Himark

Since the question asked about "normally", I voted for 3". I have some 4" chunky heeled boots that I wear outside from time to time, and on rare occasions I've worn 4" and 5" stilletos out in public. But my Clarks 3" chunky heeled boots (Indigo Saunter) are my every day favorites, to go just about anywhere, anytime.

Everyone's body is different. Every ankle has a limit on how far it will flex, and every person has a different limit. Practice helps, of course, but no amount of practice will allow many people to wear the most extreme heels. I can walk smoothly and effortlessly for long periods in 5" heels, and it took practice to get there. I have a pair of Pleaser Domina boots (advertised as 6" but they actually measure 5.5") that I can walk in, but even after practice, I know I'm a bit awkward in them, and would not wear them in public. And I now know that I've reached my limit, at least to be able to walk somewhat normally. My ankle flexibility was probably better when I was younger. Staggering and tottering about is of no interest to me, and I don't like to see women wearing heels which they can't handle.

Well, that might be true for some of us, but the fact is that most legs, male or female, look better in stockings, and a skirt makes it easier to show them off. A pair of fairly short shorts would work well too.

A year or two ago I bought a pair of boots from Avenue (in the USA), with a blocky heel about 2.5 in high, and they turned out to be the loudest shoes/boots I've ever seen or heard. Walking normally on pavement made sounds like pistol shots! No exaggeration - people a block away turned to look! I think the heels were deliberately designed to be as loud as possible! I had a shoe repair shop put rubber lifts on the bottom and that helped. They were still loud, but not incredibly so. I never thought about filling the hollow space inside. There's an expanding foam insulation material you can get in a dispenser can. I wonder if that would do the trick?

Still can do it at 67!

Sorry, made a mistake in the last post - the saleslady's name at Devon Shoes was Vicki, not Louise.

I haven't tried visiting the Hypatia store since the website disappeared a few months ago, so don't know if it's still in business or not. There are a small number of stores in Vancouver that I've found somewhat useful. Assuming that, like me, you would be looking for larger than usual women's sizes, none of them carry very many in stock, although they will order them for you. Devon Shoes in the Metrotown Centre is good (although a bit pricey), but almost anything I've bought from them had to be specially ordered in the size I wanted (11 in open sandals, 12 in pumps or boots). I've dealt with a lady named Louise, who is very helpful, and encouraged me to try on my purchases in the store. Once when I tried on a pair of sandals with 5 1/4 in. heels (the highest I now own), and was able to walk quite well in them, I overheard one of the staff say to another "I wish some of our women customers could see him"! I've worn a few of my purchases out of the store. Model Express is quite good. They are on E. Hastings, in a rather rough area. They actually do carry a few basic models in larger sizes. The lady there is very helpful (sorry, I don't recall her name), and is quite pleased to have you try on heels in the store. Dare To Wear on Granville street caters to the fetish market, and sometimes has a few large size items in stock. They are quite used to men buying heels. The lady there told me that one reason they don't have many large shoes in stock is that they have some regular male customers who will come in after a shipment has arrived and buy a dozen pairs at a time! Hope some of the above helps.

I tried a pair of shoes with the really long pointy toes, and found that the toe would catch now and then on things like the edges of slightly uneven floor tiles. I foound I had to learn to lift my feet a little more with each step to avoid tripping.

Here's mine:

[quote name='

1.) Men, have you ever worn footwear with an elevated heel? a) Yes. No

a)Yes

2.) Men, have you ever worn footwear with an elevated heel in public? a) Yes. No

a)Yes

3.) Men, how often do you wear elevated heeled shoes in public? Please specify X number of times per week, month or year or never.

Daily

4.) Men, if you wear elevated heeled shoes in public do you also wear other items of clothing that is 'socially determined to be ladies wear'? a) Yes always. Yes sometimes. c) Never only shoes. d) Not applicable.

c)

5.) Men, do your friends, family, work colleagues know of your wearing of elevated heeled footwear? a) Yes, I make no hiding of it. Some yes, but I'm careful who I share it with. c) No, this is not something I share with people outside such similar forums as HHPlace. d) Not applicable

6.) Men, if you do not share the knowledge that you wear elevated heeled footwear with friends, family, work colleagues, please can you provide the main reason why?

7.) Men, have you ever been to a 'Heelmeet' or similar arranged meeting? a) Yes. No. c) I would do if I could travel to such an event.

b)No

8.) Men, if you have attended a 'Heelmeet' how many other men were present also wearing elevated heeled footwear? (please refer to the last Heelmeet you were present at).

9.) Men, if you have attended a 'Heelmeet' in elevated heeled footwear what has been the general public response to your attire with respect to your footwear? a) Mainly positive. Mainly Negative. c) Indifferent/no reaction.

10.) Men, if you have attended a 'Heelmeet' how has the number of men attending wearing elevated heeled footwear changed? a) Generally increased. Generally decreased. c) Increased more recently over the last 2 years. d) other, please specify.

11.) Men, do you feel vunerable in your public surroundings wearing footwear with elevated heels? a) Yes. No. c) Not applicable.

-- Sometimes, depemds on surroudings

12.) Men, have you ever received any public negativity when or for wearing footwear with elevated heels? a) Yes. No

b)no

13.) Men, do you feel that an elevated heeled shoe could ever achieve unisex status as a mainstream fashion item? a) Yes. No.

a)yes

14.) Men, if the elevated heeled shoe ever became a unisex fashion item would it still hold the same appeal to you as the wearer? a) Yes. No. c) The same.

a)yes

15.) Sorry forgot, please could I you to specify your age and country of residence?

66, Canada

QUOTE']

Here's my idea of what men's boots with heels could be and should be. Strappy stilletoes and such are great fun and definitely have their place, but even most women don't wear that kind of footgear on a day to day basis to go to the library or to go grocery shopping. For every day use, most women buy heels that are practical. Recently I purchased a pair of Clarks Indigo Saunter boots in US Women's size 12. Of course I had to order them online (from Zappos), because no local store carries that size. The heel is described as 2 3/4 inches, but in size 12, it actually measures 3 inches. I have a high instep and these boots have a fairly narrow ankle, so I have to struggle a bit to get into them, but once they're on, they fit very well, and they're very comfortable. They have a slightly western look, but are definitely not cowboy boots. I find they are perfect boots to go anywhere, anytime. No challenges, no strange looks, no comments, no worries. 99.9% of us can't afford the heeled men's boots offered by YSL or Dior. If Clarks were to take the Saunter model and modify it just a little, making the whole boot and the ankle somewhat wider, sizing it for men, I wonder how well it would sell from the men's side of the store.

shine .

I've thought about waxing instead of shaving, but never tried it. Unless I'm mistaken, in order for the wax to effectively grab the hair, you have to let it grow out to a certain minimum length, say three or four mm. So each time, before waxing, you'd have to let the hair grow out for days through a prickly stage. My wife's leg hair is quite fine, so she can shave only once a week or so. Mine is much coarser, and I have to do it about every two or three days or it gets prickly.

OK, my third entry, with a different pair of shoes than the first two shots (and still aiming for honorable mention in the over 65 category!!):

I don't know how we senior citizens can possibly compete with the younger members on this board, but here's my contribution, for the over 65 category!

Another thought - Richie, if you are redoing your floors, have you considered one of the new laminate surfaces as an alternative to hardwood. They look very much like wood (sometimes better) but allegedly the laminates are tougher and resist wear and heel marks better than hardwood. Our floors had already been redone in hardwood when we bought this place, but if I were doing them now, I think I'd go for the laminate flooring.

That's true. I realize that the heel loading can change with the way someone stands. Of course, the area of the heel tip makes a huge difference, but my point was that some kitten heels have a very small tip, just as small as most stilletos. Also, metal heel tips are far more damaging than plastic.

A few weeks ago there was a similar thread in the gals only section, but I thought I'd raise the subject again. We just had a visit from my sister, and after she left we were surprised to see some marks and dents on our floors from her heels. She was wearing kitten heels, only about an inch and a half high but with a tip as small as most stillettos. We had never noticed any damage from much higher stilleto heels so I thought about it a bit and did a few calculations. With a higher heel, more of the wearer's weight is tranferred to the ball of the foot, so there is less weight on the heel. When I stand in 5" heels, I notice that it takes very little effort to raise my heels off the floor, because there just isn't much weight on the heels. Let's assume that with flats or kitten heels, approximately 80% of the body weight is on the heels. With 3" heels, there might be 50% on the heels. With 4" heels, I would guess that 70% is on the ball of the foot and 30% on the heels, and with 5" heels, I'd guess that the ratio is 80%/20%. I know these are only rough estimates, but they are good enough to illustrate the point. My wife, who weighs around 140 lbs., wearing 3" heels, would put 140x.5= 70 lbs weight on the heel. With a 4" heel, that would drop to 140x.3= 42 lbs. If I weigh 190 lbs., then I would put 57 lbs. weight on a 4" heel, and only 38 lbs on a 5" heel. But my sister, who is lighter than either of us at 130 lbs., puts a whopping 104 lbs on her 1.5" kitten heels! Amazing when you do the math!

When buying heels I frequently end up with shoes that are too long because I had to go up a size or two in order to get enough width. With pumps, I find the extra length results in heels that slip off even when the front is too narrow. The only shoes or boots I've found that fit reasonably weell are the wide sizes sometimes available at Payless and some of the Cloudwalkers which come in W or WW sizes. What I find surprising is that more manufacturers of heeled shoes don't make their largest sizes available in wide widths. They must be aware that most of their customers for those sizes are male.

This thread seems to have wandered a bit. Back to the original subject with something I noticed just recently. Some shoes seem to be designed deliberately to wobble. With many high heel shoes, there is a definite flat spot when I rock from side to side, and that makes it easy not to wobble. But I have a pair of 5" pumps by Ellie that has no such flat spot. The sole in front seems to be very slightly rounded, and if I rock from side to side, they roll smoothly with no hint of a flat spot. It seems to me that they are designed to encourage a bit of wobble!

I wonder if I'm the only one who notices this, or do other people have the same experience. For the past ten years I've rarely worn any shoes with less than 2 inch heels (for medical reasons, flat shoes are very unconfortable for me - truth!). So now I find that 2 inch heels feel completely flat, but, surprisingly, the feel of the slight rise when I change to 2 1/2 or 3 inch heels is quite noticeable when walking. Strangely, if I go to 3.5 or 4 inch heels, the feeling of height seems less noticeable, and the shoes can actually feel flatter. At these heights, more of my weight shifts forward onto the front of my feet, and I'm putting less weight on my heels. At 4.5 to 5 inches, the height becomes much more noticeable again, and I reach my limit at 5.5 inches. I've tried and found I can't walk properly in 6 inch heels, only totter. I wear US Womens size 12, so if any women wearing smaller sizes feel the same kind of thing, I would expect it might occur at a somewhat lower height, say a half inch less at the 3 or 4 inch levels.

Are these sold only in Dior boutiques, or are there other stores that carry Dior products? When I checked the Dior website for North America, there were only two locations shown, one in New York City and one in Las Vegas. Does anyone know if these can be purchased in Canada?

JeffB, Just a little note of caution. I've found out the hard way (something that I guess most women already know) that driving in heels often results in scuff marks on the backs of the heels. Many women change into a pair of sneakers for driving, not because driving in heels is difficult, but to avoid damaging their good shoes.

I'd buy those in a minute if they came in a size 12US.

Yes, these boots are very comfortable. They have leather uppers, a rubber sole and a 2 inch rubber heel (quiet). I've been wearing them everywhere. I'm disappointed that the fabric lining is wearing through even though the boots are in good condition otherwise. The boots are size 12W (US) and I bought them at a Payless store in the US. The stores I tried in Canada did not carry them in that size, and Payless does not ship outside the US.

Sadly, according to their website, Zappo's doesn't ship to Canada.