mlroseplant

Since I wear heels every day and everywhere, getting "caught" applies only to a certain segment of people in my life, and that would be my coworkers. I work construction, so I am unable to wear high heels at work. I have attended some outside of work get-togethers in heels, but it's unusual. Every once in a while, I'll run into somebody from work who doesn't know I wear heels. I've never really gotten a comment about it one way or the other.

On 4/21/2018 at 10:22 AM, SF said:

Yep, beware - when you post pictures they may (will) show up anywhere that you least expect them....  Over the years several of my pictures that I have posted here at hhplace have mysteriously appeared on various sites (pinterest and google for example).  The fact that they were there bothered me for a while, but they were nice pictures and I got over it.  Privacy IS a thing of the past.  

And as others have said, when you are out in public and photographed - you are own your own.....

Who is John Gault???   ha ha     Take care all...   sf  

Who is John Gault? HA! Haven't heard that one in a while. 

13 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Look great, I'd be surprised if the plastic soles don't crack on the black pair. There's not much give, I have a few. When they crack there is a noticeable snap, but then suddenly they become easier and more comfortable to walk in.

Oh, don't even say that! I bought these mainly because I lost three pairs of sandals last year, due to catastrophic failure. I'd hate to think I will experience the same this year, since I'm not particularly hard on shoes. I guess I should expect it, walking in shoes that aren't really designed for walking. 

Speaking of walking, the weather was finally warm enough (50° F / 10° C) to go for a spin last night in the coral pair. They are already way easier to get on and off. A couple more times, and I think they will actually be comfortable. 

Springtime is here (so far in name only), so it is time for new sandals! I scored two new (to me) pair on ebay. Both of them are mules (really, is there any other kind worth wearing?) Both of them are Nine West. Both of them are non-current models by several years which I'd never seen or heard of before now. Neither has been worn much at all. The salmon colored pair is called Dance Card, and features cork-look heels of a whopping 5 3/8 inches, but with a 1 1/4 inch platform, so they are surprisingly easy to walk in. The black pair is called Versell, and I believe they've never been worn at all. There is one silver metal doodad missing on the front, so I got them for $5 (plus shipping). The Versell model has a 4 5/8 inch stiletto heel which appears to be made of molded plastic. With a 5/8 inch platform, they're right at 4 inches difference between the toe and heel, making for relatively easy walking.

Actually, I can't comment on either of these yet, because I have worn them only cursorily. Both of them fit exactly the same--tight. I can tell they will straighten up and fly right in pretty short order, but they're a bitch to get on with the multiple straps to scrunch up your foot. It will just be a matter of wearing them for a few hours, and they will be fine.

3 hours ago, JeffB said:

Speaking of practical shoes, I can't wait for the weather to finally warm up so I can break out my flat sandals which I've come to love wearing.

In theory, I like flat sandals also, as long as they are leather and fairly thin-soled. However, in practice, I rarely pass up the opportunity to wear heels, so I am reluctant to purchase flatties of any sort, for fear it will be a waste of money. I have one pair of flat sandals which never gets worn, to the point where the leather is starting to become hard from neglect.

I only like the ones at the upper end of the heel height range, which would be 3 - 3 1/2 inches, and I only like to look at them on other people (probably women, to be honest), and I don't think they look very good on me. I was considering a pair to use as organ shoes, but soon realized I'd better stick to the specialty shoes for that purpose.

My tastes have changed over the past few years. When I first started heeling, I was most comfortable in ankle to mid-calf boots with boot cut jeans or pants/trousers. However, as I have become more confident in my style, I have taken to wearing skinnier pants almost always, though I rarely wear truly tight "skinny" jeans/pants. Mid-calf boots don't seem to work out so well with slimmer pants--what do you do with them? Outside or inside? Neither looks that great on me to my eye, so I have gravitated toward either knee highs on the outside of the pants, or ankle boots. All my boots are in the heel height range of 4 1/2 - 5 1/4 inches, and are either stiletto heels, or nicely tapered thicker heels. I'm not a big fan of straight sided block heels. To me they look clunky. Oh, and all of my boots save one have a small platform, 1 inch or less. I have one pair of boots with a 5 inch heel and no platform, but I'm still working up to them as far as wanting to wear them in public without looking silly. I am aware of my physical limitations. My graceful limit right now is about a 4 1/2 inch difference between heel and platform (size 9 U.S. women's).

I own 6 pairs of flat or nearly flat shoes. 2 pairs of work boots, 1 pair of runners (which are too worn for actual running), 1 pair of tennis shoes (used for actually playing tennis), 1 pair of casual non-athletic shoes, and 1 pair of formal black oxfords. Of these, only the oxfords and the tennis shoes are technically "men's" shoes. 

I also own approximately 50 pairs of high heels. The work boots are the only flats I wear regularly. 

I had to think about that one. Since I work construction, I do not wear heels to work, so I guess it depends upon whether I have to go out in the evenings when I get home. At home, I generally wear the same pair of Steve Madden open toed mules as house slippers, but if I have to go somewhere, I generally pick a different pair of shoes each time. I know that in the past, I would purposefully make sure that I didn't wear the same pair of shoes twice to church or to choir rehearsal, but I care less about that now. Even though I have somewhere around 50 pairs of shoes, I always feel like my selection is so limited. I wish I had more. Of course, 50 pairs sounds like a lot, but you have to figure that about 1/3 of those are summer shoes, and 1/3 are winter shoes. The remaining third are shoes I rarely wear for one reason or another. These fall into three main categories: Shoes that are too high for me to walk in gracefully (these are aspirational), shoes that are too low to hold my interest any more (I have quite a few like this from my early heeling days), and shoes that are OK, but maybe don't fit quite right or have some other defect that causes me not to wear them much.

To more clearly answer your question, I rarely wear the same shoes out two days in a row.

On 3/21/2018 at 1:38 AM, Pierre1961 said:

I love that pair of Oxford. I haven't been able  to find such a pair yet ,with a round toe cap and a nice  heel. These should be perfect for everyday,traveling.....

Oxfords were sort of what got me to get into heeling, because they seemed to me to be very masculine, and at first that was very important to me and my self confidence. Nowadays, I'm not really concerned about whether I look masculine or not, but I still like oxfords. I have, if I'm thinking correctly, 5 pairs. I will have to post a picture at some later time. I would probably own more, but I think I've run into the same problem as you--it's difficult to find oxfords with a traditional round-toe, but yet with a decently high heel. If I were interested in wearing a lower heel (3 inches or less), I'd have plenty of oxfords to choose from, and some nice quality ones. Anything higher than 4 inch, it seems you always find a "fetishy" aspect to them, rather than super dressy. I'm always searching for a pair of oxfords with a tall heel, but with styling more conservative. More about this later.

Haha, I have the opposite problem--short legs. Luckily, my best friend is a tailor!

On 3/19/2018 at 4:13 PM, CAT said:

I have a pair of those, they are super comfortable!

 

They sure are! I've had mine reheeled twice, and they are one of my favorite pairs! They are also among my very first pairs of truly "high" heels, just a little over 5 years ago. I like to wear them with men's suits or with jeans.

I'm going to have to do an inventory soon. I think I'm around 50 pairs, but the stock has been pretty volatile over the last year. 

6 hours ago, jeremy1986 said:

That's great @mlroseplant!   Pic of the Sizzles?

I just KNEW you we're going to ask that, but I posted anyway without pics, mainly because I don't have any. So, I consulted Uncle Google for a stock photo. 

I received an unsolicited compliment today on my footwear.  I was shopping at my local Walmart, which, by the way, is the only place I've ever taken a tumble in heels. It was due to ice stuck to the bottoms of my shoes against the slick tile floor. No worries about that today, however. 

I was searching for a box of nitrile gloves. My eldest son needed them for some computer building he's been working on, and I use them occasionally for automotive work. One of us wants to protect the equipment, and one of us wants to protect his hands from nasty chemicals. While I was looking through the paltry selection available, a woman approached me and said, "I just LOVE your heels!" Deep in the thought that just a couple years ago, Walmart had a much better variety of nitrile gloves, I probably did not react as warmly as I normally would have, but I smiled and said, "Oh well thank you!" She said again, "I just love the heels! I can't wear heels any more."  

That is all. I almost feel like I'm truly accepted sometimes. I was wearing my 5 year old but well cared for Nine West "Sizzle" oxfords, with a 4 3/4 inch thin block heel with slim but not skinny jeans and a black trench coat. 

Wow! They're my size, but I think they'd be a little difficult to play tennis in. 

Seriously, I have two pair of Nike Sky High Dunks, which I thought were awesome when I bought them, but I haven't worn them in two years. I guess wedge sneakers just aren't my thing. 

Hello folks, I have returned from my annual visit to Vietnam, and have returned to a heeling life. In years past when I have been away from heels for 3 weeks, there has been a bit of a re-learning curve to get used to walking in heels again. This year, I didn't have much of a problem with the skill itself, but I did notice a real lack of endurance that I haven't in years past. This may be a result of several factors, but one thing's for sure--my feet sure are tired. Time to get serious again!

I'm pretty picky about my feet. If they aren't looking very presentable, I don't wear sandals. Since sandals are my very favorite, I generally keep on top of the pedicure situation. I do my own these days, as my favorite nail tech quit the business a number of years ago. 

Notice I did not say anything about polish. That's because I don't wear any. I'm just not a big fan, on men or women. I just prefer the look of meticulously groomed bare nails to enameled ones. 

It seems I was a bit premature in my lament of this year's styles. Perhaps what I was observing is the fact that Tet Holiday has become a lot more casual than it used to be. Now that the holiday is over and it's back to business as usual, the heels have started coming out of the woodwork in great numbers!

It is true that the giant platforms of yesteryear are still gone, and maybe that's a good thing, but heel heights for pumps seem to average in the 3-4 inch range, and you do see the occasional pump that is significantly higher. Block heels do seem to be more popular this year, but stilettos are still quite common. I still can't figure out why anybody ever buys suede anything in Hanoi, but it's incredibly popular, and gets trashed quickly due to general sogginess and dirt. This ain't Dubai, or even Singapore. 

I will be returning to the U.S. tomorrow. 

On 2/27/2018 at 12:04 PM, alphax said:

There are specialty shoes for organ players that are designed for traction, feel, and a nimble profile.  Sadly, no 5 inch pumps though.

https://store.organmastershoes.com/womansorganshoe.aspx

I didn't care for any of the styles, men's or women's, offered by OrganMaster. I wound up going with Tic Tac Toe brand, which specializes mainly in dance shoes, but they have an organ shoe line. Totally satisfied with my purchase!

I bought "women's" oxford style, which is a little lower cut on the foot than the man's oxford. I like the look a lot better. 

I have, in fact, tried the taping thing before. I cannot tell that it made any difference whatsoever. I am skeptical of such a claim in any case, on the grounds that, even if the stuff about the nerve and the 3rd and 4th toes is 100% true, do your toes really move all that much inside a closed-toed high heeled shoe anyway? I have found other methods of dealing with discomfort to be far more effective. 

The answer to the question is yes, sure I play in heels. However, there are very few instruments where it makes any difference at all. Not even piano, in my opinion. Drum kit, yes, pipe organ, yes. Other than that, I can't think of any other instruments where the choice of one's footwear would make any difference at all. 

I suppose we could think about marching bands in high heels. That might be interesting!

2 hours ago, jeremy1986 said:

Hi @RonC

Sorry to hear about your wife's situation. I can understand it being hard for the both of you - sounds like your wife enjoyed making you happy in this regard.

and yes - she's been pretty clear about it. its basically a confidence issue  - to begin with she is tall (at about 178cm- maybe even a cm or 2 more than me!) - so she doesn't always like standing out with the extra height. I think she enjoyed it in her younger single years, getting more attention, but now things are different. Making the issue worse, is that she has put on quite a bit of weight over the last few years, and she feels that the heels will make her stand out even more, making people see her weight. I can certainly understand this issue.

Also, at some point during one of the pregnancies, her feet seemed to grow another size! So being a UK9 now, kind of limits her selections too. 

That's basically the issue. I still like to think that the situation will improve if she loses the weight, but coming into her 40's, i'm not sure....  

such a pity, as she has some heels that she hasn't even worn more than once! 

 

I'll answer this question as well, even though it was not directed at me. My wife also gained quite a bit of weight as a result of childbirth, and her feet grew enough that all of her old shoe collection was unwearable. It has taken several years, but she has slowly gotten back to her pre-pregnancy weight (congratulations to her!), but the hormonal changes have somehow affected the structure of her foot, so that her poor dogs just cannot take wearing heels the way they used to. Also, she now has a job where she stands for 8 hours a day. That probably doesn't help.

The point is, I think it shows a fundamental difference between the way most women approach wearing heels and the way that most of us here at HHP approach it (gender inclusive). My wife will be 49 years old this year. In her mind, I am sure that not wearing heels all the time is not that big of a problem. She sure did enjoy high heels, and still does, but I do not believe that she has the "high heel gene" that most members here probably possess. Wearing heels was just something that society kind of expected of her when she was younger, and she took to it rather more than most. However, now that she's older, the social pressure isn't there any more, in fact it's probably the opposite. It's only natural that she will continue to wear heels less and less as the years go by. And like I say, that's fine. I have my own heels now!

By contrast, my friend and shoe buddy who is a female slightly younger than my wife at age 43 does possess the "high heel gene." You will hardly ever see her in flats anywhere, because she just loves to wear heels. She has even expressed worry that someday she'll have to give them up as she ages. If only she could see the membership here! I'd say she's good for at least another 20 or 30 years if she wants to be.

A short report from Vietnam.

1) I miss my heels.

2) The shopping trip with my niece probably isn't going to happen.

3) I haven't gotten sick at all so far this year.

4) Heel heights and popularity continue to decline, at least as I see it unscientifically. I haven't been to a mall or to the movies, and certainly not to a club, so I shouldn't report definitively, but out on the street, the giant heels of the early part of this decade have all but disappeared. Kitten heels and block-heeled pumps of 2" or even less seem to be everywhere. Athletic/trainer type shoes seem to be much more popular this year among young adult women, the same age range that 10 years ago seemed to wear substantial heels everywhere, and who are now in their early to mid-thirties. Ankle boots are popular at this time of year, and they tend to have higher heels, in the 3 to 4" range. I've seen several pairs of thigh boots that I didn't before. The ones I've seen have sported 3 or 4" block heels.

5) I have had more time to post on here lately!

I am probably not the best advisor on this matter, since I am "stuck" at approximately 4 1/2" difference between toe and heel as far as being able to walk naturally, but I would suggest taking video of yourself walking, just to see what you really look like to others. All the practice in the world will not help if you are walking in a way that looks odd and you don't realize it.