 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Try living on a narrowboat and you’ll imagine it soon enough! 🙂

Even if I lived in a trailer, I'd have to have a double-wide, I guess. 😆

18 hours ago, Chorlini said:

We just had Iowa confirming my observation.

I'm not entirely sure that my observations line up with yours 100%. If I understand you correctly, you say that Dutch chicks do not wear heels, ever, and haven't done so for decades. My observation is that college age chicks stopped wearing heels about 5-10 years ago. I haven't followed any to the tavern or anything, but for on campus daily student life, yeah, they don't wear heels. In my generation this was also largely true, but there were half a dozen girls who wore heels every day to class. Then again, there were also half a dozen girls who went barefoot to class every day, and you don't see THAT anymore, either.

I know it's very First World of me, but I cannot imagine having only 12 pairs of shoes.

I can remember that from about 1995 to 2005 was a dark time for heels--or at least stilettos. It seems all the girls were wearing "Spice Girls" giant chunky heeled boots. This was following a period in the late 80's-early 90s when stilettos were everywhere. Not everywhere at once, but at least 50% of girls had stilettos in their closets, which got brought out for special occasions. A few would wear them every day, but not many.

I can remember shopping with my ex-wife in the late 90s, and you literally could not find a pair of shoes with 4 inch stiletto heels in normal shops. Then after the Turn of the Milennium, stilettos slowly but surely came back--only this time sporting giant platforms. Again, you didn't see them everywhere all at once, but they were definitely out there.

After we decided that 6 inch heels with 2 inch platforms were no longer a desirable look, it was sort of a slow downhill slide, which became a fast downhill slide during the pandemic. Then it never really recovered. I do say I see more high school girls wearing heels than I do college girls. And I also live in a college town, 200 m away from the college, so I also see a "massive overabundance" of young women. My son is still in high school, so I get to see the younger crowd, too. I see lots and lots of belly buttons, but few heels. But not zero heels. The idle desire is still there, have no doubt. I know this because even young girls will often ogle my shoes and say they wish they could wear them. We've been through all that discussion before. The societal pressure to wear heels is gone, so they don't wear them much, if ever. I can't really blame them.

Also (but not as an afterthought), Don, I hope your knee gets better. This getting old business is for the birds!

I did something that I rarely do during warm weather. I wore actual enclosed shoes to church. I did so because as I posted in the New Shoes section, I bought some pumps specifically to wear to church (and maybe a few other places). I keep saying that I do not need any more shoes, but I bought two more pair last week. These Steve Madden pumps, and a pair of Frye wooden heeled sandals. Sometime I'll post the Fryes--they're kind of interesting, but I thought the coffee color of the pumps was really beautiful, and the lady offered to sell them for 20 bucks plus shipping.

The rest of my outfit was based around the shoes. I often do that, but it was very particular on this Sunday, because I had decided to wear the shoes well in advance. So I picked out some earth-toney stuff I thought went with the coffee color, and then I realized, "Hey, wait a minute.  .  . It's Pentecost." To some of you, this will mean absolutely nothing. For others, you are chuckling to yourselves right now. Let's put it this way--the red tie is an add-on and an afterthought, but I think it works. I even got complemented on my tie. But not my shoes.

I had intended to let my shoe collection remain at its present size for a while, but I ran across these Steve Madden Klory pumps in a color I don't have, which I'll call coffee colored. Coffee if you have added a little bit of cream, that is. Some might call them brown patent. The seller shot me an offer of 20 bucks, and I could not resist. I wore them yesterday for the first time, and they fit just like my other Klory pumps. Not something I would want to wear all day, every day, but good enough for cheap shoes.

I have three flavors of Steve Madden pumps (four, if you count D'Orsay style), and the Klory model is my favorite for style. It features a 4 5/8" heel, making it just short of Louboutin So Kate territory, but only we would notice. The heel is 5/16" thick, and solidly built. I do not regret this purchase.

For a website that has become a home for men who like to wear high heels, we sure spend a lot of time talking about "they, they, they." I'm guilty myself, but I don't tend to do it in a negative fashion. I'm happy, at least in a small way, when I do see a woman in the wild who actually still wears heels. As far as the attitudes about fashion and identity among the younger generation--I have a 15 year old son, I am around his friends, I can tell you for sure that my life is much easier and happier than it was 10 years ago as far as being accepted at face value. Let's look forward, not backward. The good old days weren't always good.

Hi all, I'm posting a day or two early because I took some extra pictures this week. They are really all the same picture, but I'm not very creative about posing.

Yesterday, I did a 5 mile (8 km) walk for only the sixth time since I started heeling. As I've probably said before, I have a 1 mile, a 2 mile, and a 3 mile loop that I walk regularly, choosing one on whim or available time. On weekend mornings, it has been my habit as of late to walk the 3 mile loop. On this particular morning, I chose my BCBGirls Bonny mules, iteration No. 4. No. 4 is pretty unused, as No. 3 yielded up the ghost sometime last fall. These Bonnys are not a shoe that feels good out of the box. Every one of them has been very stiff and rather uncomfortable until having been worn for several hours. Then they become pliable and all-day comfortable.

I have never done a 5 miler in Bonnys before, even though I've tried on a couple of occasions. Both of the previous attempts ended in shoe failure of some sort, one of them catastrophic. The fact that these Bonnys only had two miles on them to begin with made them a suspect choice for a 3 mile walk. I had worn them around the house for a couple of hours, but they were still a bit on the stiff side. I took Bandaids with me, just in case. After the first mile, it was obvious that they are going to be just fine, same as the other 3 pair were. After two miles, I began thinking, "Yeah, I remember why I like these so much." At about 2 1/2 miles, I thought, "Hmmm, I've got time, why don't I do a 5-miler today?" So I did. During the 4th mile, the right shoe started rubbing my instep. Luckily, I had those Bandaids with me, so nothing bad happened. A little tender when I got back, but no blister. The rest of me, however, was very tired. You wouldn't think 5 miles would be that big of a deal when you do 3 miles regularly, but those last 2 really took it out of me.

When I got back, I made a list and went grocery shopping, changing my shoes to another pair I haven't worn in a while, blue FSJ stiletto mules. Like last week, I couldn't remember if there was a comfort reason why I haven't worn them. Apparently not. They were just fine, and easier to walk in than I remembered. It is really hard to tell the color in this picture, but they pretty much match the color of my jeans.

Note: Photos are in reverse order of the story, if you haven't already figured that out.

I don't think there is a bright line regarding classy vs. trashy. There are so many factors that go into that equation, and a lot of it has nothing to do with the clothes, but the carriage and the demeanor of the wearer. I agree with you that you certainly can't quantify it scientifically. One inch difference on heel height by itself is not going to do it. Not being able to walk easily in your heels, on the other hand, no matter their height, counts for way more "trashy" points.

I haven't been to a thrift store in years, and that's probably because I've never had any luck finding shoes there. I'm not nearly committed enough to making the rounds on a regular basis to find treasure. I prefer to do my shopping on Poshmark or Ebay. The bad part about that is you can't try stuff on, but I still have an 80% success rate that way.

3 hours ago, Cali said:

There are so maany banks and credit unions around here. There is one block nearby with 5 insitutions. But I live in one of the most expensive places in the world.

 

Now back on topic.

I was at a meeting today. The woman sitting across the room had a pair of T-straps on with 4 inch heels. When the meeting ended, she took off her heels and put on a pair of socks before standing up. Then walked in her socks back to her office.

This is.  .  . most disturbing, on so many levels.

On 5/12/2024 at 7:50 PM, Gige said:

Just wondering if anyone has heels that they will only wear at home/indoors due to heel height, comfort, or some other reason. I recently acquired a pair of very high Ann Taylor leopard print heels which are NSFW by any stretch of the imagination (I had to first take them to a cobbler for the footbed to be repaired). I also have a pair of Vince Camuto high heel loafers that also fit into the NSFW category. Thus, I was wondering if any other members of this group have heels that are best left for sitting around at home while looking pretty.  

Thanks, G

P.S. not my photos but from the web

 

Having another look at this topic, I can see where the leopard print pumps would be unsuitable for work, but the loafers? They look like they were MADE for work. I don't see what's wrong with those.

I thought I had been such a good boy and gotten rid of 2 pair last week. One because they flat-out don't fit, and the other because they are flat-out ugly. And they stink. However, I've gotten 2 more pairs in the meantime. So I'm not such a good boy. Hopefully, this will at least slightly lower the percentage of shoes that I don't wear. I think I'm down into the single digits of shoes that I don't wear out of 106.