mlroseplant

I can appreciate those who like collecting things for the sake of collecting them, but I really hate to possess too many of these items if I'm not going to actually use them, especially since my excess is not necessarily limited to shoes. I do not get much pleasure or satisfaction from simply having 100 pairs of shoes, but I do get those feelings from actually wearing them, and more specifically, wearing them out and walking in them. Believe it or not, I really don't wear heels around the house--well, I do, but they're mainly mid-heels, and the biggest criterion for a good house shoe is to be able to slip it on or off hands free. Typically, if you can do that, it doesn't make for a good walking shoe. On a positive note, I did wear some stiletto ankle boots that I haven't worn in several years to choir rehearsal last night!

Another curious thing about me is that in the past when I have bought doubles or triples of a shoe model that I think I really, really like, not long after said purchase, I've lost interest in them. Not always, but it has happened several times when I've bought them in two or more colors. One of these days, I should make a list of all the shoes I've gotten rid of over the years and the reasons why. It won't be a complete list, but it will be in the neighborhood of 80% complete.

I touched upon this subject on Christmas Day a little bit, but it has been eating at me quite a bit more since then, mainly because I've already broken my resolution and have bought more shoes since then. I didn't really make a hard resolution, but I did say 99 pairs were enough. Now I have to say 102 pairs are enough, and I no longer have quite enough space for everything. I was full up before.

Back when my collection was around 50 or even 60 pairs, I could honestly say that yeah, it seems like a lot of shoes, but I actually wear them all. And it was true! I did have summer and winter shoes, but except for maybe a couple of novelty items, I didn't really neglect anybody. Nowadays, by contrast, I just counted 10 pairs that I have not yet even worn outside the house.

Part of the problem is not just sheer numbers, but style. I would say that about three quarters of my collection is definitely on the dressy side, and that includes sandals. If I could actually wear heels to work, I would not be writing this now. The fact is, I just don't have occasion to wear heels that much, and especially not super dressy heels. The fact is, we don't really go anywhere anymore, especially after the pandemic. I do and will have the farmer's market, at least the one on concrete, but the type of shoe that I would wear there is limited once again by style--it needs to be rather casual. By my seat-of-the-pants estimate, I would say that I wear about 15-20 pairs out of the entire collection 90% of the time, and if I want to be brutally self aware, of that 15-20, there are probably half a dozen pair that I wear 75% of that 90%. I definitely have my favorites.

Because many of my shoe styles are quite dressy, as a practical matter I only have around 52 opportunities a year to wear half of my collection. Doing the math, even if I never repeated at any point during the year, that's one wear per year per pair of shoes. As a practical matter, this means some shoes never get worn at all. This was certainly never my intention starting out, but that is certainly what it has become.

20 hours ago, Rockpup said:

Not sure the brand, but they are dance shoes called ‘character shoes’. I’ve been too lazy to try a pair, but have always been curious to.

 

Interesting choice of words. Too lazy? Or is it that you only have a casual interest? That's certainly the case for me. Every once in a while, I'll think, "Those are cute, I should get some character shoes!" Then I think, "Come on, when am I ever going to wear those?" Never.

https://www.laducashoes.com/products/roxy-tap

23 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Italian heels is a great manufacturer. In general all European products have this in common.  Most middle tier suppliers don't tell you specifically but do state the heel height based on a specific size and often state height is different according to size. The cheaper guys say a height and don't make any other statement. I never buy without reading the reviews and seeing pic's in the reviews. 

FSJ shoes are the worst about this. I honestly don't know if their heels get gradually taller with larger sizes or not, but their photos are always misleading. Pretty consistently, the first photo, the one they will use as the main photo, will show a shoe that looks like it's in the 5+ inch range. What you actually get is something like 4-ish inches. The set of photos that shows when you click on the product does in fact show the actual, lower heels, but they look nothing like that first picture that made you click in the first place. In my limited experience, they're not horrible shoes, but they for whatever reason purposefully attempt to misrepresent their product in a subtle way.

I don't necessarily have a problem with the overall quality of any of the products I mentioned above, I just find it curious that they would differ in that one specific way. I have doubles of several other shoes, and these three are the only ones like this. I have experienced this twice in the past. Once was the same as the current situation, where I had three different colors of the same model shoe, and all three heel heights were different for no discernible reason. The other instance of this was a mystery at the time, but is now explained. I had bought several different pairs of Michael Kors sandals which were all based on the same basic platform (no pun intended). Some of the heels measured 5 1/8", some of them 5 1/2". I finally figured out that for this particular platform, the line of demarcation is between sizes 8 1/2 and 9. If I bought a 9, I'd get a 5 1/2" heel. If I bought an 8 1/2, I'd get a 5 1/8" heel. I'm guessing that they use the exact same heel for a certain range of sizes, and don't have a gradually increasing heel height for each discrete size.

Welcome to Melrose's thread, where we talk about anything random. Keeping with the trucking theme, are road trains generally company owned, or are there owner-operators out there? The owner-operator used to be a fixture of American trucking, but they are a fast disappearing breed.

I know this is a topic I have visited before, but I have some new examples of this somewhat strange phenomenon. My first example is almost not worth including because the difference is quite minimal, but it's measurable. I have two examples of the Steve Madden "Klory," which I consider to be the perfect all around pump, but for the fact that it isn't leather. I am willing to put up with this because they are otherwise quite comfortable, and I can't think of an occasion in the last several years where I would wear a pair of pumps for more than a few hours at a time. At any rate, the nude or beige Klorys (which is the pair I bought first) measure 4 5/8" up the back of the heel. The black ones, which are the same exact size, same exact model, measure 4 3/4". This is in some ways hardly worth noting, because you notice it neither from wearing them nor looking at them without benefit of a measuring device. Even side by side, you don't really notice it until you place them as I have them pictured here.

The next example is also from Steve Madden. This model is called "Daisie," and is pretty similar to the Klory, but has thinner stiletto heels, and perhaps slightly more pointed toes. However, there is a remarkable difference between the nude patent and the tan patent colors. The nude comes in at 4 5/8", just like the Klory, but the tan pair measures only 4 3/8". Again, same model, same size, different color. This difference is quite noticeable both visually and in actual use.

The last example I have for today are my True Religion open toe mules, model name unknown. I have had four pairs of these over the years, but the first two are long gone for reasons which I won't get into in this post. I have about 100 miles on the black pair, and they have the potential to become my most durable heels ever. Since this is a model that was offered more than 10 years ago, I saw the brown ones and figured I'd better snap them up--you don't see them around so often anymore. Imagine my surprise when I try on my new brown ones, and yeah, they're a little snug, but something else is off, too. It turns out that the brown pair's heels are 4 3/4", while my old black pair is 4 1/2". The difference is actually more than 1/4", but I'm not measuring to the 1/32". Even I am not quite that geeky.

We call them doubles and triples too, but triples are not allowed in every state, and they are shorter than the triples in Australia by a long shot. Iowa does not allow triples, and until 1980, did not allow doubles either, until the U.S. Supreme Court made us.

53 feet is the standard length for a single trailer. If you're doing doubles or triples, I believe the length of each trailer has to shrink to 40 feet. In any case, each trailer is noticeably smaller.

I can see why you'd love those.

12 hours ago, Puffer said:

I assume you mean 'Arctic'?   This is an artic (or what I think you call a rig in the colonies😞

But the coat would doubtless be snug when driving, in an artic or otherwise, in the winter.

Maybe, under very specific circumstances, would this be called a "rig." However, most people call them a "semi." And that is always pronounced with a long "i" sound at the end. People who actually drive semis usually call them tractor trailers. The Iowa Driver's Manual refers to them as "truck tractor semitrailer combinations," which is where the "semi" part comes from.

3 minutes ago, Jkrenzer said:

The image doesn't work 

That's probably because I was in the middle of trying to get the photo to load right side up. I failed at that, but try it now for a sideways view.

I received the same coat for my birthday in red. In this photo, the tags and the wife are still attached.

I have no idea why the picture continues to load 90º off from the way it actually looks, but I'm not going to spend a lot of time trying to figure it out.

On 1/13/2023 at 5:30 AM, Jkrenzer said:

Baby boy🤣

I'm not too heavy, 175 lbs, but it does make a difference as the heel itself is the same size. The force being directly proportional to weight. 

True, but if you have worn through your plastic or rubber tip, that nail holding it on is bound to be about half its original diameter, therefore increasing the pressure on somebody's (or your own) poor floor by about four times what it would normally be. That alone might account for a good deal.

15 hours ago, Cali said:

Thinking about getting these. Any comments?

Funny banter about the color. Before I scrolled through all of that, I suspected that the color was supposed to be sort of pre-distressed. However, I can see another problem completely unrelated to color. Since I know you like to try things on in person, this isn't really a problem, you will know right away. The boots are fairly slim fitting on the model. Your calves are rather bigger than your average female model's. Is this going to be an issue?

On 1/12/2023 at 5:05 AM, Jkrenzer said:

They don't burr so actually don't snag on carpet.  My floors at home have throw rugs and mostly bamboo with tile in the water rooms, kitchen and bath. Bamboo is much denser than oak and does not Mark. I've damaged oak and cheaper laminate with even plastic tips as they do wear and do have steel pins as well.

Still, love the look and sound. Many women have told me they like them too. They look good since the match up well with the main shaft. I don’t do these on my covered heels. I have a whole series of pumps and boots with the same heel and have been converting them as needed.

I don't think I've ever damaged a floor with my heels, but then again I do not like the "worn" look. Those heel tips get replaced long before they ever get to the point of any metal showing. Also, it probably doesn't hurt that I weigh a mere 135 lbs.

16 hours ago, pebblesf said:

I would agree, these boots are not feminine, but still have a bit of an edge with the nice pointed toes and conservative heels.  I think you can wear these for any occasion, love how they look over the nice tight jeans.  Would love to wear them myself.  

Here's three of us for "not feminine." I wore boots very similar to this every weekend when I used to play in a country band back in the day. Back, then, the pants were full and on the outside of the boots of course.

13 hours ago, Puffer said:

Yes, the boot raises you above the ground by 8".   We all accept that.   But the effect of your 'high heel' is a rise of around 4" only because of the platform sole.   If (with your boots on), you stood on a piece of wood 2" thick, you would now be 10" off the ground - but your heel rise would still only be a modest 4".

There is no need for further debate, let alone disharmony.   You like what you have - good.   But such an extreme platform style is not for everyone.

While we're still on this, another way of saying it is "steepness." In other words, the angle of your foot when wearing the shoes. So, the angle of your foot when wearing 8" heels with a 4" platform is the same as if you were wearing  4" heels with no platform.

Fun fact--a 4" heel does not make you 4 inches taller, due to the dangle of the angle, and it depends upon individual foot measurements. However, a 4" platform gives you the full 4" of increase in height, no trigonometry necessary!

I've kind of always wanted to try metal tips, but I'd be afraid that the things would skate right out from underneath me on a tile or polished concrete floor. Especially if you add in the least bit of snow or ice.

I've been to a podiatrist twice, and unless something really bad happens, I doubt I will ever go to one again. Perhaps I've just had bad luck, but both times I left the appointment(s) deciding to take no action to fix my problems, or wound up finding solutions on my own. Then again, I've been relatively lucky. My feet are neither super attractive, nor are they super ugly. My arches are neither super high, nor are they flat. I can deal with everything from zero heel to somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 1/2". My walk is neither pronated nor supinated. I wear out shoe soles very evenly. No need to rotate my tires every 6,000. And, as I said before, ever since I developed the golf ball exercise, et al., my feet no longer hurt at the end of a long working day.

I post these photos not to show off any heels, but to show off my new winter coat. I finally found a coat that I actually like. This one I got from Macy's online for about 100 bucks. It's Tommy Hilfiger, size Medium. I like the fact that it has a belt, and the belt sits kind of high on me, which somewhat balances out my long torso/short legs. It has an inner liner which can be zipped separately, so you can wear the coat unzipped yet still be covered. It may be totally useless, but it's kinda cool. The big furry hood can be detached if desired.

27 minutes ago, kneehighs said:

I asked ChatGPT to "type and educated response to this message" The message was your post copy and pasted into the Chat GPT prompt window. Here's what it responded:

 

That's very impressive. However, you can tell that I didn't write it! I also found it cute that it recommended consulting with a podiatrist as one of the options when experiencing high heel discomfort. I understand that there are podiatrists out there who are pro high heel, but their number is probably about the same as rotary dial telephones in use in 2023. But still, I'm thinking that this answer could not have been generated by a machine even just a few short years ago.

Further thought on the general subject:

By the way, I am on my way back to being in halfway decent high heel condition. I have seized the opportunity every time the wind hasn't been blowing too hard to take walks around the neighborhood. It comes back reasonably fast. My fingers still feel like little blocks of ice by the time I get back home, though.

On 1/4/2023 at 6:24 PM, wood&metal said:

I was doing well with the stamina part....that is, until I trashed my right foot getting down off a ladder last summer.  I thought I was at the last rung, and wasn't! 

I had a dinner to attend last night and wore cowboy boots, which was the first time I've worn anything other than sneakers since.
Not much walking or standing involved, and still those whopping 1.5" heels <insert sarcasm> were a bit much on my right foot, anyway..

I'll get back to it eventually.  At this point I am just happy to be back to getting my daily walks in, and making usually four miles (+ or - a bit), albeit, with a little pain.

I think we've all done that at one time or another. Usually, it only results in surprise, and saying, "Lucky I didn't get hurt!"

I have linked a video to an exercise that I do to strengthen my feet. I don't know if it will work in your situation, I did not really develop it for ankles, but it does work them. I came up with this technique to try and deal with the constant foot pain I used to have from my job, having to walk miles and miles every day on concrete in work boots. Anyway, I don't think it can do any harm, even if it isn't designed to do exactly what you need. It may take some time to get to the point where you can pick up the golf ball easily and hold it. It took me a rather long time to get there, but I feel it was worth the effort. Hopefully this link works. You Tube age restricted my video when I tried to upload it to there. Can you imagine?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gw9mnmywjb1g5yp/FootExerciseGolfBall.mov?dl=0

As a locally famous men's clothing seller used to say, "It's about the cost per wear." His pitch was that his suits were the most expensive, but that they were the most carefully tailored and the best quality, therefore you could keep wearing them for 20 years, yielding a low cost per wear number.

When it comes to high heeled footwear, I am not convinced that there is even a correlation, much less a direct mathematical ratio, between price of the item and durability of the item. Sure, expensive shoes are made out of nicer materials, look better, often feel better, and are generally more beautiful to all of the senses, but that cost per wear number? It's all over the place. Some of the most expensive shoes I've owned have proven to be the least durable, and some of the cheapest have proven to be almost indestructible. The formula works for many things, but its application is suspect when it comes to heels.

When it comes to the instant case, these Fluevogs will never do well in the cost per wear analysis, even at 1/4 the price, because they're something that you wouldn't wear every day. Even in just plain black, they are a bit too much of a novelty item to wear with anything and everything for the vast majority of us.

20 hours ago, Shyheels said:

I would not say that style preferences - platforms vs single soles - is geeky at all, but a fairly broad style debate. This is after all a fashion website, and matters of style, colour, ornamentation are part of the discussion. 

Geeky, to my mind, is when you start doing things such as measuring the width of your heel to debate how many millimetres wide is a “true stiletto” instead of merely a high heel, and start splitting hairs and getting into verbal semantics. 

Let's not forget the detail of "with a caliper."

I know that we've discussed this subject before, perhaps a number of times, but I'm bringing it up again for two reasons: 1) We might have some new folks here who have never thought about this before, and, more importantly, 2) I am a victim of not following my own advice.

I have said many times that in order to gain stamina in high heels, one must walk in them. A lot. To the point where you're on a first name basis with your cobbler because you're in there so often. Once you've achieved the ability to walk a couple of miles without thinking too much of it, then we can talk about standing. For many people, the thought of walking a couple of miles in heels just doesn't compute. To them, it's foolish talk, practically impossible, and if they were forced to do it, severe damage or at least severe temporary pain would occur. And they're right. It would.

I can now sort of understand this thinking, because it has happened to me. For a number of reasons, December was a non-heel-wearing month for me. I walked on December the 1st, and I walked on December the 31st, and that was pretty much it. Other than that, I wore heels to church for an hour a week, and that was pretty much that. I was a little bit disappointed that when I showed up to choir rehearsal in flat boots, nobody seemed to notice. That hasn't happened in years.

The point is, when I took my walk on December 31st, I could definitely feel it, even though I only walked a scant mile. So yeah, I can understand why somebody would be ready to get out of their 4 inch heels after an hour. That's me right now. Hopefully not me in a couple of weeks.