bob2hh

These are the boots I referred to in my previous post:

http://e.imagehost.org/view/0648/DSC00001c.jpg

http://e.imagehost.org/view/0329/DSC00004d.jpg

Frankly speaking, yours are more beautiful. My hat is off to you !

Saludos,

Congratulations for the video, these are very nice boots indeed. Please confirm they are 1to3 (second brand of "El Dantes") What size are they? Where did you buy them? Talking about this brand, this actual collection are among the best Spanish made cost/quality/design ratio you can find in regular Spanish shops for high heel boots nowadays. If you happen to fit 41 comfortably they are definitely worth. True to size, comfortable, warm, reasonably priced, perfect heel height ... perfect for winter. Only problem is size ending in 40 in most places, but you can still find 41s in big towns. For non-Spanish residents you can find them in the Internet, but the fact you can try them on in real shops, together with the generally speaking excellent service you find there from the salesmen/women makes the shopping experience excellent. I finally ended up buying a different model than yours form the same brand, 13 cms heel as well, but in black. Shoe shop is "Cadira", in Pelayo Street, Barcelona, Spain. I find they match a wider range of trousers and they suit as well a wider range of places and occasions to wear them to. I am sorry I did not find any picture in the Internet doing them justice, if you want I will take some pictures myself if it interests you. Just a final curiosity question: At what time did you go into the supermarket? I only find them so empty at 10 am when they open, at lunch time or 5 minutes before they close at night. Saludos from Barcelona,

Dear KH,

Greetings from a street-heeler from Barcelona. Original.

I happen to live not too far to Sagrada Familia, so I got quite shocked to realize you were here so close, and the next answer with a view I see every day when I wake up !!!

Take for granted that I would not have missed to at least try to meet you in person, we would have had a very funny time.

This is what happens when you read this excellent forum too much from time to time.

This city is very tolerant; I am just coming back from shopping in the city centre and almost nobody gives a toss about heeling. I took the underground and the bus back home; I am quite sure that only one lady noticed and she gave me a beautiful smile. Usual boots: Wedge-style boots (solid as rocks, you can walk on every floor on these) 5 inch heel. Good leather quality, they fit fine and are a pleasure to be worn.

Normality is the key attitude. Somebody will think you have a peculiar taste in footwear, but absolutely nothing more than this.

Again, it would have been very nice meeting you.

Hasta la proxima ! (Till next time)

Regards,

Something fun happened last night in Barcelona. I went out to Club 13 in the heart of the Gothic Barrio. As I was tired from a long, long day of people watching and sight seeing, I didn't spruce up much for the night: red ruched side INC shirt, shiny Calvin Klein sport jacket, red Zara coat, Seven Jeans (bootcut--eeck!), and Nine West stiletto boots with a 4" heel.

Apparently, the manager of the club liked my shoes. As soon as I walked into the club, I went downstairs to the dance floor bar to get a drink. Then, the manager, who looked like the lead singer from Midnight Oil, came down to me and told me how much he liked my shoes. He held his thumb up and even gave me a little square card good for a free drink. As the bartender was already mixing my drink, he told her to add more liquor to my drink!

About another thirty minutes passed by when a girl with a camera came by and asked if she could take my picture for the Revive La Noche (bring back the night) web site. I said sure and you can see my "drab" outfit HERE.

After I finished my one cocktail, I went home, alone, and fell fast asleep. Barcelona is indeed a great city...

Liebe Michael,

Certainly you won't have any problems in Mallorca, besides perhaps a gang of beer-drunk german hoolingans coming out of a bar and finding you upfront - which I know you can handle with an arm and a leg broken.

I personally believe the most traditionally open minded island is Ibiza, with a strong tradition into the hippy movement back into the '60s. In Ibiza there are especialized high-heel shops from Luichiny (www.luichiny.com). Some interesting shops in Sant Antoni de Portmany as well.

My favourite place is Formentera, just a small island south of Ibiza. These are kind of places I strongly recommend you to visit. And high heeling there is certainly not going to make anybody bat an eye.

I recommend you to spend 1-2 days there if you can arrange it.

Grussen,

Dear Michael, To me, as a reasonably travelled latin guy, the answer is that in Southern cultures the climates makes people live more in the outside of the houses. This means they tend to mess more in others' lives. Add to this some ignorance and despostism and the cocktail is ready. This is why traditionally southerns people tend to be more racists, extremists in religions, etc. This is why my favourite heeling time is winter here. The other day I was in a city at late evening time. 1 degree celsius. I was walking around in thigh high boots and hardly anyone said anything. Cold makes people more quiet, more calmed down somehow. Only one comment was heard: "after all, he does not harm anyone, and it shows off good taste". However, nowadays the cultural mixture has steered societies enough to consider that the situation is pretty much equalized, especially in cosmopolite cities as where I live (Barcelona). However, if you come here you have to be shielded to the fact that the number of double takes and comments will no doubt be higher. But as we say: "dog that barks does not bite". Grüssen,

I am from Spain.

My personal experience is that you can go pretty well anywhere here with your heels, especially in big cities and cosmopolite, touristically traditional areas.

Several answers from the VOGUE thread are coming from people who is not strong enough to form their own opinions, and need to follow the typical stereotype since they are not capable of forming an opinion on something which breaks their actual sense of what is "normal".

But there are many people in Spain which are very open minded and cuturally advanced, who would either accept the notion of a man in heels, or if they don't like it, let you live with it anyway (which is also OK and respectable to me).

Please don't put all the people of Spain in the same basket.

If any of you would like to visit a Spanish heel-wearers forum, go to

http://www.taconesdeaguja.foro.st

Regards,

Definitely, in progressive, modern cities I believe you can wear what you like and nothing really happens.

Me too. I use to wear these boots:

I have pointier and higher-heeled ones, but the degree of control on the bike is far lower and safety is first. This is a reasonable compromise.

It looks like this is simply not the right cabinet to file this in.

Dear Daz, I know of a similar case, where the lady in question left a good friend of mine by preferring one of his work colleagues. 7 years later, my friend is happily married with another lovely lady, and the work colleague that slept behind his back with his former girlfriend made the mistake of marrying her. Not only he has been tagged as an "unreliable person" to all of us, but he has lost in her favour through a painful divorce no less than half million euros (house, car, ...). So who has been the fortunate guy at last ? Think about this. Unreliable for one aspect means unreliable for many other aspects. Who knows if this might have been the best that could have happened to you. If you did nothing wrong, you must find your strength into this, but this is a truly personal, undelegable job. Regards, Bob.

Hi guys, I am from Barcelona as well. Keep in touch, Bob.

Dear Daz, I guess that if your mum really loves you, as long as she realizes that in heels or not you are still the very same person, she should end up accepting it. A good point should be to show her that, after all, they are only shoes. Regards, Robert.

It is interesting that there are ways of sensing the potential acceptance capacity of the people who surrounds you and not yet know that you are into heels. One of the most revealing in my experience is their kind of comments regarding new fashion trends. Open minded comments who show a broad range of acceptance concening shapes, colours, materials, etc., and some liking of the fact that sometimes you have to go a bit against the the "common rules" is an excellent indicator that such person could be seriously confronted with the idea of seeing you in heels in a potentially successful way. After all, nobody is going to break relationships from you because you try on a "funny" shirt or sweater. Risk is minimal, and the information gathered can be the key to open a further step.

Just a word of caution: Check first very carefully if you have real chances of being understood and accepted. Otherwise, think over it twice and make a balance between the pros and cons of what you intend to do and its potential consequences. It is far better to end up with a pleasant surprise than a rather unpleasant one. I read some posts time ago by Anita C. where she explained very well the kind of cautions to be taken. I am not discouraging you to try it, but first sense very carefully the land you are about to venture in.

Just a few days ago the lamp in the toilet ceiling died.

The very next day, my wife bought a replacement lamp. My surprise was that when I arrived home she handed the lamp to me and told me “why don’t you get your cool sandals on and get the lamp fixed?”.

I have to confess I never would have had such a clever idea!

And It worked fine, it saved me from going to the house warehouse for a stair, since I could reach the ceiling by hand (with these I am 1,95 mts!).

This is a pic of the sandals. 18,5 cms high.

Besides this, you can even forget turning the house power off. Could you think of a better electrical insulation than having 9 cms of cork under your feet?

This proves that high heels not always are unpractical. A reason more to keep one such pair in house, they can be perfect for electrical repair works at home.

Best regards,

Bob.

I will simply offer you my warm welcome and any comment / information / support you may request.

Dear Pablo, After reading your introduction, It seems you have all the ingredients for coming out in heels as often as you like, whenever you gain the necessary confidence. If she teases you in heels, you can take good advantatge of it. It definitely CAN BE DONE, as many members here can prove. I am sure we all will be ready for any advice. Regards, Robert.

I believe that English people are more flematic and are more used to extravagant attitudes, or simply excentric.

So xaphod is perhaps partly right: In more latin-oriented countries, the "macho" stereotype has a lot of tradition, but it is a specimen in strong recession, which tends to bind himself with not the most intelligent female specimens, so their future is ... let's say "dark". But there are still some, and they do make noise.

The remainders of this, together with the fact that we are more expressive people might explain why in Paris, Madrid or Rome people would notice more and would express more easily their comments if suddenly confronted with the image of a man in heels.

But I don't see any of them in the mood of coming to the "physical aggression", as long as you don't go to clearly problematic marginal areas or head up to problematic groups of people (extremists).

We usually say in Spain "Perro ladrador poco mordedor" ("Barking dog doesn't bite"). This is what should be kept in mind for the occasional comment, which, by the way, is very rare if you dress up in a smart and coordinated way.

Chér kromozome, I am sure that you would not have any problem in any European cosmopolite city. Or, if you go to summer holiday places you would find that "everyting goes". Think about Ibiza, or the French riviera.

Wasn't in the French riviera where Luc (Highluc) started with his public outings ? I am sure he could tell you a lot. Take a look to his website and read his history, you could perhaps draw some good ideas.

http://highheel.be/

I personally would not have any problem to walk in the center of Paris in reasonable discreet heels. And I would venture much more in Cannes, for instance.

Salutations,

Robert.

Dear shyguy, I believe you mention out a good point: these shoes are not especially fancy, sexy, spectacular or especial at all. Sure most of us have much higher and fancier heels. But these "modest" heels made something possible which otherwise in other most "extreme" designs would have been impossible, or at least much more difficult. It turns out that sometimes LESS is MORE.

As long as only a few steps were made on the shoes ... Otherwise just imagine the "bouquet" that champagne would get if drunk into shoes used for miles walking, especially in summertime ! Call me a bore, but I would prefer to drink in a regular glass. Aaaaghhh !

Altough this topic has been addressed a number of times, I would like to add my little contribution to these key topics. Since it concerns men and women, and both opinions are relevant, I feel this is the best place to put it. Please apologize me if this topic had been addressed before, feel free to move it to the relevant thread if the administrators found it made better sense elsewhere.

Let me share with you the story on how I managed to get my wife accepting me going out in heels.

I got the following clogs on a Friday:

On that very evening, when showing them to my wife under long pants, I was telling her how comfortable they were. She gave them a try, and when I took them back to me. I realized she liked them, so I suggested “what about going out in them?. We could perhaps find the same model in your size”. She told me that it was OK to her as long as we would not go to places where we could meet people who could not understand it (e.g. her parents). She agreed again that they were definitely nice and comfortable.

So I went out with her in the clogs that weekend, going to the mall, to walk by the seaside, to the cinema, to bars and restaurants, with absolutely no negative reaction at all. Pity was that we did not find any shop with the same model for her!

Taking into account that when seated the heel was completely visible, this reassured me that as long as the overall outfit is not too outrageous nobody cares.

Thinking over it, I believe that the naturality in which I expressed I was feeling comfortable in them was the key for her acceptance. She was simply expressing that it was fine to her to let me wear something I liked and I found comfortable, which was no especially outrageous at all, and hardly visible for others.

But the really interesting point happened a few days later: She confessed that her fears of being seen with me in heels were exaggerated, that even if we had met some elder relatives this was not so much an issue as she could have expected, that nowadays everybody dresses as they wish and it is no big deal at all.

Conclusion: Get into letting her accept it, even if she puts some restrictions at first. Time, honesty and naturality will take care of breaking them down.

If this could help any of you I would be very glad to hear.

Not for my use, but they would fit very well for my wife. For ladies in general they are very nice to be seen.

In my modest experience, trying to excuse yourself one way or another may be a trick which only makes sense when you are buying your high heeled shoes for the first times. I did it in my first 3 occasions. I respect it and can pave the way towards the next step. Not everybody has the experience that others could accumulate after a number of years the very first time. But later on you realize that it is far simpler to confess openly that the shoes are for you. Professional shoesales staff will help you and it can be a very satisfying experience, opening you a full new range of options, and offering you a much better service. For example, asking for a different number that would fit better in a different shop and reserving it for you the day after, looking in their warehouse to find exactly the model that pleases you, announcing that there such and such models soon to arrive, etc. And I was never treated in an unpolite way. Regarding other customers, some young ladies even turned into the conversation and offered her advice, always in a positive sense. Men always were silent, but fairly neutral to the point, which is OK for me. It is so simple to confess that even if I am a guy I like some ladies' shoes designs. I believe that as long as you buy in cosmopolite cities, you won't have any problem at all. Regards, Robert.

Dear Daz, Let me congratulate you for your London trip, and for having such a beautiful and understanding partner. I have made a similar approach with my wife concerning going out in heels. I was very afraid that she would be quite reluctant to see me in public in heels, but thanks to the very wise advices I have read in this forum I am glad I took the right approach and now I can go out with her in decent heels with no special problem at all. The first choice was to start with shoe designs wich were not too outrageous. My approach was: you know I like heels, you know some are really confortable and nice looking to you and me, you accept I wear them at home, so why not going out with them ?. Why not ? Why the hell really not ? So I took a wide, block heeled mule which is 4,5 in high in black. Dressed in long pants which almost cover the entire heel, it allowed her to realize that nobody cares, that nothing happens at all. First outings were to the mall at late hours in regular working days. It is smart to link this with activities that she would like, e.g. hunting for sales, shopping or just doing the odd supermarket buys for the week. The key is that she feels comfortable doing that. The next step was to sit in a bar or restaurant, which makes the heel quite visible nevertheless. And again, nothing happens. Don't forget to order her favourite drink or meal, make her feel comfortable. She realized after a few outings that this is simply a fashion choice which is publicly acceptable, if noticed at all, when it is properly combined with the remaining outfit. Keeping a profile of smootheness and normality is the key. I will post some photographs, but the overall outfit is very similar to your picture, Daz. To end with it, if you feel she has the slightest possibility that she would accept you going out in heels, it is extremely worth trying to confess your desires in the most honest and natural way and agree with her to a kind of "outing in heers plan". If she really loves you and is open minded she will end up accepting it as long as you demonstrate her that you remain the very same person and take it step by step, because at the very end nothing strange really happens. She would like to visit London (we live in Barcelona). It is more and more possible to link it with a heel meeting in a future. You Britsh guys have a really solid block of people and I wish it could be simpler for us to attend one of your meetings. Congratulations again ! Regards, Robert.

Dear All, People is quite incoherent. I haven't had this experience by myself, but I would bet my neck that most of the potential Oiks, Yobbos, Hooligans or call-them-the-way-you-like that would easily jump to bite you in the yugular if you were seen wearing heels, would wear many of them piercings, long hair and other signs that only 20 years ago would have made them be considered affeminates. So what ?