mlroseplant

They appear to have survived. I took a couple mile walk in them last night, and they're fine. If they stretched out at all, it wasn't very much.

It's not nearly as exciting as I have made it sound, though I haven't told any lies or exaggerated anything.

A couple of years ago, I teceived a telephone call from a friend who works in the P.R. department of our local college. He said he had a freshman student in his office from Hanoi, Vietnam, and he thought she was feeling rather homesick. He knows that my wife is also from Hanoi, and thought that perhaps we might consider inviting her over to our house. We did so, and although she doesn't come around too much during the school year, it has come to pass that she has been hanging around here a lot lately, now that all her friends have gone home for the summer. We also take her out to eat or do other activities quite often. She's cuter than a baby bunny.

She seems to accept my heel wearing without question, which I find extraordinary. She's evidently never even mentioned anything to my wife, because if she had done so, I'd have heard about it, believe me (Rolls eyes).

Now for the bad news. When we first met her, she almost always wore heels, like a great number of young Vietnamese girls do. Now that she's been in the U.S. a couple of years, she does not. I was teasing her the other day--"How DARE you show up to my house wearing Crocs!" She took it in good humor.

Even in Crocs, she's a wonderful young lady. Serious, very intelligent, and with a sense of humor that transcends cultural differences. Besides, how can you not like a really cute girl who sounds ever-so-slightly like Cookie Monster when she speaks?

 

in the photo above: does my foot look too big for the size 10?

 

I've looked at the photo on my phone, and also on the computer, and I can't really tell whether they look too small or not. If you're two sizes too small, they might be kind of borderline.

Mlroseplant,

Wet leather should dry fine if you let it dry naturally and don't expose it to heat. After all, it probably got wet many times when it was still on the animal! Your sandals should be okay. They look like the Sofft sandals you inspired me to get. Are they?

Steve

Yes, Steve, those *are* the Söfft Belicias I've had for a couple of years that you took an immediate liking to. I've had them sitting on the floor for a few days with a wad of paper towels loosely stuffed into them, in an attempt to preserve the shape.

My fear was that they would stretch out too much while they were wet, as I had to walk more than a mile home after I was caught in the downpour. I watched as my toes got closer and closer to sticking over the edge of the sandals. It has definitely loosened them up some, but not too much, I think. I have yet to test them out in the real world. Appearance-wise, it didn't hurt them too much. What it *did* do is leech/grind a ton of black shoe polish into my feet, which took several days to come all the way out.

I'll report again once I have walked a mile or two in them.

Me too, SF. Carry on!

I get a lọt more attention in skinny jeans than I do in boot cut jeans. In spite of this, I prefer the skinny jeans because I only wear mules/slides during the summer, and it's so much easier not having to deal with my pant legs getting caught up in my shoes. It's also a lot easier to deal with the attention when you've got a wife, a kid, and a really hot female college student in tow. Long story.....

Geez Miroseplant, did it wash off your pedicure too? Kidding, but the visual was funny!

No offense taken, but yeah, I don't do nail polish. Actually, I prefer bare nails on both women and men. I had just given myself a much-needed pedicure. I have to do it myself these days, ever since my gal Bình decided to go back to being a tailor instead of a nail tech. It's a long story...

I got caught in a heavy rainstorm more than a mile away from home. I did have an umbrella with me, but I still got soaked from the knees down, and had to walk through some rivulets several inches deep. These sandals have been my trusty friends for nearly 100 miles. I hope they are OK when they dry out.

Very nice heels, but too high for me to wear.

Yesterday, my grand-daughter attempted to wear a pair of similar looking heels, with her red gown. to her, "Senior Prom". At the last minute she decided to wear a pair of silver flats. I said to her a very smart move, considering all the dancing and partying, going on at one's Senior Prom. She did wear the "Killer Heels" to the hotel, but changed into her flats, to party. She said she had a great time.

Oh yes, to be a teenager again!

Oddly enough, this is the current subject of my new thread in "For the Guys." You aren't going to wear those heels to prom or any other lengthy event successfully without a great deal of practice and training.

On a different subject, you must remember high school much more fondly than I do, Bluejay. Haha.

My first random thought: I have read many an article which recommends that if you must wear high heels, you shouldn't wear them every day, and you should severely limit your time in them, wearing them only on special occasions, as if heel wearing were a bad habit that must be kept under control. I couldn't disagree more.

The problem with this advice is that if one only wears heels occasionally, one will never become any good at walking in them. I compare it to ballet dancing or playing music. If you don't practice often (which means every day at a professional level), you will lose skill level rapidly. I experience this every year when I travel to Vietnam for three weeks to visit my wife's family, and I am not allowed to wear high heels (and rightfully so--I don't think I would enjoy myself in that environment as a man in heels anyway--they are not yet ready for it).

Although I have only three years experience wearing heels on a regular basis, when I come back from my visit, I always feel a bit awkward in heels for a couple of weeks until I get back in practice. Let's face it--wearing high heels is an athletic skill which must be practiced often if one is to exhibit any grace and style and endurance.

I would be mortified if I ruined an outing because I chose to wear 5 inch heels, and then had to limit the group's activities because I couldn't hack the walking. You don't get to that level by limiting your time in heels, as many suggest.

Hello all, I have been considering starting a "jaunts" type thread for some time, but I don't really "do" jaunts. In other words, I don't ever dress up for the sole purpose of going out dressed up. I just simply go about my everyday life wearing heels and usually close-fitting women's jeans. So, in light of that, I thought I would start a thread which will feature probably rather random thoughts about high heels and perhaps other traditionally women's fashion that I might like to incorporate into my wardrobe.

I have decided to start this thread with an introduction, or re-introduction, rather than jumping right in with thoughts and insights into the world of a male who likes to wear high heels.

My name is not actually Melrose Plant, that is a work nickname which has fallen into disuse over the years. However, it persists on the Internet, as I prefer it to my current work nickname, Squirrel. I am married and I have two sons, aged 6 and 16. The boys are fine with my choice of footwear, even the teenager. My wife tolerates it, but I am sure she wouldn't mind a bit if I decided one day to throw all my heels away. That ain't gonna happen.

As I said, I plan to share random thoughts about wearing high heels and perhaps other traditionally women's clothing from time to time, and I hope it becomes an interesting thread. I welcome all comments and opinions.

I went to a housewarming party this evening. The new (to them) house was occupied by long time friends of mine. They are a Croatian/Vietnamese couple with two young children.

As usual, my Vietnamese wife and I were overdressed for the occasion. My wife wore a dress and mid-heeled mules, and I wore a button-down casual shirt, boot-cut, close-fitting casual tan pants, and thong sandals with 4 1/4 inch stiletto heels. Everyone else was dressed much more casually than we were, save a couple of Vietnamese women, who were wearing skirts.

There were three languages spoken at this party, and tonight I was attuned to the Vietnamese conversation. I could not understand the full conversation, but I could hear they were talking about my shoes with my wife. I answered, in English, "What? It has taken you this long to notice my shoes?" My wife hugged me and gave me a quick peck on the lips, and after that, people seemed to take me at face value. One Vietnamese man even asked advice about an electrical problem he was having at work (I'm an electrician by trade). We exchanged phone numbers, and I told him I would come by and look at the problem next week.

Overall, a comfortable situation, and my wife didn't even seem embarrassed. Not a big deal, but I thought I would share.

Yes, that is the usually understood meaning nowadays in the UK, although the term is not often used, except perhaps by older women for whom it was the normal name for a pair of casual trousers when they were young. At one time it was used by both sexes to describe casual trousers, usually fairly loose-fitting (hence 'slack'), although of course trousers were not 'acceptable' everyday wear for women until WW2. In the UK, we find the term 'pants' (meaning trousers) amusing and somewhat embarrassing, as pants to us are briefs or knickers worn by either sex as underwear. Two nations divided by a common language ...

I find this difference in terminology fascinating as a native English speaker, but it makes me wonder how I should teach my several Vietnamese students. On the one hand, I would feel strange as an American using the word "trousers" to describe the ubiquitous garment. On the other hand, I would hate for them to be a source of amusement because of the understood UK meaning of "pants" being underwear. Who knew that a high heel website would be such an educational experience in linguistics?

Slacks. Now there's a word I haven't heard in a while. In fact, I haven't heard that word used since elementary school, which would be the 1970s for me. I was curious, so I did a Google search. A bit of explanation may be required for our friends outside the U.S.

"Slacks" refers to a dressy bifurcated garment which covers the body from the waist to the ankles, but which is not part of a "suit," which has a matching jacket. We usually use the word "pants" in the U.S. or "trousers" in the U.K. I don't know about Canada or Oz. I have never heard anybody refer to leather pants as "slacks" until now. I guess that means you're one-of-a-kind, TBG!

Perhaps this is a little off the subject, but I am curious. Do you do all five nails, or do you leave out the little finger? And how long do you have your nails from the free edge for most effective playing?

I keep the natural nails on my right hand at about 3 mm long, except for the little finger, which I don't use for picking. Of course I keep the nails on my left hand very short for fretting. It is not easy to preserve my nails, as I work construction. It is somewhat easier nowadays, as they have come out with dexterity gloves that you can actually do about 95% of the things you need to do while wearing them. Many construction job sites require that you wear gloves 100% of the time, in order to reduce hand injuries. I think it works. My hands look much better than they did 10 years ago.

As I recently posted, I've been publicly heeling for three years. Up to now, with a few exceptions, I have worn boot cut women's jeans with my heels. It seemed that whenever I wore skinnies or shorts, I got way more attention than I wanted, some of it quite negative.

However, lately I have taken to wearing skinny jeans tucked inside my Dr. Marten wedge boots with 3 1/2 inch heels to mow the lawn (both my own and customers'). I even wore this getup to help a friend move house yesterday. So far, no negative reaction. Come to think of it, no reaction at all from anyone. What do you guys (and possibly gals) think?

Yes, Histiletto, I would agree with your advice 100%. We really want to make it look easy, like any athlete strives for. I also have the 2 mile rule with almost all my shoes. I have mentioned this many times before, but I will say it again for the benefit of newcomers and aspiring public heelers. If I can't walk 2 miles (3.2 km) in a pair of heels in reasonable comfort, I get rid of them. This doesn't always happen immediately. I always give a pair of shoes I really like many fair chances to pass the test, but some shoes are just not meant for my feet, and I won't suffer for the sake of fashion. I will practice, I will train, but I refuse to feel miserable in a pair of shoes, because what's the point?

Another thing to think about--standing is often more difficult than walking. I have memories of proudly wearing a brand new pair of wicked 5" boots to the mall, then barely being able to make it back to the car because I had to wait in line for almost an hour at the mobile phone store (it was the Christmas holiday season). Wow, that tested my ability to cope with pain. Again, today, it is no problem. It's just a matter of practice and training.

A final thought tonight, on this third anniversary for me: I have a 21 year old niece in Vietnam who likes to wear heels. She is one of only three people in Vietnam who know about my choice of footwear. She seems to believe that men don't have the ability to walk in heels, and she said the shoes she likes to wear would absolutely kill me. Maybe it's true, but I'm fairly confident that I would walk all over her in a distance heeling contest. Brothers, help me prove her wrong!

This week marks three years that I've been doing the public heeling thing. It seems kind of anti-climactic now, but I guess I'd better mark it for the sake of others who may need that extra little encouragement to begin wearing heels in public.

Three years ago, I put on the shoes pictured below, which were my first pair of "real" heels that I had bought to wear outside the house, and pushed my then three-year-old son in his stroller down to Bike Night, a monthly motorcycle rally held in our town. I wore the shoes under very long pants, and I was surprised at the time that I got no attention whatsoever from anyone. I wore these shoes out quite a few times (but not all the time like I do now), until I got some even higher heeled clogs, which then became the new standard some six months later. I still wear these shoes occasionally, and I will probably keep them forever for sentimental reasons, even when they are no longer fit to wear.

One thing I remember about my first time out, besides the lack of attention, was that the half mile walk to the town square, and the half mile walk back home seemed like it lasted FOREVER. I don't remember it being truly painful, but I was not prepared for that particular athletic challenge at the time. Today, with many miles of experience and practice under my belt, walking a mile in what are effectively 3 inch heels would be nothing to think of at all. Three years ago, having never been out in the real world wearing heels before, it was very difficult. I'm sure I didn't look too pretty. That would be the one bit of advice I'd like to give to new public heelers: Try to figure out some way to practice walking out in the real world before you do it in front of people. I don't care how many hours you've worn heels around the house, how many floors you've vacuumed or swept in heels, how many loads of laundry you've done in heels, once you are faced with a distance to walk outside in a continuous manner, and on ground that is not perfectly smooth and level, you will realize that you are not really prepared for what awaits you.

I was lucky that my town is small and quiet enough so that I was able to practice walking in heels late in the evenings, under cover of darkness, without worrying about my safety. I have walked hundreds of miles through my neighborhood over the last three years. Even so, to this day, I feel like I need more practice. Or maybe that's just me, wanting to find an excuse to go out in heels.

This happens to me all the time. My work absolutely dictates whats shoes I wear (and even then I still have the highest heels on the jobsite--always), so I try to walk in heels every evening when it's not pouring down rain. However, my work schedule has been so grueling as of late that an extra 10 minutes of deciding which shoes to wear often results in me not going out for a walk at all. Not good. I should just throw on any pair and go. It's really my only exercise these days, and I'm slowly but surely getting fatter.

Now that another summer is upon us, I've had another experience to share. Due to my job, I probabLy won't be wearing shorts out in public this year. I will be outside 60 hours a week in construction garb, which means my face, neck, and arms will be very dark, but my legs will be porcelain. Bad enough for a normal guy, but for a guy in short shorts and heels, uh.....no.

As an alternative, I tried skinny jeans instead of shorts. The effect was almost the same as wearing shorts. I get WAY more attention with skinny jeans than I do with boot cut jeans which somewhat cover the heels. I rather like the look of the skinny jeans, but I also like people to leave me the hell alone. We'll see how I feel in another few weeks.

I have noticed that the sound of some shoes changes a lot after having the heel tips replaced. With very thin heels (stilettos), the change is not too much, but with thicker heels, the change can be a lot. In fact, I had one pair of boots that changed in sound so much, I got rid of them soon after the repair. I thought they sounded stupid when I walked.

I find that's it's much easier to be relaxed out in heels if you're with another person. Congratulations on your first outing.

I just got a new pair of lace up shoes. I normally go for Oxfords, but these Derbys were cute and cheap.

They are Guess brand, and they are made of an interesting sort of charcoal gray fabric. I don't know what it's called, but it's just ever so slightly fuzzy and rough. It kind of reminds me of the stuff they cover stage monitor speakers with. It's accented with a black patent leather heel, at a healthy 5 1/4 inches, and a black patent platform, which, at an even inch, is about as high as I care to go with an exposed platform.

I wore them to the grocery store the other day, just to sort of test them out, and they are pretty doggoned easy to walk in for a short distance. I can't comment on their long term comfort, as I have not yet attempted my 2 mile test in them. Overall, I really like the way they look as a more casual shoe than I normally buy.

I have a cousin in Vietnam who wears high heels most of the time, and is a habitual dangler. She is 28, and very attractive. I'm pretty sure it is an unconscious habit. I'm quite sure I could ask her about it, but the trick is getting her to reply to my messages in a timely manner, if she replies at all. I don't find her dangling particularly sexy, but that could be because I kind of dislike her.

Well, yesterday, I went and bought a shoe style I thought I'd NEVER buy----a slide! Yes, I'm sure I've mentioned a few times here and there that I've never been a fan of slides, calling them impractical because of the open back, but for the last few days I had been intrigued by the Payless "O'Malley" platform wedge slide, so, out of curiosity, I went to a store a mile away from home and bought not just one pair, but two as it was buy one pair, get the other at half off, so I got those shoes in black and natural which was a sort of beige. The four inch platform wedge was quite stable, comfortable, easy to stand and walk in, and yes, they go well with my skirts, from a mini to a maxi. In short, these slides have style, and I liked them! Who'd a thunk it, right? Nevertheless, I can't wait to take these shoes out for a jaunt!

Welcome to the wonderful world of slides, Jeff! I currently own about 15 pairs of sandals, and all of them are slides. The particular design you bought doesn't look impractical at all. I have several that might be considered impractical, but maybe I like them *because* they're impractical. I like a challenge.