mlroseplant

I have no idea what is REALLY going on here, but I do know that if things don't pick up rather soon, it WILL be the death of this place. Even I am getting bored of it lately. Part of the problem is that I just don't have a lot of stories to tell. It has been kind of quiet being a guy in heels around here.

That being said, I was accosted twice in the last week, once positively, and once.  .  . errrrr.   .   . probably negatively, but it's unclear. The positive experience happened just yesterday, in which I was grocery shopping, and a woman approached me and wanted to know where I had gotten my shoes. Once again, I have to admit that I don't have a good picture of these shoes, my most worn pair to date, but I had to explain to this lady that I have had these shoes for over 10 years, and that they really weren't available anymore. Her stare and her questioning was quite disarming, and as we met again several times in the next few aisles I pretended not to see her. Yeah, that's right people--I wear my shoes for the attention.

My other experience in the past week I'm going to assume was negative. I happened to be in--wait for it--a grocery store at the time, and I was approached by an older man wearing bib overalls. I have to be careful when I describe somebody that way, because that could be me. At any rate, I had my face buried in my grocery list, which I make randomly, and has no relation to the layout of the actual supermarket, and this guy, without any introduction, asked me whether my shoes were comfortable. In the context at that moment, it seemed like the question was derisive, but I will never know for sure. Without looking up from my list, I told him that they were not really all that bad, which is true. He evidently did not want to engage me much, as he muttered something and walked away, never to be seen again. Once again, I do not have a good picture of me wearing what I was wearing, so I'll have to recycle a lame picture, but I wear these out and about quite often in the winter.

The first picture is of the shoes from the positive but creepy comment, and the second picture is of the shoes associated with the assumed negative comment. Again, these pictures are recycled. I'm not still wearing a mask out in public.

9 hours ago, Cali said:

Been waiting for these,  Still need to add some extra holes so I can wear them. But I have been down for two weeks and at least one more week before I have to go back to work.  

New sandals for this summer:  Jessica Simpson Therisa

That looks exactly like my cup of tea, as I am always looking for my next pair of wooden heeled sandals. I hope you are back on your feet soon, quite literally.

Here are a pair of boots that you never thought you'd see me in, but here I am. They are Unisa brand, model name unknown, and they have right at a 4 inch heel. Believe it or don't, I didn't measure any other dimensions, so I couldn't tell you what they are. They are substantial block heels, obviously. The uppers are made of a faux suede material, and do not have any stiffness to them above the part that actually goes around the foot. In other words, they fold up easily.

I have been reluctant in the past to even try higher than above the knee because my legs are so short that I don't need any more help dividing them up visually. That, and the very physical fact that what is a thigh boot for normal people is crotch high for me. I am pretty sure that the instant pair were intended to be over-the-knee, but on me they are thigh-ish. Not only that, they actually fit in every dimension, unless I were going for a stretch-tite look.

It was a cold and blustery day on their maiden voyage, and I was glad to have the extra layer. I have no idea what they would be like in warmer weather, and I doubt I'll ever find out. More images are presented on my Melrose Plant thread in the Guys section.

18 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

 I always feel weird taking selfies in public.

Oh yeah. I feel foolish enough doing it in my own driveway. I probably wouldn't take any at all if it wasn't for this place.

Would have?

Goodness, we've had a wild weather swing over the past two days! On Friday and the previous few days, temperatures flirted with 30º (mid 80s Fahrenheit), but this Sunday morning, it is 0º (32F) and snowing. This is hard on people and equipment. At least there has been no actual violence in the weather, at least not in our local area.

I have not gotten to the point where I forget what I have--after all, I recently did an inventory--but I definitely have shoes that I rarely wear, so that they almost feel forgotten. In my personal experience, getting a backup pair of shoes is the kiss of death, in that as soon as I get the backup, I seem to lose interest in the original shortly thereafter.

What I really need to do is get my shorts and t-shirt situation under control. I have no good idea what I really have to wear in the months to come.

I wish you a quick recovery.

Is that the biggest size prefabricated top lift that they make? I am thinking that my similarly thick heels have been reheeled from a sheet of vibram or similar, and then nailed in with about four nails.

You had to have known when you posted this that your explanation was incomplete. Perhaps this was purposeful in an effort to get some more traffic on here. Soooo.  .  . I will be the first one to take the bait and ask exactly how you accomplished sticking several heel tips together like that. Did you remove the original nails and add a single, longer nail? Please elaborate.

Secondly, and this is not really a question that you can probably answer, but I wonder if the manufacturer got a little lazy or cheaped out on the original heel? Perhaps the original heel, unmodified, would be correct, or at least closer to correct, in my size (USW 9).

I approve of the heels, but I cannot in good conscience condone those super square toes. I just knew there was something wrong with square-toed shoes.

Evidently, I'm getting a pair of thigh boots soon. It's a rather long story as to why, but I guess they will show up on my doorstep any day now, just in time for spring. I will let you know how that turns out.

There are occasionally times when nobody has anything to say all at once.

Well, that and the fact that there was a period in the mid 1990s when country music was incredibly popular, and so was the clothing that went along with it. So much so that even people like me were wearing cowboy boots. That bubble was bound to burst sooner or later, with or without help.

I am currently having an inner debate about whether to purchase another couple pairs of shoes. One pair in particular seems attractive to me for a couple of reasons. They are these orange colored True Religion mules. Those of you who have watched my video know that I already have two pairs in other colors. So why the orange? It just so happens that I used to have an orange pair way back when I was first starting my collection. I don't remember for sure why I rejected them, but I do remember they were incredibly tight and hard for me to walk in. Not only that, they were orange, and when was I ever going to wear orange shoes? Fast forward 10 years, and that model of shoe has become one of my most durable and comfortable, and I'm kind of nostalgic for the orange ones, because, well, now I will wear orange shoes with no hesitation when the occasion is right. The only issue now is the price. Was the price. I just got an offer from the seller substantially reducing the price closer to something I'm willing to pay for something I really could live quite nicely without. I'm thinking the solution is to shoot them an even lower price and see what happens.

I've got the same situation going on with another pair of shoes, which happen to be red. I really like them, but I really don't need them, and I certainly don't need to pay 75 dollars for them. Maybe it's time to offer them about half of that, and see what happens.

It is already the last day of March, and I am happy to report that my goal of walking an average of 20 miles or 32 km per month, along with some other lifestyle changes, has resulted in some significant improvement in my physical self. An unintended benefit of this is that I can now fit into pants that I should have given away a long time ago, while still being able to keep everything from before--they just aren't quite as sausage casing-like. It may not seem like much distance to some, but it's evidently doing something! For reference, after one quarter of a year, so far I have walked more total distance in 2023 than I did for each of the entire years of 2017-18-19. Also, I have walked a major fraction of what I did in 2020-21-22.

Just to be clear, I'm talking about high heel walking. I don't do flattie walking on purpose, and even if I occasionally do, I certainly don't record it.

One can always put some spin on anything to make it not sound so bad. For example, the value of my shoe collection is a fraction of the value of the cars my family drives. However, the value of my musical instruments and related equipment exceeds the value of our cars by a factor of more than two.

19 hours ago, ohnoberty said:

Although in the last couple of weeks I ended up on ego.co.uk and they are definitely pushing the platform angle, and if I dare say it some are not that awful 🤣

I agree, there are some that are not so awful. See my extended answer below.

17 hours ago, Cali said:

Well I'm wearing my new black Jessica Simpson knee high with a platform today. Another rainy day and I waterproof them.  I have and wear  MANY heels with platforms. 💜 my platforms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Well, there are platforms and then there are PLATFORMS. Generally when I think of platforms, I am not thinking about Jessica Simpson boots with a one inch platform that is basically there to give you the look of a 5 inch heel without actually having to deal with a 5 inch heel. When I think about the Return of Platforms, I am thinking about the shoes and boots that are designed to look absolutely massive on purpose, which is a look that is at once inelegant and problematic to walk in.

2 hours ago, kneehighs said:

Any update on finding the back story for this? Great find.

I found out that my friend used to see this family regularly pre-pandemic, but hasn't since, except for social media. I actually talked with my friend as some length a few days ago, and can you believe I forgot to ask?

It would appear that platforms have actually come to Iowa, at least in a small way. This is bad, because if they've made it here, then they're basically worldwide. The hope is that the trend has already burnt itself out in leading fashion places, but these days there is not all that much lag between when something becomes fashionable in London or New York, and when it gets here as there used to be.

The black, rubber-soled plats are all over the place here (female only, of course), which is not totally surprising because there is not much of a learning curve with such low-heeled shoes. BUT, I actually saw a pair similar in shape to the red pair out in the wild just two days ago, being worn by a young woman at a shopping mall. They were a fabric floral pattern instead of the red, though.

I kind of like this general style, except for one thing: I am not all that crazy about the very long toes. Witch toes, I tend to call them. Therefore, my vote goes to the YSL boots, which have a reasonable length toe. On the other hand, I have been guilty of going to the other extreme, which is equally bad. If you wear pants with any sort of fullness to them with round-toed high heels, it looks like you have no feet! The struggle for balance is real.

Out of the blue, a friend sent me this picture, which was posted by this young man's mother on social media. I have very inexpertly blotted out his face because I don't know any of the people involved, although the post was set to full public. The caption to the photo set read, "[Young man's name] absolutely slayed his senior recital! And in 4 inch heels. He worked so hard and we could not be more proud."

I shall have to find out the back story, but it is encouraging to see. I believe my friend sent me this because doesn't this general style look a little familiar? Only on somebody younger, taller, and better looking than me. This is at a fairly famous music school, too, so this guy is no hack.

Just out of curiosity, in what way did they not fit? I am also curious about how those very thin straps work in the real world, but since you sent them back, I guess that is something we'll never know.

Actually, it isn’t! But it will be by the end of today, for about three different reasons. 

Oddly enough, I actually wore knee high boots yesterday, mainly because it was like, 9º yesterday morning. That's -13º for the rest of the world. So, I decided that since they hadn't been dug out all winter, I'd better take my BCBGenerations boots for a spin. Model name Sassafras. I wore them with a suit and tie and skinny pants that are not technically part of the suit, but were complementary. The poor quality snapshot you see here is a screenshot off of a livestream. Sorry, it's all I have.

I will not pretend that people didn't notice. I appeared to get a lot of notice, both overt and covert, both at church and at two different grocery stores afterwards. Of course, the rest of me didn't really blend in, either. It's not never, but it's somewhat unusual to see somebody shopping in a suit and tie these days, and it's also unusual to see anybody wearing heels this high these days. Put them together, and well.  .  . I didn't feel any negative vibes, though.