Heelfan

Hello Loveheel, Sightings like yours are great, as they use this wonderful phenomenon the the Web to bring us news of high heels being worn in all sorts of unexpected parts of the world. Keep such sightings coming everone! Cheerfully yours, Heelsfan

Ok Laurie, we understand! Maybe the answer is that one of these days YOU can arrange to be the subject by venturing out your most sensational high heels (or a good excuse to get some new ones especially!) and arrange for someone ELSE (may be Chris or a mutual friend) to do the sighting and post it on this topic-board for our enjoyment! Cheerfully yours, Heelsfan.

Come on Folks! Here we are on the world's premier high-heel site visited by you, the World's countless high heel fanatics who are right-now being offered the GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY to post here and share with us the ultra-exciting topic of YOUR BEST-EVER ALL-TIME HIGH HEEL SIGHTINGS, and what have we got so far? A TINY handful of replies! Come on Folks, RE-CAPTURE YOUR MOST CHERISHED SIGHTINGS AND ENRICH ALL OUR LIVES! GO FOR IT! Cheers, Heelsfan

Inept (very sadly!) - no camera at the ready (even more sadly!)

Thought you'd all like a run-down on my sightings in Bristol city centre last night (Saturday - pubbing & clubbing night!). Main observations: 1) Now lots and lots and lots of shoes and boots with stilettos everywhere, and the clod-hopping 'pod' styles seem to be finally almost vanished (three cheers!). Also, the dreaded all-concealing jeans were fortunately in the minority, with lots of short dresses, mini skirts and micro-skirts everywhere, showing the high heels off to best advantage! However, unfortunately the hundreds of stilettos all seemed to be no higher that about 3.5" or 4" maximum. Only one ACE pair seen all the evening - 5" stilettos on a girl's laced 'workboot-style' ankle-boot. I wonder if the lamentable (nay can we say 'criminal'?) lack of 4" plus is due to a lack or daring on the manufacturer's part, or the wearing public's part(?). 2) Although the girl's clumpy, pod, and clod-hopping styles have now thankfully all-but disappeared, one style than was still being worn in large numbers last night was the black knee-boot with the very thick platform and the very high heels, 1" to 1.5" thick. You all know the ones! I was mystified as to why this style has survived and why all those same girls had not gone on to black knee boots with modern platform-less very high stiletto heels. 3) Amongst the many stilettos seen last night, one style seen on quite a number of girls was a d'orsay in sand-coloured suede with the odd gold-metal decoration. Curiously, whenever someone walked past in a pair of these, they were ALL flip-flopping off their feet! None were fitting and gripping. I think maybe because the d'orsay style has no sides to the uppers, it allows the toe-section to be distorted forwards a bit and the heel-section to be distorted backwards a bit, releasing the foot to slop in and out of the shoe. Anyway, the girls wearing them all seemed totally unconcerned, and I liked it, so everyone is happy! 4) One teenage Oriental girl wore ankle boots with 3.5" stilettos, tilting very alarmingly inwards on them as if she'd totally given-up trying to keep them vertical. Later on a saw another blond girl wearing boots with a similarly pronounced outward tilt to her heels. I mused to myself as to would happen if they got together and changed boots for their next evening out. Would both pairs of stilettos be magically corrected back to vertical? 5) At 10.45pm, the theatre crowd came out of the Hippodrome having been to see the show Saturday Night Fever. Two men were together with their wives and were wearing 3.5" block heels with thin platforms. Before I could ask them whether they were members of these forums, they were into a taxi and away. I've only ever in my life sighted about four or five other guys wearing high heels in public, so it was a big surprise to see two together! SUMMARY) For keen heel-spotters, the current climate in Bristol is probably the best it's been since the dying-out in the late 1980s of the last stiletto fashion. Plenty of variety of heels and styles around up to 4". However, I'm not seeing the return in any numbers of the REALLY exciting 4.5" or 5" stilettos, and certainly nothing whatsover in the occasional 5.5" or 6" sighting that really used to make my month! In fact, these days, just one such up-to-date sighting would make my year! Cheerfully yours, Heelsfan.

No Firefox, I disagree entirely that it's largely psychosematic. It's not psychosematic at all! If, for a moment, we strip-away stylistic differences between male and female footwear and ignore things like high heels and ultra-pointed toes, we can do a straight comparison of say, ordinary flat loafers: The vast majority of men's are made in stiff unyeilding thick hide leather, whereas for women's it is much thinner softer leather, calfskins etc. that instantly feel so much more comfortable on the foot. The vast majority of men's soles are in thick, very inflexible hide leather, whereas the great proportion of women's soles are in much thinner, more flexible materials including rubber and thin composition soles etc. The average woman's version has the uppers lower-cut, not only re. the amount of instep covered, but also around the sides and back, which avoids men's high sides whick can dig-in to the ankle bones. The three above factors all combine to make the overall weight vastly less, which is vastly kinder to the foot. So, all in all, the woman's version with far greater flexibility, lower-cut to avoid irritating the ankles and instep, and far lighter on the foot is INFINITELY MORE COMFORTABLE in every way. I know, because in the process of being drawn towards wearing women's shoes because of the usual sexy aspects of heels and ultra-femine styles, it immediately hit me very markedly that women's ORDINARY unsexy flats, casuals and loafers are so much more pleasant to wear that the ostensibly similar-looking men's versions. Thus for many years now, ALL of my shoes are from the women's department, even though only 50% or less are for thew sexy, heely side of my life life. The others all look perfectly masculine or unisex, and have been purchased PURELY on the grounds of the vastly improved comfort, lightness and flexibility alone. I still try to shop in the men's departments from time to time when I need an ordinary pair to wear with a suit or whatever, but always end up groaning in frustration at the thundering great clod-hopping design and cut, and and the awful stiff, unyielding and inflexible materials used throughout. Dynamite the whole world's men's departments, get all the women's shoes made in ALL sizes (yes. including the boring, flat frumpy styles too) and the comfort-factor for the whole human race will soar! Cheerfully yours, Heelsfan

Having only this week set-up this topic, today I was gobsmacked to be confronted with the most amazing and unexpected high-heel spectacle that ranks with my best-ever sightings! I and my two were invited to a wedding this afternoon at Bowden Hall, a very large hotel in lovely grounds on the outskirts of Gloucester (UK). It was a lavish wedding with well over 100 guests, all dressed-up in their very finest. Shoe-wise, it was the best collection of ladies stilettos that I've seen in one place at one time for many a long year. The six bridesmaids were dressed in lilac satin gowns, but their shoes were a puzzle as five of them were in matching lilac blade-heels and the sixth one was in dead flat lilac Mary-Janes. However, the guests' shoes were GREAT. A few slim wedges and blades were in evidence, but I counted at least forty splendid pairs of new-looking stilettos ranging from 2" upwards with many 4" pairs and two 5" winning pairs. At last (thank goodness!) there was not a single ungly, clump pair of 'Pod' style horrors to be seen ANYWHERE! There is a broad, gravel terrace running along the front of the hotel, and the photographer took shots of the whole group posing there in front of the hotel's facade. Then I couldn't believe what happened next!: From the outer edge of this terrace, a very steeply sloping area of grass descends very sharply for about forty yards down to a flatter lawn behind which is a small lake. The photographer beckoned the ENTIRE GATHERING to descend the grassy slope in order to pose in front of the lake. Suddenly I was confronted with the unbelievably awesome sight of dozens of ladies, all in teetering stilettos, all ordered to march straight ahead down this steepest of grassy inclines. It hadn't rained lately, so the ground was bone-hard and instead of sinking-in, their heels stayed ultra-high at the back whilst their toes descending sharply forwards to the slope, pitching all their bodies forwards. As they found themselves forcibly gathering speed, alarm spread on all their faces. Miraculously, none of the ladies actually fell right over. but they were frantically lurching in all directions with heels giving-way, bodies catapulting forward or lurching sideways, and many ladies being forced to break into an involuntary rum down the full length of the slope, to the sound of a chorus of undignified cries and little screams. It immediately reminded me of Lucy's Story No. 11 (currently visible on Jenny's girl's forum), except that today's ladies weren't drunk or sinking into the putting green! Before the foolhardy photographer could take any photographs by the lake, there was much delay and taking on-and-off-ands-peering-at of shoes to check the poor heels for damage and scuffing, plus much rubbing and massaging of feet and ankles! All the many menfolk could do (dressed in their dinner jackets and bow ties) was to stand by and watch it all happen! That runaway uncontrolled helter-skelter-in-a -myrid-of-stilettos cascading down the great long, sloping bank will stick in my mind as a favourite memory for the rest of my life! More sightings please folks! Cheerfully Yours, Heelsfan

I think I did the same as ALL of you: During my initial postings I was lumbered with the dreaded comfy loafer (I'd like to get hold of the sadist who cunningly chose THAT one!) without knowing I could lift myself on to better and higher things. In fact, I was just about to commit suicide due to the sheer shame of being associated with that DREADFUL monstrosity when luckily I happened upon a megaforum page (I forget where it is now) that gave a chart of our progress into higher and higher stuff and the real business! Very cunning indeed! There's method in the mind of that apparent sadist! So, all of us, ONWARDS AND UPWARDS! Cheers, Heelsfan.

Just a final call (with only a week to go now!) - "All aboard that's comin' aboard!": FUN SUMMER 2003 HEEL-MEET AND SHOPPING/EATING/CHATTING/PUBBING DAY! OXFORD (U.K.), NEXT SATURDAY 12th JULY 10 am to EVENING!. MEET OUTSIDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY BOOKSHOP, 106 HIGH STREET, OXFORD AT 10 am (ANYONE DELAYED - RING FIREFOX'S MOBILE 07941 172043). GUYS AND GALS ALL MOST WELCOME (WHETHER IN HEELS OR NOT) TO MAKE IT A GREAT DAY! Islebeeseeingyuh! Cheerfully yours, Heelsfan

Yes, I'll stick to 'Yobbos' or 'Thugs'. Sorry, we digress from the topic, so can I get back to asking everyone for more Worst and Best Reactions received, please? Cheers, Heelsfan.

Hello Micha! Thank you for your constribution to the survey (excellent English!) and for telling us the German words for 'faggot'. I was intrigued when you mentioned your Mother's 'funny reaction' when you told her about your heels. Can you say any more about this for us? 'Oiks' and 'Yobbos' are not necessarily racist. They are simply the rough and uncouth young men that the city centres of most nations suffer from, often drinking too much beer these days and picking fights with anyone - particularly with football supporters. Also known as hooligans, ruffians, bovver boys, roughnecks, scamps, curmudgeons, knaves, misfits, varlets, scoundrels, hoddypeaks and youths involved in bawdy behavior of the worst order and the commissiuon of disgraceful deeds, not to mention harrassing one innocent Heelfan! Cheers, Heelfan.

Can we hear YOUR best-ever all-time sighting please, each of you? Yours in eager anticipation!, Heelsfan.

Difficult question this, because I have at least four or five memories that are so good that they class as a dead-heat. Anyway, to choose just one for now: Around 1987 I attended an auction sale in Penzance, South-West UK. At the view in the morning, I noticed not just one but TWO girls attending together and wearing identical very high-heeled boots. They were around 20 and 30 years old respectively (the girls, not the boots!). The boots were brand new and they had obviously only just bought them together from the same place. 5" very thin stiletto heels, no platform, pointed toes and they were ankle boots with the top part being in very thin floppy leather that furled around their ankles. The important part of the sighting is that the heels were much too high for both girls, and neither girl could keep their heels upright, both allowing their ankles to start turning inwards as the tension increased. The morning auction view involved a lot of standing around and josting about and no sitting-down whatsoever. By the time the lunch-break was called, BOTH pairs of ankles looked very tired and the two pairs of very tall heels were leaning inwards so drastically that many of the auction-goers had started to notice their plight. For the lunch break, they left the auction room to look for a restaurant in the town, with many of us close behind. The pavements throughout Penzance are uneven granite paving stone and cobblestones. The two girls bravely forged ahead with their ankles wallowing inwards worse than ever and the heels wobbling and dipping towards the ground. It was a miracle that no ankle gave-way completely. The sit-down in the restaurant gave them some much-needed respite, but the return walk to the auction room was just as spectacular, with a predictable trail of auction-goers following close behind like the tail of a comet. One of the two girls suddenly looked behind her for some reason, saw about thirty pairs of eyes transfixed on her and her friend's capsizing heels and blushed a furious shade of bright red. The afternoon was even more of an ordeal for them because when the bidding started, all the seats were taken and the pair of them had to stand at one side (they were bidding for a large banjo and one or two other musical items) throughout the entire proceedings with their leg and ankle muscles getting tireder and tireder. Most of us had left our cars in the railway station car park, and at the end of the sale, as we all walked the several hundred yards to our cars, the two girls were in a fairly pitiful state, hobbling incredibly slowly down the hill with their heels now keeled over at such an absurd angle that everone in the street paused to gaze at them and the amazing state of their near-collapsed high-heeled boots. Since then, I have often wondered whether their problem was that the heels had been set incorrectly on the boots, or whether, by coincidence both girls were weak-ankled and could not master an entire day on 5" stilettos. I also wondered whether either of them attempted to wear them again one future occasions! Cheerfully yours, Heelfan

Firefox - Does your above posting suggest that there might be another Euro Meet in the offing? Tell us more! Will you post it in the 'Fun Shopping and Meetings ....' Section? Cheers, Heelfan.

For Girls - get anywhere near Marilyn Monroe's image and you won't go far wrong. For Guys - only Boy George and Julian Clarey(?) have the faces to pull it off; for the rest of you .................. NAH! Cheers, Heelsfan

Thank you JimC for the clarification, and that's a good observation about words for gays and a chain! Thank you to all who have contributed to this survey so far - it is extremely fascinating! Already I think I detect a trend emerging: WORST REACTIONS: Mainly the young - precocious youngsters through to giggling schoolgirls through to young oiks and yobbos. BEST REACTIONS: Older, more mature people and especially women! Maybe this indicates that tolerence, insight and even genuine sympathetic understanding might come with age, and maybe with the feminine gifts of warmth and intuition? Anyway, let's see ................ more responses please guys! Cheerfully yours, Heelsfan.

Thank you JimC for the clarification, and that's a good observation about words for gays and a chain! Thank you to all who have contributed to this survey so far - it is extremely fascinating! Already I think I detect a trend emerging: WORST REACTIONS: Mainly the young - precocious youngsters through to giggling schoolgirls through to young oiks and yobbos. BEST REACTIONS: Older, more mature people and especially women! Maybe this indicates that tolerence, insight and even genuine sympathetic understanding might come with age, and maybe with the feminine gifts of warmth and intuition? Anyway, let's see ................ more responses please guys! Cheerfully yours, Heelsfan.

Thank you Highluc for your kind contributions to this little survey. The interest shown by the 30-year-old ice-cream-selleress was GREAT. After her next visit, don't forget to tell us what she thought of the entire might of your site (including your amazing collection, and 'Poor Boy' and all your other stories etc.!), but DON'T tell your cardiologist that you're dashing out in various heels for all that yummy cholesterol! Regarding the Belgian van driver shouting 'Faggot', I'm not familiar with that term here in the UK (except as a bundle of firewood or a meatball), but one of the American heelers recently posted that he had been called a 'Faggot' in the States. Does it means perhaps a 'Gay' perhaps, or maybe a 'Pratt/Walley/Nerd/Jerk etc.' Only asking because it sounds as if me or some of the other UK street-heelers might start getting called 'Faggot' at some stage, and we'll then know what we are supposed to be (over and above being van-capsizers, of course!). Cheerfully Yours, Heelsfan.

Hello Highluc - thanks for contributing some philosophical thought to the debate in your usual profound and eminently intellectual way. Also though, on a more down to earth level that I am sure we would all also enjoy immensely, why not treat us to a couple of actual anectdotes of the best and worst reactions to your OWN heel-wearing. Judging by all of your awesome and relentless activity, surely you can share a couple of memorable moments with us interested rank-and-file heelers? Cheerfully yours, Heelsfan.

Worryingly, today Jagman has posted on the 'old' Heels For Guys Forum (Firefox's Aesthetic High Heels For Men site) his observation that the guy's street-heeling movement is getting nowhere, and public tolerance for it is plummeting. Does this mean Jagman that you have been getting adverse reaction, and if so, can you can you post it here under 'Worst Reaction'?, and maybe amplify your conclusions with other details? Cheers, Heelsfan.

WORST REACTION: As I reported recently on the 'Aesthetic Heels For Men' site, my worst experience (and in fact, in over 30 years of public heel-wearing, my ONLY really bad moment) happened in my city centre last month when I was taking a late-night stroll in my black 4" blade-heeled Barratt's ankle boots with only a very discreet 1" or so of heel showing below my longish trousers. Unfortunately I found myself walking past past a stationery gang of yobbos. One of them must have had the eyes of a hawk, and I think he must have seen my blade heels from the side which made them look more like stilettos. From behind me I heard an almightly uproar, and I suddenly realised they were all bellowing at me! Some of them quickly circled in front of me, calling me an "F---ing pervert!" and after the gang penned me up against a shopfront, the head bully-boy came forward and asked me what was going on and why was I crippling my feet. He began thundering at all the passers-by "Look, he's got his wife's shoes on!" and the gang were all pointing at my feet. He tried to emulate a plain-clothed policeman (which would have been pretty laughable in normal circumstances) and tried to get me to face the wall and spreadeagle myself. For a few minutes I was convinced that I would get duffed-up, but I managed to face them down and eventually extricate myself by saying several times over in a loud, commanding voice that it was none of their business. They then got bored and melted away, and so did I! I would add that the episode hasn't put me off street-heeling, and I'm looking forward to attending the Oxford Meet on 12th July '03 (yes, in heels!). BEST REACTION: (apart from my super wife's continuous understanding and great support) occurred in my single days over 30 years ago when I was sitting at a table in a London coffee shop waiting for a blind date to arrive. I was beginning to think I had been too rash in wearing my supple light-brown spanish shoes with dark-brown 4.5" cuban heels, which were 100% visible to everyone due to my trouser-legs being pulled-up due to my sitting position. First, a black guy at the next table nodded down at them and said 'Yeah Man .... So Cool ........ they're all RIGHT!, and just then a cheery girl (my date) rushed over, sat down, introduced herself to me and straight-away grinned down at my shoes, saying they were 'Quite nice'. As if that wasn't enough to break the ice, she then APOLOGISED for turning-up in virtually flat shoes and said that in the circumstances she would be too short walking beside me. I immediately took the cue and offered to buy her any high heels of her choice, and after a few polite protests she allowed me to take her to a couple of shoe shops before she chose a knockout pair of yellow 4" stilettos which she proceeded to wear for the rest of the date, and several more dates afterwards. So much for me having worried about putting on my cuban heels! OK guys, it's your turn! Cheerfully yours, Heelsfan

It will be fascinating for us all (and especially for the many shy heel-guys trying to pluck up courage to step outside) to hear about your personal VERY WORST and the VERY BEST reactions from strangers who have spotted your high-heel-wearing. We might get some some bravado from the "It's a doddle" brigade who might be tempted to brush any negative comments under the carpet, and at the other extreme some self-pity from the shy-guys who might well dwell on the bad reactions at the expense of ignoring the good. This is only going to be a true survey if you ALL throw-off any such personal bias and report the worst and best comments in a 100% even-handed manner. If no-one actually SAID anything on these occasions, at least report their expressions and other reactions. I'll start the ball rolling with my own experiences on my next posting, below: Cheerfully Yours, Heelsfan

Nice boots, but a higher heel (even a little bit) would make them more exciting. Also, I've never been too keen on waisted heels that flare out again at the bottom. It seems like 'cheating', whereas heels that taper down to their thinnest part at the bottom add to the challenging effect of wobbly precariousness. Still, all-in-all, nice boots! Cheers Heelfan

I don't think you can beat the sexiness of the 'click-click-click' of steel-tipped stiletto heels. I remember in my mid teens when my very first girlfriend had her stilettos re-shod in rubber, those same shoes seemed so meek and tame afterwards. It seemed to take all the fun and the daring excitement of stiletto heels away! I agree with Firefox that the steel tips are great for attracting (much-deserved!) attention, and obviously Jenny realised this when she added the sound-effects to her heel-teasing page. Cheerfully yours, Heelfan.

Tonight in Bristol City Centre I enjoyed watching a pair of girls negotiating the cobbled surfaces in high heels. The right-hand girl wore black boots with extremely high very shiny gold stiletto heels, and her right heel had a pronounced outward lean which worsened now and again as knobbly cobbles twisted her ankle this way and that. She looked mightily relieved to finally get into a taxi, but no doubt she'll be back to 'Hit the Town' again next week in those same mind-blowing heels. Following that I admired the even-higher heeled black boots worn by another young girl. The heels were thicker, but the shape of the foot-part was evil, forcing the instep vertically up from the square toe of the boot. The heels were obviously far too high for her and as she stood around waiting for a taxi, she kept lifting the toe of one foot and then the other to ease the ultra-steep angle of her ankles. So sexy! Heelfan.