mlroseplant

On 7/23/2022 at 5:49 AM, Jkrenzer said:

It's the weak spot. Every mechanical thing has its weakest region based on the stresses in the part. You are fatiguing the metal with every step. Bonny no. 1 apparently had a large stress cycle that shortened its life. I'm not surprised it's on the same shoe, we all walk differently on each foot. In my case the heel tips always wear faster on my left shoe. It could also be just random, i.e. flip a coin. If it's heads the 1st time it's still 50/50 each time you flip it again that it will be heads, no pattern until it happens 3 or more times.

We're working on No. 3 right now, but it's going to take a while to wear the new ones to failure. 116 miles sounds kind of impressive, but it took me about two years to do that. I do have other shoes, after all, and I'm lazy.

18 hours ago, Cali said:

Or it could be from driving.

15 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

 No real physical loading driving, engineer response after scientists comment. Yuk Y uk

13 hours ago, Cali said:

Uneven loading on the heel and torque from changing from gas pedal to brake pedal.  I can feel and see this on some of my heels from driving.  And 99%+ of the time I'm driving in heels.  (Experimental based science.)

What is unknown is the condition of the shank in the left heels.  Do they show stress or not.

I'll go ahead and put this to rest. I didn't drive in these shoes. I'm not saying it never happened, but certainly not enough to make any difference, even if we assume that the act of driving somehow made a difference. To answer the other question, I did, in fact, tear apart the left shoe on Bonny No. 2, just to see, and there was no visual sign of damage to the shank. Not that there wasn't damage, but I don't have instruments to measure it. I did have a little fun playing with the heels to see just how important that little metal strip is for keeping everything in place as it should be. Bonny No. 3 feels much more solid under my feet, so I'm guessing that even the left on Bonny No. 2 was flexing more than when new.

Ships still sometimes break in half at sea, so I suppose it's a bit much to expect a mass produced silly fashion item to last indefinitely.

This is what shank failure looks like--for the second time. The heel was plenty tight to the sole, even after all that walking and a fourth set of heel caps. That little strip of metal is key to the structural integrity of many heels, and certainly of this model. The failure was in exactly the same spot as the last pair, and on the same shoe (the right). I am a bit surprised about that, as this pair was never subjected to trauma, as was the last pair.

I had an incident with Bonny No. 1, overstepping the bottom stair and doing violence to the heel. Bonny No. 1 didn't fail right away after that, but it was soon after at only about 50 miles. The fact that Bonny No. 2 failed in the exact same way somewhat puzzles me. Also, the fact that it was on the same foot gives me a little cause for concern. I need to examine some of my other shoes to see if perhaps I'm walking funny on that foot.

At any rate, the first picture is what happened to the heel (exaggerated for photo purposes--it wasn't actually that bad while I was walking the last tenth of a mile), the second picture is the shank of Bonny No. 2, third picture is the shank of Bonny No. 1. As you can see, they broke within 1 mm of the same spot. How weird! I'll start working on Bonny No. 3 right away, to see if there's a pattern.

14 hours ago, Cali said:

@mlroseplant it looks like you are on vacation in the Caribbean with those shorts.

I like my wedges, they are some of the easiest heels to walk/ work in.  But some days are stiletto days, especially with short shorts. 

Hello, I'm Melrose Plant, and I approve of this outfit. What are the shoes?

Changing it up a little bit with colors I don't normally wear. These mint green shorts mimic white pants quite well in their ability to attract spilt food and dirt in general. I think they might look better if I were darker skinned. Pairing them with sensible shoes led to an evening of zero comments. Shorts are some brand called Dept 222. Sandals are by Söfft.

Ooh, that's pretty hard to look at.

It was a sad day in the world yesterday. My BCBGirls Bonny mules, my favorite pair of walking shoes, yielded up the ghost by shank failure. As many of you may know, it's not totally bad, because I still have three identical pairs in reserve. Two down, three to go. I was slightly disappointed that the right shoe failed at only 115.6 miles, but I suppose that is actually pretty amazing considering the design of the shoe.

I only wish they had lasted another 10 miles, which would have made them, at least temporarily, the most durable heels I've owned. As it is, that honor is still held by my Nine West oxfords, which are still kicking, and actually remain quite presentable if you polish them up. The Bonny No. 2s, on the other hand, were not really presentable. They were pretty much trashed, and I would never actually wear them in public, if you don't count walking around the neighborhood.

I guess we get to start on Bonny No. 3 now. It will take a while for them to get soft and pliable like the No. 2s were. And it will be interesting to see if they last about the same amount of time and mileage.

10 hours ago, Cali said:

Lets answer these criticisms.  The quality is low do to reducing to fit the size limitation here and the lighting.  I have an old (tear-me-down) so limited lighting when I leave in the morning and I have only one place set up for pictures now.

About the ratty old wedges - one word COMFORT. These wedges are like wearing sneakers to me now. Late for work, slip them on and off I go.  Don't have to be concerned where I put my foot down when I walk in them.  I have a new pair of these heels in a box.  Maybe one day soon I will take them out, but until then......

These flair jeans have 33 inch inseam, so I guess I need to get a tall version of the jeans to make TikTok, but I don't look at TikTok anyway.

It wasn't really a criticism, just a scientific observation, phrased in a tradesman's manner of delivery. Anyway, like I said, I have shoes like that, and one of them yielded up the ghost last night. 'Twas a sad day.

17 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

I'm beginning to think we have more gray beards (me included) than not here at HHP.

I think it's probably the general format. I don't see us attracting a lot of younger folks by the nature of a lot of our discussions. In addition to that, it does seem like most of us have had to get some age on us in order to stop caring what other people think. Having achieved financial stability and  professional respect really helps out a great deal, also.

I'm not going to jump into this too hard, but as a tradesperson, a guy who ACTUALLY builds things.  .  . I shall say no more.

I am no so much concerned with whether flared jeans are intrinsically good or not. I am way more concerned about why you continue to take poorly exposed photos of ratty old wedges that by all rights should be in the landfill. I say this in good faith, because I have an equally ratty pair of shoes that I'm probably going to post about soon. And now, to actually address the subject, if TikTok is any indication, those jeans need to be an inch or two longer to be the "correct" style. The problem with that is, then you don't get to show off your shoes. No wonder them hippies went around barefoot everywhere.

And now, for my 85th (I think) pair of heels, something different! I don't know why I bought these giant wedges, probably because they were shiny, and pretty inexpensive. They are Coach brand, model name unknown. 5 1/8" heel, 1 3/8" platform, so not super steep. I bought my usual size 8 1/2, and they required about an hour of wearing before they actually fit. With leather shoes, I figure being a little tight is not a bad thing because of the stretching that invariably occurs with use.

They are not all that bad to walk in, but because they are giant, they do seem a little clumpy. I don't reckon there is anything to be done about that, other than get a different pair of gold shoes. They have leather soles, which I wish they wouldn't do that on platforms, but oh well. It's not like I'm going to be putting a ton of miles on these. They are not really your everyday kind of shoe.

Church outfit of the week, which again, looks pretty much like everything else I wear. It seems the only things that change are the colors. Oh, and the new sandals, featured elsewhere on this forum. I did get some comments on the shoes. I mean, how could you not?

Everyone has a different experience. My wife has apparently given up on me as far as heels go, but she would kill me if I ever wore a skirt. So I guess I am safe here, unless and until Tech gets on me again about my striped shirts.

22 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Nothing conservative about a man in heels buddy.

I dunno. I suppose it depends upon your point of view. Everything about me is fairly conservative, with the exception of my shoes, shorts, and probably politics. I'm really a very boring guy.

Ain't no way I would ever pay 200 bucks for piece of crap Steve Maddens. And I have a ton of Steve Maddens. They are a low quality shoe, in my experience. Too bad for me, a lot of them are so cute!

12 hours ago, Cali said:

The Jessica Simpson Rollin knee high stilettos.  I find that I need a larger size (size 11's) but the JS stilettos are very easy to walk in.  I have 6 stilettos from her brand, but only one knee high (currently).

It sure is. And they wonder when your not in heel,  "Are you alright?"  At work I'm not looked at as why is he in heels, but what heels is he wearing today.  And that's the way it should be!

There are always more shoes to be purchased, that's for sure. And I found out a long time ago that there are certain people who watch to see what shoes I am wearing this week. I try my best not to disappoint. I'm sure I do sometimes. It is not possible to bat 1.000. I shoot for .300, myself.

Another week, another outfit that is kind of the same as every other week. I'm not very creative when it comes to what to wear. The only thing of note is that I won't be working a farmer's market in these Mark & James platform sandals again. They weren't horrible, and I did not have to use my backup shoes, but with their giant platform, they felt very unstable and awkward to walk in.

On the other hand, I got three compliments during the evening. To be sure, they were all from women who were a little bit out there for their own personal style. One in particular was sporting very colorfully dyed hair, very loose jeans with giant holes in them, and fingernails that were every bit of an inch and a half long, sharpened to needle-like points. It's funny that I consider myself to be quite conservative in my presentation, but evidently, I'm "out there" too.

And the opposite, shorts with platform wedge sandals.

Nice looking, for sure, but I don't think they have been tested by ANSI.

I had my catastrophic summer a few years ago, where I broke several pairs of shoes. Well, they were all sandals. Luckily this year, knock on wood, I've had zero failures.

It doesn't really surprise me that the stuff failed after sitting for nearly three years. It seems like that is often the worst thing for shoes. I know it is for cars.

I see we have a wide variety of opinions on the subject of shorts. That doesn't really surprise me. It kind of reminds me of a joke which actually rings true about Methodists. Wherever two Methodists are gathered, you'll have three opinions. I'll have to see if I can take some shorts pictures this weekend, but it won't solve anything.

I don't necessarily feel like it's the "No Hiding" aspect of the style that kicks it up a few notches as far as raising eyebrows. There is still some sort of social stigma against wearing heels with shorts, and even though it's no longer taboo, there's still something kind of racy about it. Add stilettos to the mix, and it's even more racy.

I realize that my point of view is restricted to the midwest U.S., but I do see the heels and shorts combination occasionally this year. Invariably, it's with wedges or shorter block heels. I'm trying to remember the last time I saw shorts with stilettos, and I'm not so sure it wasn't in Asia, where that look is very common and acceptable.

In any case, every once in a while, even I decline the shorts and heels combo if I'm feeling particularly self conscious on any given day. It's all in my head, of course, but I do blend a lot better with pants.

I guess I don't consider those to be "short," as that's the length I have on pretty much all my pants, jean or otherwise. To be sure, it would be quite short for boot cut style jeans, but with a cut that slim, you really wouldn't want it to be that much longer, or it will just bunch up once it hits the tops of your feet, yeah? Of course, with skinny jeans, or even skinny-ish jeans, it's not physically possible to have them very much longer than your "cropped" (HA!) photo.

Yeah, that's just it. I like them in theory, but where on earth would I wear such things? I've got a couple pairs that begin to approach that level of flashiness, but not really. Then again, I wear some stuff now that I wouldn't have even thought about wearing several years ago, so who knows?

21 hours ago, mickeyunc said:

I love the gold straps and the gold heels.  black and gold is a sexy combination.   The small peep toe is nice smaller the better,  

There are a number of Iowa Hawkeyes fans who would undoubtedly agree with you.

It is another mystery of life as to why some shoes are more comfortable than others. Sometimes this defies logic. This week, I wore the most outrageous shoes I've ever worn to work a farmer's market--my Miu Miu navy blue wooden sandals. I say most outrageous because it's the first time I've worn really high heels with shorts, and the numbers are there--5 1/2" heel with 1 1/4" platform.

I did bring backup shoes just in case, and I have to admit that I did the setup in the backup shoes, which were a 2" wedge heeled Söfft sandal which are the same as flats in my estimation. Then I switched to the wooden heels to remove the car from the area, park it, and walk back to get started for the night. Amazingly enough, I never had to use the backup shoes. I even tore down and drove home in the high shoes. Previous to this, I had never worn them for more than about 2 hours at a time, and not standing. This time, it was 5 hours, 4+ of which was standing or walking. And it wasn't bad!

Here's the thing that defies logic. These sandals are solid wood, except for the leather strap and a bit of a rubber sole. Your foot rests directly on the wood. No padding, no nothing. Many times, heavily padded shoes do worse. I am not convinced that heavy padding = comfort, unlike what most people say.

Here is a mirror selfie from the nearby men's room, and a shot from underneath the canopy looking out at customers.