Shyheels

I think in the main it’s just the natural variety in human tastes. Some people like the colour orange, or spicy food, or prefer jazz to classical music. Some like the jaunty styling of high heels. Declaring heels to be feminine is an arbitrary construct and not even historical consistent, any more than pink being a girls colour and blue being for boys. I like certain styles of heels, but by no means all. And prefer boots to shoes. That’s just me. These are all idiosyncratic and personal tastes, unique to me as yours are to you. To be sure there will be people with more pronounced feminine leaning and those people will be directed by society’s stereotypes to styles that are perceived to be feminine.

Yes, female presenters on TV here in Britain are very often in high heels. Whether they actually wear them, as in leave the house in them and come home at night still in heels, is something else again. Who knows? It may be that they wear trainers most of the time and view heels as simply part of their expected on-air persona. Female guests on these shows may or may not wear heels, depending on their expected level of glamour. A feminist author being interviewed is very unlikely to be wearing heels, but one if the C-list celebrities doing Strictly Come Dancing wouldn’t be in anything else - usually in the 4-5 inch range. Since they are seated on the set, or maybe walk half a dozen passes when they’re being introduced, it’s hard to tell whether they can actually walk in them. Occasionally there are celebrities, such as JK Rowling who genuinely live in heels. trousers are perfectly conducive to wearing heels - either skinny, straight or bootcut depending on the look being sought or the type of heel being worn.

Cyclical! And not really dead just on a downward swing

Nope! Some wastes of time are more enjoyable than others

I don't think it is at all a waste of time. It's generated a lot of responses and some interesting discussion. Like others here, I wondered for a long time if my desire to wear heels and what are perceived to be women's boots was erotically based - indeed I assumed it must be because that is the widely enforced stereotype of any male who wants to wear heels or boots, and I was too self-conscious about it all to question these things or consider them dispassionately. I just looked at everything through the prism of society's stereotypes and expectations. Once I decided - very self consciously - that I would indulge myself and buy a pair of heels I pretty quickly came to realise I liked heels and tall boots for pretty much the same reasons women liked them - cavalier styling and elegance - to which I, as a male, could add edginess and defiance. Until I started wearing heels and tall boots though, and opened myself to the fact that I liked them, and let go the weight of assumptions, I assumed there must be erotic element to it because society said there had to be. In some - perhaps most - cases there is and there's nothing wrong with that either. But I do think it's a useful topic for discussion.

I totally agree - although in the world of creatives where neither increased net worth nor income is a likely outcome to one’s endeavours, the surest way to freedom is to work out ingenious ways of reducing your wants and needs and learning how to live on the juice of a cracker. And be satisfied.

I read your thread. Most of it goes straight over my head and indeed the chances of my investing in crypto are precisely nil. Mind you, the chances of my investing in anything are precisely nil - one first requires capital and that’s a detail I’ve never quite been able to iron out…

Citadel

Well said indeed! And it’s certainly true, women’s fashions are far more interesting, more colourful, more expressive than men’s which tend to be puritanical and repressed. Who wouldn’t prefer it? Ive always felt free to borrow any colour and make it my own - the heels and tall boots took a bit more of a build up to do, but I think I’ve found my personal style. There are certainly other feminine fashions that I like, and envy in a way, although when it comes down to it, I feel about them much the way I do looking at grand houses and castles - they’re more interesting to observe than to be in them. Although to be fair, I’ve never tried them out

Guarded

Yup - bohemian, libertarian, right down to my boot soles (and heels)

I simply like the styling of some, but by no means all, types of high heels. It’s no more complicated than that, at least not in my case. There’s a certain pleasure in flouting convention, but that pleasure has nothing to do with the fact that heels are perceived to be feminine. In my case it is more a kind of schoolboy delight in breaking some arbitrary rule - and a defiant self expression. In addition of course to the cool styling

I can see where an adventurous person, fond of risk, would be drawn to wearing heels. However big a role aesthetics and a sense of challenge might play in one’s desire to wear heels - or at least experiment with them - at some level the allure of the forbidden part of the attraction. Which is also why it would attract people who engage in riskier behaviour.

Definitely for spring, I’d say

Quite an astonishing collection of heels to say the least! A couple of them seem almost barbarically vulgar - definitely a good chuckle to be had there though.

Sounds like an interesting idea - a curated collection.

Unlike heavy soled hiking boots and mountaineering boots which have been my default footwear since my university days. I had grown so accustomed to wearing those that when I bought my first pair of stiletto boots I thought there must be some mistake in sizing. They appeared so much smaller than what I was used to wearing. But the sizing was perfect.

It’s Instagram so of course it’s staged but so what? Just a bit of fun and presenting men in heels in a not objectionable way

There’s not many of anybody left - maybe half a dozen posters keeping the forum alive.

I’ve never worn Doc Martens myself. Not that much of a fan. My taste in boots just doesn’t run that way. My daughter must have 6 or 8 pairs of them and loves the way they fit and feel. We don’t gave to worry about 0°F temperatures here so she’ll never know how the soles hold up in those temperatures. I do have a pair of crocs which I wear when I am gardening or mowing the lawn - and only then. They are comfortable, I guess. I don’t really notice them so they must be! When I’m done with the lawn I just kick them off and go inside.

They look nice and a pleasant shade of orange. I wouldn’t say they had a platform - the wooden sole would necessarily be thicker than a single leather sole. They’re quite nice sandals

Very nice ankle boots! A pity they don’t make them in a broader range of sizes

My daughter does the Doc Martens and dresses look - although she can carry it off. She doesn’t do floaty dresses but heavy Victorian ones and with floral Doc Martens. It works - I think because it is her natural style and unaffected

That's nice to hear - even if I'm not particularly a fan of cowboy boots. So true. Fashion is fickle. Something can come out of nowhere and change the landscape - stilettos in the Fifties and go-go boots in the Sixties are examples. Obviously it can go the other way too, as it has done in recent years, but influencers and designers make their fortunes by challenging the status quo - even if it is one they instigated - and being the next big thing. It’s only a matter of time until somebody “remembers “ heels and then a new wave will start.

I didn't mind the movie. I saw it when it came out and thought it was well done. As far being sappy, I can think of endless numbers of sappier movies than that. It did kill the cowboy boot market, that's for sure - just like the "Vivian Effect" ruined the market for OTK and thighboots for many years. OTK boots have come back but thighboots seem to have tajken a lethal hit.