Shyheels

I’m very lucky to be able to work from home. My commute from bed to the table in my galley is about twenty feet!

I suspect she was probably a bit more colourful that that!

I’m very sorry to hear of your loss. Losing a parent is an always tough blow not matter what their age - they’re the ones who have always been there. I hope you find some peace

That’s a mighty long work week. Especially if you’re also commuting any distance. I hope you’re being well compensated. I should think a lot of things in one’s personal life would go by the wayside under such a regime.

Not actually seen out and about, but rather a cautionary tale that was related to me by a friend of mine - a rather chic French woman who is an expert in high heels. She was seated on a bar stool at a nice cocktail bar and had, thoughtlessly, hooked her stilettos over the crossbar between the stool legs - and even more thoughtlessly forgot to un-hook them when she went to stand up. Apparently she did a full body-length face plant in the bar, an otherwise very elegant woman about six feet tall. I’ve no idea what expletives she came out with at the time, but she could see the humour of it hours later when she mentioned it to me in an email.

Yes, heels are definitely in a downswing. I suppose I am fortunate in that my tastes run to chunky heeled boots in the 3-4” range for which there still seems to be a reasonable market - albeit not in my size range. it still surprises me though they there are not more active members here. This is a friendly and welcoming forum and I’m certain there is a latent desire out there to at least try high heels and see what all the fuss is - was? - about.

Impressive statistics! It certainly has been quiet here lately. Not much high heels news from my part of England.

Nice stories! Very positive.

That’s certainly true - living along the canals I am very unlikely to encounter anyone in high heels, let alone stilettos.

I also wear my knee boots and OTK boots outside my jeans. As you say, it’s noticeable. Even so, a lot of people don’t notice. And those that do seldom give it much more than a passing glance.

Here in northern England boots with mid heels (2-3”) are quite common, even 3.5”. Not stilettos, no, but they are heels. Funnily enough twice in the past week I’ve encountered women wearing boots with chunky heels on the towpath. Fairly lowish heels - about 2.5” - but heels nonetheless. And you woukd not wear anything higher or slenderer on a towpath!

I saw several pair, much to my surprise, the other day in the Manchester train station. The last time I saw any was at London Bridge train station on Grand National Day (horse racing)

Stilettos are a rarity everywhere these days.

Vlad the Impaler had his own stern fashion code. When emissaries from the Ottoman sultan refused to remove their turbans in his presence he had their turbans nailed to their heads

Yes there are lots of changes over the years - in Victorian times a woman who wore make up was a painted woman and well into the 20th century a woman could be arrested in parts of America for wearing trousers. But the stricture against wearing hats indoors has been around a long time and is still widely observed and while I am all for fashion freedom and not being a slave to arbitrary customs and rules, I do think removing one’s hat in church, or someone’s home etc is a nice mark of respect

Very well said indeed. Our self consciousness at stepping outside the norms magnifies everything in our minds. the truth is that unless you are wearing something absolutely riveting - say, Barbie- pink thigh-high stilettos - a good percentage of passers by won't even notice, and those that =give a double take probably will have forgotten you ten minutes later, as they re-focus on their own lives. I don't wear my stilettos in public - mainlybeause I am not skilled enough to feel totally confident in them - but I wear feminine styled block-heeled knee and OTK boots regularly over skinny jeans and while I occasionally sense that I've attracted notice, it's never been a big deal. I think owning the look, being confident, makes all the difference. If you accept who you are, others will follow that lead.

In my Instagram feed this morning - why, I do not know - was a story about a woman who was 6’9”, with footage of her in a grocery story. She was quite attractive, obviously very tall, but clearly quite okay with it because she was also in heels - genuine heels too, probably 3.5” maybe even 4”. in other non-heel sightings, I encountered a steam powered narrowboat this morning as well.

I totally agree with you. And have a lot of sympathy with air crews who have to deal with all this every day, all day. I remember being on a long flight (I forget where) and wanted another drink. The stewardess came by and remembered what it was I had had earlier. I complimented her on her great memory and she smiled sadly and said she remembered the ones who say please and thank you.

There’s no Christian denomination of which I am aware that sanctions wearing hats in church - by men at least. Women are certainly excused their Easter bonnets. The headgear you mention being worn in a synagogue is almost certainly not a baseball cap - a yarmulke, I believe, is what is worn. i have been in mosques in Africa, the Near East and Indonesia and while I certainly had to remove my shoes, I was never asked to don any headgear. And I can’t imagine them specifying baseball caps. there is an amusing scene in that mobster TV show, The Sopranos, where some young guy is wearing a baseball cap in a nice restaurant where Tony Soprano is having dinner. Tony has to straighten him out …

If the heels were size 12 that might be a clue! 😊

Wearing hats indoors in some instances is all right - in public places such as railway stations and airports etc. Wearing hats in church or offices is really not appropriate. I take your point that having the chap show up in church at all is a good thing, and he shouldn’t be dissuaded but if he continues to show up wearing a hat throughout the service, perhaps somebody could discretely let him in on the rule of etiquette. He may not even know.

As an Australian, and one who travelled an awful lot, I’ve had more than my share of flights that ended up like that. It happened even more often back in the dark age days of the 80s before planes could fly over the Pacific non-stop. Used to have to stop in Auckland or Nadi and then to Honolulu and then on to LAX. Sometimes they’d stop only once, usually in Honolulu, occasionally in Papeete. I can remember a 12 hour layover in Nadi followed by eight hours in Honolulu. And of course after I got to LAX I still had to fly on to Boston. Ill be happy not to step in a plane ever again.

I’m so glad I was able to buy some boots from Jean Gaborit. Made in France of really high quality leather, custom fit - will last the rest of my life. I’d love to come into some money and buy a couple more pair before anything changes

Offer to go boot shopping with her!

Well, I have Hunter boots bought about 20 years ago and they’ve seen some pretty heavy use in Antarctica aside from ordinary use in Britain and they’re going fine. I can’t speak to the quality of Hunter boots made last year or this because I’ve simp,y never needed to replace the ones bought twenty years ago