mlroseplant

I personally do not wear skirts or dresses, so the issue of nylons/tights has never come up. The closest I have is trouser socks, which might as well be knee high nylons, but I only wear them with men's suits. However, I did venture to go sockless with a suit just last week for the first time. I did get a compliment, so I guess it wasn't that bad.

I am definitely one of those people who feels strongly that sandals should never be worn with socks, and this includes stockings. If you want to show off your feet, go ahead and show them off.  If you need to cover up your feet, they do make enclosed shoes for that purpose.

Another item of footwear the square sandals remind me of:

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-a-pair-of-traditional-style-japanese-wooden-sandals-known-as-geta-25446013.html

20 hours ago, bluejay said:

These are styles that I love to wear, as I have many pairs of them in various colors. I even ordered two new pairs from Penny's one in an orange color and one in a bright pink. Wearing these sandals, I always have a nice pedi usually in red but bright pink for October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Happy Heeling,

bluejay

The pair on the left is not that bad, except for the extremely squared-off toe. Have you embraced this shape of toe, or is it just the style of heel that you're seeing there? I find square toes to be unflattering, especially in a sandal. On the other hand, another troubling trend is the pointy-toed sandal. I dislike this also, and for the same reason. It simply does not compliment the shape of an actual foot, which with sandals, you can directly compare the two.

12 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

That's a good look, likethe shorter pants and huge contrast. Nude, in the past those were taupe. No racial connotation. 

One of these days, I'll have to put all of my similarly colored shoes on a table and take a picture of them, and we can have fun deciding what to call them all. None of them are quite the same color, even though it seems like they ought to be.

This is also my first time wearing a suit, albeit sans necktie, without any kind of hosiery. The reason for this was simple: I do not have any socks thin enough for these shoes (I usually wear trouser socks) that are not black or brown, and I figured that would look terrible, so I went bare.

7 hours ago, SF said:

I miss Payless Shoes....   I know they have an online presence, but it just ain't the same....  

And I also remember "those days" when most all gals shoes and sandals went only to size 10 (some even only to a 9 1/2).  Fortunately now days stylish gals shoes and sandals go to a size 12 and some even to a 13!!  Paradise alive...  smile..    sf

I'm just thankful not to be a 10 1/2. That would be very frustrating.

32 minutes ago, Puffer said:

In the UK (and other civilised English-speaking territories), the 'facility' is commonly (and politely) called a 'toilet', 'lavatory', 'loo', '[public] convenience'; occasionally a 'W.C.'.    The porcelain item is a lavatory/WC pan. 🚽  

Other names are many and varied but I will not embarrass you (or myself) by listing them here - apart from the self-descriptive 'bog'.  

I agree that the archaic name for the room containing the appliance is/was a 'water closet' (hence 'W.C.') but that is no longer used outside a historical reference.  

Asia has taken that term (W.C.) over, so it lives on! Here in the U.S., you will invariably see signs labeling it as a "restroom," but nobody calls it that in real life, except for perhaps old people. On the other hand, there are only three one-holers at my work for a building that is a quarter of a mile long, and when you need to go, the one that you've just walked a considerable distance to get to is always occupied. Perhaps people really are resting in there.

13 minutes ago, Puffer said:

I'm not sure if these 'slides' are your style, melrose - heels not nearly high enough? - but interesting that ASOS is doing them in sizes to UK12.   

I like sandals but they both seem to combine clumpiness with being a tad too femme, so not for me.

                         

Indeed. The worst of both worlds, and square toes besides. It's not that I would never consider something that low, it's just that if I'm going to do it, I want something that's at least a little bit cute, such as the following. I, not being subject to the constraints of needing extra large sizing, of course.

I recently bought these Steve Madden "Ronni," or possibly "P-Ronni" pumps. I'm not sure what the significance of the "P" is, but it says it on the liner of the shoe as being the model name. I bought them from Poshmark for 20 bucks plus shipping. I bought them to possibly replace my Steve Madden "Daisie" nude patent pumps, which are disintegrating from the inside out, even though they've only been worn a few times. This phenomenon has been discussed elsewhere on this forum, and I still am undecided about whether to get rid of the Daisies. So far, the only downside to this deterioration is that you have little pieces of PVC material all over your feet when you get done wearing them.

Although both pairs of shoes would be termed "nude patent" in color, which is a bit of an ethno-centric description in my estimation, they are not the same color at all. The Daisies are more pinkish in color, the Ronnis less so. The main difference is that the Daisies are very pointy toed, and the Ronnis are almond toe, which I prefer. Also, the Daisies have much thinner heels throughout their length, and come to the floor at 5/16", or 8 mm in thickness, whereas the Ronnis taper down much more gradually to 3/8", or about 9.5 mm. You would think that this would make the Ronnis sturdier, but this does not seem to be the case.

When walking downhill, it feels like the heels on the Ronnis are bending slightly rearward with each step in a way that doesn't seem to be the case with the Daisies, despite their significantly thinner heels. Upon close examination, neither shoe seems to have a loose or weak heel, so this may be my perception only. This only happens on downward slopes, so it seems to be a mere irritant. The heel height on the Ronni comes in at 4 5/16", slightly lower than the 4 5/8" Daisies. It may seem a little obsessive to measure the heel height to the 16th of an inch, and I even thought so myself, until I ran the numbers through my calculator to discover that it's right at 11 cm. Coincidence? Maybe.

The experience so far has been mostly good, although when I first got them, the Ronnis were so tight that I almost couldn't get them on. I was going to re-Posh them straight away, but having learned from experience that it's a bad idea to make a snap decision about such things, I tried them several days later, and managed to get them on without too much trouble. After an hour of wearing them around the house, they seemed to straighten up and fly right somewhat, so I decided to wear them to church yesterday, which meant I had them on for a total of about 4 hours yesterday, 75% of which was either standing or walking. They're still a little on the tight side, but not to the point where I'm going to get rid of them just yet. My feet were tired, but not unreasonably so. No blisters, no hot spots, nothing like that, so I guess I'll keep them for now.

I decided to try wearing a dark outfit with these light colored shoes, which I've never tried before, but I've seen a number of women do this. You can go back to January 15 on this thread to see pictures of the other pointy shoes for reference if you so desire.

P.S. I do not know the purpose of those little black loop thingies that sit under the arch of your foot on the insole, but they are definitely there by design, and not as a result of something pulling apart.

Give us a picture of your collection when you are finished cataloguing! I am also sick today, but that mainly involves not being able to get too far away from a toilet, a result (I think) of having tried a salsa labelled "inferno" last night. Will I ever learn?

It seems our collections are very similar in size, but I need to take an exact count, as I have divested myself of several pair recently, and purchased several pair, so I am not 100% sure how many I have. It's around 80, though.

I have been criticized in the past, even on this very website(!), for my bland style of eyeglasses, but the younger female members of my "big" family seem to indicate that I am not meant for "statement" glasses, only for "statement" heels. When I had to go to trifocals (progressive lenses do not meet my visual requirements), I guess I ceased caring.

In case anyone is wondering, I love my trifocals. That was the solution I needed. Not only can I now read the blueprints on the table, I can look over someone's shoulder and read the music when necessary. Progressive lenses (no-line bifocals) did not give a wide enough visual range horizontally all at one time for me.

22 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

It's been my experience that if you take long strides you put more bending moment on your heel. Heel first is the proper walk but if your shifting your well well before the rest of your foot reaches the ground then the heel carries too much weight before its square to the ground. That's why the higher the heel the shorter the step.

I had to refresh my present recollection about the physics definition of "moment" to understand your post, but it was worth it. Went down a rabbit hole of other somewhat obscure "useless" information as well. Thanks for that! In any case, there is another factor, which we don't really like to talk about, and that is the force exerted on the shoe even at rest. I think I've gotten away with a lot of things because I only weigh 130 lbs. I've broken quite a few shanks, but that's always been after extensive wear (or an identifiable incident, in one case). In addition, ankle flexibility does make life easier on your shoes.

22 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

You had me here. How'd you manage this? 

I advertised for a roommate. It was just dumb luck, or perhaps dumb bad luck. She was not particularly interesting, and she gifted me a $400 unpaid phone bill when she left suddenly. She was the type of gal who would complain if she went out to the bar and had to actually pay for some of her own drinks. However, I do remember the one hot pair of shoes she had though. And it WAS only one. And I think the only reason she had those was for her job.

17 hours ago, p1ng74 said:

3 5/8" is barely a high heel today?  I think most people would consider that quite high, even if it's barely high for us   

You're probably right. I live in rarefied air these days. It would be interesting to know the sales figures for Louboutin shoes. You never see them in pop culture, but I wonder if his 85 and 100 mm shoes outsell the 120 mm So Kates that everyone identifies as being the iconic Louboutin. Even the 85s would have been on the tall side back in the day. Thanks for bringing me back to reality!

On 3/20/2022 at 5:17 PM, pebblesf said:

Well, I managed to kill one of the heels on my Nine west stiletto ankle boots, much the same damage as I did to my Sam Edelman boots.  These onlymaker boots with stronger heels look great, would love to try a pair.  D

Those boots look amazing, can't wait to hear about all the compliments you will get wearing them

Are you saying that you snapped another heel clean in half? You know, I've never broken a heel before. I've had them come a little loose, but never actually broken one. I always seem to break the shanks, which, when that happens, you might as well have broken the heel.

Do tell, here or elsewhere, what happened to your Nine Wests.

On 3/21/2022 at 7:45 AM, Chorlini said:

 

Very technical indeed.

Also, I can't help but notice on those pictures, and others of that era for that matter, that the golden age of high heel wearing wasn't that high at all. Around 3" at average.

I'm with you there. I have discovered over and over again, through old photographs and magazine ads, that heels just weren't all that high by today's standards. I think the shoes of the 60s were pointier and narrower than shoes of today, but they were certainly not very high (with some exceptions, of course).

30+ years ago, I had a roommate for a short while who worked as an exotic dancer. She often wore shoes that I thought were insanely high and insanely hot. As it turns out, when I put a tape measure to them, they were only 3 5/8", or 9 cm. That's barely a high heel today. They make tango dance shoes that are higher than that!

7 hours ago, CAT said:

I don't know about that entirely,,,,,, I agree a lot of plats are not to my liking.  BUT my top favorite shoe is my Steve Madden Dejavu platform pumps, a black pair and a nude pair.  I think I have 3 pairs of them in different color rhinestones as well as a leopard pony hair! 

Truly my all time fave shoe!!!!

Everyone has there own favs!

 

!

I'll meet you about half way when it comes to platforms. I think those shoes would look much better if the platform were halved and the heel height stayed the same, but each has his own preference, right?

I think it also makes a great deal of difference how physically big the person is. On a fellow like you, these plats don't look bad at all! I can see why you like them. However, on a 5-foot-nothing 90 lb. woman, they look simply ridiculous, as that's all you see are her huge honkin' shoes. I won't even talk about the modern chunky heeled versions of these plats.

On 3/20/2022 at 9:59 AM, Rockpup said:

So, was at a friends 50th birthday last night, among a group with a wide variety of interests. I was wearing a pair of 85mm wedge pumps most of the night, and a few friends commented that they have tried heels, but their feet are killing them within an hour. I tried in vein to explain most shoes marketed toward adult activities do not have the subtle details that provide for longer wear comfort.

Sadly, I wonder how many people have tried uncomfortable heels in private, and decided to forgo trying heels as a style choice.

I am not so sure that people necessarily try "bedroom" shoes as their first heels, but I do think that many people do choose something too high, too soon, and probably ill-fitting as well. It also makes a big difference what one is doing during that hour. Standing in one spot for an hour in flats can make one's feet very tired, and if one is not used to wearing heels, standing in one spot can seem torturous!

I've had only one "student" in 10 years who was willing to at least entertain the idea of doing what it takes to wear high heels a lot. Upon my advice, she (my niece) went out and bought some 2 1/2" wedges, a cute, kind of espadrille style. I thought "perfect!" and instructed her to walk around the block in them the first day, then gradually increase the distance until she could walk at least a mile in reasonable comfort. Well, what happened was that within a few days, the shoes rubbed a blister (or blisters, I never really found out) on her foot, and she gave up on the whole idea. Soon after that she got a boyfriend, and I rarely hear from her anymore. It happens.

My own journey to high heel independence and stamina has been a long one, and a continuing one. During the winter, when I don't get out and walk a whole lot, I can tell the difference. Most people are just not willing to do what it takes to wear heels in the real world.

I'll have to fill in the details later, but I did get a refund for my latest purchase, despite the fact that I specifically said I didn't want one.

11 hours ago, Puffer said:

I find it very difficult to write in the vernacular - there isn't enough light in there.  The summerhouse is better.  ⛺

Ok, I get it. I had to actually look it up, but it was worth it. You always challenge me, Mr Puffer.

It is my habit to write in the vernacular for some odd reason.

What I really want to talk about today, however, is the fact that I've had a long string of that bad luck lately when it comes to shoe purchases. In fact, I should probably get all of my bad luck shoes together in one place and take a picture of before deep-sixing them. I mean, the only pair of shoes I've bought recently that are not self destructing in some way while simultaneously actually fitting my feet are the pair of sparkly silver sandals, which I have no idea under what circumstances I would ever wear them. That is all.

Not that it couldn't apply today, but isn't this story like 10 years old? I seem to remember Twitter and a semi-creepy candid photo. Call me a cynic, but I bet that whomever was wearing the heels in the semi-creepy photo probably ISN'T wearing heels today.

Evidently, there ain't nothing going on here. Which is fine, I waste enough of my time on this place as it is. I'll just keep on doing what it is I do in real life.

5 hours ago, Cali said:

Stopped by my local shoe boutique to see what was new.  Nothing in the 4 + inch heel height.  The manager knows what I like, so we always chat.  She ordered a specific style of booties for me but when it comes in who knows. Their shipments are now coming in over two months late and the shoe suppliers are now saying it might get worst.   They expect to get some wedge sandals with decent heels by the next time I visit.  I need to replace some worn out sandals.

 

 

Sounds like there's not much going on in retail these days to our liking.

On 3/8/2022 at 10:22 PM, Shyheels said:

Beautiful indeed! But as someone who loves colours at that end of the spectrum I appreciate all the subtleties between indigo and violet!!! 🙂

How coincidental that this conversation should come up, because I had a fairly recent experience in which I had to order phenolic placards for the purpose of labeling electrical equipment. The social media company that I do work for has various colored placards to identify their different electrical systems. There's a blue color, and then there's this other system that at first blush under the general lighting looks blue, but under closer inspection, maybe it's purple. No.  .  . no, it's blue, but it's a funny blue. On the other hand, it looks kind of purple. I guess there is no way to describe it other than indigo.

The story behind this is that there is no plain ol' purple colored system, and when we got plain ol' purple placards to identify the stuff we'd added or changed, the powers that be didn't like it. After many hours on the phone and many samples mailed back and forth, we could find only one supplier in the entire U.S. who seemed to be able to match this color accurately. It was some small family owned business out of Wisconsin if I recall correctly. The funny thing about that is, not only did this small company actually match the color correctly, their turnaround time to actually get the stuff out to us was much shorter than the big companies.

So that's my story about the difference between indigo and violet.

On 2/22/2022 at 1:31 PM, VirginHeels said:

Found this website: https://www.mens-heels-revolution.com/Home/About

Thoughts?

It seems as if it’s good at heart, but is a small social engineering in there.

The list of larger sized heel retailers is good.

I do enjoy reading things that put us male heelers in a positive light. I generally don't care what people think of me, but I guess I've never considered myself a cross-dresser. It's just something that has never "crossed" my mind.

9 minutes ago, wow522 said:

Hello,

I want to buy a heeled boots pair and I looked this one: https://img.mytheresa.com/1088/1088/66/jpeg/catalog/product/97/P00639871.jpg

What do you think, can a man wears it?

Thanks!

To answer your question, you can wear whatever you want, you just need the confidence to pull it off. Actually walking in those boots should not really be a problem.

17 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Too bad, i have a heeled buddy who'd love the two thinner heeled loafers. He's your size. He's shy about shopping. Would have paid the shipping. Next let.me know what moving on from, even if they are worn.

Sure wish I'd have known that 24 hours sooner. Shoot me a message, I've got some more that I don't necessarily want to get rid of, but I'd be willing to for the right person.

1 minute ago, mlroseplant said:

Sure wish I'd have known that 24 hours sooner. Shoot me a message, I've got some more that I don't necessarily want to get rid of, but I'd be willing to for the right person.

Ya know, if he wants them bad enough, I can probably get them back for like 5 bucks. This has happened to me before. My wife has actually dragged home shoes that I had donated the week before. I am not making this up!