Cali

It's almost always boot season in my world. Yesterday was a cooler day with temps under 80 F, so I decided it was time to wear my Jessica Simpson knee high stilettos to work.

Cooler day with temps in the 70's. So I thought it would be a good day to wear my Jessica Simpson Rollin suede stiletto knee highs in to work. I'm only scheduled to work on-site about 25 days this year.  Love these boots, so very easy to walk in and comfortable, wore for over 9 hours. Got a few "awesome"' from both women and men. To me the biggest surprise was that I wasn't the only one in 4 inch knee highs; just the only one in stilettos.😄

And now for another mishap ...

I think this sums up what happened ...

These shoes had been wobbly all day. I had put them on at 7:30 in the morning but at around 3 pm I was walking when all of a sudden the next step I was wearing a flat on one foot. 

Live Edge

I wear (short) shorts all summer long. Just like with skirts, there's no hiding your heels. Expect to get many more comments like this:

7 hours ago, hiddenheels said:

As I'm checking out the shoes, this lady stops and tells me that I walk perfectly in the heels, and how she used to wear them but not anymore. I was a little surprised, so am not sure what I responded (but it was pleasant).

Respond with sympathy that she can't wear heels like she wants to or use to.  

Next time you are at the mall shopping in a skirt and heels, stop in a shoe store and go shopping. The sales staff will recognize (by your heels) that you are a real customer and not just a looky look, so you will get great service. 

Shoes aren't damage, just my pride. I know it happens, just wish it was not to me.

3 hours ago, SF said:

Quick, obtain the surveillance video of the “incident” and destroy it!

Can't, too many cameras, will just have to wait for it to show up on YouTube.😄

BTW this was not the content I was hoping to add.

Well it finally happened after almost a decade in high heels.

Yesterday, I was walking across the parking lot and my back heel must of come down on a painted stripe and my foot slipped out and over I went.  Very minor scratch on a knee but a big hit to my dignity.

1 hour ago, Jkrenzer said:

You are  luck at that. You have oddly small nails, that has to help.

I've had work done. Both big toes have had ingrown nail surgery. I also had a hammertoe bone removal in the second smallest toe and tendon release/realignment in the adjacent baby toe with 8 inch pins inserted.

Socks with sandals? Please no.  I only wear socks with closed toe shoes shoes, which was about once in the last two months. At 67 its sandals with pads. I'm lucky, my toe nails are in get (typo should be "great") shape.

Although I wear heels almost all the time, the number of interactions has been minimal. I still get a stare now and again, like at the airport last week, a woman in line at an outside baggage drop off gave me an open mouth stare while I was unloading my friend's bags at drop off. When I caught her, she quickly turned the other way. And today a women commented on my heels as I was walking into the farmers market..."wow those are some high heels."

But these are only minimal interactions. Like at my nail salon, I'm a regular and I'm expected to come in high heels, so no heel interaction.

6 weeks of in-person then back to on-line through December. Hopefully more interaction stories.

Slow time in the heel world.

This week I was exiting the post office when this woman and I approach the exit door at about the same time. I let her go first.  As we both went to our cars (we parked close to each other) I jokingly said “I was just letting you hold the door open for me, ha ha.”

“Oh, when I saw your high heels, I thought you might need help with the door.”

We chatted about heels for another minute and got into our respective cars and drove off.

BUT next week I will go back to working in-person, the first time since March 2020, so more heeling stories might happen.

There's an easier solution to leg hair. I have to tape my legs to do some winter sports, so I have been waxing my legs for a few years. Hair and K-Tape do not work together and I hate stubble. My last wax was in March and you can hardly see any hair.  A combination of the hair getting lighter in color, thinner in size, and less overall.  The woman next to me getting a pedi this pass week remarked how nice and tan my legs were.  And the pain...it gets easier and easier.

Shingles

I have friends who ran track decades ago and they are envious of my calves. Comes from growing up on the top of a hill.  I buy size 10 jeans or 31". Knee high and thigh high size 10 boots are snug (not tight) on my legs. 311's are as slim as I can go and keep blood flow to my legs.  I also like high-flex jeans in medium which are size 8 thru 10.

Vinyl

LOL.  Can't get those 710 over my calves.

1 hour ago, pebblesf said:

Yes, I did look at the 311s, but didn't try them on because I thought they were tagged as "high rise". The sales women did spend considerable time with me, they steered me back to the 512s, claiming that the lower legs were actually tighter than the 510s.  Like you say, seems like women's jeans are trending back towards flared/loose legs, which I'm not interested in.  I did like the fit of the thrifted lucky brand jeans I bought, but can't deal with the lack of useable pockets.  Why the heck do they make them that way, the levis women's pockets were the same.  Perhaps they just figure women will be carrying some sort of bag/clutch.  I did take some pictures of the 512s, but phone is messed up so will post them when I can.  I do want to try leggings, walked by the lululemon store, but remember you all saying they are pricey.  

sorry, didn't mean to derail the original discussion.  D

OK, so the information I got from someone saying I should try sizing down from 11/12s is probably unrealistic.  I got 34-32s in the levis 512s.  

311's are mid rise with small pockets. Pockets are found in high rise jeans.  Try lululemon leggings, Try Athletica legging, try  ... only way to find what fits.  Then you know what to look for at thrift stores.

Someone here turned me on to ILNP (I Love Nail Polish out of Las Vegas).  I like their holographic blues. Years ago, my Ex-wife and daughter loved the colors on my toes and borrowed my nail polish.  They have bought a lot of nail polish from ILNP since then. Yesterday she showed me her latest color from them, a champagne holographic glitter and I showed her my Ukrainian Tip nails.

Red is rarely found on my nails, most only used as part of some art work or under a metallic rub to get Rose Gold.

2 hours ago, pebblesf said:

It was like Cali said in the Levis store, the women's jeans did have waist/inseam sizes on them.  But, I don't think those measurements can be equated with the men sizes we might normally wear.  Women are built differently, have different curves, and pants sit differently.  Nonetheless, it seemed helpful to me, directing me a little closer to a size I might be able to wear.  But, it seemed confusing to me that no conventional women's sizes were listed on the tags.  Nonetheless, seems like women's styles might be changing (duh, no that was a dumb observation), because I didn't say much labeling about stretch/super skinny etc.  Most of the jeans were 501s, high waisted, which I wasn't really interested in.  Wore these conventional 512s for many hours yesterday, tucked in and out of the boots.  I think I made the right choice, at least in terms of what the store had to offer.   Will work on pictures later.  

30" waist!  Dang, you take good care of yourself Melroseplant!  

sorry, didn't mean to derail the original discussion.  D

I hope you tried on many styles while there. I wear 311's, size 30 x 30, mid rise, I like the shaping of the 311's.  I was thinking that 501's might work for you.  You are correct, the variety of sizes and shapes can be overwhelming and confusing. I also have a  pair of curvy jeans size 8 that fit great. It's like heels, you got to try many to find that one that fits right.  Might try Express and look at legging while there.

Flare jeans are the current fashion.

I wear Levi's, Express, and a few other brands of jeans.  Sizing is inconsistent because of many things. How flexible are the jeans? Are they "curvy"?

Levi' come in width and length, others in only petite, regular, long fixed lengths. I have some Hyper-flex jeans from Express in "M" that are a range of sizes. I have many size 10 and one size 8. And then you have the rise: low, mid, high, sky high, ...

2 hours ago, pebblesf said:

I suppose this is a case where I should go to an actual retail store and try on different sizes and styles that I might like...

Thanks  Don

The best thing to do is to go try on different sizes and styles.  I not saying go try and buy, but go find what fits so you know what to look for.  Go to a Levi's store and try on as many as you like.  The staff is use to men trying on women's jeans as well as women trying on men's jeans. Go to other brick and mortar places and try jeans on.  But most importantly, have fun.

5 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

I am with you about almond toes being my favorite. I don't find a significant difference between the way pointy/almond/round fits, but maybe that's because although my big toe is the longest, it is by a mere millimeter. As far as square toes go, I've never owned a pair in my life of any style. Not even in the '90s did I succumb to the idea that square toes were ok. I think I can probably survive the rest of my life without square toes.

I, also, have not bought men's shoes for a long while, but it has nothing to do with ankle reconstruction. Since neither of my ankles has ever been de-constructed, there is probably little reason for re-construction. My reason has to do with the width, since my feet are both short in length and narrow in width compared to what is commonly available for men's shoes in your typical retail establishment. Other than width (and sheer choice of colors and styles), I have not found a great deal of difference between the way a woman's shoe fits and a man's, if one is comparing similar styles. A men's size 7 Nike athletic  shoe is going to fit similarly to a women's size 9 Nike athletic shoe, except for the width.

Once you get into dress shoes, yes, I will agree there's a huge difference. The man's shoe is constructed much more sturdily, with thicker materials all around. A man's dress shoe will last many, many years if taken care of. Not so with women's dress shoes. I suppose that's ok with us because we like to switch it up a little more often than every 15 years. A woman's dress shoe is just a little wisp of a thing, init? Not very supportive, which is why we have to have stronger feet than your average person.

Pumps did take me a long while to get right, but I think I've found a few pair that are a decent balance between staying on and not pinching my toes. I still don't understand how many women manage to slip into their pumps no-handed, yet not walk right out of them afterwards. That's one of the mysteries of life, I guess.

My toe box has a wide girth and I have thin heels, pear shape.  In men's sizes I have to go to a (U.S.) size 9 - 9.5 EEE just to get my toes in.  Then I have about 3/8+ inch gap on each side of my heel.  So my ankle can slide side to side and I can't plant. That led to hundreds of ankle sprains.  But I fit women's size 10 with no problem.  Toes go in easily and heel does not side.

Flat men's sandals never fit, the ankle strap girth was always too long without the strap itself so could never get them to fit.

Because of my large toe box, the vamp or throat of every pump I have ever tried (and there have been many) cuts into my tendons. I have even tried using padding to hold the vamp off the tendons, but it still hurts.

My podiatrist says I have the highest instep arch she has ever seen and recommends (in writing) that I wear shoes with at least a 2.5 inch heel.  She has seen me in 4+ inch stilettos. 

I'm sadden to hear this. I had corresponded with Megan on occasion as well. 

I switched to wearing only women shoes in 2011. Haven't purchase "men's" shoes since. After my last ankle reconstruction, I determine the major reasons for my ankle issues was my foot really didn't fit men's shoes. My foot shape fits so much better in shoes designed for a women's foot. No ankle issues since then. But I am very lucky that I'm mostly a U.S. women's size 10.  I enjoy in-person shoe shopping, since I can try on shoes and decide right there and then if they fit, but I purchase maybe 40% on line. I have about a 60% luck with on-line purchases. And I only buy new shoes.

When I first started purchasing heels higher than 3 inches I would hide them under long pants. I never thought I would be wearing knee high stiletto boots over my skinny jeans. Since then I have embraced the fact that I NEED to wear shoes with at least a 3.75 inch rise, so I no longer hide them, but proudly display them.

I have never found a pump that fits my foot, so I don't even look at them any more. 

Lululemon leggings are nice BUT pricey.  I have legging from various sources.  Compression leggings are great for sporting endeavors. I really like my textured pairs from Express and wished I had bought more therma leggings from VSX while they sold them.  And I do wear them in public with heels.

Today I wore a related garment, the yoga pant. Less compression and flared legs, pic when I have time.

1 hour ago, pebblesf said:

I would really love to try leggings, but have short "chicken legs".  Was thinking about some of those athletic leggings also, even though I'm no athlete...

Short legs, try petite length.  Know you size and look at the different lengths available.