mlroseplant

Yes, we've obviously written about this on several past occasions, but you can't always talk about everything new, all the time. There is really only so much material to be covered when it comes to wearing shoes. I mean, let's face it, it is not an infinitely deep and broad subject. We get way more mileage out of it than we have any right to. Besides, if a new member dredged up a topic buried on page 47, there would be people unhappy with that, too.

I wear heels often enough that some of them end up looking like this:

I actually rebuilt my deck because of this problem:

Seriously, folks, I do wear heels every day, with rare exceptions, but I do not wear them all day every day, as my work prevents me from doing so. If I'm going out of the house, I will have on some type of heel, again with rare exceptions. I no longer do yard work, home improvement, or automotive work in heels. I don't wear crazy heels around the house, favoring mid heels instead. I do wear heels (sometimes crazy ones) to the grocery store, any type of shopping, eating out, visiting friends, and twice a week to church.

On 10/16/2022 at 4:27 AM, Puffer said:

The trousers are surely just too long, so puckering-up on melrose's instep, as he implies because they were hemmed wrongly.   A higher heel would be more visible (and reduce the gap between trouser bottom and ground) but not correct the gathering over the toe/instep.

Absolutely correct! Even if I went with platforms, it would not correct the fundamental problem you mention. And it certainly would not correct the other problem of the hem catching on the back of the heel when one stands up from a seated position, particularly if one has crossed his legs at all while seated. That's even worse! I have no idea how the ladies circa 2000 made this style work.

I much more cooperation from the pants I chose this week, though the look was more casual. Shown here are my Steve Madden Klory pumps, which look remarkably similar to several other pumps I own, but these are better! Slightly. They are cataloged somewhere in the "New Shoes" section, I am sure. This was their maiden voyage, and I had occasion to actually walk in them for some distance, totaling not quite a mile.

They are not bad, but they did eventually rub blisters on the outsides of my feet, directly underneath my ankles. My fault for not checking that sort of thing before I wore them out for the first time. That, and with the 4 3/4 inch heel, it took forever, or so it seemed, to get to where I was going.

I haven't felt like taking any pictures in a while, but I did this week, simply for the purpose of making fun of myself. I have two different ways in which to do this. One, my process of trying to decide which pair of shoes to wear to best complement the suit I had chosen. I finally decided on a certain shade of so-called nude pumps. And I thought nude in general was supposed to go with everything! Alas, it is not so.

I went to such a great deal of trouble to pick out the color that I neglected to put on the suit until the last minute, at which time I discovered that I must have been smoking crack when I had these pants hemmed. At this point, it was too late to change.

It seems like we're beating this subject into the ground, but I wonder how far out most of us here are from actually having to interview for a job? For me, it's been 25+ years. I know there are some younger folks here, but most of us are closer to retirement than we are to a job interview. So it may be that the lens through which I view the subject is not as accurate as the lenses with which Shyheels makes his living, but it seems to me that the restrictions on what is appropriate to wear to a serious job interview are way more far-reaching than just not wearing high heels as a man. Suppose I wore a perfectly tailored suit, styled for a man in every way, to interview at a law firm, but the suit was purple. I'm pretty sure that's a no-go, too, never mind your shoes.

To be fair, I think some of these rules apply to women as well, though not quite as many. For example, it would be highly inadvisable to wear 5 inch stilettos to that same law firm interview. Or even bright red shoes. People are funny.

21 hours ago, balletboot said:

Oh it's not the steve madden boots those are rock solid. It's the black ankle booties that are a lower quality brand. I didn't notice it in the store on carpet but once on a smooth surface I noticed.

I might just try changing to a better heel tip see if that helps.

Switching to Vibram or similar heel tips will get rid of the noise, but it will not affect the fundamental problem. Glad to hear your Maddens are sound. I evidently did not read the previous posts carefully enough.

We have to constantly remind ourselves that we are but a tiny slice of society, and an oddly dissected slice at that. It is easy to labor under the delusion that wearing heels is somehow a plus, showing that we are more creative and more inclusive. This is simply not the case.

12 minutes ago, Shyheels said:

That’s interesting. Over here they have a reputation for being very sturdy and long wearing, but the of course we don’t have any severe cold weather. It would seem to be a problem they could rectify easily enough if they chose to 

I'm not the only one to have this problem. Even the "non-fashion" versions seem to suffer the same fate. When I say severe cold, I'm talking fairly extreme. I can distinctly remember this happening twice (with identical pairs of boots) when I had a job where I had to walk about 1/4 mile to get to my work area, and it was somewhere around -20º C. Not something you hope to see in the UK. Or Florida, for that matter.

20 hours ago, balletboot said:

It's both shoes. And I think it flexes in towards the shoe. I can't imagine it moves more than a 1/16th -1/8th of an inch. It's very subtle but I can hear it when I release weight off the heel

If it's both, I guess it might be all right. Perhaps the shank is a little more flexible than one would like. I've never had a Steve Madden catastrophically fail on me, but then I haven't really ever put a pair through any kind of endurance test, either. All of my Maddens are dressier, flimsier shoes than what I would normally put serious miles on. Your boots look like they could easily do some serious mileage, so I guess time will tell! Keep an eye on how the heel tips are wearing compared to your other shoes, that will tell you a lot.

10 hours ago, kneehighs said:

You could lay roof tiles in those! Or Climb Everest.  Very sensible pair of heels, no doubt.

I've had several pairs of high heeled Docs, and they are quite sensible, other than being a little too squidgy for my taste. I cannot speak for the stiletto version they made for a short while, but the chunky heeled ones are quite sturdy, except for one thing: You ain't gonna be climbing Everest, or making it through an Iowa winter, because after just a few cycles of going through extreme cold, the sole splits in half transversely under the ball of your foot. Had this not happened to me several times, I would have chalked it up to being a fluke. I quit buying the things years ago. Alex, being from the UK, is unlikely to experience this problem.

On 10/10/2022 at 7:17 AM, pebblesf said:

No problem buddy, thanks for reading my posts, and you obviously understand/have experienced most of the things I referred to.  I just hesitate to get too graphic on this forum, webmaster frowns on that.  Nonetheless, she is absolutely beautiful, and her love of/taste in boots is amazing.  Granted, I am behind the times and can't keep up with all the variations on gender/preference/pronouns, etc.  I use the "pronoun" she out of respect, because I feel she wants to present as a woman.  Extremely feminine in most every way for sure.  We spoke about her "transitioning", but she said she really did not want to.  I explained that she is perfect in every way just the way she is, kind of the "best of both worlds" type of thing.  I encouraged her to "be who you are" and enjoy life, don't make any big time changes like "transitioning" without plenty of counseling for sure.  I encouraged her to look at all the guys who follow her online, sometimes we don't see ourselves in the best light, always good to get input from others.  Sure wish I was younger, and unattached, but having a nice friend is just as amazing for me.  Sure hope I don't get in trouble for this post.  

Careful what you wish for. I had one of those once (very young friend).

10 hours ago, balletboot said:

They are very comfortable, just over a 4 inch heel. Although I have noticed the heel flexes just enough that I can hear it slide/ straighten when the weight starts to be released off the heel.

Is it both shoes, or just one? And which way does it bend?

19 hours ago, Logjam said:

Fair question! From her, I mostly expected that positive response. However, I have Christian-professing friends and family who would see any even slightly “feminine” dress or accessories as in conflict with the Old Testament prohibition of wearing garments for the other gender. (For context - I’m Christian, but less reserved in that particular regard.)

Like your choice of words there. I've had this same discussion before about Deuteronomy, but it wasn't with anybody from my church! In fact, I once wrote a standup comedy routine examining some of the funny old rules in the Old Testament, and then examining some of the rules we have today. We haven't really progressed that much in 4,000 years.

16 hours ago, SF said:

I wear an anklet, a toe ring and paint my toe nails, and am in sandals almost all the time, sometimes even heels.  And I even go to church wearing those items.  Neve been problem.  Sometime I even get a compliment!!    Nice....  sf

As you well know, church is where I often try out new fashion ideas! I like to think it's a place where we can feel safe.

What I have actually seen more of than anything else out in the wild are "flatforms." That is, flat shoes or essentially flat shoes with a sole which is 2-3" thick. Those are everywhere. They can range from actually kind of cute (if only they had normal-thickness soles) to absolutely hideous. This effect is obtained by designing the shoe so that the sole is not only thick, but actually gets wider as it goes between the wearer's foot and the ground. And to think, girls often complain about having big feet!

On 10/3/2022 at 9:14 AM, Logjam said:

I just went for my monthly massage, my massage therapist is an early 60s age lady with a very outgoing and pleasant demeanor and deeply-held Christian beliefs. I wore a toe ring, just as an experiment to see her reaction. (Context, her beliefs notwithstanding, she is an overt fan of my tattoos.) upon noting my foot bling, she commented, “Oh, a toe ring! I like it!” Then, a short pause, and she added, “I wish we could get to where people could wear what they like without judgement...”

If both of those are true, and they surely ought to be, why did you think she would object to your toe ring?

I am very surprised that the male sales clerk didn't take this opportunity to sell you a pair of boots. That's what I would have done.

I remember the 90s as being a lean time in terms of high heels. I don't remember a whole lot about that time, only that the shoes were huge and largely, but not always, effectively low heeled. And oh yeah, kids wore their pants 3 inches too long and walked on the hem. Then along came the television series "Sex and the City," and the stiletto came back into fashion again. Eventually.

There is some overlap, however. Bratz came out in 2001, but Sex and the City debuted in 1998. The Spice Girls and their huge platforms were solidly mid 90s. Bratz dolls were almost too late to the game, but I seem to remember giant shoes well past 2000.

These modrun platforms are a little different than the ones from either the 70s or the 90s, but they are definitely big looking shoes.

20 hours ago, Logjam said:

ChesterX, I really like the colors and theme of your mani, but I’ve gotta ask (no malice intended), how do you manage with nails that long? And, are those natural, or “add-ons”? Me, I do a lot of “manual labor” type things, and I’d have half of those broken in the first 15 minutes in my shop 😞

I like to try to keep my right hand nails a little bit longer for the purpose of fingerstyle guitar playing. It seems to be becoming more and more difficult as I get older. I, like you, have numerous opportunities to break nails at any time, any day, even with the company policy required gloves. However, not all of us are subjected to such punishing conditions, and artificial nails are actually pretty tough.

Now that a few months have passed, I am sorry to report that, in fact, the platform is here in the Midwest USA. Which means that it's an actual trend, not just a passing fad. When I say platforms, it's not like the kind I wear. I mean huge, clunky, elephantine shoes. Not every girl is wearing them, but I've seen enough of them to know that our worst fears have actually gained some traction in the fashion world.

Not strictly work related, but sort of kind of. Our church is in the midst of going through a remodel, the first since the building was built in 1957, and we must hold services elsewhere for a few weeks while this work is happening. Naturally, a couple of days after the work had started, I wanted to poke my head in there and see what was going on, and the answer was not nothing, but not much. However, the painters had their Sky Jack 3219 in there, and, having spent much of my career on one of these machines, I couldn't resist taking it for a spin. After all, they DID leave the keys in it. I figured I'd never be able to see the sanctuary from that viewpoint ever again, and I'd never again operate a scissor lift wearing high heeled sandals!

Super good last night of the year for the farmer's market. Good weather, no other major events going on, and the realization for many people that they won't be able to come to this event for another 7 months. We went out with a bang, rather than a whimper. I really wanted to wear shorts for our last hurrah of the year, but that would have been inadvisable. It's simply not that warm. Got zero comments about my outfit or my shoes.

True Religion mules. Effective 4 inch heel. Brought backup shoes, but didn't even think about using them. By the end of the season, 4 inch heels are easy. The trick will be to keep myself in this good of condition over the winter.

17 hours ago, chesterx said:

There was a shoe related incident at my office that involved a lady wearing slide type shoes, she tripped over a flooring transition fell into a desk, requiring a trip to the emergency room. We are no longer allowed to wear any shoe that lacks full heel backing or straps into the office. I dislike those styles anyway but I am concerned that the safety goodie two-shoes in the building may ban high heels. This office is the only place where women regularly wear high heels in my daily affairs. I have not worn heels to the office outside of a couple of covert wearings, but I do like having the option to do so if I some day wish it...

That is disappointing to hear. It is difficult to know from the description exactly what caused that accident, but I can say from my vast experience with mules (slides) that it's not quite so simple as having a back strap or not. It sounds like from this policy that your traditional Birkenstocks would be banned as well? Other than toe protection, how can you get any sturdier or more stable than that?

There are basically two types of mules: Flappy ones, and non-flappy ones. I prefer the flappy ones because I love that sound and look, but actually wear the non-flappy ones 90% of the time because of reality. I don't know what is going on with this policy, but it sounds like it's not really solving any problem that actually exists.

I got smart this time, and did not read the comments section. Still I wonder. To my way of thinking, these people are not really radical at all. Other than the fake eyelashes (yuck on anybody), and the ugly-ass heels, he's not that much different from me. She claims to present masculine, but she's not that serious about it. Tomboyish, maybe? Not seriously masculine.

41 minutes ago, Shyheels said:

I suspect that all or nearly all of the movement there will be towards women wearing the burgundy trousers, not the other way around. 

In real life, yes, that's what it's going to be. My ex-wife, who is by most standards a girly-girl, worked for American Airlines late 1980s - mid-1990s. She almost always wore pants, even back then. She wore heels with the pants, but pants nevertheless. I guess I did not realize that female Virgin cabin crew, up to now, were required to wear skirts. I don't know why you'd ever want to wear a tight skirt to do that job, but I sort of understand. People wonder why I wear heels to work a farmer's market. That doesn't make a bit of sense, either. It's probably because I can, and we may see a bit of that at Virgin as well.

And now for the other bit: I do not know why I even bother to read the comment section on any video ever. I should know better than that. Here is my take on the whole thing: When people see me, even if they happen to see me in Dahlonega, Georgia (super conservative area of the USA), they generally do not freak out. If I were to announce my putative presence in Dahlonega, GA with a video, and somehow it got broadcast to the locals, there would a lot of people freaking out. I think Virgin would have been better off simply implementing the policy without comment.