Firefox

For me it wouldn't depend on the shoes but the whole look, movement and personality. You could have a boring supermodel type woman wearing some heels and then give the same shoes to what may be considered a physically unattractive woman who was intelligent, humorous and fun to be with. I'd take the second every time even if she wore flats. The shoes are sort of like icing on a cake. Quite nice, but pretty useless without the cake and a very small part of the picture.

I guess it is kind of a waste of energy to get all revved up about shoes, to have a meeting about them. What really is the point? Cannot guys find something more important to meet together and enjoy together?

Well, what is important depends on the individuals. I guess that one of most popular things for guys to do in the UK is to meet and enjoy a football match. Some people are so keen on the game that it becomes like a tribal religion for them. They live, breathe and sleep football. Football wouldn't normally be thought of as a fetish, but that's exactly what it is for many.

And the same could be said of Chess, watching movies, television, visiting family, politics, religion, career, or shoes. After all what exactly is important in life? Anything could become important, but if it becomes irrationally important, often to the exclusion of other things then it becomes a fetish.

I'm sure it's all a storm in a teacup. It's easy to misunderstand each other on text, and Frodo is very welcome of course. And true, the heel meets aren't for everybody, but anyone who hasn't been I'd urge them to try at least once or twice, just to see for themselves

No, one of the ideas I got of the meetings was a video of a whole bunch of guys walking through a mall, all wearing heels, essentially forcing shoppers to notice and manipulate some sort of response in them (even unspoken). Guys or girls wearing things as a group to manipulate others to respond is WRONG. And more a sign of anger at the world, and people in general than being edifying or even "unique".

Yes you are probably right in that if it is overdone, but there's a fine line between manipulation and freedom of expression. For example some women wear sexy clothing either individually or in groups and freely admit to doing it to manipulate men; and the men themselves want to be manipulated. While other women around may disapprove or feel offended. But you can't please all the people...

Just as some people like to go into the big city to see different styles of fashion. I've often been to London with friends and seen some outrageous clothing on some guys or girls and we have a smile and say "Well you'd only see that in London!" I wouldn't personally view girls on a night out wearing very low necklines or Goths with purple hair as a sign of their anger. Just their means of expression at that particular moment.

Anyway back to meetings, they vary, but most of them are groups of 2, 3 or 4. Very low key affairs, have a beer, chat, and a look at the shops. Being overly ostentatious or making passes is the last thing on anyone's mind to be honest. Well, it's usually the last thing on my mind... and I'm sure I can speak for many of the other too

I read that this is your last year as organiser, Knee Highs. You've done a great job though, and I hope a group of us can get together to continue them! I know what an effort it can be just get 5 or 10 people together sometimes.

I am NOT sure about coming to the next "heel meet", as unfortunately there are too many guys who have an "in your face" attitude about themselves, even in their choice of shoes. I am heterosexual and I also have no desire to be around guys who would be "turned on" and perhaps make passes at me (even in their mind) because of the shoes I wear.

I think you have got the wrong idea about meetings. I've been to more than 30 meets in the UK and it's never been anything more than beer, chat, and shopping. 90% of the guys are het, and those that may be gay, just like any gathering, know it's not the place to start making passes. Just as if you went to any other meeting of friends.

I can't speak for the meetings in the US, but I have met many people from the US at UK heel meets and they are exactly the same as the UK guys on this issue. It's probably better to judge from experience rather than make assumptions.

Hi Willow. Welcome to the forum. Your story sounds a bit similar to mine. I'm quite gothy generally too. Apart from I introduced my parents to my shoes even though I lived away from home. It was difficult for them not to notice as they were my day to day wear! You'd be suprised that people are generally more accepting if you do something as an open life choice rather than a closet activity. I know breaking the ice is hard, but once done it is all downhill from there on.

Narrow minded people definitely, is my worst pet hate. Like people who say "Oh, men wearing heels sucks" when they have never seen a man wearing heels apart from a drag queen or a comedy act or a pantomine. If you don't have the experience of what can be achieved, or the mental capacity to be a visionary, then it's best to keep your mouth shut

Oh that's a shame Jamie. I've been playing a lot of volleyball the last few years and am not wearing heels out as much as I used to. But I still like to see the site and other sites on the web. Shoe styles and types are timeless and fascinating for me.

I'm just trying to think of an occasion when a woman would wear pink shoes and it looks good. Not very often. Maybe with a pink or a white outfit? I don't think they go very well with the outfits here.

I reckon what matters is that one goes in the shop at all. With Tesco I'm in there 5 days a week to buy food and I guess most women are too. And once in there to buy food, who can resist trying a pair of shoes on or looking for the latest styles. They are also picking the trends very well now. For any shy ones among you, Tesco is also ideal for a stealth purchase. One can use the self scan checkouts and buy the shoes with food if you don't fancy using the normal checkouts. I always reckoned New Look and Faith were aimed at a slightly younger market so Baratts may still have a place if they restructure it. It's going to be very tough though.

I think Barratts may well be finished like Woolworths. The market is very competitive now. This is another area where Tescos and Asda have made big inroads. There is great choice in the bigger Tesco stores, and they have proper 4 inch plus heels on some of the styles. A far cry from the more mundane and conservative stuff that Tesco used to do.

Sorry I missed this one guys.

I am almost certainly on for this. Thanks once again for organising Knee Highs, you're an inspiration! Sorry I've moved on from the forum a little, been doing other things including Second Life (3D Virtual reality game), But I'm still wearing the heels. Not as much as I used to though.

It's all as safe as houses out there. Mind you, stepping on landmines in stilettos can be somewhat fraught with danger! Sorry I haven't been around. Been doing Second Life on the net: 3-D virtual shoe construction etc. Very compelling stuff.

Sorry I missed this, otherwise I might have come. Yes, I went to one of these fetish fairs with the guys in Birmingham a few years back. There's probably a report here on the forums somewhere. To be honest I'd have probably suggested meeting up in a pub in Camden or something instead. I don't see the point of paying £5 for a few market stalls. Plenty of those in Camden for free and you can spend the money on beer or shoes instead If you want to have a look at the fetish scene I'd suggest Torture Garden. It's £25.00 but you get proper music laid on, bars, dungeon etc etc. And from 9.00pm till 5.00am the next morning so 8 hours of entertainment.

I've spent so much time building shoes in second life and messing around with creating things I haven't had time for HHP. Sorry about that! Basically Second life is the business when it comes to object creation and realistic shoes etc. No other system comes even close. IMVU, Sims, WOW are kicked into touch by this. If you want faff around in souped up chat rooms for teenagers do IMVU. If you want proper 3-D building tools do Second Life.

As one who drives late at night quite a bit I have been stopped by the police a few times while wearing heels. The shoes have never caused a raise eyebrow, they're more interested in if I have had a drink or not. I've never been told heels are dangerous when driving either. Most women drive in their 4 inch heels. I've seen it, they just get straight in the car and drive off. No time for them to change. There must be countless accidents involving women driving in heels and I've never ever seen one report in a newspaper about their insurance being invalidated because of that. I don't think this can happen unless there is a clause in the policy, and to my knowledge there isn't in policies. To be honest, since you drive with the soles of your feet on the pedals, it hardly makes any difference if you have heels on or not. The type of shoe I wouldn't drive in is big platforms.

I agree real friends are far more important and I do spend time with them too. They are not always available for a quick half hour at lunchtime or at 2.00m in the morning when I feel like a chat, so internet friends have their place too. And since like you I watch hardly any TV at all, the interent takes the place of my time when other people would be watching TV or movies.

I don't think there is lot to chose between Bluewater and Lakeside in terms of shopping. Bluewater has a Yo Sushi which I like, but noone else does. Lakeside has a nicer bar.

Yes, not only did I avoid paying the £15 late charge, but he also raised the barrier to let me out, and I didn't have to pay £2.50 for normal parking charge, which I was attmpting to pay, but all the machines where you could pay were locked up on the other side of the mall doors which closed at about 7.00pm. Highlight of the day; trying on shoes in New Look. If anyone wants lessons on how to try on shoes in New Look I'll be pleased to help

I can't speak for IMVU, but an account on Second Life costs 7$ a month of which you get 4$ back through 1$ a week of in game money salary. (Although you can participte for free with various limitations) I think it's good value compared to other forms of entertainment. One premier league soccer match in th UK costs over $100 to see, and only lasts 90 minutes. It could be boring goaless draw too! I don't think the idea of paying real money for virtual creations is any different to paying money for a TV channel subscription (eg Sky Sport) or tickets for a music concert. You're paying for the entertainment. After all, what you get for TV subscription is simply the facility to have pixels on your screen altered in various patterns over period of time. The action is not actually real at the point of consumption. In the case of clothes for a sim game then someone probably took many hours to design and produce realistic virtual clothes on a software package. Not much different to someone who spent many hours producing real clothing. In the final anaysis, their creations are bringing pleasure and they'd both like paying for their time. You'd rightly expect virtual clothes to be cheaper than RL ones, since you are only paying for the design and production costs, not the materials.

London & SE: everywhere It's better to list the exceptions rather than the safe places Exceptions: Near large football crowds, dodgy druggie run down housing estates, late at night in dark places, some pubs near chucking out time. Basically any place you wouldn't go near normally.

Yes, most of these "codes" are a waste of bandwidth and usually contain a fair mix of that particular author's personal gripes and preferences, whether it be text speak or swearing, smilies or Caps lock. You only need one rule: "Respect people as you would in real life." 50 pages of text are not needed to explain that

Virtual Universe. (Some say Visual User, but I think Virtual Universe is the official line)