Nicole

not into platforms i'm not really looking to purchase anything, so no worries if you get the last pair

I forgot about the shoe shopping bit. It depends on what you're looking for. The first issue is size. I take a ladies size 11, but some size 10s will fit. This is good, because few shops go above size 10. One of the department stores does, as does payless. Then what sort of heels are you into. If, like me, you're starting point is 5" classic pumps, then this is not your town. Besides Payless, there are three other shoe shops. One is nine west, which has very nice styles. Another is Generation Y which is a bit more fetish/dancer oriented; motly platform sandles. There is a third which has recently opened up, but i've not visited. Several of the clothes boutiques have shoe selections as well. The department stores have large selections but are rather expensive (Saks, Macys, Nordstroms). There are a lot of ladies clothing boutiques which range quite a bit in price. For this reason, clothes shopping has been a better bet for me than shoe shopping.

Getting out of bed is not too hard. I hope to feel better by October. There's lots of outdoor places along State St. I'm not well up on where there are good cups of coffee. Traffic willing, it's a 2 hour drive up here. I do not recommend coming up on a Friday. Traffic coming out of L.A. will be appalling.

I like New Look stretch jeans, especially since their size 12 fits me. Does anyone try stuff on in womens' only shops? I don't think I'd have the guts.

Absolutely. It's a bit easier if I am already wearing feminine clothes.

I apologise for the delayed response. Our server was down. I've put a bit more thought into it now. If you are still interested in coming up to Santa Barbara, then I think that I will be available that day (Sat 9th Oct). Making a (false) excuse to leave home won't be necessary, since generally I do my work on campus rather than at home. Bear in mind that I am a student and as such my schedule is subject to sudden changes. Also, I am currently stricken with chicken pox, and I do not know when I will be back in circulation. I will probably have an outfit on campus, but I may not feel comfortable changing into it there. (Most of my colleagues are unaware of my interest in cross-dressing.) I suggest that we meet somewhere in Downtown Santa Barbara on State Street. Do you have any particular preferences, with regard to what kind of place we should meet?

Nicole,

If we can make you change your mind, I could be around for a heel meet-up on Saturday Oct 9. Could be a good distraction from writing a thesis. I will be in LA, but if we get folks for a meet-up in Santa Barbara, I can drive there.

Right now, it's not really the thesis that's the problem. It's the job applications. Basically, I have to get off a batch of job applications every week until January.

Of course, the major problem (for a heel meetup, that is) is that my wife will be in town, which means the heels will be buried in my closet.

Thanks for the invite though.

Not a chance, I'm afraid. I'm going to be occupied for the next nine months with writing my dissertation (PhD maths) and finding a job. Also, my wife will be home most of the time, so, as per usual, the heels and things will be buried in the closet.

There are a number of online retailers that have them.

www.sexyshoes.com is one of them.

They are very nice shoes

I've definitely missed out on occasion. On the other hand, I cannot really afford new items in any case, so it's not that big a deal.

I'm thinking that given the fact that when I do wear heels outside, I tend to wear full drag (sans makeup) in any case, inlcuding knee-length skirts; so my attire strongly suggests that the extreme option is the correct one for me.

w6ish- you look really good.

I also grew up with heel fetish, as well as others. I also grew up not sure where I stood sexualy. Unfortunatly combining being very shy, not sure where I was sexually, and nervousness that I'd find a great person who would be highly offended by my kinks put a serious crimp on my social life.

Btw. I am gay, still have a thing for heels, and have a great boyfriend who loves me for who I am

I'm not the best at expressing myself sometimes.. feel free to e-mail me if you want to talk. jim@balletboots.net

This board is full of people from all sides of every fence imaginable. No-one is alone. You are among friends here.

Jim

Drshoe: Just wanted to mention.. Stereotypes may not even cover a small portion of a group in order to take hold. I do not know one gay couple where there is a 'wife'

I know some gay couples in which there are two wives

You circumstances seem very similar to mine when I was your age. but as I get older I find that I am wearing heels more than I did when I was 30. I am quite happy in 4" heels, but I don't think I would go higher now in case I damaged my knees. As you get older you realise that you are not as indestructible as you thought you were in your thirties.

I don't know if I will follow your path- but I will bear your history in mind.

.

Most interesting, I have been wearing 4" heel court shoes now for nearly 30 years and I am starting to suffer from osteoarthritis in my knees and hips, but nowhere else. Would I have this condition if I had not worn high heels ? I don't know.

Interesting about wide heels, I recently bought a pair of 3" block heel loafers for wearing out in the country. I thought they would be a doodle to wear, but in fact they more difficult to wear than 4" heel courts. Until I wore them I did not realise how much you swivel and tilt on stilettos, which you can't do on block heels.

Prolonged wearing of high heels will shorten the tendons in your legs making it difficult to wear flat shoes, I know this for a fact. 3 years ago the company I worked for went into receivership and I was made redundant. I decide to spend the winter studying for a qualification, as I had the house to myself during the day I wore a straight skirt and 4" heel court shoes all winter. As the months went by I found that the tendons at the back of my ankles felt tight when I wore flat shoes. This did not matter as I was at home most of the time in high heels, but when I started work in the spring in flat shoes, I pulled the tendons in both legs in quick secession. It was extremely painful and took weeks to heel, the only relief I could get was to wear high heels.

High heel court shoes also change the shape of your legs and feet, I now have compacted toes and my wife once told me that I had "women's legs" because of my muscular calf's caused by high heel wearing.

I often cringe when I read on this forum of members in their 20's who say that they can wear 5 "to 6" heels with no problem, will they be able to say that in 30 years time?

All I can say in my experience is don't wear anything higher than 4" for any length of time and certainly not on rough or uneven ground or you might regret it later.

I am in my thirties now, but I was saying that about 5" heels in my late twenties when I first started posting on this forum. I don't know what I will be doing in my fifties or sixties, but I will say this: I'm not that worried. Here's why.

I don't wear heels for months at a time. This is due primarily to the influence of my wife, who does not approve. Even when she goes down to L.A. to help her parents around their home, I do not necessarily break out the heels (they are normally buried deep in my closet), since work may well be taking up all of my time.

When I do get the chance, rare though that is, I do not have any problems stepping into some of my 5" heels, and walking around in them for quite a bit of time. I won't say I'm a natural since it took years of intermittant practice before I could wear such high heels; more that it appears to be like riding a bike: once learned, never really forgotten (health permitting).

My 6" patent pumps always require practice, and I doubt that I'll ever be able to walk in them comfortably for more than half a kilometer.

I do know what you mean about tendon problems. Two weekends ago, for four days straight I wore heels, mostly around my home, and then when I later walked in flats for a while, I had to stretch a bit. For a few days after, I did not put wear heels very much, and my legs are back to normal.

I do not anticipate ever being in a situation where I would wear heels for much longer than that, and I do change the heel heights.

Since most of the time I wear trainers, the shape of my feet does not appear to be altered by the occasional wearing of pumps. I've always had muscular legs- calfs and thighs- even before I started wearing drag.

All in all, I think with care, I'll still be able to wear at least 5" heels when I am fifty- even sixty; but if not, then I'll just have to live with it. I've survived not playing contact sports any more; I've survived not hitchhiking. These are activities that used to be very important to me but I recognise that age and change of circumstance takes their toll.

At least I'll always be able to wear trainers.

This is surprising since everyone says that people in California set the trends....and the rest of the world play's catch up. Oh well, judging from the bent movie star crowd....they just loved Clinton, and he even thought he was one of them ..... it would be sacrilegious for anyone to even think that way.

Charmed- I don't hang out with the 'bent movie star crowd', and plenty of my associates, notably my in-laws, can't stand Clinton.

Californians certainly don't set all the trends, and I am fairly certain that most of us recognise this basic fact. For example, it was Texas that made it cool to actually like the man who is currently our president. It has been the New England states who have taken a more progressive attitude towards gay marriage.

I personally call CNN the Caveman News Network, but that's just a silly Flintstones movie reference.

Hi all.

I've got a broblem becouse my parents caught me wearing high heeld shoes and they say I'm sick :x They say I have to go to a psychiatrist I don't know what to do help plz. I don't want to go outside in heels just wear them indoors.

That last may well change. Initially, I only wanted to wear them indoors myself.

As for your parents- very sorry to hear about that. The good news is that even if you go to a psychiatrist, he or she is unlikely to cure you of your 'sickness'; or even attempt to. You may want to point out to your parents that wearing clothes associated of the opposite gender is not considered a disease by medical professionals, and even if it was, a cure is neither likely nor desirable.

Good luck.

CNN is referred to and the "Clinton News Network" by almost everyone here in the USA because of it's outlandish insistance to approve of everything Clinton did, even lie under oath.

Strange- I've never heard anyone, conservative, moderate or liberal, refer to it as such; at least until I read this thread.

Hi Nicole,

Red Boots? May we see them?

Sadly no, at least not until I am capable of posting photos online.

They're red patent ankle boots with 5" stilleto heels.

I do like the overall look of these boots.

And I do have a question for everybody. What do you think of the seam running down the center? I guess it is no big deal, but I avoid buying boots for myself with a seam like this.

Not my favourite kind of seam, but it seems to work with my red boots.

Same here, Dawn. However, I must bear in mind that for men's shoes, I wear trainers with think white athletic socks. Thus, I get a 10.5 (US size) in men's. With women's shoes, I wear heels of 3" or higher, with hose of some kind. Hence, an 11 is usually a good fit. 12s tend to be a bit too large.

It seems to me that you may be better off to go out in the daylight- especially if you live in a rough neighbourhood. Although it does require more courage, (and believe me, I don't always find that courage), one does feel safer and less exposed.

i think it didnt co-ordinate with his outfit so well. Had they been black they wouldve made a nice outfit.

it seems that any male celebrities who do ever wear heels wear something daft that noone would wear anyway, therefore would never take off as a trend cos noone thinks it looks good. At least looking smarter, some people will be persuaded maybe?

i think its a bit of bad advertising

I like the look- but either his shirt should be lighter blue or the shoes darker blue. That way, the coordination would have been better.

Okay, I've been away for while but here is another little story I want to share...

Roughly two weeks ago I took part in a course at the gym as usual. Our trainer (she's actually with police and trains her colleagues there as well) once in a while tells us what she experienced when she was chasing the bad guys - so she must have seen a lot of 'strange' things already and this must be why IMHO she made the following comment. -- We did some calf/tendons stretching when she pointed out that this particular exercise would be a good compensation for the stresses of everyday (high) heel-wearing. And she said: 'Guys, this is also good for you since there are high heeled shoes in male sizes out there as well! I've seen it!!!' (participants giggled). I thought she must have come across several stores of that kind where such stuff was offered because of her job (later that day I found she's into gothic stuff and such). Anyway, nothing wrong with that. But then only some mere seconds later the cutest girl in the room suddenly said: 'Heels for men? Why actually not?'. And she seemed to be serious. - Words failed me...

CU!

-Mike

Sounds like a pretty nice experience. Any reactions to the cutest girl's comment?

Not exactly- but certainly the desire ebbs and flows. There are a number of reasons for this: For example, if I've done it a lot lately, then the desire is sated. If my wife is around, which she usually is, the desire is relatively dormant most of the time- this is because the wife does not approve, and I'd rather have a happy wife. Even when my wife goes back to her parents for a few days, I do not always feel like indulging. This is partly because my heels are buried in a trunk at the back of my closet (she knows they are there) which means that unearthing them is time-consuming and difficult. Also, I may have a lot going on at school, in which case it's not worth the effort. Ultimately, most of the time I can live with the desire (which is always there but not debilitatingly so), but not indefinitely. Good luck with your weight loss regime.