mlroseplant

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.

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.