mlroseplant

I have a few pair that I like to wear around the house, but lately it has been these nearly-beat-to-death BCBGirls Bonny open toed mules. My feeling about these mirrors Cali's feelings about his SMs in a couple of ways. Number one, they're very easy to slip on and off, which is kind of important at our house, as we insist on no shoes upstairs where the bedrooms are. Number two, I also like to wear them out a lot in the summertime, so I managed to find another pair brand new (they are a long discontinued model) a while ago. Fairly recently, I ran across yet another brand new pair for pretty cheap, so I bought them also. Now I have three pair!

On 3/17/2020 at 10:36 PM, vcooper said:

I was going to wear my Dr Martens high heel boots this morning but I knew I was going to buy a box of coke cans today (which luckily there is plenty of hehe) and carrying heavy object in heels can be quite the task at times. Has anybody else here noticed that? 

On 3/18/2020 at 8:17 AM, p1ng74 said:

Wearing heels definitely adds to the experience of carrying heavy objects.  I immediately noticed it on my first trip in 4.2” heels, lifting luggage.  I make a point of practicing and getting used to it.  I admit to never having this kind of appreciation for the effort of wearing heels before wearing them myself.  Suddenly, the chivalry of holding the door open or helping a lady with her luggage doesn’t seem quite so frivolous.  

I got re-acquainted with that feeling just this past Sunday, at our final church service for a while (we are of course closed until further notice like everybody else). I was asked to fill in on bass for the first two services, which have bands. The college student who usually plays with them was gone on spring break. I usually just bring my instrument (which for those of you who are interested is an early 90s Fender J-Bass Plus) and a plastic 5 gallon bucket to carry the necessary cords, music, accessories, &c. Lately, I have also been bringing my newly acquired cornet to play at the third service with the organ. So couple carrying three not really heavy, but awkward, things with my dubious decision to wear my House of Harlow oxfords, which are right up against the steepness limit of what I can walk in anyway, and you get a recipe for looking like a complete dork, which I did.

16 hours ago, RonC said:

Wow, I just checked to see when I joined and it was January 2002 - 18 years ago.  Hard to recall how I found the site, but likely a Google search for men wearing high heels brought me here.  I, like others have noted, found it reassuring that there were, in fact, others that shared my enjoyment of and desire to wear high heels.  What I do find puzzling is how many others have come and gone, even though they indicated they were heel lovers/wearers.  There is nowhere else on the web that I have found that deals specifically with this subject, so if one is a male heel wearer, I can't believe you wouldn't remain active here once you found the site.  With whom do these others share their passion and receive the feedback like we all get from this site.  Yes, there are many here that enjoy a segment of heel wearing that I personally do not gravitate toward, such as those that like extreme heel heights and thigh high boots, but we all are heel lovers and as such have something in common with experiences and information to share, which is what keeps me here!

I think there are a number of factors affecting why people have come and gone. Part of it has to do with the fact that we are pretty much strictly a shoe fashion site, and anything that goes too much beyond that is discouraged or flat-out not allowed. I think a lot of male heel enthusiasts have further interests as well, and we don't allow much of that here. Another part of the turnover has to do with what I will call "Big" personalities. I can remember some characters from the past who were extremely opinionated, not necessarily friendly or polite, and they were either banned or got upset and left the site for good. We still occasionally get guys who want to do nothing but show off pictures of their wives or girlfriends, they never last long. And then there are the small group of guys who have gained enough confidence to go out and wear heels as they wish, and perhaps find the site boring and repetitive.

I find enough interest here between talking about shoes, gender-bending fashion, the occasional off-topic conversation, and the opportunity to show other men that yes, you too can wear heels if you really want to that I keep coming back regularly.

17 hours ago, Cali said:

Then look for calf high boots, like the motorcycle boots from Carlos Santana.  It's either that or hope for a late in life growth spurt.

I'm not a big fan of calf-high boots, it's either all or nothing for me, I guess. It all comes of having short legs. I don't feel that calf-highs are very flattering on me, unless I wear them underneath pants, in which case what's the point?

13 hours ago, Bubba136 said:

You can always take a pair that you like and fit properly to a cobbler and have the shafts adjusted to your calfs.  Thighbootguy used to do this all of the time.

The thought had occurred to me, but since I wear boots like, half a dozen times a year, it probably wouldn't be worth it. I'd have to find just the right pair, and it most likely wouldn't be Jessica Simpsons.

11 hours ago, Puffer said:

.. and I hope you practise likewise too!

I had to laugh at your (presumably) unintended double entendres!   I think you could get a job (working currently from home, of course) as a scriptwriter for such as the erstwhile (UK) 'Carry On' films.  

The double entendres were indeed unintended, but were not reduced to a writing without my noticing them. I just told the story how it actually happened. May I also gently suggest that, considering the age of the girls, pointing out.  .  . other interpretations.  .  . of my words is at best stretching the boundaries of good taste. However, this conversation has made me realize that I do have two important aims in life: 1) Promoting the study and performance of music, and 2) promoting the wearing of high heels! If more people did both, the world would be a better place.

To be clear, I am not personally offended in the least by your comments. Please enjoy this clip I found from the film "Brassed Off."

I just looked these things up, because I am looking for a pair of knee high boots to replace some which are getting to the point of no return, and sadly realized that even if I could find a suitable pair, they would have the same problem I have with my existing pair, only even worse: The shafts are too big for me.

I had an interesting experience last night. A good friend came over to visit (safely, of course, we didn't even shake hands like usual--these are strange times) and he brought his 12 year old daughter and one of her friends. After mostly talking about how both of our jobs are shut down as of yesterday, the subject came up that the daughter's friend played in the school concert band. I asked her, "So, what instrument do you play?" She answered "euphonium."

"Well!" I said. "Would you like to see my euphonium?" She immediately followed me to the basement, where my band instrument room is. Yeah, it was obvious she knew how to play, but she was at best average for a 6th grader. After trying a few other brass instruments that I own (with careful use of the extra large bottle of mouthpiece disinfectant that I have on hand), she realized that not only was I wearing heels, she was in a roomful of heels. See attached photo. Not the girls, of course, but an older photo showing the room. Upon discovering the treasure trove, the two girls pretty much wanted to try on everything. And I let them. I gave instructions on how to walk and not look like an idiot. They have a long way to go. Nobody got hurt, thank goodness. And I hope the girl remembers my advice to practice her horn a little bit every day while they're off school.

19 hours ago, ohnoberty said:

Well as HappyinHeels has posted, swimmers and cyclists are notorious for shaving pretty much everything off them. It could be an excuse, buy a bike and some cycling shorts, and shave away care free. Speaking of arms, I've always had the finest of hairs on my arms to the point that they basically look bare and shaved. It's odd because you always seem to want the opposite, or at least I did when I was younger.

I can certainly relate to that! I was a somewhat late bloomer, and always wished for more hair. Tried to grow a beard at 18, and it was pretty pathetic. Now I am one of those guys who can grow a beard in a day and I don't want it! We won't even talk about hair migrating down from your head to your nose and ears.

20 hours ago, SF said:

I don't shave my legs generally, but I do take care of the hair on my feet and toes.  I wear sandals almost exclusively and never liked the look of nice sandals with hairy feet - and I'm not that much of a hairy guy.  I tried shaving and that worked, but the ugly annoying "stubble" was there a few days later.  Years ago I tried using fine tweezers to pluck the hair out.  It took some time but got rid of the hair and my feet were hairless.  The hairs did grow back eventually but over a longer time period.  I continued to "pluck" and guess what?  I now have hair free feet and toes.  The constant plucking caused, for whatever reason, the hair to mostly stop growing.  About 90+ percent or more of the hair is not there anymore.  Gone.  

It took some time and tenacity to regularly pluck the hairs, but it seemed to work and eliminating the hair was a pleasant unintended consequence.  Might not be for everyone but maybe something to consider.  After all, if you are going to wear sandals (guys or gals) you feet should look nice.  And consider a pedicure as well!!  

Have fun all......   sf

I definitely de-fuzzed my feet long before it ever occurred to me to shave my legs. Now that I think about it, I have done this occasionally since reaching puberty. I've paid attention to my feet for that long. Thanks a lot Mom, for giving me these chubby toes! I work with what I got. At least my nail beds are reasonably long. It could be much worse.

17 hours ago, maninboots said:

Another visit to Costa in next and I’ve gone for some old faithfuls with my black knee high boots with 4” heels from Dorothy Perkins, the special needs girl has shown an interest again as has a young female member of staff, fairly quiet in here this evening but i do enjoy the walk though the store first to get to Costa, gives a nice chance to browse the collection and try on some other heels too, talk about killing two birds with one stone, waiting delivery of some otk’s from Topshop so can’t wait to test drive them in here

You can still go to a coffee shop? Not for long, I should think. Better test drive them boots at the supermarket! Probably whilst wearing a mask and gloves.

3 hours ago, HappyinHeels said:

mlroseplant,

Looking nice in all your poses and outfits. My wife and I were away since 29 January and travelled through 14 states. Attended church along the way in Florida and three different churches in northwestern Mexico. We returned to Wisconsin late Saturday. Stopped in the Des Moines Sams Club to check on toilet paper and paper towels and saw none but saw hordes of people. What a zoo! We skipped church on Sunday the 15th out of some concern. Northwest Mexico and Arizona have so few virus cases and nothing has changed on US-Mexico border as to daily operations. We're in the middle of buying a winter place in Yuma, AZ and will be making a return trip. It will be interesting to see what changes lie ahead. I know I paid $2.19 per gallon of gas the day before we left and paid $1.75 per gallon today so that's one noticeable change. Glad your shoes are leaving their "imprint" on the community. HinH

Hey there! I was kind of wondering where you've been, and now I know! It does seem like all of this is a burden, but just to put things in perspective, the kids in Hanoi haven't been back to school since Jan. 25 (!). I don't know if I told you, but the wife now works at Walmart, so she gets to witness the craziness firsthand.

______________________

I posted these boots on the "New Boots" thread recently, but I figured I'd do kind of a review of them on this thread, since I haven't written for a while. To briefly recap, I bought these Timberland Sutherlin Bay boots because I got the crazy notion that I wanted to wear something with a bit of a heel again at work. I have worn heeled Doc Martens before at work, and they actually worked out pretty well for real construction. That is, until they stopped making the model that I liked. Plus, I never really liked that pillowy, bouncy sole. It was especially weird to use a hand conduit bender in those boots.

I can pretty much tell you that these new Timberland boots ain't gonna last. They are just too light duty, even for the job I'm at now, and I really don't put them through too much punishment. The worst thing I have to do is walk on gravel, which is often wet, but I don't really have to deal with any appreciable amount of mud, and the data center itself is very clean, of course. And still, I can tell that these boots are just not going to be very durable, which is disappointing, considering the brand's reputation. I do, according to my mobile phone, often walk up to 20,000 steps a day in them. It's a big building!

I have gotten very few comments on them, which just goes to show you that people don't pay that much attention, despite the fact that discussing work boots and their comfort is a very common conversation. It should be obvious to anyone who knows anything that these are NOT work boots, but rather women's fashion boots. The only way it could be any more obvious is if they had a side zipper, which they do not. I was careful about that! As I've mentioned elsewhere, our work is pausing for an indefinite period due to Covid-19 virus, so I won't be able to test these boots further for some time.

I received the word yesterday that my job would shut down as of today. It is dang near impossible to wire a data center from home, so yeah, we're out of a job. How long we will be off, who knows? Church services and activities have been cancelled for the rest of the month, and that will probably be extended, given what's happened in the last 24 hours. Luckily, I am not strictly quarantined, and I feel that it is perfectly safe to walk in solitude around the neighborhood, as I won't be in contact with anyone closer than the prescribed distance. I plan on getting my feet and ankles back into the shape that they once were, so that I may enjoy wearing heels all the much more when this is all over. I have other ideas about how to pass the time, but I won't bore you with the details.

Not the most exciting of purchases, but here are my new Timberland Sutherlin Bay lace up boots. The only thing that makes them worth posting here is that I bought them for work boots. They have 1 3/4" heels, and are very un-workboot-like. My feet look tiny in these boots, and they are not in the least heavy-duty, even though they sort of look like it. However, my job at the moment does not really require anything heavy duty, and these actually meet jobsite requirements. I have gotten very few comments about them, and none of them negative.

18 hours ago, vcooper said:

She assumed I was Gay and looked very puzzled at first when I told her I was straight. I remember Her response  was “then why are you wearing those boots if you’re straight?”

I've gotten this quite a few times, and it's always puzzled me. I don't go out so often to bars or clubs, so I rarely get this question anymore, but I wonder how many people think it? I guess I don't much care, just idle curiosity.

I came at this high heel thing from a different angle than most who are presently here. I have been attracted to high heels from an early age, as in before puberty, but I figured it wasn't an option to wear them myself in public, it didn't occur to me to do so, and indeed I felt guilty about the couple of pairs of heels I did own sporadically as a young adult. When I got married at the age of 26, my new wife made it pretty clear that she was thrilled with my passion for shoes, but that I was going to have to express this passion vicariously through her. Me wearing heels was something that she found disturbing.

Naturally, I was always trying to get her to wear heels more often, and wear higher heels than what she would choose on her own. Of course, the complaint was that it wasn't practical to wear heels as much as I would have liked her to. I came across a website back in the year 2000, called Jenny's High Stiletto Heels. I was searching for information on how to train to be able to wear high heels longer and more comfortably. Jenny had a section of her website which was devoted to just that issue, and as I recall Jenny was talking about walking miles in very high stilettos, which I didn't even think was possible! Needless to say, I was intrigued and I started visiting the site, and later the chat room regularly, where there were a number of women who evidently wore insanely high (or so it seemed to me at the time) heels pretty much all the time. For whatever reason, Jenny quit doing the website, this must have been in about 2001 or 2002, something like that, and it kind of morphed into this website, and gradually it became more of a men wearing high heels website. It was at this point that I temporarily lost interest, because I still didn't think that was something I would ever be allowed to do, and I even convinced myself that I looked terrible in high heels anyway.

Fast forward a few years, one divorce later (having absolutely nothing to do with shoes), and I found myself thinking that I would like to wear clogs. My ex-wife had a pair of clogs (not high heeled) that I used to wear around the house a lot (we wore the same size), and even my ex-wife was OK with that, having spent a lot of time in Sweden. Naturally, as my interest in heels had not changed over the years, it wasn't long before I was buying clogs with a bit of a heel, like 2 - 2 1/2 inches. And then I bought a pair with 3 1/2 inch heels, occasionally wore those in public, was scared to death but thrilled at the same time. Several months later, I bought ANOTHER pair of clogs which had 4 1/2 inch fairly narrow tapered wooden heels, and it was at the point when I wore those out in public and the sky did not fall that I remembered hhplace, realized that I now fit into the community, which by that time had for all practical purposes become a men's high heel website, and I joined. And so here I am.

Luckily, it's not for another two months, which gives you time to figure your shoe stuff out. Hopefully by that time, we'll figure how this Covid 19 thing is going to play out, and they'll quit cancelling stuff. If not, you probably won't have to worry about your shoes.

18 hours ago, Cali said:

In another thread there has been talk about wearing bodysuits. I wanted to show a problem you may encounter with bodysuits.  Some don’t cover your hip.  If you wear high waisted pants this may not be a problem, but with these mid-rise leggings I needed to be careful to keep my shirt from rising too far up.

Coincidentally, only yesterday I received my first ever bodysuit in the mail. I haven't had the time to try it on yet.

6 hours ago, Cali said:

Right now I need to replace maybe 5 wedges that have delaminated. They are 4 and 5 years old and have seen a lot of use.  Can find high enough wedges, max so far are 3.25 inch and I want 4+.

Too bad.

I have the same problem, on both accounts. It seems like most of the wedges I'm attracted to have jute or jute-like material on the sides, like a high heeled espadrille. This never lasts more than a couple years. I recently tricked myself into buying what I'd call mid-heels. Most would call them high. The heel is 4", but the total rise is slightly less than 3". I don't dislike them, but they're too low!

2 hours ago, Cali said:

Careful, that's date night in some places.

I always prefer reading the phone book with my honeys. Trouble is, it's getting hard to FIND a phone book anymore.

I don't have a lot of ruminating to share this week, but I can share that I think I have found something that has shifted my style ever so slightly. As you know, I had the opportunity recently to buy whatever I want without question from the wife, just so I could try it out to see what works, and what doesn't. One thing that has come out of this is that I bought several pairs of pants that are not jeans, but are casual enough to wear every day. I also bought quite a few shorts that are dressier, if that is a thing. What I mean by that is they are not essentially cut-off jeans, they are actually somewhat tailored, with dressier-type internal back pockets, nicer fabric, that sort of thing. I have been stuck on jeans and t-shirt, especially in the summer for the past several years. They may be very colorful t-shirts, but it's the same thing over and over nevertheless. Another change is that my new pants are a couple of notches skinnier than what I have been wearing up to now. I see this out and about on women in general. If they even wear jeans at all, and many don't, opting for just leggings or baggy track pants, the jeans are not even really all that jean-like. They're very tight, but soft and stretchy. Now I really do have to stay rail thin.

A good friend of mine and I have one matching pair of sandals. We have never worn them together, other than for this picture, and we never will. It would cause way more trouble than it's worth. Too bad.

22 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

I appreciate the look god by dressing better, but for me heels are simply everyday wear. I have no problem wearing heels even dressed down. Admittedly I'm normally in some more worn heels in those cases.

You are the exception to every high heeled fashion rule I've ever formulated in my mind. How you get by with it, I don't know, but it works for you. I can't do it, that's for sure!

16 hours ago, pebblesf said:

I agree, only mentioned it because there has been resistance/concerns about directing insecure partners to this site in the past....

Oh hell no, you don't want an insecure partner to even know about the existence of this site. That could easily ruin everything! I am imagining a scenario in which a guy is trying to get his partner to accept his wearing otherwise very masculine boots with a 2 1/2" or 3" blocky heel, and then the partner clicks on my thread. Not that I'm anywhere near the most radical departure from "usual" men's style, but just seeing a picture of me on a website wearing shorts with very high heels, having never met me or talked to me in real life, having never met my wife and family, would probably be a huge shock to someone who is already thinking that boots with slightly elevated heels is pushing it too far. They're just not used to seeing it, and it's almost certain that the reaction would be almost violently negative.

14 hours ago, RonC said:

Just curious, are you wearing any type of legwear with the skirts, or bare legs.  If bare, are your legs shaved or perhaps you have minimal leg hair?  Personally, I'd have to wear some type of hosiery to feel comfortable at all with my legs showing in a skirt, or have hair free legs at least.

That's kind of a touchy subject with some people. The OP said somewhere back a couple of weeks ago that he didn't want to shave his legs. For me personally, that's simply not an option. Well, anything's an option I suppose, but it's certainly not an aesthetically pleasing option. It's all a matter of opinion, of course, but I personally would never show my legs in any sort of feminine-leaning garment without shaving them. Even before I started shaving my legs, I shaved the tops of my feet and a bit around my ankles so that I could wear sandals without bits of fur sticking out around the straps. I guess I feel that having hairy legs when wearing shorts (or for other people, a skirt) doesn't present the sleek, polished appearance that I am going for. Others will have a different opinion, I am sure.

5 hours ago, DProud2700 said:

 I don't know what it is, but I feel better if I am wearing heels out to do certain errands and such.

I can certainly appreciate that. It's always a struggle for me between convenience and desire. It's certainly much more convenient and efficient if I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from work, wearing my construction clothes, but I rarely do it unless very pressed for time. I would rather go home, clean up, put on some halfway nice clothes (with heels, of course), and then go to the grocery store or wherever. Going somewhere in heels is almost always better than going somewhere in flats, but I won't just throw on some heels without first making myself otherwise presentable. Not only do I feel better in heels, I look better, too!

I was going to guess a) They are not pumps, and b) they are not stilettos. I was pretty close!

15 hours ago, hiddenheels said:

Have been trying to wear one of the skirts out in daylight, but even when I had the chance, I didn't have the courage. Feelings of being a failure come back... Not just a failure to wear what I want, but thoughts of "why am I doing this to myself"... If life were a rollercoaster, at the moment I'm headed down...

Eh, don't be too hard on yourself. It takes a lot of mental energy to present oneself in a different way. Sometimes that mental energy just isn't there. It's not a failure, it's simply another day in the life.