Shyheels

I understood your meaning, and from your description of her I'd say you're exactly right: someone who loves wearing heels.

Those are what I would term simply “high heels” . Stilettos are much thinner, as the name implies - like the needle-thin blade of the dagger of the same name No. It’s very stable. There is no current and there’s not enough reach for the wind to generate any waves. That said, the wind can jostle a narrowboat. Not violently but in really powerful cross winds there is detectable bounciness. Even a modest wind can adversely affect the handling of a narrowboat. If the wind is much over 16mph you’re usually better staying where you’re moored.

I am in the same boat as regards stilettos. I love the look, especially the 12cm height in boots, and I have three pair of stiletto boots. They are my office wear and I can’t imagine that changing. For several reasons. Although my stiletto boots are all very classic designs, a stiletto heel just seems to extravagant to be “me”. Although, as I say, I do like them. Perhaps it’s a lack of confidence - one that is helped along by the fact that I’m not proficient enough at wearing them. Ive also no place to wear them other than at my desk - muddy towpaths and stiletto heels would be a disaster. And when I do go out in nice boots, when I am moored in a town, I have some lovely chunky heeled ones that simply feel more “me”.

Start with something low key and ambiguous like chunky heeled ankle boots

We seem to be very much alike in our approach. I always dress for work, starting with heels and picking out something that works with them. In my case, since I live on a narrowboat on the canals - not in a marina or boatyard, but as a continuous cruiser moving along the network, working locks and swing bridges and mooring along muddy towpaths, my clothes are of the more hard-wearing sort - jeans and jumpers and boots. On days when I am moving the boat I don't wear heels - but I do wear nice leather knee boots. But when I am moored and working - writing stories - I am nearly always in heels. And I make sure that my jeans and jumpers and dress shirts make a presentable appearance. t

She sounds like an interesting and dedicated wearer of high heels. If you were wearing heels yourself you could probably get away with a reference - perhaps something along the lines of how nice it is to see another person in heels these days, thereby making the conversation about society and fashion trends at large rather than an observation about her personally.

As a freelance who works from home I can dress as I please - and could if I wanted to sit around all day in my pyjamas, as a lot if people did during the pandemic. I always try to make an effort if for no other reason than to remind myself I am at work, and so create an at work vibe. I have found that wearing heels is really helpful in this regard. It’s like the foundation. You feel you need to live up to your footwear - at least in a smart casual sense. I have my faucet dress code as it were - nothing flashy at all, just nice heels, jeans, shirt or jumper.

I am convinced that I am probably the only narrowboat dweller who even owns a pair of heels - no big surprise I suppose given how life is lived along the canals, the easy bohemian style of most boaters, and how little space there is aboard a narrowboat for anything non essential. My boot collection takes up an inordinate amount of space. I wear heels all the time indoors but walking along towpaths is an impossibility and wearing heels around locks would be dangerous in the extreme. I am known though for always wearing nice knee boots - low heels - everywhere so that’s something. I’m the only one though

I bought a pair many years ago to wear around the garden. Easy to slip on and slip off, can be hosed down if they get muddy and as garden wear they’re great. I’d never wear them out in public though. I should add that mine are nothing fancy, just the straight standard Croc

Yes that’s very non committal. Could mean anything - or nothing.

I totally agree. I was a platinum frequent flyer for many years with the One World alliance but I now absolutely avoid flying - I loathe it.

If you really want to explore the colour, I suggest a book called Mauve - which is a fascinating history of colour, dyes, pigments and the invention of the colour mauve which took the late Victorian world by storm

I am definitely not skilled enough in 12cm heels to consider walking out and about. There is a big difference between 10cm and 12cm. as I say, I do love the elegance of 12cm heels, especially in boots.

Very nice boots. I’m always in boots - usually knee boots either low or medium heels (up to 3.5”) sounds like you had a lovely weekend with your wife. I’ve not been to Boston in many years - about 30 I think - but I used to like the place way back when

Did you show your friend the pic? I like your colour sense. I’m a fan of pink, mauve and violet myself

That’s a nice height range. Like you I am more interested in overall style than a numbers game. I tend to wear chunky heeled boots in the 3 to 3.5” range but I have three pair of stilettos - two 10cm and one 12cm - whose styling I like very much. I love the lines on the 12cm one. I think that is optimum stiletto - any higher and to my eyes they start looking hunched up, too much about the heel and losing touch with elegance.

Mauve is a great colour. I don’t have any boots in that colour but I’ve plenty in my wardrobe

Sounds like you’re getting some very positive feedback. I did have one question - and it may just be a matter of a typo. You wrote that while st Steve Madden the manager said HE could manage only three hours in heels like yours. Is that correct? If so that’s kind of intriguing

There were quite a few in York too for Ghost Week

Only a couple of pair of OTK boots surprisingly. Almost all knee boots, with 2-4” block heels. I saw a few pair of slender heels (not stiletto, but more like standard high heels) , also in knee boots. It was quite nice to see. It was half term week, and “Ghost week” in York so the town was quite full of tourists so it was not purely locals wearing heels. Judging by what I saw, I’d say heels - at least in winter boots - are far from dead

Looks nice. Love the colour! It’s what I would call mauve

I’d call us a kind of mauve - one if my favourite colours. Nice find!

Just spent the weekend in York - no shortage of heels at all! Plenty of high-heeled knee boots, blocky heels rather than stilettos. On the cobbled and irregularly paved mediaeval streets stilettos would be a singularly bad idea. But plenty of heels, and almost all of them on knee boots.

I saw this in The Guardian this morning https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/28/sarah-jessica-parker-shutting-down-shoe-company-things-looking-grim-high-heels

I thought I'd start this thread as a bit of a finger on the pulse of what is being worn. I was thinking of this the other night when I was in a busy pub having dinner and noticing the boots and heels being worn by my fellow patrons. I was wearing low-heeled OTK boots myself - bluish-grey suede over skinny jeans. I was not the only one in OTK boots. There was a young lady in black shorts (this in winter) with some very tall black leather boors - actually more like thigh boots than OTK. I'd never seen anything quite like them. The shafts looked to be made of very nice leather and fit her well; that part was elegant. The boot part though was like a pair of exceptionally heavy Doc Martens with very thick clod-hopper soles. I don't know if contrast and aesthetic tension was the point of this, but it looked like hell. My other outing this week was to go to Leeds, an old city in the north of England. I saw a lot of people (all women) wearing heels - typically chunky heeled knee and and ankle boots with 3" heels. It was almost the norm. I was wearing black leather knee boots myself, again with low heels (my circumstances at the moment do not lend themselves to wearing heels - not because of the fear of censure but risky footing and the ruination of nice suede high-heeled boots) Again, my black leather knee bots, for over skinny jeans, passed without notice.