mlroseplant

The subject of my musings today is aftermarket shoe padding, particularly at the ball of the foot. I have long stopped using inserts in an attempt to make a shoe be more cushioned. I do use them quite a bit, but they are for fitment purposes only. Some people swear by them for comfort, but I have never found them to make a nickel's worth of difference, comfort-wise. To explain it another way for the sake of clarity, by "comfort" I mean using them to relieve pressure at the ball of the foot, thereby making them more comfortable to wear for longer periods of time. Certainly, the way I use them, they do in fact increase comfort by taking up the slop in a shoe that is not perfectly sized or shaped for my foot.

Some of my most comfortable, wear-them-all-day, go-on-a-walking-tour-of-Downtown-Chicago-in-them shoes have no padding whatsoever. The insole of the shoe is just bare hard wood. Conversely, some of my shoes that have quite a bit of built-in padding, and some that have built-in padding to which I've added an insert for fitment, are considerably less comfortable on the old balls of the feet. I don't have any truly uncomfortable shoes, I won't deal with them, but on the continuum of relatively comfortable high heels, there seems to be no correlation between how much padding there is at the ball of the foot and how comfortable they are to wear in real life.

By the way, I only like one brand of inserts, and that is Foot Petals Tip Toes ball of foot cushions. They also make other cushions, but I use the ball of foot cushions the most by far, again for fitment purposes, not for actual cushioning. I absolutely hate gel anything, can't stand that squishy feeling, and they often make my feet sweat more than they already do on their own.

I am curious to know what other people's experiences are with foot cushions as it relates to comfort or fitment.

8 hours ago, p1ng74 said:

Interestingly, the only person who has ever asked me how high my heels are was a woman...

Regarding platform, I don’t have any experience with significant platform height, nor do I need to as I am already pretty tall.  I do like being able to feel what I am walking on when wearing a thin sole, which for me is only a recent discovery, as shoes designed for men always have thick soles.  

Naturally, there are always exceptions to the rule, and in fact, my best shoe buddy is such an exception, but for an unexpected reason. If memory serves, she has very few platforms, and those that are are very small platforms, but she doesn't like to wear anything over 4 inches in her size 5 1/2, and preferably somewhere around 3 1/2 - 3 3/4 inches. The reason she doesn't like to go any higher than that is not because she can't walk in them, it is because once the shoes get that steep, her calf muscles lump up in a way that she finds unattractive. The funny thing is, body builders and fitness chicks try to achieve this look on purpose, but she doesn't like it, so she intentionally limits her heel height.

I will give you this about single soles: If you happen to step on a rock or stick or some other small object, the sideways force that your ankle experiences is far less violent than if you were wearing platforms.

I am always on the prowl for another Candie's style mule. I've never actually owned a pair of true Candie's, but name brand doesn't really matter to me. I would post a picture, but I haven't yet discovered the perfect wooden heeled mule. I suppose it would be something like the Candie's pictures above, but with thinner, differently shaped heels.

I'm still very confused about the "cheating" thing. I understand the concept perfectly well, but why on earth does it matter? Is it also "cheating" if you're size 13 and claim to wear 5 inch heels all day, every day without platform? Who cares? I've never, ever met a woman who can tell me exactly the height of her heels she happens to be wearing at the moment, much less the platform height, and she doesn't care about those numbers, unless there is a specific reason to. That is a guy thing.

I have the same response as several others. I don't work in an office. I have enough edumacation to work in an office, I just choose not to. Therefore, I don't even have the option of wearing heels to work for practical and safety reasons.

12 hours ago, JeffB said:

Maybe it's the anal knucklehead in me, but I could never bring myself to wear mismatched shoes. 

Me neither.

6 hours ago, kneehighs said:

 

 

JeffB--you must be a really early riser?  Post time on my end shows your post went active around 5 am ish, EST.  

 

He's not the only one. I get up at 4 a.m. most days.

7 hours ago, Puffer said:

I think these terms are both used loosely (no pun intended!) and there is little real difference.   A mule is any backless footwear, but the term 'slide' seems to be used nowadays for an open-toed flat or low-heel mule-sandal, because one can simply 'slide into' them.   But then a flip-flop or backless thong sandal (subtlety different) are also 'slides' but not normally described as such.   Imho, the term slide is arguably redundant.   What is your terminology, mlroseplant?

I tend to refer to any backless shoe as a mule, but I think that the more correct definition is that it ought to be closed toe. Just to avoid any confusion, I refer to what might be more properly called a "slide" as an "open toed mule." I do have a few pairs of backless shoes that you "slide" into, but most of them must be wiggled into, because it's kind of critical that they are pretty snug so you don't lose one accidentally whilst you are walking. So I suppose we could call them "wiggles?" No, that reminds me too much of that silly group of Australian men who had that children's show once upon a time.

To further muddy the waters, where do open backed clogs fit into this picture? Much like pornography, I can't really define it, but I know it when I see it. Having said that, I do own several pairs of mules that look kind of cloggy. Or would that be clogs that look rather mule-y?

20 hours ago, kneehighs said:

Styles was styled by stylist Harry Lambert for the Met Gala.  Lambert, who has a portfolio full of gender fluid styling, has been styling Styles for years now.

 

That whole ensemble is just a disaster! I don't know where to begin, but I think I will begin with pants whose waistband comes up practically to his nipples. Who thinks this looks attractive? Speaking of nipples, are those badly misaligned pasties, or are they electrode pads for an AED? Not even the shoes save anything. Oddly shaped heels and those witch toes. All of this combined with his posture and expression on his face equals a look I hope I never come within 40 feet of. I wonder what my little Asian gals think of him now that he (and they) are all grown up? I suppose I should ask them.

@subtle, I am simply curious--what is your personal definition of the difference between a mule and a slide? I see you used both terms to describe what I see as the same style of shoe. I have a special interest because more than half of my collection consists of backless shoes of one sort or another, and I have my own personal terminology that I use, whether it's technically "correct" or not.

I have quite a number of platforms, but they are largely limited to 1" or less. I kind of like wearing 5 inch heels with only a 4 inch rise, but I draw the line at wearing a 6" heel with a 2" platform. Somewhere in that range, the whole feel of the shoe just becomes clunky and strange looking, especially if the wearer has very slim legs and ankles. As far as "cheating," what exactly are we cheating on, unless it's bragging rights, who can walk in the steepest heels for the longest period of time? I think that's a male thing, I don't think women pay attention to the exact height of the heel and/or steepness in the way that we do.

On 4/29/2019 at 4:46 PM, Jkrenzer said:

That's a great story. I'm curious about why she said wasn't brave enough to wear pumps. Not sure about her reasoning by your answer. Anyway, love to see a pic of the shoes.

It seemed to me that she had the same problem I usually have with pumps--if they are truly the correct size, they won't stay on my feet easily. Perhaps I have narrow heels, I don't know. Those heel gripper things either don't work at all, or just give the appearance of the shoe being obviously too large for me. My perception was that she thought pumps were the extreme end of shoes that were hard to walk in. I wonder what she would think of my mules? Which to me are much easier to wear.

I have posted pictures of these shoes at least a half a dozen times. They are my now 5 year old Nine West Plantera loafer pumps. I do not have a downsized (less than 500kb) picture of these at the moment. I am surprised at how many requests I get for pictures. I don't dislike having my picture taken (except at work), but neither do I go out of my way to document outfits and events. I suppose I should do more of that. My wife would never do it, but my son would probably help me out, if begrudgingly.

It's been a little while since I received an unsolicited compliment, but I got one yesterday at church. I was wearing a dark reddish suit, not really a maroon color, maybe like burgundy. It's a bit of an unusual color for a suit, but I get compliments on it all the time. It just so happens that I have a pair of women's dress pants that match the color of this suit exactly. I mean, it's like they were dyed with the same batch of dye in the same Vietnamese factory. The only difference is that the men's suit pants are, well, men's suit pants, and the women's pants are bordering on skinny. Not skin-tight, bulging skinny, but a very slim cut, and I have them hemmed at the ankle. I'll wear these pants with the suit if I want to do something different. Truth to tell, I wish all my suit pants were cut more like slimmer women's pants. With this suit and the slim pants, I wore some ordinary, boring (to me) black loafer style pumps with black trouser socks.

After the service(s), I had to go to multiple services because I was substituting for a musician who was out ill, I was putting the dust cover back on the grand piano and a young woman, probably in her mid to late 20s, walked all the way from the back of the sanctuary to the front, shouldering through people trying to exit just to tell me how much she liked my shoes. I thanked her, and continued to wrestle the cover back on (it isn't as easy as it seems, even after having done it hundreds of times). Then she said she wasn't brave enough to wear pumps. Not heels, but pumps. I said that yes, they are very easy to accidentally walk out of, and that I don't usually wear pumps, but that these were ok for me. It was kind of noisy in there with all the people talking, but she said a couple of other things about her husband or boyfriend or something, I thanked her again and she left. I don't know whether she's a visitor or what, I don't think I've ever seen her before, but I suppose I will know within the next few weeks. I know, I'm not a very good church member, I should have continued talking to her to find out more about that, but I had about a million other things on my mind at the time and didn't really feel like getting into a longer conversation at that moment.

On a completely different note (no pun intended), I am getting better at walking aesthetically in very high heels, but I still don't have the stamina that I once had. After five hours, my feet were really tired. They didn't hurt in the sense of true pain, but were quite fatigued. It must not have been too much, though, I am just fine this morning.

14 hours ago, Puffer said:

All too true, it seems!   If you look at almost any Chinese shoe seller's website, it will usually quote Eu sizes but also give the intended foot length.   Generally, the Eu size is overstated by several numbers in comparison with the stated length, so it is safer to go by the length if ordering - assuming that the length has been stated accurately of course.   So, likely to be somewhat of a gamble!

I don't speak from much experience in ordering from China, but my one recent purchase proved the above.   A pair of flat sandals I bought (through Amazon) only had lengths quoted up to UK11 (said to be 11.4" - a good 0.6" too short for a true UK11) but the size increments suggested that the Eu52 (the largest size available!) would be about 12.1" and this proved correct and an almost perfect fit for length, if still a tad narrow.   

On the same point, why is it that often a supplier will say that a particular shoe '... comes up small, so please order one size larger'?   Honest and helpful, but surely it would make more sense for the outlet to re-size the shoes, in its adverts at least, if not also on the shoe itself?

I have only ordered one pair of shoes directly from China. They are a Zanotti knock-off--ahem, reproduction--of a peep toe mule I'd been wanting for a long time, but was unwilling to pay that kind of coin for something of that nature. The Chinese version wasn't super cheap, either. I don't remember what I paid for them, but it wasn't like 25 bucks. I figured they were a step above in the quality department for that reason.

As it turns out, they do look very nice for the price, except for one problem: The size 40 I ordered, which is one size larger than I would normally wear in a sandal, and so ordered on the strength of the hard measurements they provided, fits perfectly in every way, but when they finally arrived, it turns out that they are really like a size 42! But a 42 for somebody with freakishly long toes. My arch matches the curve of the shoe exactly, my heel stops just perfectly where it should (always tricky with a mule), but then there's this extra 1.5+ cm of shoe past the end of my toes. What is up with that? It was very disappointing.

14 hours ago, Puffer said:

 (who I understand appears in Game of Thrones)

Game of what? HA!

I agree with you, the sandals are very nice indeed, but are slightly too big, and possibly meant for someone with longer toes. I run into this problem all the time.

On 4/5/2019 at 9:01 PM, mlroseplant said:

I got quite a surprise today. As I may have mentioned just a few times before, I have a very good friend who is my partner in crime when it comes to shoes. It just so happens that I have been doing some babysitting for her lately, because of her work situation. "Babysitting" might not be exactly the best word, as the children in question are 8 and 12 years old, but anyhow, they have been staying with us for several hours a week.  My story has to do with the 12 year old girl. She is a bit of a tomboy, does not like wearing dresses or worrying about her hair or anything else like that, and up to now, she has sworn up and down that she will NEVER wear high heels. Well, look at what she showed up to my house wearing this afternoon! I would like to think I had something to do with that change of heart. And they weren't little heels, either. They were 4 1/2 inch wedges.

I took Miss V to an orchestra concert tonight, as she is interested in taking up the violin. It was a good concert, featuring compositions by Elgar, Berlioz, and others. You can kind of tell when somebody is truly interested in listening versus simply attending out of politeness.

I wore heels of course, but Miss V stuck to flats, perhaps wisely, as we had to walk several blocks. 

There are some who say that one of the major things to consider when buying a pair of high heels is the "rocking test." That is, if you set a pair of shoes on a level surface and push either of them to the side, they should return immediately back to the center and stop moving. If they continue moving after the first return to the center, they will be incredibly difficult to walk in, and you should reject them.

I am here today to testify that it ain't necessarily so. One of my favorite pairs of sandals, BCBGirls model George, which is a very bare thong type of sandal with a pretty steep heel (4 1/4" difference between the small platform and the heel), rocks pretty freely, as you can see in this video:

I know they are trashed, and I have stopped wearing them in public. If any of you has a lead on finding another pair in a U.S. 8.5, any color, I'm interested. At any rate, my point is that these sandals are super easy to walk in, at least for an experienced heeler. How this is possible, I have no idea. Being a thong type sandal and being that steep, you'd think they would just kill the spot between your big and second toes, as well as making your ankles tired because they are not rock stable at resting position, but they do neither. They are very easy to wear. Therefore, I don't believe in the absolute validity of the "rocking test."

Having said that, I do believe that it's absolutely necessary that the shoes return to a 100% vertical (or plumb) position when released. I've had situations where one shoe sits at a slight angle at resting position, and that does make the shoes pretty unwalkable. That is a different issue. But just because shoes are a bit of a free spirit doesn't mean they are useless. I have a number of shoes that pass the "rocking test" with flying colors that are considerably more awkward to walk in.

I think there is a clear distinction between so-called "bent gender" and transgender. Perhaps that's where the hangup is. But then again, I suspect there are other influences out there on some people's opinions. There is no question that all of us here are bending traditional gender rules.

18 hours ago, Cali said:

The trouble is when you over think your walk you look clumsy. Before I started wearing heels I use to walk around on my toes a lot, it was ankle exercises for my reconstructed ankles.

I realize it's possible to overthink almost anything, but I think most people underthink their walk. I mean, it seems silly to most people to even think about the subject, much less study it, and it shows. 

I'm not going to name names, but there is someone I know fairly well who has worn heels for years, but has no idea how to walk in them properly. It just hasn't even occurred to her that she looks slightly ridiculous, or that there is a different way of doing something so common and normal. 

1 hour ago, nzfreestyler said:

Try wearing a pump - 4 inch heel in a stiletto - or even a narrowish heel for a week and see how you find it. Doing shopping, carrying stuff, hanging out the washing, running erands at lunchtime, climbing stairs at work rather than using the lift. Then you've got the hazards of wet floors, slipper lino in dept stores, uneven footpatchs, downhill gradients, rough pavements that are a pian to fine stilettos, slippery marble floors, stairs and escalators in heels. Getting on buses, balancing standing in trains etc - commuting in crowds in heels And then when you wear heels everyone looks - so you have to put up with that too.

While heels are fun - they are hard work.

We can't really compare on any general basis.

Wow, this is so true. Even though I don't generally wear pumps/courts, I can't just casually walk into my favorite supermarket in brand new, untested shoes. The polished tile floors in there are actually dangerous with certain stock plastic heel tips. It's amazing how close I've come a couple of times to winding up on my backside. Believe me, I know the slickest spots in that store, and one of those spots is right in front of the delicatessen where I buy cold cuts for my son's sandwiches for school. After heel replacement with hard rubber tips, I can walk through any part of the store with confidence. The difference is dramatic. It's something you just don't experience with wedges.

21 hours ago, Krystof said:

Gotta say that I do not comprehand why do all woman keep complaing about heels. I see no problem with them at all.

I think quite a few people noticed but none decided to say anything or show anything. I genuinly believe they really do not care a bit.
I think they do need to start creating more heeled shoes for men and I would say that it could become a thing.

I never enjoyed myself and got such a good mood from nothing as from heels. Well tbh I never had the opputurnity with s.o. but that will come with time.

Why do women complain about heels? An interesting question indeed. I believe that it's a number of factors, but I must point out that wearing wedge sneakers vs. wearing stiletto pumps/courts is like comparing apples to oranges. First, I believe that most women do not approach heel wearing as an athletic challenge, and therefore do not take the necessary steps (literally, haha) to be successful and comfortable heel wearers. Second, I have come to believe that there are people out there who just will never be comfortable in heels, practice or not, because of physiological reasons. I have truly come to believe that some of us are freaks of nature who, with proper practice and training, can finish a day in heels with a smile and un-mangled feet.

I have been ruminating on the masculine vs. the feminine in the last couple of weeks. I have continued to refine my walk, although it's been a very long time since I took a video of myself walking. It may be time to do that again, to see what I really look like. The issue is, I am basing my walking goals on what I perceive to be attractive walking by women, both in real life and through the wonder of internet videos. I have watched a ton of videos of people, mostly women, walking, to try to figure out what makes an attractive walk, and to my mind, a traditional "masculine" walk is not really compatible with heels.

Is this just my cultural bias? We keep mentioning "guys as guys in heels," so what is wrong with "walking like a guy in heels?" I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It looks goofy as hell. The question is, why does it look goofy? Let me see if I can put this succinctly: The traditional macho man walk is clumpy and awkward, not fluid and graceful at all, flats or heels. At the other end of the spectrum, the female model runway walk is equally ridiculous and inefficient, not suitable for the street. My ideal walk is fairly athletic, feet and legs close together, but staying on the side they belong, not crossing. Relaxed spine, shoulders down and back, arms swinging naturally but not excessively, gaze straight ahead as a "return" position. A minimum of bounciness. Although I haven't tried this exercise in a long time, I imagine that one could balance a good sized textbook on his head while he is walking.

Is this ideal too feminine for a guy as a guy in heels?

2 hours ago, HappyinHeels said:

mlroseplant,

I imagine the wedges actually belong to her mother and this girl just happens to be that size right now but will probably outgrow them. It was nice of her mother to encourage her to wear them probably in deference to you HinH

HA! I think you got it backwards. I doubt her mother's encouragement would count for much. It's probably more like my encouragement in deference to her mother. Her mother can't understand why her "problem" child always behaves like a perfect angel for me! Ah, kids. 

I have experienced a similar feeling over the years. I think that perhaps it's more how women think about high heels. Yeah, they may like them, but it's so normal for them that they don't get all excited to the point that they wear a new pair "for weeks." I think this may be a question for @JeffB. He seems perfectly content to wear flats, especially during sandal season. I personally have gotten over the feeling that I need to wear heels every second I have the chance. Don't get me wrong, you will rarely catch me out in public in flats unless there's a very good reason, but I no longer wear heels to do yardwork, for example. I think it's normal to be cool to heels sometimes.

I got quite a surprise today. As I may have mentioned just a few times before, I have a very good friend who is my partner in crime when it comes to shoes. It just so happens that I have been doing some babysitting for her lately, because of her work situation. "Babysitting" might not be exactly the best word, as the children in question are 8 and 12 years old, but anyhow, they have been staying with us for several hours a week.  My story has to do with the 12 year old girl. She is a bit of a tomboy, does not like wearing dresses or worrying about her hair or anything else like that, and up to now, she has sworn up and down that she will NEVER wear high heels. Well, look at what she showed up to my house wearing this afternoon! I would like to think I had something to do with that change of heart. And they weren't little heels, either. They were 4 1/2 inch wedges.

Marawa the Amazing has been around for quite a while. And she is indeed amazing! It is in this sort of capacity that I find heels the most attractive.