mlroseplant

5 hours ago, Shyheels said:

While walking in some rather picturesque countryside yesterday, looking at a view not too far off the road, I encountered a young lady wearing blue knee boots with about 2.5" heels - they were emphatically not hiking boots, and quite smart looking. Very citified. What was striking was that she would have been about 6'4" without the heels - must have been nearly 6'6" with them. She was with another young lady, also in tall stylish boots, who was only a couple of inches shorter. It was a surprise to see in the countryside like that. As for me I was in hiking boots.

Would you say that the boots were inappropriate for the situation, or just unusual?

@peterboroughAs it happens, I wore shorts for the first time in 2024 out in public only this Monday. The weather is definitely starting to get summery. I thought I would take a quick snapshot for the purposes of this thread, so we have some stuff taken recently. Not that my style has changed a whole lot in the last 5 years, but it's nice to have an example of something I wore two days ago, rather than five years ago.

I have no idea whether I look super white on the first outing of the year, but I have had zero sun exposure on my legs since last fall. It is always a struggle to keep arms and legs somewhat even, given my construction job. I have to admit that sometimes in the past on Saturday mornings, I have lain out in such a way that only my legs get exposed to the sun, in order to "catch them up" a bit. I ain't got time for that sort of nonsense anymore.

If there has been a change in my shorts and heels style in the last five years, it is that the shorts have become less extreme, and the heels have become more extreme. These particular shorts are from Joe's Jeans, purchased used on Poshmark for $14. They are size 27, which is the equivalent of size 4. As you can see, they're not super short, and they're not super tight. I would prefer them to be slight more of both. They have a 4 inch inseam, and I wish they were about an inch shorter, and about an inch less baggy in the legs. However, I'm not going to mess with them. They're fine. I have literally 20 other pairs of shorts to change them up with. One has to be careful to not get carried away with shortness and tightness, especially as a guy.

The sandals are Nine West Potpourri, one of my fairly extensive collection of wooden heeled shoes. They've got a 4 3/4" heel with a 1" platform, so not super high. I would consider them to be a walking heel, and fairly casual looking, so they don't clash with the casualness of the shorts and t-shirt.

This is what I feel works best for me personally, but obviously everybody has different tastes, styles, and bodies. I hope you find something that works for you.

18 hours ago, Rockpup said:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9ydbt4t9rrw25z2yoilk4/2024-05-23-15.53.21.jpg?rlkey=9bxtw0fte0pno0bah3f13euxb&dl=0

Recently got some So Kate 120mm booties. I’m a bit out of practice for heels this height, but I plan to wear them out for dinner for our tenth anniversary in September, so I’m getting lots of practice.

Super nice looking booties! Just curious, what is the actual heel height in your size? Those look somewhat taller than 120 mm to me, and definitely more than I could manage.

Oddly enough, I wore pumps over the weekend, and I have several pair in this general style. All of them are between 4 1/2 and 4 3/4 inches. This particular pair, which are Steve Madden Daisie, are quite comfortable. I had them on for about five hours, much of that standing, and never regretted it. In fact, I did not feel anything but good vibes.

To go along with the main subject, however, I can't just slip these things on or off. It's a bit of a production. The good thing about this is no unintended shoe loss. I still do not understand how some people manage to slip right into their pumps and still walk around normally.

This week's Church outfit. It was a special week at our church. We had a special service to commemorate the 175th anniversary of our existence. It was a nice service, and many people from the days of yore travelled a long way to attend this service, some of them pastors from my youth.

What I did not enjoy about the service was the music, which was contemporary Christian Pop, and the apparent contemporary band dress code, which was a red t-shirt proclaiming the 175th anniversary of the church. I don't normally play with them, but their guitarist was out of town. There's nothing wrong with a red t-shirt, but I looked much nicer than the rest of the band, if I may say so. I did don a red t-shirt after church to do a little bit of grocery shopping, this one featuring our arch rival college. I think I know how I came to have this t-shirt, but it's a long story, and nobody cares anyway.

Ah, the old shorts and high heels question! Once upon a time it was a question that wasn't even asked. Yes, Daisy Duke was on the TV every single week in shorts and heels, but nobody outside of a club, or maybe a car show, dressed like that in real life. Then suddenly it was ok, and even I can do it.

For me personally, if I'm going to wear shorts, I'm going to wear sandals. Though I've modeled them before, I would never wear an enclosed shoe with shorts, unless I'm playing tennis. If I'm actually working outside, I'm covered head to toe (for sun protection), so it's not about the heat, it's about the style. I do usually wear open toe mules with shorts, and they do tend to have a wooden heel. But not always. I don't often wear stilettos with shorts, and I'm not 100% sure why.  Perhaps stilettos with shorts still have that "clubby" look about them that I don't necessarily want to wear out and about under normal circumstances. Wedges also seem to work very well with shorts. For some reason, wedges seem to take the edge off the look.

Oddly enough, I do not have all that many pictures of me in shorts, probably because I've been doing this church outfit of the week things for some time, and I still will not wear shorts to church. Even though many people do this nowadays, it just seems wrong to me. Especially when I'm on the livestream camera that gets saved forever and ever. So I'll find some quick examples. I don't do long shorts, because they simply do not look good on me. I don't have a lot of real estate to waste covering it up.

I'm not into dangling, but I figure the title would attract more attention than something more mundane. And it's not totally clickbait--this is a serious question I have for our members. How tight do you have to wear your slip-on shoes to be able to actually function in them? The answer for me personally is, pretty tight. This goes especially for pumps, but also for mules. I have very few shoes that I can easily slip in and out of, hands-free, and those that I can, usually get relegated to house shoes for that very reason. I say "relegated" because there's a converse consequence to and easy on-and-off. Those shoes typically do not make good walking shoes, because I step right out of them mid-flight. And that's just the mules.

When it comes to pumps, I know there are some of you who wear them pretty much exclusively. @Jkrenzer And some of you can't wear them at all. @Cali I was kind of in the Cali camp before, as it was difficult for me to walk in pumps without simply stepping out of them, which is highly irritating. Still to this day, I don't usually wear pumps unless I feel I need to really dress up for a number of reasons, but the main one is that I have to work at it to keep them on. I have found over the years that heel grippers make zero difference. If anything makes any difference, I need to add a ball of foot pad to take up some room, but that often makes the toe area super tight.

Now to tie in the title with the subject: Are some people's feet actually built in such a way that they can actually just slip into their pumps and actually walk in them? Can some people just simply flex their foot and pop their heel out of their shoe and still actually walk in such a shoe? Or is this just social media trickery?

20 hours ago, Gige said:

Update (Reprise)!

So, for this past week, Frick told me that she has been involuntarily transferred to another building and Frack has been on vacation - it has been absolute bliss! After considering the words of others members in response to this post, I decided to move my work station away from Frack so that I no longer have to listen to her comments regarding my appearance - I have no plan to let her know I have done so. It has been such a delight to know that I can just be myself without having to hear/endure Frack's envious comments about my appearance or the like. I agree with Mlroseplant that it is hard enough for us to be ourselves and Frack's needling only made it that much more difficult for me to do just that - be myself.  I find it to be interesting that of all the people who made their way into my office this past week, not a single person made any comment regarding my outfit or appearance.  And if Frack is bothered by my decisions, well, too bad! 

Having spent more than half of my life in the construction industry, now would be the appropriate time for me to make some smart aleck comment, but I shall refrain from doing so, as I don't know you very well, and these things don't generally translate well into print. Some people have mastered the art of good-natured banter, and some people have not. I'm glad it turned out well without the need to go to war.

I think that is one of those things that doesn't translate directly or literally. Accelerator, perhaps? For the record, I don't think I've ever damaged anything with my heels, at least not that I'm aware of.

22 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

What other heel material do you have. Hardened rubber, plastic (worst) and steel tips are all I'm aware of. 

I hear Kryptonite works great. It's kind of hard to find, though.

I did talk about this subject with my only remaining friend from university, the fashionista lady. She works in a retail clothing shop (Loft), and is required to wear at least some of the things that the store sells. She is also very honest with me. I asked her if I am too old to be wearing Daisy Dukes. She said without hesitation, "You can get away with it." Meaning me personally. So I guess I won't worry about it.

Having said that, I really can't think of any women my age who wear short shorts. I can think of one, but she's a youngster at 49, and her appearance is much younger than that. I do know one woman who wears skinny jeans at age 60, and she doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, but again, you would never really guess that she's 60.

Not a lot to say this week. The Asian festival is over, everything is packed up and back home. The second day I wound up wearing my Bruno Magli blue suede wedges both for setup and teardown. We got back home at midnight, and then I had to get up too early to prepare for church. I feel like I keep repeating myself, and this week's picture is not all that great.

22 hours ago, pebblesf said:

For sure.  Normal looking heels, not the crazy stuff seen on runways that most would want to wear.  I've seen Harry in a few pairs, they all seemed pretty tame to me, would be interesting to see pics in the heels you are referring to....

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/red-carpet-dresses/a9645702/harry-styles-heels/

I don't know if this link is going to work, but here is an example of what I'm talking about. Those aren't heels! Not really.

It is true that many of our active members here are More Experienced. In fact, at 56, I may be a little on the young side. Nevertheless, I sometimes worry about silly things, like whether I need to quit wearing skinny jeans and shorts.

I have no idea how much such shows influence pop culture. I haven't owned a TV for 12 years, and I haven't watched any kind of series for much longer than that. I will say that at least his heels are real heels, unlike those of some other male stars (Harry Styles comes to mind). In other words, even if he hadn't pointed it out, one would kind of notice that he's wearing heels. Even at that, they aren't crazy, and they go with the rest of the outfit.

Our family, along with three other families, took a trip to Chicago nearly six years ago. I wore heels the entire trip despite the tremendous amount of walking we did. None of the girls even attempted, even though it seems like something they would have done when they were younger. What is your secret for endurance in heels?

1 hour ago, peterborough said:

Well here we are in london with my partner and her mum and dad.

they know i wear heels and seen me in them but not 4”

was a little worried. 
 

was walking around the streets and i was just in front of her mum when i heard her say yo my partner “his feet are going to hurt in them” my partner to my surprise said “he walks better in them then he does trainers”

omg 

amazing. Spent from about 13 hours in them yesterday. Busy day today.

That's what people always think, init? My wife would not answer in such a way, she would say something to the effect of, "he is super-crazy!" But ever since the Chicago trip back in 2018, she never questions my choice.

As it turns out, my presence was not really needed after the setup and settling in. I was only there for about 3 hours in the morning and a couple right around closing up time (10 p.m.). I wore some Bebe wooden heeled sandals with an effective 3 3/4" heel, and they didn't bite back. I was actually rather glad to have them when it came time to open up the side wall of our tent, as I am barely tall enough to reach the hooks. Their one inch platform with 4 3/4 inch heel gives me an effective 3 1/2 inch boost in height. Perhaps today I will choose some type of shoe with a really big platform for that very reason. Nah, probably not. Today I will have my son with me, and he will be my effective boost in height.

One person said something to me the entire time I was there, and it was some random 20-something woman, who simply smiled at me and said "Fabulous!"

Oh yeah! I remember the clogs now that you mention it. But that was a thing when I was somewhere around 10 years old. I'm sure I noticed such things at that age, but my preference for heels did not fully form until several years later. I know I never cared for the giant disco platforms of Saturday Night Fever. I rather liked the Dr. Scholl's exercise sandals, which were also everywhere during the Clog Era. Both on college campuses and the elementary school classroom.

A long time ago, I mentioned something about my wife partnering with another Vietnamese woman for the purpose of selling food and making money. At the time, I think I mentioned something about not wearing heels to meet her so as not to project myself into something that is none of my concern. Today, that partnership truly begins, and I have already forgot about being invisible.

There is an Asian festival taking place in the city, and it's one of those things that is well organized, well funded, and well attended. We went to set up some things last night, and I didn't even really think about it, but I wore some casual heels. My wife didn't say anything, the other woman didn't say anything, and her husband didn't say anything.

Today and tomorrow, the festival is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. I am assured that I will not be obligated continuously for that long, and I hope that's right. I am not finding any joy in any of this. But, I am seriously not sure whether to wear heels to work this thing. Since I won't have a vehicle available right there (we have to park several hundred meter away), do I carry backup shoes with me on my person? I cannot recall ever needing the backup shoes in the past when I have brought them. And if I do decide to wear heels, which heels? Naturally, it is thunderstorming outside my window as I write this. It's supposed to be over by the time the festival starts.

17 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Try living on a narrowboat and you’ll imagine it soon enough! 🙂

Even if I lived in a trailer, I'd have to have a double-wide, I guess. 😆

18 hours ago, Chorlini said:

We just had Iowa confirming my observation.

I'm not entirely sure that my observations line up with yours 100%. If I understand you correctly, you say that Dutch chicks do not wear heels, ever, and haven't done so for decades. My observation is that college age chicks stopped wearing heels about 5-10 years ago. I haven't followed any to the tavern or anything, but for on campus daily student life, yeah, they don't wear heels. In my generation this was also largely true, but there were half a dozen girls who wore heels every day to class. Then again, there were also half a dozen girls who went barefoot to class every day, and you don't see THAT anymore, either.

I know it's very First World of me, but I cannot imagine having only 12 pairs of shoes.

I can remember that from about 1995 to 2005 was a dark time for heels--or at least stilettos. It seems all the girls were wearing "Spice Girls" giant chunky heeled boots. This was following a period in the late 80's-early 90s when stilettos were everywhere. Not everywhere at once, but at least 50% of girls had stilettos in their closets, which got brought out for special occasions. A few would wear them every day, but not many.

I can remember shopping with my ex-wife in the late 90s, and you literally could not find a pair of shoes with 4 inch stiletto heels in normal shops. Then after the Turn of the Milennium, stilettos slowly but surely came back--only this time sporting giant platforms. Again, you didn't see them everywhere all at once, but they were definitely out there.

After we decided that 6 inch heels with 2 inch platforms were no longer a desirable look, it was sort of a slow downhill slide, which became a fast downhill slide during the pandemic. Then it never really recovered. I do say I see more high school girls wearing heels than I do college girls. And I also live in a college town, 200 m away from the college, so I also see a "massive overabundance" of young women. My son is still in high school, so I get to see the younger crowd, too. I see lots and lots of belly buttons, but few heels. But not zero heels. The idle desire is still there, have no doubt. I know this because even young girls will often ogle my shoes and say they wish they could wear them. We've been through all that discussion before. The societal pressure to wear heels is gone, so they don't wear them much, if ever. I can't really blame them.

Also (but not as an afterthought), Don, I hope your knee gets better. This getting old business is for the birds!

I did something that I rarely do during warm weather. I wore actual enclosed shoes to church. I did so because as I posted in the New Shoes section, I bought some pumps specifically to wear to church (and maybe a few other places). I keep saying that I do not need any more shoes, but I bought two more pair last week. These Steve Madden pumps, and a pair of Frye wooden heeled sandals. Sometime I'll post the Fryes--they're kind of interesting, but I thought the coffee color of the pumps was really beautiful, and the lady offered to sell them for 20 bucks plus shipping.

The rest of my outfit was based around the shoes. I often do that, but it was very particular on this Sunday, because I had decided to wear the shoes well in advance. So I picked out some earth-toney stuff I thought went with the coffee color, and then I realized, "Hey, wait a minute.  .  . It's Pentecost." To some of you, this will mean absolutely nothing. For others, you are chuckling to yourselves right now. Let's put it this way--the red tie is an add-on and an afterthought, but I think it works. I even got complemented on my tie. But not my shoes.