hhboots

I answered the poll a few weeks ago, but never got around to answering these questions:

1. How old when you got your first heels? Not counting 'borrowed' pairs, I was late 15, almost 16 when I bought my own

2. What was the reason? The 2 or 3 pairs of heels I had were getting old, worn out, and didn't really fit that well anymore

3. Who paid the bill? Me, it was a few months after getting my first job

4. How much did you spend? Something like $30 or so

5. How and where did you buy? Pretty sure it was Payless, I think, it was the easiest and cheapest for me at the time. It was near the Christmas shopping season and I made it appear like I was shopping for my girlfriend, even said something like that during checkout time

6. Were you allowed to wear them at home? In private, sure... I never did tell my parents. Though I think my mom suspected, but never spoke of it. I had a pretty sizable stash of shoes and similar femine items in my room at the time, and Mom's usually know their houses very well

...

We went out afterwards to a diner for something to eat and she asked me " Arent you.. or dont you.. " I cut her off ' Do I feel out of place? No, why should I? Did I break a law or am I a wanted man? Am I some kind of freak or a child molester or something? The only one whom seems out of place is you with your fidgeting and expressions. How about relaxing and enjoying some good food instead of trying to make a scene? "

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I really like how you handled yourself with this woman. I'm not sure I would have done as well. I've been put in slightly awkward situations before from wearing heels, and I usually just ignore them, sometimes I smile and joke my way through it as best I can. But anyway, very well done on your part.

My first few purchases were well before the internet made it so easy to get anything you want, so yes, bought shoes from the store years before going public heeling. If I was 20 years younger I could pretty easily say it that my answer would have been the other way around.

The article was a bit silly and more specifically the chart with supposed data was really unrealistic.

If platforms went away, It wouldnt bother me. I dont mind a half inch or so.. but the ' Stripper-type cheapo ' come and get it! ' shoes.. Even some of the ' elite/designer ' brands with the super high platforms.. I wouldnt miss them at all.

Anyway, I totally agree with your comment. Smaller platforms (less than 1") are cool, and in fact I've grown to like them even more than zero platforms, but the extreme hooker/stripper platforms do nothing for me.

Very nice find ilikekicks on the awesome drummer gal, and her doing that in those heels is just so darn hot.

I sort of agree both with Benno/kneehighs, and Dr Shoe, if that is possible. I know the opinions they expressed is on opposite sides of the spectrum, however, I really think it depends on where BeachHeeler is in his life and if he is ready to go public. I mean if he is still primarily private about his heeling, then he can't just start out of the gates with this and at the same time try to pick up a girl he really likes, I can almost guarantee it will fail before it even starts. So on that aspect, I have to agree with Dr.Shoe, I mean, I think your social life comes first before your love of heeling. Get to know the girl, see how she is, I don't necessarily think you would be building a relationship of lies. Over time you can bring out your love of heels to her, but it does not have to be from day one. With my wife, I was about 3-4 months into my relationship with her when I brought this out with her. I think timing and his comfort level is important for him, and honestly, some people are not in the same place as kneehighs. I mean he has developed a huge level of confidence over the years and from his point of view probably does not understand why all of us are not wearing our heels 18 hours a day to work, to play, everyday. So while I really admire and think kneehighs has the life we all would love to have in heels. Most of us, just aren't there, and perhaps may not ever get to that point. We all don't work and live in the fashion industry and travel the world to cosmopolitan cities like he does. Most of us work in brick and mortar type industries, and live in perhaps midsize conservative towns and don't get to travel the world freely. So I just don't see some of the things kneehigh suggests at times as being practical for many of us, while I really do respect his lifestyle and opinions most of the time

I usually wear women's jeans (or women's shorts). I agree with Roniheels, they also fit me much better than the mens variety. I occasionally do tights/hose, but not that often really. I paint my toe nails and wear toe rings, too. I wear only men's shirts though and I try to keep my overall appearance more masculine than feminine (or gender neutral if nothing else). I am defintely not trying to pull off a female appearance, I couldn't anyway, even if I wanted to.

I have bought many items direct from Chinese sellers via ebay, all have been at incredible prices. The quality is often hit and miss, some may last only a few weeks, others may last several months, but that is to be expected for the price and is a chance I am sometimes willing to take. Also, this should go without saying, but allow 2-3 weeks for delivery, there is really no way around that part, but everything I have ordered has arrived as described.

dr shoe...being a yank i am not sure what a bollock is...

I've always assumed it to basically be the British equivalent to when we in the U.S. say "what a load of B.S." (bull'crap')... however, Google as we know can be your friend, and well apparently it more accurately means "testicles". Ahh, the things the web can teach you are limitless lol

direction

fund

Almond-toe is very similiar to round-toe? I just searched in Google images.

Yes pretty much... Almond Toe is sort of the middle ground between pointed toe and round toe. Similar to the shape of an almond nut: its semi pointed on one end, and an elongated round shape on the other end, so I would say an almond toe shoe is right within that range.

This page shows a good example of the shoes you could call almond toe I suppose, some are pointier than others: http://www.myshoes.com/trend/almond-toe

I voted pointed but.. You left out Square and Almond.

Agreed, and in fact, Almond toe has become my favorite for about the last two years now.

When I started public heeling I bought almost all round toes for my shoes and boots as I felt more comfortable wearing them (both mentally and physically). However, I have gravitated toward almond toe on almost all of my recent purchases. I like them as a compromise in both comfort and they look a bit more feminine without being overly feminine, if you get my meaning.

I love laced boots but they can be a pain. The zipper boots are so convenient.

I agree, I really like the look of laced boots, but they are often not very convenient at all. Zipped boots win just for the convenience alone, but for looks, laced I like better.

I really like the boots Barney has pictured in the original post and will be looking to get a pair asap. I have a couple of similar pairs, but they are not quite like those. I really must get me a pair now

Well I figure I would toss out a few updates just to let everyone know where I am at as far a figuring out a style that works for me. I have read a lot where people here say I just don't look as confident wearing a skirt as a do with jeans. After doing some discussing with a few very close people to me that are all women they all agree that I just don't look as confident wearing a skirt as I do in pants of some sort. Like one said "even for me as a women it takes a great deal of confidence to wear a skirt because you are exposing more of your self to the world." She did go on to say that I have the legs to pull off wearing a skirt if I wanted to, but it's all about your confidence level and comfort level. I guess my style is to stick with more stylized womens pants and jeans. Of late I have been wearing jeans that have a little more style to them but they are not too over the top. I have been trying more of the low rise style of jeans as I really like wear they sit on my waist and the make my body look way more proportioned. I am at a point now where that is about all I wear is womens jeans mainly because I can not stand the way mens fit me. I have a really hard time finding mens jeans that fit me right because of how think my thigh's are and hate to say it how curvy my butt is ...

^ I like your comments here and they are pretty close in line with how I am. I pretty much exclusively wear womens jeans and women's shorts as they fit me far better than men's equivalent items. I have the legs for skirts and such, but its just not me, and I don't think I could ever have the confidence to pull it off. I agree with some others' comments and feel its a real challenge to pull off "man" from the waist up and "woman" from the waist down sort look that comes from wearing a skirt. I think a few around here have managed to pull it off, but don't think I will ever be able to do that with confidence, so I will stick with what I have been doing, it works well for me.

Those are very nice heels, congratulations. I would love to have a pair and wish I could bring myself to buy them, but I just couldn't justify spending that much on a pair to myself or my wife. I have a couple of pairs that are somewhat similar looking, but clearly have a more feminine look to them and are more narrow in the toe box, but I do like that style of boot very much.

I own the first pair... they are very uncomfortable to walk in for any length of time, but look great on. They are pretty much only for the bedroom.

Ah ha, someone should have read my post thoroughly

I said it within the first "paragraph" that I would still wear the "rags" I currently own, which is just a pair of gym shoes I have...

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I did read it, however, it was the "rags" I was confused by, and in none of your messages did you ever explain what that word meant to you. In the context of all of your messages, you made it sound like "rags" was some sort of pet name for your favorite pair of heels you own or something. I guess I have never heard the term used to describe gym shoes or any shoes for that matter. lol... Anyway, now that I know what you are saying, glad to hear that

Well done, all!

manifestation

_ _ Opera

Interesting I was thinking about Dawn HH the other day as well and looked up his stats and last post, he was very consistent about posting nearly daily and gave no hint he was not going to be returning... It would be sad if we didn't see him around here any longer, I'm trying to not think the worst.

I appreciate the advice very much from all fronts of life. I pretty much have the wardrobe ready to go, which is what I wore on a prior visit to the store to hand in my app. ...

Well, be stubborn if you want I guess... It sounds like you have your mind made up already. I mean if you really don't care about the job, then wear what you want. If you do want the job, even just a little, then don't wear heels. If you insist on wearing heels you might get away with some really conservative heels, but I can promise you, hooker heels will get you dropped from consideration almost immediately. As others have said, you could probably get to the point that you could wear heels daily at work after you prove yourself as a worthy employee, but not before then.

I agree with Dr Shoe and Foxyheels. Maybe if they already know you and have seen you in heels, then it could be ok to wear heels to the interview, but if you do, don't wear anything flashy and no extreme platforms, keep it tasteful. Honestly in my opinion, if you want a solid shot at the job and want to be taken seriously, I would wear normal men's shoes. At the interview, if you feel its going well and you think you have a good connection going with the manager, you could then bring up that you like heels, and ask if they would mind you wearing them to work. Even though this is a shoe store, they might feel that you wearing heels to work could turn off some of the customers. The store might not want to take any risks in these tough economic times. EDIT: I see that JimC replied while I typed this, and I agree with his comments as well...

Great article and exactly the right message in the script, the photo of the two guys didn't quite give a straight message though, non the less very positive.

Thanks for posting

Al

I agree, in almost every picture of guys in heels I see in articles like they look sort of flamboyant, even if they are straight. Would like to see more normal guy looking photos for those articles. Hmm, maybe that is saying something though, is it that hard for a guy to look normal in heels? I don't know, I sure hope I don't look flamboyant in them, but maybe I do... I sure put a lot of effort to try to look like a regular dressed guy (just with heels added in).