mlroseplant

13 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Good advice except nearly impossible for novices to follow. I'm sure most of if not all of us were apprehensive early on.

Good luck, only time and experience will get you to the, I didn't even know I had heels on stage.

Not only were we apprehensive, but we were simply not physically accustomed to wearing heels out in the "real world." Even without the psychological baggage, it takes months if not years of practice before you can just "forget" about them.

14 hours ago, HeeledSteve said:

 I also agree with you on the height. I know I couldn't walk naturally in  anything higher than a mid heels with confidence. It doesn't matter what the gender of the wearer no one looks good walking badly in heels.

I also did my first outing in mid heels, and it was a good thing. Despite hours of wear around the house, one of the things that I wasn't prepared for was how tired I would get walking a continuous distance. It seems quite silly now, but I was definitely using muscles I'd never taxed that much all at once before. Congratulations on your successful outing!

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a8661798/sinon-loresca-heels/

1 hour ago, SF said:

Now can we just get back to discussing high heels?? 

I think we can do it! Nevertheless, I think this is a rather useful conversation, if we simply leave the elected politics out of it. Since the subject has already been brought up, and the thread is getting a lot of traffic, I would like to discuss something @Heelster often brings up, the "politics" of surviving as a heeler in the blue collar world. This sort of applies to everyone in a way, but especially to us sweat-of-the-brow types. Isn't @CAT a laborer or something like this? I have a story I would like to tell about something that happened a couple of weeks ago, right before I left for vacation.

I am working on a large construction project which employs several hundred workers of all trades and from all over the country (USA, of course). I have been there for more than two years, and I expect to be there for at least another year, who knows, maybe even longer. I am lucky to be a local and I get to sleep in my own bed every night. Each company has to employ a certain number of full-time safety people. I won't say the safety people never get dirty, but basically they don't. They walk around a lot and observe. There is this one safety guy from our company that showed up one day wearing some "fancy" jeans. I never actually saw them, I don't know if they just had some fancy stitching on the pockets, or rhinestones, or what, but I know a lot of the guys were giving him a hard time about wearing them, saying the usual things about questioning his masculinity, and so on and so forth. We never saw these jeans again, but the comments persisted for a few days afterwards.

OK, pretty normal behavior for a construction site, Heelster would back me up on this. But here's the thing: If it had been me wearing the jeans instead of the safety guy, I guarantee you I would have been given a pass on it, more or less. One of the guys giving this safety guy a hard time seems to have no problem going out to the bar with me when I'm wearing my high heels and skinny jeans. The other guy who was a main instigator has never actually seen me outside of work, but he knows about me. There would be no problem there, I am very confident. And yet, I have no idea why this should be so. It may be because I've been around for so long. It may be because I am well-liked and respected as both a foreman and a worker. It may be because I have been tireless in my advocacy for trying to improve working conditions and morale on the job site, both with my mighty fountain pen, and with a microphone (you would be surprised at how many waves a well-penned letter or a few well-spoken sentences creates, when delivered to the right people).

So my invitation is, I would like to hear your ideas about what really makes people tick. Is this a unique situation for me? I do not have a forceful personality by any stretch of the imagination. My point is, I appear to be able to express myself in my dress and my appearance, and I seem to be getting by with it, and I theoretically shouldn't be able to get by with it. Sometimes, it boggles the mind. When is the party going to end? Will I have to pay the Piper someday?

I'm not really sure how to answer this question, because there is quite a long interval between my first pair of high heels, and the first pair that I actually purposefully bought for myself. My very first pair of high heels I found when I was in high school (mid 1980s), and I do mean I actually found them while I was cleaning and organizing things. They were evidently left behind by a member of the previous year's show choir, and I found them during summer break while I was helping teach younger kids to play the violin. They were awful, cheap, peep-toe pumps that had been beat to sh*t, but they happened to be my size, so I grabbed them up and took them home. They had about a 2 inch kitten heel, and I always kind of hated them, wishing they had been at least an inch higher, but I kept them for a number of years anyway in secret. At some point in my life, I threw them out, but I vaguely remember still having them when I got married the first time, because my ex-wife was quite curious as to why I had them, and made it fairly obvious that she was not at all interested in seeing me wear them. I mean, quite apart from the fact that they were awful in the first place, and way out of style by that time. So, doing the math, I must have kept them around for about 10 years. I don't miss them, and I don't regret throwing them out.

Fast forward, uh, wow.  .  . 25 years (well 15 + 10), and by this time the world had changed, and I had changed, and I knew I was going to start wearing some kind of high heeled footwear. I had worn some high-ish heeled clogs off and on for several years to test the waters, and no one had really said anything, so after searching around for a while, I found a pair of clogs that looked almost exactly like what I had been wearing already, but these had a definite high heel on them that really could not be ignored or explained away. Pictured below is a stock photo of my first "real" purchased heels, Sofft model Aviano. I still have them, in black and in brown, and I still occasionally wear them, maybe if I'm feeling really tired or don't really feel like wearing heels for whatever reason. They are by far my lowest heels that I still possess today, and they might as well be flats as far as I'm concerned. They are the first shoes that I wore out in public in broad daylight, and I will keep them for nostalgic reasons, if nothing else. They still have a lot of life left in them.

I have come to the conclusion, especially since becoming a regular wearer of heels myself, that heel height requirements are kind of dumb. Here is the reason why I have come to that conclusion, without even bringing up the subject of sexism:

I believe I am a lucky recipient of genetics, correct and useful information, and motivation when it comes to wearing heels, but even I have not found the journey to be easy. It has taken a lot of purposeful action to get to the point when I can wear heels very easily, relatively comfortably, and for long periods of time. It is my natural instinct to come up with three points, like any good preacher, but in this instance I can only manage two. Sorry. @meganiwish will probably be saying something right about now to the effect of, "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" if she happens to be reading this.

1) Not everyone has the physical predisposition to wear high heels, without even considering injury or physical disability. Because of my minor celebrity status in my community and in my family as being the Guy Who Wears Ridiculously High Heels All the Time and Inexplicably Seems to Get By with Maintaining Some Level of Comfort (not to mention who still has perfect looking, undamaged feet), I get asked a lot how I do it. I am happy to tell others how I've done it, and how much work it took. And the fact is, I have inspired several women to wear high heels far more than they would have otherwise, but I have not managed to produce anybody like me, even if they say that's what they aspire to, in other words, wearing some type of elevated heel most of the time. Which brings me to point Number 2:

2) Even if we could point out all the faults in people's high heel choices and correct them (by this I mean shoe sizing, fit, walking technique, practice, &c.), we need to ask the question: Do we really want people to expend all of this energy and focus for the purpose of wearing a certain type of shoe that some may find somewhat more aesthetically appealing, rather than using that energy and focus to do the actual work that people are getting paid to do? My answer to this question is an emphatic "No!"

Go ahead and strictly enforce neatness/cleanliness standards. Make people actually polish their shoes! But mandatory high heels? A dumb idea that at best interferes slightly with productivity, and at worst diminishes the well-being, both physically and mentally, of a significant number of workers.

5 hours ago, MightyTasty1 said:

Shoot, I was hoping to get away with a size 11 if their shoes ran big but I guess that is not the case. What is the model name of the pumps that you have?

Alas, Aldos are famous for running quite small.

Yeah, I think maybe we should leave this alone. That's the least of our worries, heeling-wise. 

On 1/31/2017 at 1:53 AM, swedeheeler said:

Got the shoes today but with my eternal luck they were too small  

From the looks of this picture, I have some hope that you can get those to fit you nicely, provided that the shoes are real leather. If they are not real leather, you might be out of luck.

I have managed to stretch quite a few open toed shoes that fit me about the same as what you show in your picture when I first got them, using a device like this: https://www.amazon.com/Footfitter-Premium-Stretcher-Womens-Large/dp/B00C32K12U/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1485911410&sr=8-6&keywords=high+heel+shoe+stretcher Some of them have actually become some of my most comfortable shoes after being stretched in this manner.

While I have not had 100% success using this method, I bet I've had 80% success. The trick is to be patient and stretch them slowly, perhaps for a few days. If you stretch them too quickly, they will just break. Just stretch them gently for a few days--just enough to be able to get them on, wear them for a while, then decide exactly where they are too tight. Then you can use the bunion plug thing-a-ma-jigs to stretch them exactly where you need. Good luck!

I usually have the opposite problem--I have trouble getting non-zippered boots back off after I've been wearing them a few hours. I think in my case, the fact that I have rather flexible and slim ankles for a guy helps in getting the boots on in the first place. I find that a side-to-side rocking motion tends to gain me faster entry than an up-and-down motion. Still, I have simply learned not to wear these type of boots if I will be visiting a place where I will be required to remove my footwear.

It's an interesting question: When did it become acceptable, indeed almost fashionable, to look like you don't own a mirror? I personally think it started in the 1990s, with the Grunge band movement. During this time, it seems like the object was to look like you were as poor as possible (usually while spending a small fortune on tatty-looking, ill-fitting clothes). At the casual end of the spectrum, I don't think we ever completely climbed out of the abyss.

When I get back to the States, I intend to do a small amount of research on the subject within a tightly focused group. I'll let you know what they said.

While browsing the web, I stumbled upon this article, http://www.shoefitnerd.com/shoes/pumps-slip-in-back/ , which goes into great detail about why pumps can be a pain in the neck (or foot). Yes! Guilty of having bought 1/2 size smaller because of heel slippage. Now I know better. It's part of a series of articles that seem to be well and thoroughly researched.

2 hours ago, Heelster said:

Oh hell - I don't think Sears, Macy's, Nordstrom's or any of the big chains really know what men want. If they did they might be doing better than they are.

As for Alejandro Gomez Paloma and his designs - - Not really any stranger than some of the other designers put out there for men.

Mens fashion really hasn't changed much in the last 50 years. Jeans and t-shirts are just that. The three piece suit is pretty much the same with different cuts. About the only thing that has changed is that men don't wear Fedora's any more. As a whole, men no longer dress up unless they have too

I think part of the problem is that even men don't really know what men want--and I'm referring to the demographic around which you and I work--blue collar, heavy industry/construction. The fact is, I know very well that I look better when I take even two minutes to throw something on better than what I wear to work, and I think that's true of most people, whether they want to admit it or not. The question is, why don't they want to admit it?

6 hours ago, curiousheels said:

For now probably just around the house.  I do like the elegance of the sandals.

I was going to say, it depends on why you want them. If it's just for around the house, I would say go with the single-soled sandals, just because I think they look much better. However, if you want to wear them in public, I don't really think either is a great choice.

Here in Northern Vietnam, the normal shoe for female office workers and the like seems to be a plain pump with about a 3 inch heel, give or take half an inch, little or no platform. This is down from a few years ago, when everybody seemed to be wearing giant heels with platforms. This is probably not totally a bad thing, as few could actually walk in the 5 inch (or even higher) shoes.

It's all a bit misleading, however, when you take into account that in your average Vietnamese office, you leave your street shoes at the door and walk around the office all day in rubber "house" slippers. This goes for both men and women. So wearing 3 inch heels to the office in Vietnam is not really the athletic accomplishment that it seems at first blush.

I have yet to see this year what women are wearing to go out during free time. Last year, the giant heels were still plentiful for the clubs or even the movies, just not for wear to the office as in years past.

Sorry for my continued absence from the forum. I'm in the middle of my nearly annual trip to Vietnam, where the average heel height is far higher than back at home, and where my own personal heel height is much lower. I was actually forced to buy some flat, casual shoes for this trip, which I no longer own (until now).

Someone sent me this caricature on Facebook for my birthday. I thought it was fitting, except for the unibrow and the tattoo. Funny thing is, I am pretty sure this person does not know about my unusual footwear choices. 

22 hours ago, Thighbootguy said:

That skirt looks great but it does taper a lot at the waist so I hope it fits.

Link

Just so I'm clear as to what you're talking about, are you referring to the fact that the hip-to-waist size ratio may be way off for the typical male figure?

It is kind of a strange little video, but I left a comment anyhow.

On 1/4/2017 at 10:05 AM, swedeheeler said:

Ok. I have now throwed myself into a other kind of slow progress. Loose weight. I'm too short for my weight LOL 

Anyhow... I'm acually pretty big boned (no kidding, I have a coarse cut bone structure) So I dont fit the bmi  

The scales clocks in on 193 cm and 122 kg (6'4"/268lb) the goal is about 107-110 kg (235-242lb)

Method... LCHF Diet and less on the plate. As it is now I'm eating way too much, biggest bandit is those @#//$ carbonhydrates.

Interesting to learn what size you are. I am the opposite, at 167 cm, and about 62 kg, but it seems that for most of my life, my best friends have always been about your size. So perhaps we are destined to be "besties" in the future?

1 hour ago, JeffB said:

 

Well, I haven't misplaced my thigh boots, it's just been wet and snowy here of late, and my mantra when it comes to weather related outings, "If the streets ain't dry, then my heels ain't high" holds true. Not to worry, that first jaunt of 2017 will be on the way.

It has been just brutal the last few days. Yesterday (Saturday) was a slight improvement. Hopefully, warmer weather will drift over your way to the East in a day or two.

On 1/5/2017 at 10:15 AM, robbiehhw said:

I never saw the appeal in this. Is it a foot thing? is it sort of she is uncovering herself thing? I happen to think many people have very attractive feet but i guess i don't connect the two. 

When i see this sort of thing, i always sort of thought...."if her heels are that uncomfortable that she can't keep them on, maybe she should by some other heels "

Just thought i'd ask

Also, if the shoe or shoes are that easy to slip off while seated, how does one actually walk, when it comes time to walk the walk, without constantly stepping out of one's shoes accidentally? I would find that extremely annoying. Nevertheless, it is a practice that I find somewhat, though not magnetically, attractive.

That is pretty cool, but I am left wondering what the premise is, as this is only a clip, obviously. Also, if those really are 5.5 inch heels, those guys must have some pretty big feet. From my admittedly jaded point of view, they don't really look all that steep.

2 hours ago, Thighbootguy said:

Hey JeffB;

Cool outfit and I like the booties more than the riding boots (I don't believe I just said that.) 

__________________________________

I played my monthly gig (wearing gray OTK boots and denim print leggings over hose) at the Free store this morning but there were very few folks stopping by.  Anyway after everyone had their pick,  I picked up a Snoma insulated vest and a brimmed hat.  I have never worn a brimmed hat in my life but I got an "I like your hat" as I wore it when leaving.  I'm interested in your (and others) opinion.

Probably stepping on Jeff's thread, but the question was raised! I'm a big fan of the hat. Not so much of the vest.

I also like Jeff's ankle booties more than the riding boots, although it's a marginal preference.

21 hours ago, w6ish said:

yes those boys could use a little more practice time in those wild and crazy boots they were wearing!

I just had to watch this video again, and what I noticed is that it's not just one or two of them--it's all of them--it's like they practiced purposefully walking in that way. I wonder who thought that looked attractive?

As we've said so many times before, this type of exposure is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's great to have more and more images of guys in heels, so that the public might just get used to the idea. On the other hand, shows like this are hardly going to win over many converts, male or female, and it might simply underscore people's perception that guys simply don't belong in heels.

11 hours ago, CAT said:

Saw this for men's heel fashion 2017.  

guys look a little awkward in there cat walk,,,,,,

Holy cow, not only do those guys look awkward in their huge, ugly platforms, but the rest of the outfits do not help matters either. Also, upon closer inspection, a couple of those guys almost went down, wobbling in their shoes. It makes me cringe a little bit.