Shyheels

Yes, I like the feel of being in heels. And while I like the forbidden aspect, if wearing heels was accepted I’d absolutely enjoy them just as much - perhaps even more because the market would be there for more styles and they’d be easier to find and buy. My tastes are also very classical - clean lines and simple elegance. That’s what I like so much about 12cm stilettos. They seem to me to be the ideal height - elegant, imperious, but without ever exceeding the bounds of good taste. That’s why I would love to be able to walk gracefully in them

Yes, this is by no means a full avoidance of the headaches of care and maintenance, but life on the cut seems a whole lot simpler than in the world of bricks and mortar and automobiles. As I write this I’m getting ready to take off my heels and head down the muddy towpath with my collapsible dolly to buy a couple of 25kg bags of coal …

Well done you! I’m having to learn about diesel engines, solar power and electrical systems - and starting from a very low knowledge base!

Exactly this!

I can only speak for myself although I suspect that was I'm about to say holds true for others - and here Im thinking specifically of my two colleagues in the high heel challenge, @mlroseplant and @higherheels, but others on here as well. For me it is a matter of aesthetics, style and elegance. I like the look of them and always have, and for years resented the fact that as a man I was not supposedly allowed to wear them too. Heels are about self expression and personal theatre and bring with them a sense of fun, and a kind of sassy delight in their impracticality. Sure, the fact that walking gracefully in heels is an acquired skill adds something to the mix - there's a quiet pleasure to be had in doing a challenging thing well and with offhand grace, probably not too different to the satisfaction a motorist might feel in driving a sportscar well. And yes, there is a sense of pleasurable rebellion in wearing heels as a guy - and from what @higherheels has said, wearing them as a woman as well - but if by some magic all that were to go away, I would still wear heels, as I suspet others on here would too. My enjoyment is not dependent on flouting convention, but really, very much, a love of the look and style ad the sheer fun of wearing them

I’m so glad to be out of the whole car ownership thing. It saves me a fortune and doesn’t inconvenience me a bit

Indeed, nobody needs to be around people with a mediaeval mindset. in point of fact all the women I know who love heels are really interesting intelligent people. I don’t know any (other!) men who wear heels, other than on this forum, but again they all seem to be people worth knowing. From what I can see a love of heels seems to indicate an appreciation of style, elegance and a sense of fun.

Some of those trucks are literally as wide as my narrowboat!

While I’m sure that association exists in the minds of many, I don’t think it exists that often in the minds of the people who actually wear high heels - and I mean wear them as a matter of course, as a part of their personal style. None of the women I know who wear high heels wear them because they want to appeal to men - they wear them for reasons of elegance, style, aesthetics and the sense of empowerment they project. And simply because they are fun. i wear them for the same reasons. I like them. I like the cavalier styling - what a lovely break from the Puritanism on the men’s aisle - and because they are fun and a challenge to wear, and to wear well. I too find them empowering although for different reasons than a woman might. For me they feel empowering because I’m refusing to be cowed by the herd, am making my own style choices regardless of the opinions of others, standing in my own two (heeled) feet. i think far too much is made of stereotype its the joy of wearing them I’d like to capture with my camera. Simple as that. It just requires a bit of imagination to find a way to capture it in the shorthand form of a single still image

Those are very nice boots! And you wear them well. That’s a nice combination. I’m very much a boots-and-jeans guy. Forget AI. No one needs it. Trust your judgement. After all it was your inner voice that led you to heels in the first place, not the promptings of a computer, so you can’t be too far wrong can you?

You shouldn’t beat yourself up about your photos - nothing wrong with them at all. You present a very nice image of a guy wearing heels and that’s all to the good. The world needs more of such images. I just get hung up on the challenge of trying to create art house or magazine style images because that is what I do and the notion of trying to do this with heels appeals to me.

It’s quite funny seeing American politicians grumbling about how you never see those big American pick-up trucks being sold over here, or on the continent! As though trade barriers were the reason. Try driving one of those down an English country lane, or through the mediaeval streets of our towns, or finding a parking space almost anywhere and you quickly see the real reason!

It’s a nice capture. Interesting clouds. Theres a saying amongst photographers that the best camera is the one you have with you. And it’s true. i would love to take some arty shots of heels. It would be quite a departure from my usual work and so I have to think through how I’d do it, and be prepared to put in the time and mess up quite a few. I’m quite good at capturing the mood and feel of a place and good at portraiture - I need to work out what I’m saying or want to say about heels.

I hadn’t realised how much higher my heels were, in absolute terms, with my size 45/46 boots, but of course that makes sense - so you with you size 37 and @mlroseplant with his 39/40 and me with my size are all talking about roughly the same thing in terms of angle, proportions and degrees of difficulty. It makes for a useful shorthand 12cm is 12cm for all of us

Thank you @HappyinHeels Yes I like wearing my boots over my jeans. I’ve always liked the classic style boots - both stilettos and chunky heels. Clean lines and simple styling and worn with jeans. For a guy who likes to wear heels, my tastes are really rather conservative.

Yes we are indeed a unique little group - true aficionados of high heel fashion who know and care about the details. I like that. It’s nice to be in such company.

A tougher drive to Morocco though! 🙂

Yes the heel height all seem to be based on a size 38.

Europe is better than Britain, but we are far ahead of the US in terms of public transport. I am in a very rural part of Britain, a mile from the nearest (small) town. But I can walk in there and do my shopping - all small local shops - and if I want to go to a supermarket I can catch a bus to a bigger town half an hour away. The busses run regularly. They are clean and pleasant, with WiFi and charging points for phones. And gorgeous scenery out the window. At this larger town I can catch a train and go anywhere. Although it makes for a long day, I can and have made day trips to London and Manchester. Day trips to York and Leeds are easy. i really don’t need a car and don’t feel the least bit inconvenienced by not having one.

I’ve not owned a car in decades. I get around on foot, or by bike, boat, bus or train

Well my boots were purchased from Italian Heels and were sold as 12cm heels in their standard size, with the heels being incrementally higher or lower depending on however much bigger or smaller your foot size is. It is what it is. Whether it looks accurate in the photo or not. Whatever the actual measurement of the heels on my boots, I regard them as 12cm heels since that is what they are billed as. its sensible to figure things this way as there can be a general talking point - when @mlroseplant or @higherheels says they’re in 12cm heels we know we are talking about roughly the same angle and degrees of difficulty, allowing for slight variations in the designs of the shoe or boot.

They look nice. Very wearable - I love ankle boots myself.

I think too that with stilettos, the higher the heel the more fragile it is likely to be

Yes, there are other aspects beside heel height that contribute to a shoe or boot's ease of wear. I have a pair of lovely side OTK boots custom made by Jean Gaborit with slender - nearly but not quite true stiletto - heels that measure about 9.5cms. They are so incredibly easy to walk in, not much different than walking in chunky mid-heels really. If I had the money I would love to get some more of their boots.

Working from home as I do, I have no commute. If I go out shopping it’s a minimum of about 8000 steps, most of that on a badly rutted or muddy towpath. If it’s dry or frozen I’ll do it in chunky mid heels but for wearing stilettos I need to take them with me and change at a park bench or bus stop in town. I do sometimes but the time and hassle factor is a disincentive