onyourtoes

I was shopping in a nearby Off Broadway Shoes, which is a huge place -- actually larger than the nearby DSW, and with lots more of my size.

I was looking for something with a fairly low heel as I've been having some lower back problems and have found in the past, that a low heel helps to relieve it.

I found a pair of B.O.C., a sub-brand of Born, "Olivia" Mary Janes with 2 3/4 inch wedge heels, see the photo, and took them over to a bench and tried them on.

Many times I don't try on in the store, but I figured if I was going to wear these openly visible at work and other places, I might as well start in the store. Also I didn't want to waste the time having to return them -- many times manufacturers/distributors inaccurately translate European size 41 as 11, where 41 is closer to 9 or 10 at the largest.

They fit fine, and I later noticed they are marked size 43 inside the shoe.

I took them to the register and there were 3 young ladies working together, I doubt they were over 20 years old. The girl who was removing the security gadget looked somewhat confused.

I said, "You look puzzled. Is it because I'm a man buying Mary Janes? I'm sure you sell lots of high heels to men."

The girl at the register responded, "We do, uh, lots. But they're probably for their wives or girlfriends. You tried them on!"

I replied matter-of-factly, "That's because they're for me, and I'll bet most of those other men are buying for themselves, too."

The first girl handed me my bag and said, "That's pretty cool, Mister."

I put them on in the car, went back to the store and modeled them, and showed how well I could walk, heels that low don't even feel like heels. Then I came home, and logged on to High Heel Place.

I know they're too low and wide heeled for many of our members, but for me, they're great, comfortable, shoes. And my back feels great today.

Back on topic... Yes, Crocs and flip-flops get very little respect around here, but this forum goes beyond heels and even shoes -- for example the general fashion and cross-dressing sections. I'm getting older and find I can't wear heels like I used to, but I still love to wear nice/interesting shoes. Since men's shoes are pretty much stuck on flat-heeled black, brown, or white athletic, I frequently wear styles from the other side of the store. For the summer I have some nice green Steve Madden flip-flops with a modest platform and wedge heel, and bright red Crocs. Yes, many think Crocs hideous, but there are, at least to my eye, even worse looking shoes. At least the Crocs are red, and the flip-flops have wedge heels. I also like my Ryka Mary Janes which are heel-less, too. I've had a couple men say they like them, and ask where I got them, along with complements on the flip-flops because they look so thick, sturdy, and comfortable. So, I think there's room in High Heel Place for flip-flops, Crocs with white socks peeking through the holes, MBT's, and white canvas Keds if that's what moves you. Perhaps we need a thread of "Shoe Confessions, My Secret Brown Loafers from Wal-Mart."

The first photo shows the desired thumb space under the toe of a boot with the correct heel height. The next is what happens if you raise the heel too high. If you bend the shank to make the heel vertical, the toe will still be flat. The last shows lowering the heel too much, now the toe is curled up too far. I hope that explains it.

I have: * 3 pairs of black Mary Jane style with 3 1/2 inch block heels. They are identical. I bought the originals at Payless and they became favorites, worn everywhere. Worried about them eventually wearing out, I eventually bought 2 more pairs on eBay. All 3 pairs are going strong. * 4 pairs of Saucony Jazz originals. Blue, Brown, Red, and a spare pair of red because they're my favorites and my trademark among friends. * 2 pairs of Crocs Cayman, Turquoise, and of course Red which is somehow not quite as ugly. * 3 pairs of Japanese geta clogs in unfinished wood with black straps, though from different makers with minor variations that nobody but a shoe nut would notice. There are others which most people would think are the same.

Perhaps she's not even aware of the shoe line. She probably has a company that takes care of licensing her name, image, etc., and all she knows is there's a check at the end of the month. Did Ted Williams approve every Ted Williams outboard motor that Sears sold? Has Michael Jackson ever seen his line of portable cassette players?

I'll be the skeptic and parade rainer. 1. Ad designer used women's shoes as a place holder and the correct images never got inserted 2. Introducing The Mister Shop's new Misses Boutique

Assuming they're leather, you can stretch the toe area. Cowboy boots can be very hard to remove, so as already suggested, get a boot jack. If there's wrinkling over the instep, that's a sign they're too tight and you should go up a half or full size.

To me, they're just another pair of wedge soled boots. Certainly not for the price. I have seen a couple pairs of UGG me-to copies with the traditional UGG style round toes and seam locations, but with middling spike heels. Those I liked, and being rip-offs were probably reasonably priced.

I've noticed I get many more obvious stares when wearing men's shoes that are less than mainstream: my bright red sneakers and Swedish wood soled clogs (Black) come to mind, though one day recently I was wearing tan sneakers and from the stares, had to keep checking that I wasn't wearing 6 inch heels. I recently sat in Starbucks with my 3.5 inch block heel Mary Janes out in plain sight and nobody gave me a second look.

How do like them onyourtoes? Mine fit perfect and can wear them all day. Have you worn them out yet?

At my age, the only thing I can wear all day is under 2 inches, but I have worn them out and to work where I mostly sit. But yes, they are comfy for 4 inch heels.

I got mine early last summer. They're not on target.com anymore, but you may be able to find them at one of the stores. Sorry, and good luck!

A pair of white sandals with approximately 2 inch heels that were about 3 sizes too small for me. My feet hung off the back, but they were my first -- actually they belonged to a friend's sister until I stole them out of their bathroom

I'm sure I couldn't walk in them, but I'm sure I'd enjoy trying

I finally got a chance to take a picture of the boots mentioned in my original post. At least they keep me warm and have opened a dialog with the woman at the donut shop.

I went into a donut shop recently on a snowy day. I was wearing my Payless woman's snow boots, no heel, just tall and warm. The woman working there immediately exclaimed about what great boots I was wearing. I told her they were from Payless and they're actually sold as a woman's style. She then said, "I wear size 11 and half the time end up buying men's shoes. I wish men wore heels, though, then I'd be able to find some that fit."

are you going to bid on them, OYT?

There's a pair of size 10 in brown on eBay, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190184831148

The auction ends December 24, 2007.

They came up with the wedges last year, then went all out with an entire line called You. Look at youbycrocs.com -- they seem quite expensive to me and only come as large as 10.5, maybe a year from now we'll see them on the sale racks. I've got a pair of red, genuine, super-ugly, holes and all, Crocs. I'm not even sure why I bought them except I have a weakness for red shoes. To me more than their ugliness, a bigger problem is I put them on and forget I'm wearing them. I suddenly discover I'm walking around a place like Rodeo Drive wearing red crocs; I'd rather forget to get dressed.

Most of my jeans are women's. I switched over for a few reasons:

My legs are short and men's jeans with a 29 inch inseam are rare in stores, so I buy women's petite sizes.

I like a close fit. Men's jeans are mostly marked relaxed or loose.

I like straight or even tapered legs. Although boot cut dominates both sexes this year, straight and tapered are more common on the other side of the store.

Materials. Men's stretch jeans are still loose or relaxed, no stretching actually occurs, the material just feels softer. Women's actually stretch in places.

It's more fun.

Finding your size:

Don't be shy about trying on women's jeans in the store. If you're at all concerned, just put a pair of men's jeans on top of the pile you carry into the fitting room. I did that the first couple times, graduated to don't care, and have reached putting a skirt on top of the pile to see if anyone notices.

Women's clothing sizes are more based on hip measurement than waist, so you'll find a lot of variation between styles and brands. The following discussion is about US sizes. Perhaps someone can contribute their experiences with other systems.

Waist: To find a good size to start with subtract 20 from your from your men's waist size, i.e. 34 waist wears women's 14.

Length: 29-30 inch, buy petite. 31-32 regular. 33-34 tall.

Low, mid/natural, high waist. Women's jeans fit higher on men's waists, so if you want a low to normal waist, try women's low waisted jeans. Women's mid or natural tend to fit above your waist, and on me high waist women's practically reach my shoulders

Junior sizes: These are the odd sizes 11, 13, etc. Usually go up 1. That is men's 36 waist is women's 16 and junior 17. The waist on juniors usually fits higher.

Plus sizes: Women's plus sizes start around 14 and are bigger than regular women's sizes. A man's 38 is women's 18, but probably 14 or 16 in plus. These are usually generous in the hips so you'll probably find them too baggy.

Clothing in places like Wal-Mart tends to suffer from quite a bit of size inflation. I almost always have to go down a size in both men's and women's clothing from more expensive brands. Being able to fit into a 34 inch waist when you thought you wore 36 makes you like that brand of jeans better.

I usually wear women's 14 or 16, but in the Wal-Mart house brand jeans I buy 12.

Shoes.com has a pair of black in 10, and 9, 9.5 in brown. Although I believe 10 is the largest made, most shoes that have a 9.5 also are available in 11. Zappos has the camel/olive Pixie (same heel & sole) in 8.5, 9, 10, and Shoes.com has them in 9 and 9.5. Shoes.com also has them listed on Amazon. The shoes.com site shows the sizes in both American and European sizes, but neither the shoes, nor the box, are marked that way. They just say 10.

The rest of the pictures are at: http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h104/onyourtoes/Zinc%20MJ/

Heel: a bit over 6 inches

Platform: a bit over 1 inch

Made by: Zinc

Style: Bailey (there's a similar style called Pixie)

Color: Black

Size: US 10M (~41) This is the largest I found.

Source: Zappos.com

Price: $113.95

Material: Leather

Comfort: very good

Walking ease: stable in spite of the height

Fun: Very!

Worn outside: not yet, but I plan to

He'd better not complain about his business slowing down if he's chasing customers away!

Unfortunately, he's one of 2 shoe repair shops in a 30 mile radius, and the other shop is run by buffoons. I'm sure neither shop is exactly making it in this world of plastics, unit bottoms, and a replace rather than repair society.

I suspect most of his business comes from selling and dyeing wedding shoes since he's located next to a bridal shop that appears to not have shoes.

Does anybody know any good Boston area shoe repair shops, or a place that works by mail?

Thanks for all the quick help. To everyone, there is no decent cobbler within 100 miles of here (at least that I've found). There are 2 within a reasonable drive of me: #1 has a reputation for taking months sometimes, losing shoes, and poor work; #2 I went to 3 times. Visit 1 he replaced heel tips and did a great job, second visit he did heels also and after I paid said "Big feet, huh?", undaunted the third time I went in, his daughter came out and tried to diplomatically tell me her old country father wouldn't fix my shoes anymore! Loriette's suggestion on removing the tube sounds good, I may try it if this happens again. (but the metal tips will probably outlast me) So, that leads me to admirer5577's suggestion. I do have available to me the means to hold the shoes, center punch, and drill straight. But, I figured, I should be able to drill whether the pin is flush or further in. I pounded it in and ended up with just enough clear length for the new tip. Job done successfully, and they sound great! Thank you everyone, emergency ended.

I got some metal heel tips from stiletto-heel-tips.co.uk and was putting them on my 5 1/2" Pleaser Domina 2000 boots. I did the left one with no problems, but then I was trying to wiggle the right old tip free, it's metal shaft broke off inside the heel. Is there a way to remove it? Drilling it out seems unlikely, heating the heel to pull out the tube with shaft sounds like another disaster in the making. I probed the heel with a super magnet and it seems the internal metal tube is a few inches long. Is it hollow? Maybe I can just push the old tip up further. (I just checked the OK heel and the tube is hollow for a distance that should just about accomodate the new tip. Should I try that; if it fails, I'll have moved from a nearly impossible extraction to impossible? Any tips:smile: will be appreciated.