Shyheels

Yes there are many men here on HHP - or I should say mostly men, as there are not many people in general active on HHP, but rather a small and good-natured group who share a fondness for heels. Our individual tastes vary, but we recognise that we are unusual in our liking of wearing high heels. Speaking broadly, it would be fair to say our fondness for heels is based on aesthetics and a certain envy for the fashion freedoms enjoyed by women, who can pretty much wear what they like, free of censure. Men are expected to keep their style choices within very narrow bounds. As you say, you seldom see men wearing heels. Personally I've never encountered another man in stilettos. As for my own tastes in heels I personally prefer chunky heeled boots, with 8 to 10cm heels, although I own a couple pair of stilettos - I'd always wanted to try stilettos and having tried them ind them a fun challenge, but I don't wear them out and about like I do my chunky heeled boots. The styling is still feminine, although less so than stilettos, but when worn in combination with something neutral like jeans and a jumper seems more 'edgy' to my eyes than outright feminine. It plays to my inner bohemian I guess. Heel wearing among women does seem to be at a low ebb at present, but fashion is cyclical and I imagine it will pick up again. I suspect men in heels will continue to be a rarity for quite some time, despite the occasional appearance of heels in men's fashion shows. They are usually pretty ugly styles and presented outlandishly and not something many men - including myself - would ever take up. But variety is the spice of life

I agree. I love classic heels - simple elegant knee and OTK boots my personal favourites - the more flamboyant styles, not so much

I agree with you. These things are cyclical. At the moment we’re between fashion cycles but I’m sure high heels will be back in vogue and probably sooner rather than later. Tastes are fickle - which is the whole point of fashion. At some point the present trend for dull comfort shoes will become boring and a desire for change will well up. Heels will become interesting again For people like us, who genuinely like heels, these down periods are dull, but they will pass and, change will come and the rank and file will follow

And there are women who feel the same. They’re not the ones complaining about being forced to wear heels

Yes, fit is something that is seldom mentioned in articles castigating high heels. Poor fit, lack of practice and the assumption that the heels women are expected to wear as a part of a dress code are invariably four- or five-inch stilettos colour virtually all narratives about high heels.

I am always highly skeptical of this business about what women are “required” to wear all day every day. While office dress codes may call for women to be in heels, as with coat and tie for men, we’re not talking about four-inch stilettos here - more typically two inch heels and rather thicker than stilettos. I don’t believe anybody should be forced to wear something they dislike or which is uncomfortable - you won’t find me wearing a tie, for example - but I think far too much is made of the “forced to wear heels” business. They aren’t in towering stilettos but in something much more demure and far easier to wear. Lets be real: two inch heels are no more uncomfortable than wearing a tie In my experience and observation women who actually do wear four inch heels are those who genuinely love wearing heels - and they wear them because they like them, and the emotional lift and sense of empowerment they get by wearing them, not because they want to please the men around them, or out if a sense of obligation, but because heels are a part of their identity.

I think that's a wise plan. As you say much simpler to do everything in work boots.

Yes I too am glad to see you back. In the end I gave up on finding trainers in the colours I liked and instead took satisfaction in finding running shorts and t-shirts in attractive colours instead. Congratulations on the weight loss. Hopefully the health issues have cleared up and you can get back to enjoying life!

While we don't have those same companies over here, I have had similar experiences. And it never fails to amaze me than when the second company calls up weeks later, and you tell them that you've long since given your business to their competitor, they are always so breezy about it - a though you'd called them to ask a favour and didn't need it after all. Nobody cares.

Out and about in York the other day. Despite our warm summer I was surprised by the number of heeled knee boots I saw. To be sure most wearing trainers but that there were anybody in boots was a surprise, and I saw a surprising number of women in block heeled knee boots - 3” heels. No stilettos though - although given York’s ancient streets I doubt stilettos were ever big there

That’s nice when you get positive feedback - and nice too when a sales assistant goes out of her way to be helpful. Definitely a boost for the day

I am reasonably competent in 10cm heels, but I don’t think I’d care to run a race in them! Partly I’d be worried about damaging my heels! But as you say, an interesting discipline!

Hello and welcome to HHP. This is a really friendly and well mannered forum. As @Tech says, we look forward to hearing more from you. Have a great day

Yes Leviticus is hard going. The boots seem much more inviting

I didn’t dare take my eyes off the road!!!

I had an old pair of (quite nice) Scarpa mountaineering boots do that - the Vibram sole came loose around the toe area. It was walkable, though irritating, flap-flap-flapping like that, and happily it was also easily fixable with contact cement once I got back to the boat

I saw this article on the CNN website about a high heels race in Spain as part of the local Pride festival. Apparently it has been going for quite a long time. Minimum heel height is four inches or 10cm - so they are racing in genuinely high heels. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/05/travel/madrid-pride-high-heel-race

Yes! I think I hit even higher speeds but I didn’t dare look at my speedometer - it was a fast and curvy descent on a narrow mountain road without guardrails. High risk, high consequence. 57mph was the last reading I saw.

Oh I’ve descended quickly in the past - my record being 57mph down a steep pass in the Vosges. And that on a loaded touring bike. But I’m not a fan of such descents

That would not be much fun at all. One of the reasons I am hesitant about going out in stilettos is the fear of just such a thing happening. The heels look so precarious - so easy to imagine breakage and the aforementioned barefoot walk home. That's one of the drawbacks to being a creative - a vivid imagination. It's why I am not a great downhiller on my bicycle. I can envision all too easily the consequences of missing my line or a loose piece of gravel

I certainly like stiletto boots - I noticed your style preferences in another if your posts. Like you, I dislike platforms, for the same reason as you, and I’m not fond of pointy toes either. i do like stiletto ankle boots although my preference with ankle boots is chunky heels. I think the long stiletto heels is better balanced visually with a long shaft. i don’t go for the super high heels. For me the look is too “crunched”. For me, the perfect height, aesthetically, is 12cm or just under five inches. I have a pair of 12 stiletto knee boots and love them, although I find them difficult to walk in (I’ve not practiced nearly enough - my calf muscles just seem to cramp up in 12cm heels. I have 10cm (four inch) stilettos knee boots which I also love, and can walk easily in and enjoy. i like heels for the aesthetics and 10-12cm is my perfect range for stilettos, although I have several pair if chunky heeled ankle, knee and OTK boots which I wear a great deal!

I would suspect the latter. See and be seen, and change into something manageable

Sounds like an interesting outing to say the least. I was never interested in skirts in the least, but a woman I know who’s into heels, and knows I like them too, convinced me to give one a try, suggesting I go for a pencil skirt - her own particular favourite. I really don’t care for mini skirts so that was never going to be an option, but I have always liked the look of longer skirts. I bought a midi pencil skirt and loved it. I was really surprised at how natural and comfortable it felt. i wore it while doing some landscape photography very early one morning a few weeks ago and encountered a woman photographer. She came up and started chatting, very naturally, and never mention the skirt or gave any sort of double take. We chatted for about twenty minutes about photography and the light - it was a great morning to be out there - and she went on her way. Completely natural encounter. There’s no way she couldn’t have noticed I was wearing a skirt. She was clearly open minded about such things, while I felt comfortable wearing the midi skirt and knew - or felt - I didn’t look bad in it.

I know what you mean. I always find it somewhat amusing, yet vaguely disturbing, when I read articles denouncing heels, or where some intrepid male journalist has spent a day in heels and is writing an expose, and where women - who don’t seem to wear heels themselves - offer up such quotes as “now you see what we put up with for you”. But none of the women I know who wear actually wear and love heels wear them to impress or attract men - far from it. They wear them for the aesthetics and their own emotional satisfaction. Same as I would, and do. And yes, 12cm stilettos are indeed elegant but very, very few people can master the art of walking elegantly in them. I’ve yet to see any of that height being worn out and about. Four inches or 10cm seems to be the practical maximum.

Yes it would be nice to have more threads on fashion, topical news, etc I guess that’s up to all of us. Build it and they will come ,,, hopefully