Shyheels

On the flip side of this, when I first tried on heels I thoughtlessly bent over to pick up a piece of paper that had slipped to the floor, forgetting momentarily that I was in 10cm heels! I nearly face-planted on the floor - an early lesson that the world is a different place in heels and you need to do things a bit differently when you’re wearing them!

That is indeed a good idea! I do a lot of my practicing in my 12cm heels while cooking in my galley. I’d not considered the other advantages! Thanks!

Yes boot cut jeans would be a better idea with hiking boots, but with knee boots and certainly with OTK boots I much prefer skinny jeans. Trying to finagle jeans over the shafts of OTK boots doesn’t appeal. Too much hassle,

But we all wear something on our feet. Hosiery is an option but footwear is not. Boots, shoes, sandals, whatever, we all wear ‘em. Heels are a design element in that. One of those elements that fashions alter regularly. The buying public gets tired or bored, or designers decide they need to fire the market with something new, and there are changes. And so it goes. Heels will be back

I don’t think it will. Fashion has always been cyclical and I can’t see that changing. Heels, like skirt lengths, go up and down. The whole business model of fashion is one of near constant change although that change is more typically evolutionary rather than fast and sweeping. At the moment heels are in a lull, but the market and the people who move it will eventually become restless and start shaking things up.

Nope! Its like saying you want a sensible pair of stilettos

Thanks! Like you, I love the astonishing variety one can find in heels - even just within the category of boots! Colours, shapes, styles and heights. I've been looking at pumps, even thinking of being daring and picking out a pair in some pastel shade. Also trying to make up my mind - do I go for 10cm or do like what you did with your Hot Chicks and buy 12cm for the sheer elegance and worry about how the hell I walk in them later?

Hopefully that won't happen! I think there will always be a demand for stilettos - the worry is only the real cheap and nasty or the really expensive will continue to make them, with very slim pickings in that mid-range price and quality bracket

That was actually my first thought - that they were part of a clown costume

Neither of my grandmothers were exactly storybook characters either - unless you're thinking of a wicked witch. One was a psycho and the other was in the rackets.

Yes! Here in England, even in London, one seldom sees stilettos out and about. You're more likely to see them up north in Manchester, Leeds or York, but even so, not many. Knee boots with chunky 7-8cm heels are relatively common - although nowhere near as common as trainers - but stilettos or tall slender heels of 10cm and above are rare.

I’ve never worn pumps or sandals - I have to admit now that I am practicing so much in my 12cm boots, and hearing about you, @higherheels and @mlroseplant in your sandals and pumps and Hot Chicks I’ve become kind of curious to try lofty stilettos in these styles as well! I’ve even been looking at a few 12cm styles … I expect I'll find them a bit more challenging than boots, less ankle support for one thing, but I am kind of fascinated by the additional challenge ...

Yes! I grew up in boots! Hot summers aren’t a thing over here in Britain - 25°C is considered a hot summer day. But I used to wear hiking boots as a regular thing even when I lived for many years in Australia and I’ve often worn them on assignments in the tropics. (Knee boots not so much!) I guess hot weather just doesn’t bother me much. I still love proper boot season when I can bring out my more fashionable tall boots Thank you for the encouragement. I really love the lines and imperious elegance of 12cm stilettos and would love to be able to walk effortlessly in them. Our little high heel support club has been so helpful. Im starting to imagine it now

Well, that’s her. Fair enough. It may be the present trend, it may not be. There is nothing in that first person account, other than the title, to suggest that her experience is universal nor is her experience or story telling very compelling. It sounds like she got bored with heels and moved on - something that’s a matter of interest primarily to herself

Ah yes but I often wear skinny jeans as I like to wear my tall boots over them. Skinny jeans snd hiking or mountaineering boots looks a bit unbalanced