Cali

9 hours ago, CrushedVamp said:

But in taking this reply full circle, it was interesting that Mark Twain, a prolific plagiarist who read other peoples literary works and resold them to support his afflicted lifestyle, stole an account from this great great great uncle of mine regarding a strange sailing trip he took around Cape Horn. Like others Mark Twain stole from, his account was almost word for word my great uncle wrote. It is why I have such a deep hatred of those who plagiarize and guard so well against it in my own writing.

As an author of many college science textbooks (one of many hats I have worn), I am very concern over AI STEALING my work (without conpensation).

I had my monthly manicure today, I had 3 compliments in the first 2 hours afterwards. Now do I notice others noticing me? Yes; for example from this afternoon: I notice the woman at Costco whose eyes dove straight to my feet as we past each other (I have great peripheral vision).  I may not notice every one, but I do see many double takes or stares when they occur in front of me. And for those that know me, I know many will look just to see what I am wearing that day.

7 hours ago, CrushedVamp said:

May I ask a question, stated as such so you know this is not a challenge to what you said but rather a bonafide curiosity and with the utmost respect?

Isn't that the intrigue, and mystique about wearing high heels, that it's the wearing of something that can be mastered perhaps, but not every step, nor over every possible medium, and certainly having varying challenges with different shoes? 

I do not wear high heels so I cannot answer that question, but for those that do, men and women alike, isn't part of the fun treading that fine line between being comfortable in wearing them to not? To walking casually on a concrete sidewalk one moment and then having to thread grating the next? Perfectly posed one second, and then struggling to balance the next? I can say with utmost authority wearing my work shoes I barely give a thought to what is on my feet as I go about my workday, but I would think one of the huge drivers of wearing high heels is the acute awareness that you are wearing challenging footwear at almost every moment. I would think, to get to the point where you could walk anything but a slackline in high heels would get... well... boring.

I understand not wanting to look like you are doing the dying crab as you walk down a sidewalk, falling and stumbling as you go, but never fully mastering wearing of such challenging footwear would seem to me to be part of the thrill of wearing them?

I would think it would be good for ALL high heel wearers to keep that excitement and thrill. The wearing of high heels being a lifelong journey and not merely mastering them as being a goal.

And now for a different reason.

After multiple ankles reconstructions, I finally determined it was the shoes that were a major cause of my problems. Simply put, my foot shape meant that I could never get a solid footing in men's shoes. I switched to women's shoes and have had an ankle issue since.

Then I had a large tear in a calf. They should have operated on it, but they didn't. You must raise your heel to heal (it never comes back, but just calms down) the calf. Because of the metal that holds me together, I had to raise both heels. That instantly put me in high heels (at least 3.5 inch net difference). During that period, the pain in my hip greatly reduced and quickly returned when I tried to go back to flat (  < 4 cm) shoes. Since I have this dislike of pain, I wear high heels. And now I have fun with it, frequently during the colder months in knee high boots, including stilettos.

Even though I have been in heels for at least 10 years, I frequently encounter challenging surfaces. It’s amazing how a slight slant is magnified in heels. Old asphalt, uneven tiles, wet tiles, …

There are places and situations where I don’t wear high heels, but I try to limit those.

6 hours ago, at9 said:

I've had to change a lightbulb that was high up above the middle of a double bed. The room was a bit small and crowded so moving the bed wasn't really an option. Standing on a chair standing on a bed is precarious! Heels of any kind wouldn't have helped.

I'll avoid some of the "How many BRITS does it take to change a lightbulb?" jokes. Some are racially unacceptable. For much of the world except the UK there's the double entendre: "How many xxxx does it take to screw in a lightbulb?"

I put a stablizing surface (medium size plank of wood) down on the bed first. Then heels.

I was at a meeting last spring with 25 people facing each other in a rectangular table layout. After the meeting, a woman sitting across the room, took off her heels, took her sneakers out of her bag, put on her sneakers to go to her office upstairs in the same building. So she had 'meeting only heels'.

I can clean the top of my refrigerator and reach the items in the back of my tallest shelf in my kitchen.

Maybe she was sponsored.

I had my hiking boots bit into the back of my heel at 7 miles in a 10 mile hike/backpack trip into the sierra wilderness. Had to leave the sock for the entire 5 day trip, struck. When we got back to the car, I had to soak my foot in the ice cold mountain stream to get the sock off. 

My favorite christmas mani was what I called "Zebra on Christmas Acid". A gel design on my fingers/polish on my toes.

Black base, then thin zebra stripes in white, red, and green. Envied by both men and women. Currently my toes are white with sprakle red and sparkle green candy cane stripes.

One sparkle red and one sparkle green big toe, nail artist choice.

Storm drain grating and cracks in sidewalks can be very challeging in stilletos. Cobblestone types of paths. Gravel walkways/driveways are treacherous in any heel. Also layers of wet leaves on flat surfaces can cause slip outs. It's a learning curve.  And no heels on ice.(Really, no walking on ice.)

Pre-covid, I walked 1/4 of the dirt mount circle at Avebury in 4 inch booties. It was not that much fun.

There are so many different types of leggings for different uses. I have compression thermal legging for skiing, thicker ones for "pants", thin nylons for cool summer nights, velour for warmth , ....

I have MANY leggings.

My leggings have replaced my sweatpants when I not working in my garden. And I wear them to run errands/ go to costco, etc. I especially love my Ultra-Luxe Velour Leggings from Felina. And I'm seeing more men in leggings all the time.

I have been waxing my legs for 8 years so that I can use KT tape on them to play sports. Only a few times a year. I now have very short light-colored hair, and almost no hair in places. But I still need to wax them, because even a little hair intefers with the actions of the tape. The women that wax my legs are jealous of how little hair I now have.  I hate stubble when shaved hair grows back, so instead of shaving a region before an operation, I will now get it waxed. It only hurts the first couple of times......LOL

Back in the late 70's, I almost did a 6 month scientific stunt in Antarctica. Came very close to applying for it. 

Foot care is very important to diabetic people.  I've been getting regular pedicures for over 15 years and regular manicures for 10 years. Because I damaged several fingernail beds, I need to get acrylic nails which are cover by gels and I get color. No big deal, and I get compliments on my nails from both men and women. If you go with color, you have to be strong and proud of your style.  (The sky doesn't fall with colored fingernails.) 

1 hour ago, Shyheels said:

Brilliant!

Mind you, what would be even more brilliant is if a guy came up to you and said the same thing! 

We can only hope. I know if I don't wear heels to work, I get a lot of questions why not. My heels are almost always visable.

(I have some sky high jeans that cover the foot.)

Well it happened again. Another convert.

Last night, a women waiting for a colleague asked me how high my boots where. She had seen me in several boots and decided to get some herself. I had my Jessica Simpson black faux suede knee highs with a 1 inch platform and 4.75 inch heel. I had plan on wearing my JS suede stilettos, but it was a drizzling all day, so as the memo states, you "don't wear suede in the rain."  She had been looking at boots on-line and figure if I could wear boots with high heels, then she could too.

Another high heel convert!!!

My favorite work boots are my Jessica Simpson suede knee high stilettos. But then all I do is talk, write, think, and go to meetings.

I know, it's a tough life, but someone has to do it.

I remember over a decade ago when I switched to only women's shoes and got my first booties with 2 inch heels. The hardest thing was getting use to the click.

BUT

I'm in the too "old-to-care" group, buy and wear what I want. I just got a cheetah vest, so soft, and already wore it to a company holiday party with my 3.5 inch thin-heeled knee highs. Both the vest and heels got random compliments. I also like wearing short-shorts and sitettos knee highs in the summer, just for the mind blowing effects of it.

5 minutes ago, Shyheels said:

Yes you do a very good job of putting things together. With my ensemble of boots, jeans and jumper there is little room for your style of creativity. I could never do the leather miniskirt - although I admit that the other day I noticed an ad for a leather midi pencil skirt, calf length, that did pique my interest, something I could at least imagine with my OTK black suede boots

I like my pleather skirt with knee highs. LOL

@mlroseplant have you tried double sided-tape? (for skin)

I have a large girth toe box which results in the vamp in pumps cutting into my tendons.  I've even tried trying to put dense cell foam between the tendons and the vamp, but that didn't work. So NO pumps for me.

I had to keep it short in Argentina and Chile. Boy did I want to look at their heels because of all their leather from their beef production.  Same thing when touring the hills above Brisbane, went into a woman's shoe store with my brother and his girlfriend. Saw some heels I wanted to try, but didn't. You got to read the room.

3 hours ago, Puffer said:

The 1960s were a period of much change on the fashion front.   What heels was it that you loved from that era - the stilettos ubiquitous until c1965 or the low and boring styles that came in as the mini skirt gained in popularity?   Surely not the latter?

Since I wasn't a teenager until after 1965, it was more the mini skirts, hot pants, go-go boots and lots of sandals because it was a beach town too.

Just to have a different type.

I've only been here for 7+ years. And my path is very different than others. Yes, I loved the heels that the girls in school wore back in the 60's to ... . And yes, I wish I could wear them too. And yes, I wore a pair of booties with a 2 inch heel throughout the 80's and 90's. But only I switched to only women's shoes 14 years ago after undergoing another painful reconstruction. I finally figured out WHY I was having so much trouble with my knees and ankles, and it was men's shoes. Then my podiatrist told me I needed a 2 inch heel to absorb my arch and stablize my feet. Later a major injury put me in 4 inch heels for life, hopefully another 30 to 40+ years.

This site has help me grow from hiding my heels to celebrating and showcasing them, such as, knee high sitlettos over skinny pants.