benno

I wish you the best of luck. Just do it. No one really cares except you.

I still think that a man wearing visible heels with an otherwise totally masculine outfit looks like he has a shoe fetish.

I totaly disagree. I present myself as a man in heels in total mens cloths with confidence and a bit of a sense of humor with a smile and get treated not like a man with a shoe fetish, but as me. John in heels.

Hey Johnny. I should have written 'Most men'. It has become apparent that there may be exceptions to a rule that I made up myself. But then you do seem to wear more masculinely styled feminine shoes! If that makes sense?

I still feel that wearing something else that balances your look helps with acceptance. As an example... On Satuday night we went to a party called 'Icons & Idols'. My girlfried, a male friend and I went (somewhat arrogantly but with tounges firmly in cheeks) as an Electro Rock band from the future. I wore some really high patent khaki hidden platform ankle strap heels. If I had worn then with 'normal' clothes it wouldn't have worked and I would have looked unbalanced. I wore them with hot pink slightly metallic leggings, pale gold leg warmers a white 80s rock chick belt and a pale yellow t shirt with a snake printed around the shoulders.

Cheers,

Ben

Hi Hun,

Well I am gonna be totally opposite and sugest the 4th pair you picked on your original post. I think they look elegant and tasteful and wouldnt look too out of place anywhere. depends how bold you are but after reading your adventures with work and your nails I think they would be perfect for you.

Andi (Andrea)

I think you have confused Shoe Queen with Shock Queen

It's like a foot fetish version of a scene from The Fast and The Furious! Really horrible posing and tacky outfits.

I think the only way to get good arch support is either luck or some custom made shoes.

The original ones are the best. Recently there have been some shockingly awful metal heels on the high street. I think I like the old Wild Pair metal heels because they are a little tacky but they have the ridiculously overblown yet brilliant shapes from the eighties. I love the wings on the back of the black pair in the video. Most of the modern interpretations of the them are horrible. The most revolting heels of the recent past are the Scream heels from Pleaser. See attached for my version of where it went wrong.

Of course society is becoming more tolerant. Not just of men wearing more feminine clothing, but of everything. Just look at recreational drug use, women having more/better jobs, racism is lower everywhere and being gay is not a perversion. To say that society doesn't care when faced with something odd and confrontational just simply isn't true. Once a few years have gone by and the general public see that these people with crazy new lifestyles are not nutters or paedophiles then the shock goes away and we get tolerance and acceptance and even a few more converts and supporters... Regarding the previous few posts about outfits and sheepishness I still think that a man wearing visible heels with an otherwise totally masculine outfit looks like he has a shoe fetish. This is possibly why some members with bad experiences have been single out and mocked or laughed at. In my experience if you wear an outfit that is balanced and a mix of masculine and feminine then poeple will not notice the shoes first. Also try to exude confidence and you win people over. The more I wear heels openly the more I just don't care what people say or think. The only exception is a classic suit but then it would need to be cut slimmer and/or be accessorised with something like a corsage, fascinator or a more frilly shirt to give the look some balance. No one has said anything that is entirely negative to me. EVER. I agree with Richie that we should stop scaring each other and put on nice outfits and shoes and go outside.

I just found the website below. I have no idea what they are like, but I figured that it would allow us in the UK to purchase shoes from Zappos.com and others that don't ship to non US/Canadian residents.

shopanyamericanstore.com

Cheers,

Ben

Wear some amazing shoes and educate them!!! Benno

Hi ShoeQueen, My posts were written in jest but I see no reason for cheap heels. Especially if they are intended to impress someone at a party. Thanks, Ben

I'd rather have great shoes that someone else with taste might also have than red patent pile 'em high sell 'em cheap shoes that look like they belong to a Drag Queen or a Stripper or God help us Rihanna !!! Out of the shoes you linked to in your original post then the last pair with laces are the only ones I'd let near my feet. They look OK but I bet as with every pair of Pleaser's I've seen they will feel cheap.

If you are gonna spend around 60 quid then I would forget that website (they all look cheap and nasty) and head to the high street. Kurt Geiger or Aldo would be a good bet for mindblowing heels. Cheers, Ben

Hi Gladius123.Now that you have some high heels you can put them on and tidy your room There is stuff all over your floor.

The French Revolution saw the end to high heels for both sexes. As they were considered to be aristocratic items of dress one would no longer wear them for fear of a trip to the Guillotine.

Full of lots of small deep holes on the floor from fat men in dainty heels.

I'm a Graphic Designer and usually have my big iMac and my Macbook open at the same time. When I'm really busy I have been known to go for 2 weeks with almost no break sitting in front of a computer! Sometimes I want to give it all up and go and get a job collecting eggs on a farm, but when I look at all the nice shiny stuff I have designed it makes it all worthwhile. Oh yes and having no boss and working from home wearing whatever I want really helps!

They look like over 5 inches in the flesh. The heel is very set back so maybe closer to 6 inches! Go to the nearest Aldo armed with a ruler or simply pick up the phone and ask them.

Johnnieheel... In response to what you said. I think the man in thightboots and the woman in the thighboots will get different responses in a similar way to a woman and a man in similarly cut classic trouser suits. As a parallel it may be similar to a Black person telling Black jokes and a white person telling Black jokes... Or a Jewish or Irish jokes for that matter. I am Jewish and can get away with telling very borderline jokes because I am kinda laughing at myself. Have you seen the film Spinal Tap? There's a scene where they are choosing a new album cover... The all male band wanted to have a woman on all fours with a black leather gloved male hand stuffed in her face. A woman stated it was sexist and the band said yes sexy! She said why not have a man on all fours with a gloved female hand in his face. The stupid blokes didn't get it. It's all in the subtle details and parody.

And finally... Here are 5 favourites that my girlfriend and I own. The black patent Kurt Geiger laceups were my Christmas present from my girlfriend. Regards, Ben

Here are some more. I would have posted them all at once but 5 photos is the maximum in one go. I can see Roz lusting after the pink Nicholas Kirkwood platforms. Just to show that high end expensive stuff is not all I lust after. I have included a pair from good old Topshop.

Giuseppe Zanotti makes some amazing shoes. I have a pair and the fit and comfort is incredible when you consider that they are 5 inch heels. My favourite designer is Pierre Hardy. I prefer his slighty understated designs to the raw, almost pornographic, sexiness of Louboutin. I love the shape of the arch on Pierre Hardy's high heels. Out of last years shoes the highest version of YSL's tribute simple open toe pump was my favoutite.

I have been out in some pretty flamboyant outfits which almost always include heels. I have bumped into friends and friends of friends that didn't really know that I dress like that. Never heard anything negative said. Some male friends have said they would like to get some heels like mine but their feet are massive (I'm a UK 7 or 8 and can wear anything I see in shops). When people have lightly confronted me or joked about my shoes. I say they are just shoes, I like wearing them and they set off my outfit. More often than not what people really want to know is how I can stand and walk in them. I often give a response along the lines of 'I have ridden a mountain bike down rock strewn alpine trails, driven 100 MPH go karts and set fastest lap time around Brands Hatch out of a group of more than 40 testosterone fuelled blokes at a track day. So I think I'll be OK wearing some shoes'. It usually does the trick

A fascinator placed jauntily on your head and a little fur on the jacket would complete the look. Good on you for the bravery.

Thought I'd share these here. I find them quite inspirational.

“If you have embarrassed yourself and are going to laugh about it someday, you might as well start today.”

“The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate.”

"If you're never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances."

"Perhaps, on the whole, embarrassment and perplexity are a kind of natural accompaniment to life and movement; and it is better to be driven out of your senses with thinking which of two things you ought to do than to do nothing whatever, and be utterly uninteresting to all the world."

I am trying to find a quote from either Elsa Schiaparelli or Coco Chanel that said something along the lines of 'For you to embarrass me I actually have to be embarrassed'

If someone knows that quote I'd love to have it.

Enjoy,

Ben

If you are embarrassed then tell the guy you are in a drama club and have to play a tranny. He won't care either way as you are a paying customer. Embarrassment... It's all in the mind.