loveheel

Great for you. It is good to see you have the courage to try on shoes in the store. it si the only way to buy shoes.

Loveheel,

Referring to your original post. Glad to know there is another guy out there who wears hh Sandals in public. I live in the SF bay area and have been to Frisco and the Monterey Bay area many times in hh Sandals. For the most part, nobody notices, and those that do don't seem to mind (especially in SF). I have been wearing heels for many years now, and can wear them with just as much class and finness (sp) as the gals can. Maybe that's why nobody seems to care (or notice). The wife even says that I do well in heels.

Wearng heels in public was a bit "scary" at first, but once used to it, it is a great confidence booster.

I just wish more guys wore in public...

See ya... SF

SF, great to hear from you. I live on the other side of the country, but it is always great to go heeling in San Francisco. It seems to be a city where people can just be a little more flamboyant. Compared to SF, Boston is rather boring.

Good luck on wearing those sandals. The more I wear sandals, the more I like it. It is really much more fun to have your feet in open elegant shoes, than in those hote mens shoes that most of us have to wear much of the time.

I don't know about other countries, but here in the US, they rarely seem to offer to order a shoe. Some of the better shoe stores will call around to other stores to see if they have a size. But it still means travelling to the other store to try on the shoe.

Wow, loveheel! That is a truly quartzian stunt you’ve nicely pulled off! Even though San Francisco is a famously gender-liberal city, it takes real courage to put yourself on the line like that – my profound congratulations. I honestly don’t think I’d have the chutzpah to go that far, myself. But you know, these days I probably wouldn’t be too shy to do some fairly outrageous street-heeling on Newbury St. Of course, that’s only because I don’t live near there any more!

My only long-distance stiletto-ing was in Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas – 2 million square feet of mostly upscale shops. Again, I don’t live there, so the sense of freedom was too tempting to resist; of course, when my wife and I were sitting down for coffee, some acquaintances from the east, 12+ years ago, came by and chatted. What they thought of my Enzo Angiolini t-strap stiletto sandals I don’t know. They didn’t say.

Thanks. I wouldn't exactly go walking around Newbury Street in Boston with this footwear. That is a bit too close to home. I teach at one of the major colleges in the Boston area, and so there are a lot of students around that have had me as a teacher at one point or another. But when I am out of town, I really don't care all that much. As has been said many times on this forum, if you wear things with confidence and style, people might have a second look, but they usually do not seem to be outraged. On that same trip I had a pair of 4.5" stiletto boots (with point heel) with me. I wore them for a short time outside, but felt that I walked too clumsy in them, and so I took them off. I think the last thing we guys want is to be made fun off because we wobble on our heels. If you are going to wear heels in public, make sure you can walk in them with style. This is no different from women. I think women that wear heels that are clearly too high for them to be be comfortable, look silly.

I have asked about the issue of size 11 in several stores, and it seems that many of them get only one or two pairs of each model in size 11. So, the chance that they are out of an 11 is always pretty large. I once went to a store where they were supposed to carry 11, but I could never get one. Then I found out that one of the sales women was a size 11 and bought most of them for herself !

Loveheel:-)

That is a very nice sandal that you pictured on your post and you may be right in thinking that that height of heel may be too high for extended wear. Can you tell us how you are getting along with your 3½" heels? Cheers---

Dawn HH

Dawn,

My lower 3 1/2" heels were clearly a good buy. I have worn them out a few times since then. Usually under jeans that do not fully cover the heel. The sandals have thicker straps so they don't look ultra feminine. Though when people have a clear look, there is no doubt in their mind what they are. They are very good for regular wear and the heel height makes them very comfortable. I feel very good wearing them and that is the most important things I guess. I have bought a few more pairs of sandals since then at Bakers. I really will try to get some time together to post my collection on this site, as I would love to have comments.

I love my Mac laptop. It is a great machine. Especially since OS X ,written on top on Linux, it feels like they gave me my computer back. Everything in the operating is so transparent. You can use it like any other operating system, but when the linux urge grabs you, to do some stuff efficiently (like move files or rename a lot of files at the same time), you can just go in a unix shell and type a few commands to get it done.

Oxfords are a great way to start. Even though they have a heel, they have the front that looks like a men's shoe. In particular with the laces. Great job !

I think that is a great summer look. It probably goes under the "cool young guy" look.

Steph, Very nice ! I like the ankle chain on your slender foot.

Kitten heels have their charm. I don't think a heel has to be super high to be sexy. Because the heel is lower and many of the shoes have pointed tips, in larger sizes they can look big on the foot.

Gene, Congratulations for an great collection of shoes (and to your wife for picking them out). Your feet look very good in sandals. I can see that you can pull off the look. Good luck with them.

I broke 300. Yeah ! I love those sandals. Just in time for summer. I have recently been buying (and wearing) sandals outside, which feels so good, after being stuffed in boots and shoes. I really should get some pictures together on my collection and post them.

Most of my collection of shoes and boots come from Bellini, Newport-News, and Harley-Davidson. Dawn HH

Hi Dawn,

What is your experience with Harley Davidson. I love their boots, but have not been able to find them in any store, only on the web. I would love to try them on before I buy them. They are a little expensive for my budget, but their HH styles look great on men.

Gary, those are great boots. Casinos are a great place to wear heels. People seem to be pretty focused on other stuff in casinos

First of all, if you are on the fence about the pedicure, definitely do it. Having your feet massaged and nails done feels so good, and your feet will look so much better. Getting pedicures for men is definitely going more mainstream. Even a clear coat seems to become more acceptable according to my pedicurist. I go for a light pink (vanilla pink). With a good look one can definitely see that I have painted toenails, but it does not stand out as much as red. However, for those that want bright red, I say go for it. Blues and browns and hard colors rarely go on men (as on women)

That is a real nice style for when you want to go out with heels and not attract attention (we all have those days). I have always liked gogo boots. They are a bit hard to find these days, but very classy !

I have been wearing HH boots and shoes outside for quite a while. I am not a daily wearer, but do wear heels almost on any trip I make ( a few times a month). I have always wanted to wear HH sandals. I have pretty hot feet in most shoes and open shoes makes me feel so much better. So today, on a trip to San Francisco, I finally did it. I went shopping for shoes in these sandals. The heel was partly covered, but obviously my (painted) toes were clearly showing. It was awesome. A few people glanced, but nobody did a double take. And I was not struck down by lightning.

Unfortunately, the heel on these is a little high for extended wear. On the Baker's web site it indicates a 4" heel, but when I measure it, it is more like 4 3/4. So I went out and bought some lower 3.5" heels.

For those of you still on the fence, go somewhere where noone knows you and just be yourself.

Hi,

I like your post, you make some good points. I wear heels because they look and feel fine. I wear hh sandals almost exclusively (in public - gasp) without any problems. One pair that I have look a lot like the Franco Sarto slides you have posted.

Wearing "womens" shoes is no big deal to me, my spouse or the folks out there that see me daily.

SF......

Hi SF,

I am glad to hear about your experience with sandals. I am going to San Francisco next week, and was planning to spend the day in HH sandals. I figure, if there is one city I can get away with that it must be San Francisco.

Hi Genebujold, Thanks for that excellent study of women's versus men's shoes. You make some excellent points. Obviously, some things are dead giveaways that shoes come from the women's side, like flowers and thin heels. Otherwise, it depends much on how attentive the onlooker is. I think that I can even recognize women's shoes in such unisex styles as loafers. Women's loafers are always just a little finer, more stylish. Even the ticker heels are often slightly shaped, unlike the men;s heels wich are just a block. Great job.

I am going to San Francisco for a few days andhave a free afternoon on May 24. Plan to do some serious shoe shopping. SF is great. Pretty much anything goes. If anyone is in the neighborhoud and wants to join me, let me know.

If you had a gut hanging over the front, I'd say they were misplaced.

I would say the gut is misplaced then

They look great to me too..... i stay in a conservative Asian society (Singapore), and i can still go out in tight jeans...... and sometimes with stilettos underneath it. those jeans are ok, trust me, and u may even get some gals coming up to u saying what a good butt u have

It is amazing how many times people compliment of my (women) jeans. That NEVER happesn when I wear men' jeans.

It is interesting that when people just judge the look without the preconception that there is something "wrong" with it, they usually

like it. My wife commented me a few times on my pants before she knew

they were women's jeans

I know this is supposed to be the high heel board, but what was the gig like?!

Emma

She was great. I love that kind of edgy rock stuff. She msut be in her late 50's by now, but still can put a crowd on their feet.

Now, KISS, that must be a concert, where you stand out if you DON'T wear heels.

I went to a Blondie concert last night wearing some HH boots. The night club (Avalon in Boston) was packed so we had to stand for hours. While I often walk in heels outside I have never stood in them for hour. Ouch. My feet were killing me by the end of the night. Now I know what women go through when they wear high heels to parties where they have to stand for a long time. Any advice on how to deal with this ? I tried shifting wait back and forth and that helped, but after two hours even that didn;t seem to help anymore.

One major benefit of the heels was that I had a great view of the performance. I am 5.10 without heels, so with the 4 inch heels, I towered over most people.

A nice thing about heels in nightclubs is that a)noone cares what you wear since there are much more extravagant outfits than a pair of heels on a guy It is too dark so see much anyway.

All in all a fun experience. Below are the boots I was wearing.

I bought them at Aldo a few years ago.