mlroseplant

Friday was the last jazz band concert of the year, and it was a showcase! Every band from 7th grade all the way up to 12th grade got to play, and it was fun to hear in real time how much better the kids get with each passing year. It would seem that in general, jazz and heels are not a thing. The vast majority of the female, and 100% of the male students wore flats. There were a couple of low heels in each band, but nothing to notice, except for the trombone girl's shiny pink mules, pictured a few posts above, but they can't be much over 2 inches. The record for heel height for the evening goes easily and clearly to a 7th grade girl (around age 13). She was the only one of the entire evening, and we're talking probably 200 kids total, to rise above "low." Unfortunately, they were those ugly-as-sin huge modern platform block heels where the heel is wider at the floor than at the top of the heel. Oh, well. We'll see what the next concert band concert brings. They're a little more formal at those, as you would be.

I'm back up to 9 pairs of wedges, as I just purchased a pair of Söfft Sorbonne low wedges in cork, to replace identical ones (pictured) that broke a few months ago. Which means that I am back up to an even 100 pairs of heels total. I really like this sandal, and it's getting harder and harder to find. I assume it's a model from at least 10 years ago. I find them very useful and attractive for doing things like housework and setting up/tearing down at the farmer's market, where I have to walk on grass, often carrying rather heavy and bulky equipment. I have 3 pairs of what I call "low" wedges, and this example, while just shy of 3 inches total height, is actually only 2 1/8 inches (5.4 cm) once subtracting the slight platform and pitch correcting for my size.

Definitely one of my favorites. I have several pairs which are slight variations of that color.

I don't believe I've ever seen a wedge that is thinner than my Bakers. If there were such a wedge out there, it would kind of defeat the purpose of wearing wedges in the first place, wouldn't it? Even the Bakers are somewhat treacherous on soft ground, but not bad compared to a stiletto or near-stiletto. I don't prefer wedges for the style alone, but they are practical for anything other than hard pavement. That being said, I have to admit to being a bit more comfortable wearing wedges with shorts than I am stilettos with shorts. It's almost like there's a bit too much shock factor there all at once to wear stilettos with shorts.

Upon further reflection, that is my true goal, although it is a very subjective one, one that cannot be clearly defined. Knowing me, I will also probably never meet it fully (as judged by myself). Put another way, I want to be able to wear heels, and move as if I weren't wearing heels. I have already achieved this for 8 cm, I do ok at 10 cm, depending on the day. Higher than 10 cm, I definitely need some work. I really don't know if it's even possible to walk and move in 12 cm truly naturally in the way that I'm thinking. Also working against me is my natural physiology. My legs are super short, and I am bowlegged. It seems the higher the heel I wear, the worse the bowleggedness looks. I spend a lot of energy trying to hide this fact. However, as you can see here, I can actually bring my knees together, something I couldn't do several years ago. It takes a fair amount of effort, though. It definitely is not something I can maintain for more than a minute at a time, and I have to actually think about it. I know I have no butt. The thing fell off about 15 years ago, and I can't find it. It's probably in the same place my dad's missing butt is.

My wonderful world of wedges has shrunk by 20% in one afternoon, unfortunately. This also puts me below 100 total pairs of heels for the first time in several years. My two pair of Calvin Klein Felisity thong wedges both failed in the same afternoon, and I threw both of them in the trash. These were the second and third failures I've had with this particular model. They simply aren't durable, which is too bad, because I really like the style of the sandals. They are more or less a perfect height for a thong heel--about 3 1/2", which is definitely a solid mid-heel, but it doesn't put a ton of pressure on the space between your toes. It's just that they keep falling apart, in more ways than one, even after being repaired. Enough is enough. I'm not sure what I will replace them with, if I replace them at all.

I think it also depends upon your definition of "walk." I can walk in my 12.5 cm pumps right now! I could get from point A to point B. But it would be more like marching with smallish steps and bent knees--at least that's what it feels like to me. I don't even want to know what it looks like. I've said it before and I will say it again--heels from the 1980s, while numerous, were not all that high, at least not by our standards. When I go back to look at magazine advertisements, old MTV music videos, JCPenney catalogs, movies, things of that nature, a very few of the shoes might have approached 10 cm, but most were considerably lower. Even Marilyn Monroe's shoes were really not all that high. Again, by our standards, not gen pop standards. Speaking of Marilyn Monroe, and this is going to be very controversial, but I don't think she walked all that well in her lowish heels. In this famous clip, she walks with duck feet, and takes these short little prissy steps. Not at all natural looking. Turn sound off for this particular example, unless you like Pink Floyd. At least it's not rap.

I like the contrast of the light and the dark. I have only one pair of wine colored heels, and they are neither stiletto nor pump. They are Mary Janes with a narrow but not stiletto heel. I have gotten more comments on this particular pair of shoes than any other of the 100 pairs I own. I have no idea why. In my case, I think it's the cuteness factor, rather than the elegance of your shoes. It also happens that they perfectly match our church choir robes.

I will understand you to mean, "most people who choose to wear heels anyway would be able to wear 12 cm heels [with purposeful training]." I honestly do not think most people in the general population could. I also have noticed that 10 cm has become noticeably easier as of late, and this extends right down to less heavenly heights. It snowed the night before last, so I elected to take a short walk in my 8 cm block heeled boots, rather than anything more grandiose. While I definitely still notice that I'm wearing heels, 8 cm feels very natural. Wearing 5 cm, a height that many women I've talked to over the years claim is their maximum, feels like flats. It takes somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-7 cm before I really discern that I'm wearing heels. However, I will be interested to see how durable this newfound skill is. Like I said, it snowed here pretty good a couple of days ago, and I haven't worn my 12 cm or even 11 cm since last weekend. I'm wondering if it will set me back several days in my progress. I'm happy to report my findings when the time comes.

If you do end up taking it to a cobbler, I would highly recommend going to rubber tips, which he (or she) should have available. They will last twice as long, and have the added benefit of being somewhat safer, i.e., more slip resistant. The overwhelming majority of stilettos come with hard plastic tips from the factory. If your wife only got one wear out of them, I would say these Jimmy Choos are no exception. Good luck!

That is more in line with what I prefer in a wedge. Not quite so honkingly huge. Ironically, these so-called "stiletto wedges" aren't even all that narrow. If they were regular separate heels and as wide as that, they couldn't even be considered stilettos. Obviously, it is a bit of branding and marketing that has caught your fancy, and that's fine. It's just not very descriptive, that's all. My narrowest wedges: Bruno Magli on the left, with a 5/8" wide heel cap, and Bakers on the right with a scant 7/16" wide heel cap. Both of them are approximate 4" in effective height, though you can't see it in this picture. I feel like this smaller width and little to no platform suits my small frame better than your typical platform wedge with a broad heel.

I do not work on my own shoes, except for maybe gluing the occasional errant piece of leather back together, but I can tell you that there's probably nothing messed up with the heel tube, or the old heel caps would not have come out easily, or one would go in, and one would not. My guess is that your new pieces are not quite the same as the originals, even though they look it. My experience with automotive and machining tells me that if there is even .010" difference between the new pieces and the old, they ain't going in easily. That is not something you can see with the naked eye, it would require a micrometer. With expensive shoes like that, I might just go ahead and take them to a cobbler. If they were cheap shoes, I might be willing to experiment a little bit. Maybe you've already got the problem solved! My answer is a whole day late.

I wish I could say I've been to Tokyo, but the airport doesn't really count, does it? I was only transiting to Hanoi, Vietnam, where my wife is from. Maybe someday I can visit for real.

Congratulations on reaching your 13 cm goal! @higherheels It will be interesting to see if the Hot Chicks are similar, easier, or harder than the boots, since there's less shoe there overall, but a similar heel height. It is just now I realize that I don't really have a clearly defined goal with my highest shoes, so how will I know when I have reached it? It is when I can walk a mile in them? I could probably manage to walk a mile right now, but I wouldn't want anybody to see me doing it! Is it when I feel like I can wear them to church? Is it when I get to the point where it doesn't feel like EVERYTHING is ten times more difficult than it ought to be? I don't know yet, but I know I am not there yet. I saw a statistic that somewhere between 2 - 5% of the population can do a handstand, even for a couple of seconds, and that far less than 1 % can do a controlled, longer than 10 second handstand. I wonder if it's the same with 12 cm heels? I've seen precious few who do it well by my reckoning, and none in real life. But to some extent, it can be worked into through desire and training. Some people will never physically be able to do a handstand. Likewise some people will never be able to walk in 12 cm, but some could be trained into it. Thoughts?

Those look very nice. What brand/model are they? To my eye, they look to be about 10 cm or so. High, but not too high. What part of Japan are you from?

Hello and welcome!

I have not personally had this problem, but it's been discussed before. Some other members have come up with interesting solutions to the problem, but to my knowledge, it was always on cheap shoes, so there was not much to be lost.

As luck would have it, I messed up (slightly) two pairs of heels in two days, getting them caught between the boards of that deck. Actually it was only one pair on the deck. The other pair got caught in a crack in concrete pavement. Nothing serious, it's just irritating. I haven't done that in a very long time, but I also haven't really worn stilettos regularly for a very long time.

Heck no, I don't remember what I did yesterday, much less what I wore last week! I actually wore some questionably wrinkled clothes to Ash Wednesday service last night, just because I knew for a fact I couldn't have worn it recently, as I am way behind on the ironing. I have a good friend from college who plans her outfits weeks or sometimes months in advance, and by season. That wouldn't be you, would it?

Interestingly, within the last 10 years, pink has really taken off as an acceptable color for male construction workers to wear, but usually under the guise of Breast Cancer Awareness. It has even gained a place among the officially acceptable colors for high visibility clothing (in most cases a vest with reflective stripes on it), joining lime green and bright orange. Most workers who wear a pink helmet are indeed women, but it's no longer unusual or noteworthy to see a man wearing a pink hard hat.

Thanks, guys. It's been a while since I've said it, but I do try to walk a fine line between being edgy and being ordinary. I think about more than myself when I go out in public. Not always, but most times. Someday I wonder if there will be some young man who sees me and says, "Hey, I think I'd like to try that." That's why I have a standard for when I don't wear heels. If I'm rather grubby and unkempt for whatever reason (it happens), I don't wear heels. Yes, it's all about the shoes, but no, it's not. __________________ I took some other pictures on Sunday, because I don't think I've ever worn the combination of flared pants with pointy toed stiletto pumps before. This look used to irritate me back in the 2000s when women started wearing stilettos again, because I couldn't see people's shoes properly. But I think I rather like it now for myself, because I already know what my shoes look like. 😁 I do find the sight of little pins sticking out the bottom of the pant legs to be alluring. My pants in this picture are not quite long enough to achieve that effect, but you get the idea. I may have to dig out my boot cut jeans again and see how they look to me now, 13 years later.

Whereas I try to get a picture of my church outfit so I don't accidentally wear the same thing two weeks in a row! Wonder what happened to @CAT, anyway?

What exactly do you find uncomfortable about them? I've never found them to be uncomfortable per se, but I've always felt very clumpy and ungraceful walking in them. That is until I accidentally discovered that if I gravitate toward narrower profiles (when viewed from the back), the clumpy feel (and look) is greatly diminished. I won't go more than an inch wide with a wedge. Most wedges are wider than that.

Over the weekend, my son's high school jazz band performed at a festival. They did well. The trombone section has taken to wearing pink shoes as of late. 3 out of the 4 of them now wear such for every concert. Times have changed. There's no way a boy could have gotten away with wearing pink shoes and lived to tell the tale back in my day.

I went to a high school jazz band event over the weekend, and I chose to wear some coffee colored 11 cm pumps. The event was at a high school I'd never been to, and I arrived in the early afternoon of what was an all day event. Therefore, I had to park the car kind of far away from the building. When it was time to go home, I got turned around, and led us out the wrong door on the opposite side of the building from where I ought to have been. Me in my 11 cm heels, and my son lugging his baritone saxophone case. When I realized what I had done, my son said, "Well, at least you'll get in some good practice for your 12 cm challenge." We did get to check out a really cool 1950 Nash Rambler that was parked outside of the auto shop as a result of my mistake. I'd never seen one before in person.