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Lucy's Story (3) Posted by Lucy on May 24, 2003, 1:15:00 Hi Sinkem, Erica, Scuffy, Cheryl, Stu, Patience, Fred, Spikesfan!, and thanks to Firefox for conserving my little offerings on the Mega Forum -All extremely flattering - thank you everyone! To continue: I should have mentioned that the very first stilettos to explode into the shoeshops in the 50s were Italian (I think) and most had the bottom half of the heel in naked shiny steel to deliberately liken them to STILETTOS (thin daggers), the name which has stuck ever since. Unlike today, there was very little variation in styles, but then there didn't need to be because they were CLASSIC and FANTASTIC. They were all plain courts (pumps) with no frills, straps or other nonsense, with low-cut uppers covering only our toes. I still think nothing has EVER beaten those classic 50s stilettos for sheer class. I was indescribably thrilled to have MY OWN 4" STILETTOS when still only thirteen. To avoid further humiliation in public, I restricted my first walks to short errands to shops and back,trying to keep both heels upright and strengthening my necessary ankle and leg muscles. Although not wanting make my beloved shoes rickety, in odd standing-still moments I could not resist some deliberate side-to-side rocking (as now advised in Jenny's 'wearing' section)when no-one was looking in order to sense the sheer height and femininity of 1/4" thin stilettos. It might seem silly to adults, but it was unbelievable thrilling to a girl just entering her teens. Over the years, I have seen a number of women sneakily enjoying wobbling their heels like that, particularly when in stationary queues. In the 1950s, stilettos abounded in their THOUSANDS. Just about every teenager and every mother wore them, always fully visible with skirts and stockings (no jeans!). Hardly anyone yet had a television, so on saturday nights many hundreds of people flocked to the cinemas and dances, and there were HOARDS of stilettos heels click-clicking throughout the town. Whole armies of us! A constant problem was getting our heels stuck between paving stones, but councils soon responded by filling all the narrow cracks with cement. The second problem was caused by all our stilettos having ultra-pointed 'winkle-picker' toes. Firstly, the extreme slope of the shoe cause our toes to become rammed agonisingly forward towards the point, and secondly, the empty point itself tended to curl upwards in an ugly way. We all eased these problems by pushing a wad of cotton wool into the empty point. Also, in those pioneering days, some manufacturers did not yet put a strong metal shank into the arched sole. I saw a lot of girls walking on mis-shapen shoes where the stiletto heels had become angled right forwards towards the toe-box. For some reason, our group of girls called these "Quaking" shoes. This distortion would pull the heel of the shoe backwards, allowing the foot to slop out of it at every step. On saturday nights, it became quite fun to hold a "Spot the quakers" competition amongst ourselves. These days, high heels seem to be made with much more strength and professionalism. As our confidence grew (and when parents weren't looking),we started wearing our high stilettos to school. One morning when about five of us came clicking towards the school, the most enormous cheer went up from all the boys. We felt like a million dollars and grinned away like mad! In class, I think the male teachers were secretly turned on by our heels, but several female teachers were snidey. Our English mistress (who still wore old-fashioned thick 40s heels called our heels 'Silly skimpy efforts' and our attractive young French mistress who WAS trendy and with-it in very high stilettos looked vaguely miffed that us youngsters were giving her serious competition. However, these heel incursions only lasted a few months because one morning the headmistress asked all the girls to stay behind after assembly and told us that heels over 1" were banned forthwith. We were devastated, except for a few class frumps who never wore heels and who adopted smug smiles. However, we wore our heels all the more out of school, and within school more and more sexy flatties began appearing. Elasticated closed-in horrors(now called 'loafers')were dropped in favour of black leather courts with slightly sculpted-in 1" heels and very low-cut toes. It quickly became the "in" thing to go for loose sizes that we could flip-flop and clatter along the corridors in what we thought was a provocative, rebellious manner. However, again the headmistress called us all together. We were ranked into long lines and had to pass a test where we took turns to stand on tip-toes, and any shoes that failed to stay gripping our heels were banned from school. Thus those of us with loose flatties had to report back soon afterwards wearing snug-fitting versions. But again the headmistress was thwarted: as we girls walked along the corridors, it suddenly became a hilarious craze amongst the packs of boys to spring towards us from behind and stand on the backs of our flatties, resulting in a sudden heap of empty left or right shoes littering the floor and a load of one-shoed girls hopping about. 'Sprogging'they called it. It spread like wildfire to every class in the school until at every breaktime all corridors resounded with the yelps of triumphant boys and the plaintiff protest of us girls. Our shoes suffered this constant sprogging countless times each day, until our heel-backs all became trampled down so much that even those new well-fitting shoes were all flopping away merrily with the headmistress seemingly powerless to do anything more about it. At going-home-time, the townsfolk saw over three hundred schoolgirls emerging and running for buses and trains with their sexy flatties flapping and flying about in all directions. Then the ultimate damper happened. Not to be beaten, the headmistress issued us girls with a typed edict that only "Nurse, one-button shoes" (now called 'Mary-Janes' on the web) would be permitted thereafter. Their secure instep straps finally put paid to all sprogging and flip-flopping. So boring! The only remaining interest after that was the French mistress's forays into ever higher heels and backless styles. Sorry heel-lovers, I've veered away from heels for a bit,but I'd love to continue recounting my high stiletto adventures if you aren't too bored by now. Love to all, Lucy.

Lucy's Story (2) Posted by Lucy on May 23, 2003, 2:30:25 Thank you for your encouragement Fred, Spikesfan and Sinkem! OK, so on we go: On the way to the class party I changed into Mummy's 4" stilettos, immediately experiencing for the first time the sensation of clicking along the pavement (instead of on our soundless carpets). It was so grown-up! Entering the dance-hall, I saw straight away that I had the highest heels amongst us thirteen-year-olds. The boys in our class seemed to notice it too. I also wore a nice black dress and some make-up, but most of the nudges and admiring glances were caused by my footwear. However, I began finding that a long evening's standing, balancing and jiving (1960's dancing) on a hard floor was much more strenous that pottering and sitting around inside the home. I found my ankles beginning to wobble and tremble with the strain of trying to stand erect, and before the end I turned one heel (it collapsed outwards)right in the middle of the dancefloor in front of all my classmates. It was utterly humiliating, and I remember fleeing to have a cry in the ladies room. My stupid pride prevented my from changing into the 2" kitten heels for the 1-mile walk home with some of the others, so I wobbled and teetered the whole way back in Mummy's shoes, turning one of them over twice more before changing out of them on our front path. Entering the house, my angry mother said "WHERE ARE MY BEST SHOES YOUNG LADY?" She'd missed them! I sheepishly took them out of my bag and she put them on saying "What have you done to them Lucy? they feel different - all weak and unsafe". There was an almightly row with my parents about me spoiling them by wobbling around in them when I was too young and inexperienced. However, soon afterwards good old Daddy placated us both by offering to buy Mummy a new 4" replacement pair, and a similar pair for me so I didn't mess around in Mummy's any more, but on one condition: that I must practice walking properly in mine and must not overdo it again. So I now chose my VERY OWN 4" HIGH HEELS at only thirteen, a dark red pair with the uppers low-cut at the toe and sides. I was determined to master walking in them much better in future and every time I put them on a tingle shot through me and I felt like a film star. I was all set to show the outside world my OWN heels! More heel progress to follow (if you are still keen?), but my current heels belong right at the end of my mini-memoirs! Love, Lucy

Moderator's note: These stories were originally posted by Lucy who is a contributor on Jenny's Discussion Forum. Spikes Fan has kindly reposted them here for you: Lucy's Story (1) Posted by Lucy on May 22, 2003, 14:59:13 Hi Fred! Thank you for your kind interest. I am a businesswoman who has always believed in wearing a smart suite and high heels. The best way of answering may be to tell my story. In order to be brief, I'll tell just the first part. Then, if anyone expresses an interest in hearing more, I'll post further instalment(s). Born in 1944, when still in primary school (just South of London, Mummy and all the other ladies went out in highish but thickish '40s/50s heels. Stilettos had never been seen. Then quite suddenly, in 1956 when I was twelve, stilettos hit the streets! Everyone reacted! Grandma and her generation said they 'Looked cheap', but Mum soon came home wearing brand new dark brown 4" stiletto courts. They looked MARVELLOUS to me and my schoolgirl friends that saw them and we yearned to be old enough to get some ourselves. In the meantime, I asked to 'Try-on Mummy's heels' even though they were too big for me. I'll never forget the moment I stood up in them - WOW! Immediately I felt like a woman. My whole posture changed, I shot up in stature, combined with an elegant precariousness. From that moment I commandeered them and virtually 'lived' in them around the house after school, although Mummy always had first call on them for her proper outdoor wear. We all worshipped Elvis Presley. A girl's magazine published a centre-spread colour photo of a little bit of Elvis each week, and I bought successive editions which I had to stick together to finally make a life-size Elvis picture. I remember gazing at my giant Elvis and imagining how impressed he would be if he could see me perched on those 4" stilettos! A year or two later, I was still 'living' in Mummy's same shoes around the house when I started realising that they were no longer flopping off my feet. My feet had grown to fit them perfectly! I was then about thirteen-and-a-half, and my class (mixed girls and boys) were planning and end-of-term class party at a small local ballroom. Some of the boys had formed a skiffle (forerunner of rock-n-roll) group and being out of school hours, the organiser told us girls that we could wear high heels. I promptly pleaded with Mummy to let me wear her lovely 4-inchers out of ther house for the first time, but she said 'No, thirteen-year-olds are too young for heels, but she took me to the shoe shop and bought me some 2" kitten heels for the party. I tried to look pleased, but really felt dull in them after wearing her 4" heels for so long at home. As the party date approached, it got worse when two or three of the other girls in the class boasted that they had been allowed to buy 3" stilettos for the party. Finally, the party date arrived and I did a very naughty thing. I went off to the party wearing my new 2" heels, but with Mummy's 4" stilettos hidden in my bag. I'll tell you how I got on in them and other later adventures if I get any response wanting to hear more. Love, Lucy.