las

Fantastic stuff, you are one lucky guy!

This is the dream right here! 

Nice boots - all of you with a UK 8-9 are so lucky! Absolutely hate my size 11-12 feet, it's impossible to find boots like these. 

On 18/09/2017 at 2:30 AM, Shyheels said:

Oh, I am well aware of money transfers and their importance to folks back home - my point was that Somalia was probably not exactly the best example to use. Poor, sure, but with loads of terrorist and piracy connotations as well. Malawi might have been a more sympathetic example.

But even so, a 7.45% cut pales beside the losses you could suffer given the volatility and wild fluctuations in Bitcoin. The past fortnight is a case in point. I'll take a 7.45% hit every time over a 40% fall in value.

This is a fair point, but I'd counter the traditional fees issue that not all recipients of transferred money will be looking to spend it immediately; taking Bitcoin as the example, whilst is is incredibly volatile, it is generally on an upward trajectory as far as value is concerned, and for those that can afford to wait (and essentially gamble on its future worth) it is a good outlet for this - whilst still being able to handle remittances too.

If I transfer you $10 today (and I cover any transfer fees), it'll still be available as $10 in your bank account tomorrow, next week and next year. $10 of Bitcoin will fluctuate - isn't that exciting?

On 27/08/2017 at 2:51 AM, meganiwish said:

It's only a matter of time until someone walks down a busy city street with a devise in his pocket that contactlessly empties the accounts of everyone he passes into his account.

People have been doing this on the tube (London Underground, for non Brits) with a contactless chip & PIN reader for some time now!

On 20/08/2017 at 6:13 PM, kneehighs said:

Wow, you are immersed!  There's a colleague of mine who is prominent in the Eastern European business creating a blockchain backed e-commerce site.  He's creating a token sale and wants me to move to EE for awhile to be part of the team.  I also have an Augmented Reality #ARkit "try before you buy" art app backed on blockchain idea in the works. Naturally, ETH and BTC are in my portfolio. 

p.s. if you have any good resources for how to negotiate salary in terms of pre-ICO, ICO, or post-ICO, please let me know.  The currency conversion for EE countries against the US$ is horrible. 

P.S. the best forum I found so far is https://bitcointalk.org/.  They even have developers, people looking to partner up, pretty much everything for a successful token sale there. It's still early days so a great time to make your name known there among Early Adaptors.

True!  Also, kind of funny.

ARKit - is that the one in iOS (11) or are you using a different software vendor for AR? Sounds super cool; I love how AR as a technology has been in people's hands for so long, but is starting to make a comeback that people are understanding & using, and some of the apps out there are more than gimmicks or demos.

I think the way salary tends to go in ICOs is through $ or the native currency of the firm making the ICO. Here's a simple example:

We have an ICO that will create a maximum supply of 10 tokens; 5 of these will be sold at launch and the other 5 will be kept for a future sale, other investment or as possible "stock" options for employees. Once the ICO goes live and the 5 tokens are sold, you will have "sold" (swapped) them for BTC, ETH etc. As part of your business plan, you'd have allocated various percentages and costs towards development, marketing, office space, etc; these percentages can be mapped to the tokens exchanged during the sale. Employees tend to be paid in <native currency> but you currently hold a ton of BTC, ETH etc. Some people will be happy to be paid in these and others will want $ or £, so you'd need to sell some of the tokens to get money to pay regular expenditures like these.

If you read some whitepapers and visit the websites of a few ICOs, you'll soon see how they have managed all this and understand their route to market. It sounds very exciting and certainly something I should look into myself more - as a developer

A great shame reading some of the posts on the first page; it proves that even though Bitcoin (as an example) is 10 years old, it's still so unknown and thus held by even fewer.

@kneehighs To answer the question in the first post, I guess I have studied the emerging blockchain cryptocurrency industry, through reading whitepapers and joining in ICOs. I sit on Discord and have joined numerous related channels, subscribe to too many crypto subreddits and have accounts on several exchanges. It is a truly exciting time; whilst many will choose not to educate themselves in this area, they will still benefit from the technology as the corporations look to implement it.

Glad there is a thread for this here; so how else are you getting involved beyond mining or trading? 

I just saw these in the "new boots" thread - really fantastic pair! You're so lucky to have small(er) feet, as the pair I just bought are officially named"Lita man" as the design does differ a little to the original female style.

Do you have any other Jeffrey Campbells?

6 hours ago, Cl0setheels said:

@las

Those are awesome! I have the black spikes but like yours better actually. The concerns I read above are justified, the spikes are very sharp! But they look excellent on you.

Thank you! I tried the black spike pair a number of months ago, but I was still trying to work out my size so sent them back. Now that I have tried these, whilst more attention-grabbing in my opinion, are more comfortable. If the black ones come down in price then I could still be tempted 

On 27/03/2017 at 4:52 PM, Thighbootguy said:

These are not really my style, but they do make a bold statement and if that is your message then "Well said".

Will you take them out for a stroll in public?

If I were wearing those, I'd be concerned about doing damage to myself, furniture, or small furry animals I walked near.

I would love to take them outside someday, but as a tall guy (6'2") already I'm not sure I would feel comfortable doing so, unless it were a party or something, or even a gig? (assuming I could get past security in them!!) The spikes are certainly.. spiky, which makes taking them off a chore!

Hey all, here's a terrible mirror shot of my new Jeffrey Campbell Lita spike ankle boots! I had to roll up my jeans too, as it's impossible to find a skinny pair in my size.

Size UK 11 ish, EU 44 from Zalando online. Unfortunately the box they came in is in bad shape, currently trying to get their support to knock a bit off. 

On 10/01/2017 at 6:50 AM, Shyheels said:

I live in the U.K., travel all the time, am in and out of airports constantly and in lots of curious places around the world. I do not give terrorism a thought. I am not travelling in heels, but if I were, or wanted to be, I would not let fear of terrorism or being caught up in some mass shooting interfere with what I wanted to do. Not in the least.

Anyway, you have a higher chance of being struck by lightning.

Live your life. There are no certainties about anything.

I had heard of this statistic before until I just looked it up... and wow:

Your odds of being struck by lightning this year are 1 in 960,000. In your lifetime those odds drop to about 1 in 12,000. Your odds of being struck by lightning twice in your lifetime are 1 in 9 million, which is still a higher chance than winning the Powerball.

Source: Quora

On 06/02/2017 at 4:46 PM, Thighbootguy said:

Would you care to expand on your definition of a "very pleasant day"? ("No" is a perfectly good answer, but I really am curious.)

Hey, sure thing!

Well, they arrived quite early in the morning, maybe around 11am. (that's early for a uni student!) I locked myself into my room and my heart was racing. They were retail boxed so came with tons of packaging and paper. I think the first thing that hit me was the smell of the PVC - fortunately this wore off after a week. I remember sitting on my bed, unfolding the boots and placing them on the floor, then placing them on... then it hit me - OUCH! They were tight - or as it was my first pair - wow, is this what it feels like? It was a weird combination of pain and pleasure. I stumbled around so hard; it was weird being another 5" tall on my current height. (6'2")

I quickly broke them in during the next few days as I had few lectures on, and mainly spent time pacing the room (it was a tiny single room, no ensuite or anything) and sitting around. I definitely slept in them too, more than once! When the year was up, I had to move to new accommodation and I don't think they survived the move. I bought a couple more pairs of different style shoes (I moved to platform stilettos - it was all I could find on eBay back then) and nearly broke an ankle. I soon realised that boots were more for me and went about acquiring more.

To this day I've had 2 purges, (stories for another time!) and since approx 18 months ago have started "collecting" Jeffrey Campbell platform ankle boots. They're far from cheap but I tend to buy when there's an offer on and voucher or cashback deal I can benefit from, hehe.

Back when I had just moved out to go to university, one of the first purchases I made was a pair of Pleaser Electra 5" (with 2" platform) stretch boots in white. They were quite comfortable as I recall, and this was about 10 years ago. I happened to have no classes the day they arrived - I was so nervous but so excited at the same time; it was a very pleasant day!

Loving the JC's... obviously! 

The outfit seems to work well too, good job!

Absolutely stunning heels and great outfit, well done!

Sorry if you already posted this, but where did you find the boots?

Hi @gj thanks for your post! Yeah that was the pair that I ordered the EU 45 in but they were too large, and the 44 has been out of stock for weeks now. As @Steve63130 has said, my current issue definitely seems to be the demons in my head! How would you approach my current situation? (I just got the black suede Lita last week as they were on sale - amazingly comfortable!!)

Thanks also to @Black_Boots - yeah, reading my post again it sounds quite sad! I just need that courage, grr!

Hey @Rick24 I get it exactly. Just a shame society has made it how it is currently perceived.

This sounds amazing! Please post some photos or a follow up soon

I'm going to have a look at your previous posts and hopefully find some inspiration, as I am in a similar situation right now.

Hey all!

Wow, somehow it's been a year since I made this thread. The contents of all your super-helpful posts have been in my head since then, and I realise I never posted a follow-up since the girlfriend & I went shopping last year for some fancy dress ideas for halloween and that 80s-themed party of her work colleagues... so here that is:

I had put together a very basic version of a Slash / Alice Cooper costume; plain black t-shirt, black jeans, leather jacket (rented from the fancy dress shop) and wig. For the 80s party, I wore the New Rock boots which added a couple of inches to my height. It was funny to tower over everyone (I'm already 6'2) and whilst I was far from the best dressed, the feedback was good. I'm not usually a "dress-up" kinda guy, so it was a good experience - and the room was largely full of people I didn't know, but it was a good few hours out.

The following weekend came for the halloween party - I had already purchased tickets for a local club for us both. We began to dress in the same outfits as before, with one exception for me - the shoes. As soon as they came out of their box and I put them on... I struggle to remember exactly what happened. We were sitting on the sofa, and perhaps the image of me in costume wearing towering platform boots just resurrected the previous shell-shocked state in her. I really can't remember much else. All I do recall is that I spent some of the night on my computer in the outfit and she went to the bedroom. By the time I got there, she was fast asleep and the lights were out.

Fast forward to the present...

I came across Zalando (European shopping site) during the middle of August. I was searching online for an online retailer that stocked large size Jeffrey Campbell shoes, as Solestruck was in the process of shutting down. They had loads of styles... I was in heaven! I ordered a pair (plus some trainers) which was delivered to my place of work. I took the whole package home but only explained the trainers. (their packaging is as crystal clear obvious as Amazon's, btw) The box remained in our kitchen for a week, by which point I sent them back as they were legitimately too big. I know that she could tell what was probably in the box, but perhaps waited for me to start a conversation about them?

The replacement came and I brought this home too. It also sat on the side for a few days, until I offered to buy anything she wanted on the site, as she had already heard of them. I brought home a couple of large boxes containing a mix of shoes and handbags. I suggested it could be fun to open "ours" together, implying she open those boxes and I would show my replacement pair which had been sitting on the side for a few days.

That evening passed and maybe it was because it was quite late, but I did not get my pair out from the box after hers had concluded. I sent them back, again.

It dawned upon me that halloween is nearly here again and I still like the idea of going out for it, with her, and with us dressed up - not something we'd normally do. I've identified a few venues locally and a few in London that are holding events we could go to. Am I just wanting to go to one of these to wear my boots outside? Maybe. Will we actually enjoy it? We're not particularly social people... maybe it's best I ignore the possibility of going out in the hope of tackling the fallout from last year's non-halloween - just so I know where we stand? The only thing that's changed in the relationship since then is that we bought a house together before the summer. But if the heels were such a problem, would she have bought the house with me... would she still be here?

The only hint she has given towards starting a fresh conversation about them was when the mos recent pair was still sitting in the kitchen a few weeks back, and she said "you know you can talk to me anytime" - which was definitely about them. Like I said earlier, I sent them back, but the original 2 pairs remain in my wardrobe.

I'm not sure what my aim with this post was, other than to conclude the story from last year and provide a brief update on the current situation. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hi all,

So on Tuesday evening, shortly after dinner I resumed the halloween costume discussion, and proposed that maybe we could get inspired by visiting fancy dress shops on Saturday, which we'll do tomorrow. Also, I told her that we needed to finish a discussion we had started over new year's - about secrets. I came out with it, and she misunderstood as she literally assumed what I said - "I like high heels" - like admiration. She said she already figured this as I regularly compliment her when she wears them - but I had to stop her and say no - that I knew how to walk in them and liked to wear them.

We jumped past the usual follow-up questions, and I explained that with halloween a week away, that this could be the one time per year that I could wear them outside without question. She seemed unsure still, and asked how many pairs I currently owned. I answered 1, but that I used to have about a dozen but purged before she moved in. She seemed totally shocked by the figure and remained fairly silent for the rest of the night. Prior to this she definitely said "they're just shoes" but I think was so shell-shocked by the revelation that perhaps she found it hard to convey thoughts. I certainly apologised for having kept this from her, and said that I didn't want to lose her - she said the same.

We went to bed soon after and have been fine the rest of the week, including an anniversary meal out on Wednesday. No mentions or anything since the discussion on Tuesday, and she hasn't asked to see them or me in them. Maybe she'll raise it tomorrow whilst we're out shopping, but in my opinion it seems to have completely blown over, or she is still struggling to process it.

I'll still keep heeling whilst she is out of the house, but at least she knows - if she ever happens to come across the box in my wardrobe, she'll know what to expect. Hopefully can get some ideas etc for costumes tomorrow, as I'd really like to go out for halloween to a club or similar - I already discussed this with her last night, which she agreed to.

If there are any other developments etc I'll be sure to keep this thread updated.

@Chorlini *brofists*

Thanks for your follow up post. I agree it needs to be now or never. She's at work now, as I am meant to be (working from home in the JCs!) so will see her in a few hours.

It's time.

Thanks for the advice and scenarios guys - I did not bring up the dropped conversation last night as planned, as she had had a pretty bad day and has a lot on currently.

I know that whilst telling her (based on her previous remarks from the other night) might break her and ruin us - I just feel like I need to tell someone, particularly as we are pretty close and have been together for 18 months. It's completely rolling the dice and statistically I'll end up where I was 18 months ago, but seeing as I can't change the way I feel/keep purging forever she needs to know... then it's up to her to decide how we proceed.

Maybe tonight is the night.

Hi @maninpumps - the Lita's are very comfortable but I went down a size to achieve a snug fit.

So last night (Sunday) the GF and I had a couple of short conversations about costumes/fancy dress (mainly as my work event is less than 2 weeks away) and we moved from KISS to Motley Crue, for myself. This was easy as she thought the KISS look was over the top, and I said the new rock boots I had weren't similar with their style of platform boots.

She agreed I could probably pull off the Crue look, using this image as the reference but she assumed without the shoes when I asked her if she thinks I would pull off the "whole outfit." She said I could wear the lipstick if I liked - I said it's probably not necessary and that I was more interested in the rest of the outfit. I said it could be fun and be a stand-out at the party; she immediately said that she would not like any attention like this at all, and that "men in heels, just no!" And that "wearing heels is hard" and "you can't just put them on walk." I retorted that there's 2 weeks left for me to practice then! She said she could not tell if I was joking or not, and was halfway to bed by this point so I went to the bathroom.

Tonight is going to be tough to resurrect this conversation!

Hi, thanks so much for your reply - this is stellar advice. I think I will try to tell her this weekend, on Sunday as it's her day off - we can discuss ideas for the 80s party next month and this can be worked into the conversation.

Thanks to the other posters too; @pebblesf I'd need to buy those chunky boots, but am having a really hard time with Solestruck's sizing. Received the US 11 Lita's today and the hank boots - the Lita's are quite tight fitting and I can't fit into the hank boots. (didn't really expect to!) Unsure whether to order a third pair of Lita's in US 12 which should finally fit better. Will probably ring their customer support and discuss options. I think if I (had &) wore the "goth" boots then I'd feel less uncomfortable in front of coworkers over the Lita's, for example! Sorry to hear about your previous experience in this situation - hope you are happy/ier now?

@Chorlini I completely see your point but I think that if this did turn out to be a huge problem then we'd work it out, somehow. I doubt she would have any such similar revelation, but the thought excites me! She is at such an early stage in her life/career that if my revelation were such an issue that she'd want to leave, she can move back home - whether she'd want to or not is another story.

@Histiletto This is also a great post, thanks for sharing this.

Hi Androgenius,

Thanks for your reply & great range of ideas!

Definitely a fan of the Motley Crue boots like these; Bowie has certainly worn some great boots in his time too. She mentioned KISS earlier today, so now I need to do some research and present some ideas. 

Ended up buying these last night on sale, not a clue if they'll fit... but may come in handy. Also super interested in these awesome boots that would probably work in a KISS outfit.

Should I just keep testing costume ideas and shoes etc, and/or "come out" about my fondness for boots/heels too? Seems like an appropriate time for it, probably? I'll probably wait until sometime next week when the new JCs and hank studs come in, and hopefully they both fit well!

As for the fetish scene, I imagine it's all in London. Honestly not sure on either, but I'm up for (almost) anything these days, but highly unlikely she'd feel the same way. Again, it's one of those things that I can only find out about if I ask her... but the problem is how badly that scares me and how she will react to all of this.

Hi everyone!

I still browse/lurk as I used to, and am happy to still see a number of old faces on the boards

This might be a long thread - I have a few things that are distracting my mind big-time recently, and where best to raise and discuss them than HHP? I would be so grateful for any advice or commentary on anything in this thread!

As the topic title suggests, there are 3 things on my mind, as follows:

1) Jeffrey Campbell Lita's

• So I received an email from Solestruck a couple of weeks ago that these shoes The Damned Lita Man were back in stock! I don't recall signing up to that... well, it must have been me - it's hard to find a UK 12 in a nice pair of heels/boots, and these certainly fit the bill! I ordered a US 13 (EU 46) which promptly arrived in the UK. Unfortunately, they didn't fit so good and were too large. They're currently on eBay (UK) if anyone wants them - and instead ordered a US 11, which should arrive in the next week. I'm crazy excited by the prospect, as I've already had 2 complete heel purges in the last 12 months, and as many of you will agree, it's not something that we can "get out of our system" and the feelings/desire will return... hence taking the plunge on these JCs!
• I've not worn heels outside (apart from once in a club in London with another forum-goer years ago) and due to my 6"2 stature it would be hard to do so without drawing attention, and have only every really worn them inside when alone - which has worked great for me so far. I think the plan with the Lita's is the same, but of course I wonder what it would be like to wear them out. <insert desire for courage>
• Anyway, hopefully they'll fit... tbc!

2) Telling the GF

• I finally met a lovely girl (my first!) via a dating app last Easter. She's 5 years younger than me, and we hit it off straight away. Around this time I still had about a dozen pairs of shoes in my collection (currently: 0) and they were cleverly hidden around the house. We would see each other every weekend (living in different towns) and she never (to my knowledge) found any of them. Last Christmas I asked her to move in with me as her work contract was up and I knew she could find work easily in this town. (she did) I immediately had a massive purge - 2, in fact - to whittle my collection down to 0 usable pairs. (I still have 1 in the garage from my past club outing, but they are really falling apart)
• She is a lovely young lady and we have been in a relationship for almost 18 months; living together for just over half that time too - so there is no doubt we can get along etc. She rarely wears (high) heels, but has a few nice pairs of boots that are usually seen in the winter. Unfortunately, she has suffered in the past from anxiety attacks, depression etc, and I cannot imagine how she would react knowing how I admire high heels - let alone have owned some and would at least like to wear them to some degree indoors. I feel that it would take her back to a dark place if she knew my little secret; obviously, conversely, it might be no problem!
• I have read most of the various threads over the years that cover massively similar subjects about discussing/telling your SO, and whilst massively inspiring and brilliant reads - I still have no idea how on earth I would approach the subject with my lady. I have already tried purging, but this did not work - I would love to tell her about the JCs but I fear her reaction and how damaging it would be for our relationship. I think that she may fear for my masculinity - but heels are all that I am interested in - and they're just shoes, right?

3) Halloween

• This fabled event is soon upon us once more - except that this time, for the first time in my life there are 2 possible events on the horizon that might make it "acceptable" to wear heels in public. My employer is holding a fancy dress day at the end of the month - I'm not usually the kind of person to participate in events like these... but recently I realised that life is too short, and I would like to try it! Similarly, my girlfriend told me just tonight that a work colleague of hers is having an 80s-themed birthday party next month, and we're (probably) invited. Surely this is an excellent chance for some heeling? How should I approach this?

So these things are what's bothering me lately - heeling opportunities aside, given the length of time we have been together and not yet had any "secrets?" discussions, I think it is still plausible for a reveal that should not damage the relationship too badly (re: trust) - but I'd really like a second opinion. I think my other 2 problems can be resolved as part of the discussion that needs to take place and any "middle ground" that can be agreed upon - but I'd still really appreciate any fancy dress/costume ideas involving heels/JCs!

Thanks for reading & regards

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk...gazine-21151350

I'm sure a number of you are likely aware of the history behind the heel and its origins - I found this to be a good read.