mlroseplant

I suppose one could write a doctoral thesis on the relationship between the fashion designers and the fashion that one actually witnesses on the street. Maybe somebody already has. I'm not seeing a big relationship between the two. I think what our pop stars and our movie stars present has a lot more influence, and even then, it might take, or it might not.

I personally do not know what influence TikTok has on young people, and to a lesser extent Instagram. My 13 year old does neither of those. He's a Youtube/Facebook guy. Then again, he thinks he's 40 years old. He does get occasional questions from his classmates as to  why his dad wears "booty shorts." Not at this time of year, obviously.

What do we count as acceptance, or peak acceptance? I think I'm about there. I haven't been harassed in ages, and cars full of teenagers no longer follow me around, trying to snap pictures. Does TikTok have anything to do with it? Does high fashion have anything to do with it?

Puleeeeeze. You Californians don't even truly know the meaning of the word "cold."😂😂😂

Wore the Dansko clogs last night to another church meeting. They are FAR superior in every way except looks. 100% leather does make a big difference.

I will not deny the appeal of minimalism, both personally and for the planet. However, my musical instrument collection alone would prevent me from living in something the size of a conex. And I can't really feel bad about having all that, because between my son and me, all of the instruments get played fairly regularly. Ironically, the instruments that are never or rarely played also are very small, such as the flute. There is no one in this house that doesn't suck at the flute, and we don't care that we suck at the flute. We are low pitch instrument people in general.

Having blabbed on too far about that, I was once in a spot where I felt I could justify my shoe collection. I could justify it because I could say, "Yeah, 50 pair is a lot, but I actually wear all of them. Well, except for three." Now I'm hovering around 90 at last count, and I can't really say that anymore. There is a point at which it becomes excessive, and that point for me personally is somewhere between 50 and 90 pairs of shoes.

And now, for something completely different, I was attempting to choose a pair of shoes last night to attend church choir rehearsal. I knew I was going to have to move quite a bit of heavy equipment around, so I didn't want to wear something super tall. It was at that point I realized that I don't have any enclosed shoes that are not super tall, except for a couple of pairs of clogs that are mid heels. One of them is my original pair of Söfft clogs I bought as my first pair of real heels for myself. The other is a pair of Dansko wedge heeled clogs, which are probably almost the same height as the Söffft, but a wedge instead of a block heel.

My point is that both are leather shoes, and both have aged well, looks wise. The difference is, the Danskos are all leather, except for the sole, and the Söfft are leather uppers with a plastic sock liner. I was reminded last night why I don't wear the Söfft clogs much any more, despite them being a great looking and practical shoe. They make my feet sweat. Finding a leather pair of shoes that are actually all leather has definitely become harder, and has gotten considerably more expensive in the last 10 years. I would guess it's even worse for something that uses a lot of leather, like a knee high boot.

I think that part of the problem is also that people just want more stuff now, and I cannot claim innocence in going along with this trend. It is difficult for me to imagine going back to having a couple of pairs of shoes that I wear every day. I must also admit to softening my standards about buying only leather shoes. I can get by with it for many of my shoes, like sandals, as long as the structure is sturdy. I wouldn't necessarily want to put my feet into plastic boots for several hours, but in certain cases, going with all man made material is acceptable.

When it comes to stuff actually falling apart and/or failing catastrophically, I've dealt with my fair share of that, and frankly, I have not tended to favor more expensive shoes in terms of durability. In general, it has been my experience that the designer shoes tend to fail suddenly, though they look wonderful when you have to throw them out, whereas the cheap shoes don't break on you, but eventually they get so worn and ratty looking in some way that you have to get rid of them.

I seriously doubt whether the author even knows what a 4 inch or 10cm heel actually is. Few women actually know what heel height they are wearing. Or maybe she's measuring up the side, so that 10cm would actually be closer to 12, which is the height that most couture pumps seem to be clustered around. At any rate, I can attest to the fact that endurance falls off rather quickly without regular training. It's not so much the walking, it's the walking more than 100 meters at a time that becomes difficult. This whole everybody's falling down business, I have no idea what that's all about. Probably exaggerated for a good story.

Evidently, I know how to get youse guys riled up, and I'm not saying that was my intention, but it was a thought when I hit the "Submit Reply" button. Unfortunately, the discussion that developed is not really very productive, even if it is entertaining.

When I made that comment, several replies above, I assumed that there are quite a number of straight people who are irritated when the general public assumes they are gay. I arrived at this (possibly false) assumption from reading comments people have made over the years, and particularly on this thread.

What I have gotten out of this whole incident is that Mark Bryan made some comment to some interviewer that the gay community has made it somehow harder for him. And the response is that, "Well.  .  . WE paved the way for you to be able to do your thing, and now you have shat upon us." I'm calling hogwash on both of these assertions.

WE, meaning those of us here on this forum, know from vast and shared experience that the number of male heel wearers is very low in any demographic. We need to keep that in mind before we go about dividing ourselves up into little tribes. I think and hope that I'm preaching to the choir on this one, because let's face it, none of US have high heel based Instragram accounts with a significant number of followers, none of US have been invited to fashion shows. Mr. Bryan may have a following on social media, but I'll bet you serious money that if I went out and asked 1,000 people in my town who he is, maybe 3 will have even heard of him. The people who will influence society are you and me, one by one. So be nice to folks! We want to make a good impression.

The question that I struggle with is, "Why do I take secret inner offense, if only for a few seconds, when somebody thinks I am gay?" If that problem could be solved, and I don't know how to solve it, none of this so-called controversy would exist.

I went to Walgreen's to get a passport style photo taken. The young lady who helped me seemed not to notice my shoes, or pretended not to, but about 3/4 of the way through our interaction, she said, "I just don't understand how you can wear those shoes. I wish I could." I was wearing some open toed mules that I don't believe I've posted on here yet, but they are basically in the Candies style--single wide band of leather across the toes, wooden platform and heel. They are not super high. My brain thinks of them as mid heels, but with the platform they are high enough that most people would seem them as high heels. 4 1/4" tapered heel, 3/4" platform, if you must know.

The young clerk showed me her shoes, which were a heavy loafer style shoe with about a 2 inch chunky heel. She said that was about as high as she could go without severe pain, and she felt like she needed to wear even that much of a heel because she was five-foot-nothing without them. I never know what to say in situations like that, because it's difficult to discern whether the questioner really wants to know the answer to their so-called question. Since there were no other customers around, I took the time to explain that I started off about 10 years ago in short heels and gradually worked my way up. I pointed out to her that a gymnast does not start off by attempting to do a handstand on the balance beam, you have to work your way up to these things.

She said, "I hadn't really thought about it like that, and you're right!" It was then time for me to leave and go about my business, so I bid her a good night. I do not know whether this was worth reporting, but it was mildly amusing.

I have recently had the pleasure of enduring my company's annually required harassment training. And every year, I say the same thing. I will probably say the same thing next year. The entire two hours or whatever it is could really be boiled down into one pithy statement: "Don't be a jackwagon." Mr. Bryan evidently forgot that rule.

I realize that as winter is getting closer in the northern hemisphere, pictures from me will become less frequent, unless I come up with a way to compensate. I know I used to take a lot of pictures in front of a mirror in the dining room, but to call those substandard is an understatement. The main obstacle in the months to come is that the sun sets so early, so any evening activities will take place after dark. Unless my wife suddenly decides that she wants to start taking pictures of me that feature my shoes (typically she cuts my shoes out of the picture on purpose), there will likely be fewer pictures to share in the near future.

23 hours ago, mickeyunc said:

Oksana  heels where you purchase from?

Heavens, I bought those things years ago, according to my sketchy records and more sketchy memory, in 2016. It was an ebay purchase, I am almost certain. It was my second pair of Oksanas, the first one being black. I threw the black ones out because of shank fatigue. They squeaked badly when you walked, and I know it was from one of the metal shanks moving around inside the shoe. Neither of these pair is much better. No squeaking, but there is significant heel flex, and it's not loose heels, it's because the whole shoe is too flexible to properly support such high heels. Cool looking, but I cannot recommend them for purchase. Not if you actually want to wear them.

Yes, I completely understand about the sameness of it all. Who could possibly be interested in the same ol', same ol'? Well, people are for some reason, at least a few people. My thread often wanders far away from the subject at hand, for that very reason, and those tend to be the top conversations when they happen.

Nice outfit, by the way. Nothing earth-shattering, but that's kind of what we're after, init? Edgy but normal.

23 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Not any of us doubted you did.

How long will the remodel take?

We resume services in the sanctuary on November 27. The work may be done quite a bit before that, but it has been decided that that is the date!

It's pretty low-res, but here is me at our temporary place of worship while our church sanctuary is being remodeled. It's a screen shot from a video. Just in case there is somebody still out there who doesn't believe that I actually wear high heels to church.

I had to go to the dermatologist on Thursday, because of a concerning spot on my cheek. I'm supposed to go every year to get checked out because of my medical history and my job, but our public health situation kind of messed everything up, and I hadn't been since 2019. I don't have any news yet, but she said it looked like nothing, really. Lab results will take a few days, naturally. So I have a very small chunk missing from my cheek, and I have to wear a bandaid (or sticking plaster) to try to keep it from scabbing over, so it doesn't leave too much of a scar.

Anyway, I debated about what to wear to the appointment. I ended up wearing something very boring, probably because I was a bit worried before I got there about this white spot on my face that just would not go away. I wore powder blue pants with a blue polo shirt, and these not-very-high-heeled sandals:

Since you have to strip down to your underpants for this examination, I didn't want to wear anything very fiddly, and yet I didn't want to show up in jeans and a t-shirt, either. It is possible that the doctor did not even notice my shoes or any of my clothing, as it was all removed by the time she saw me. The nurse surely did, and she didn't react in any visible way. I know I have worn wedge sandals to this place before, but again, my shoes spent most of the time underneath the chair.

I like your choices, and welcome back!

13 hours ago, bambam said:

Those sandals on the Bike are very nice!!

They are essentially the same sandal as the gray ones pictured above, with a few minor variations, Michael Kors "Oksana" is the name of the tan ones.

The basic problem with both of these is that, despite their robust appearance, they are not very sturdy shoes. And I only weigh a buck-and-a-third. (That's 9 1/2 stone or 61 kg)

6 hours ago, kneehighs said:

Pretty sure @mlroseplant didn’t take my comment personally. Making shoes the same color as the pants is a stylists way of visually making the legs appear longer for anyone.

This outfit is great. Another option is a white button down. It would create a classic monochromatic effect. Which would elongate and slim the whole body—for anyone.

I am pretty sure that everyone on here knows I have a pretty dry sense of humor, but in all seriousness, I have done the monochromatic thing over the years, and here I thought I was just being lazy and unimaginative!

20 hours ago, kneehighs said:

Ahh, I didn't mean to imply they meet all the items on the list.  Just one or two is probably sufficient.  By the way, you're married.  Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I gather your heel wearing is "tolerated" by your wife as opposed to actionably "supported".    Is your heel wearing just one of those conflicts in relationship that is never resolved, but tolerated? 

 

 

Yeah, I think I've just worn her down over the years. She doesn't even bother to say anything anymore. However, the negative feelings are still there. Nowadays, this is usually expressed by her complimenting my shoes that aren't heels, on the rare occasion when that happens.

On 10/22/2022 at 4:55 AM, peterborough said:

Went out for a meal the other day with family and I wore the below heels.

Went to go to the loo and the floors were tiled, and the path to the loo was right near a few tables where other people were eating. My heels made such a noise as I walked on the tiles, I noticed people's heads turning in my direction, looking at my shoes. Made me nervous.

 

Every once in a while, I still feel like all eyes are upon me because of my shoes, especially when I make a racket getting where I'm going.   Over the last 10 years, I have developed a love/hate relationship with the noise that many heels make. Theoretically, I like the noise, especially the peculiar sound of mules. Howeveah.  .  . it is difficult to keep from feeling self-conscious when walking past a group of people who are stationary for whatever reason, and are not making a bunch of noise themselves.

17 hours ago, kneehighs said:

Definitely my favorite shoes I've seen you wear so far. Their color blends well with your pants too. This can help elongate your legs. 

There is nothing to be done about my legs. I make my way through life with this handicap.

Speaking of unicorn hunting, I am trying to think, out of all the women I know, who could achieve all of the items on this list. I can think of only one, and this particular woman would not meet your unwritten criteria in three different ways.

13 hours ago, spikesmike said:

Heelers : Here I am getting back to the basic topic. Yesterday (10-20-2022) I went to an event called The Circleville Pumpkin Show. OHIO. I went with a neighbor and her three (3) year old son. I knew the day would be long, so I wore comfortable shoes, lace-up oxfords 5 1/4" high heels by Ellie. There is no way of knowing how many miles we walked. What I cannot believe is no one threw rocks or stones at me. Fair size country town. Surprisingly I did receive mutable complements, mostly from young girls. Never thought to have April take pictures. For sure a fun day. The oxfords looked much like these. Mike

Seems like a great place to sell egg rolls! In high heels. The 600 mile drive might be a bit much, though.

16 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Im not quite sure what is meant here. I have not "changed" but having - some years ago now - decided to allow myself to buy and wear knee and OTK boots simply learned through experience the styles of boots that I like and that suit me. I have pairs of knee and OTK boots with low or standard heels that I like as much as my chunky-heeled boots - its a matter of general styling. I have gone, over a period of years, zero practical experience of wearing tall boots to knowing what I like. It's not change but, rather, discovery. Opening a door, and then some trial end error, and establishing my personal style

I do not aspire to wear higher and higher heels. For me wearing heels is not a contest or challenge, but purely a style choice. I wear my tall boots outside of my skinny jeans and like that look.

15 hours ago, Cali said:

The question is about older threads, or threads that are revived. The idea I proposed here is that circumstance change, what we worn years ago might have changed.  I would have never worn boots on the outside of my pants years ago. Today I hardly wear my boots on the inside of my pants.  For most, our 'style' evolves over time.

It is a good point that people do change over time, so perhaps it is good to revisit certain topics, and as a bonus there will be new members who can also share their experiences.

My original point, since I am a ray of sunshine, was and is that it doesn't matter what you do--somebody will complain about it. If Jesus Christ himself suddenly appeared at our Sunday church service, I'm sure somebody would complain that he was messing up the Order of Worship.