loveheel

Great for you Jenne. Congratulations on having the courage to wear what you want I gotte go and get my front tires changed tomorrowed. It is starting tosnow here in New England and I don't want to be spinning out. Maybe I will go in heels to the tire place.

Congratulations Daz. It is great to have you on this board as an active participant. All I can say about the age of 22 is that it is a great age to wear heels. I am 39 and have been wearing heels only for a few years. Oh, did I wish I had done it sooner.

I told my wife a few years ago and she has accepted. i can not get her to buy shoes for me (for example for Christmas), but she understands my passion for heels. We went shopping yesterday for shoes for her. She does not wear very high heels and only has a small shoe collection, but needed both boots and career shoes this time. We spent a few hours visiting various shoe stores with me giving her advice, which she was very interested in. We had a great time together.

Yes, somehow, crowded mall situations are excellent for heeling. Everyone is so busy trying not to walk into other people that noone stares at your feet. Also, it is easy to disappear in the crowd. It is less interesting for actually buying shoes. When the sales people are busy you will get much less personalized attention.

What a great Xmas you will have, anyone else getting shoes for xmas?

I am going to get myself these:

I think you ar right Jeff. It is probably the uncertainty about what the reaction will be that intimidates us. It is good to hear that in so many cases it has been positive

I know this topic has been touched on many times, but I wasn't sure where to add it on, so I will just start a new topic. Today I was having a haircut in the salon where I have been going for at least three or four years. It is a nice classy place, not over the top. It is in the town where I live, which is rather conservative. While I regularly wear heels outside, I have never worn them to the salon. It is one thing to walk around in heels, it is another thing to sit in a chair for 45 minutes, on display for everyone, unable to walk away if you get uncomfortable. So, in the chair next to me is one of those conservative ladies getting a perm done by a guy that works in the salon, and the guy is showing her his cross dressing pictures ! The conversation between the two was the whole time about make-up and dressing tips. So, here was I, afraid about the reaction of these conservative people, and the guy next to me is talking about his cross dressing, even showing pictures. I think this goes to show that much of the fear is in our own head. Often, people's reaction is much more positive than we fear. I think this is a common thread that one can read in the stories of people that have made much more drastic changes to their appearance than wearing heels. For example, people that undergo sex changes, often report very positive reactions among co-workers, after the initial surprise and discomfort of the people around them. I must say that I have noticed that in my own family. While I do not wear extremely feminine heels around the house, I definitely wear women's shoes, boots and slippers. My daughter (who is 9) doesn't blink an eye. I think as soon as the people around you notice that you are really the same person (just slightly happier in heels), all is OK. I used to think that there is no hope for more generic acceptance of men in heels, but maybe there is. I doubt there will ever be a time where half of the guys where heels, but maybe heel wearing can become as accepted as ear rings on guys. Even low rise jeans have now crossed over to the male side, especially in Europe. So, for those of you out there thinking about it: Be yourself. Start with whatever you are comfortable. But DO wear the footwear of your choice when going out. You only live once/

Any chance we can see a picture ?

Some of you already know my style that I wear. Platform flip flops of course! Just to get an idea of the style for those that don't know, the most common are the Rocket Dog Jumbo Surf. Funny thing is that I don't actually have that pair, as I'm picky about the shape. I've got some that are lower and some that are higher, but the 3.5 inchers are the ones I tend to wear the most.

I very rarely ever get any negative feedback from people as I think that flip flops are more gender neutral. I think it's also the way I carry myself that people get over their initial surprise very quickly that it seems normal. Also my beach surroundings and liberal locals don't even notice, and if they did, don't really care.

I think you are right. Especially in vacation environments anything goes. I wear my flip-flops when going to Hawaii. I have a pair with a 2" platform and no one notices. I also a pair with 1" platform but with glitter straps and that attracts more attention. So it is not always the platform height that makes the difference.

Hi Asian Heels. Do you streetheel in Singapore ? I have been there many times, and always wondered whether it would be accepted. I only have worn very conservative blockheels boots there.

Fashionablefun:-)

Let me be the first to welcome you to the HH Place Megaforums. That girls comment would have helped to make my day also, as sometimes you get looks or whispers and you really don't know exactly how they feel about you wearing heels in public. Cheers---

Dawn HH

Good point, Dawn. I always tend to assume when people whisper that they have a negative reaction, but it could just as well be postive I guess. They just may not be comfortable sharing it with you

The burlington mall in Massachusetts must be THE place to go and hang out in heels. I go there regularly to buy heels and ALWAYS dress in heels. The guy you describe is not me. I am not blond and NEVER wear white pumps. I have been going there for years. Maybe I inspired someone to take the step ? Those of you that go there, make sure to stop in the Bakers store. The sales girls are very supportive to a guy in heels. You should go in for a good shoe chat, even if they don't have your size. Sam is my favorite there (She is the store manager). She always gets me at least three pairs to try on. Nine west there can be good, can be bad, depending on the sales person. Same with Aldos. If you want to try on women's pants go to Express. Deal with the sales girls. Very helpful. Some of the guys are jerks.

I've been thinking about that a bit.... where I work I get the feeling people are pretty closed minded. It's odd because I'm in a field that promotes change, but it's technological change and engineers tend to be very conservative and resist change in other areas.

The other problem is that I'm working in an ESD lab all day and need to have protective footwear (ESD grounded). So it's runners for the day.

You would be surprised. A lot of the guys on this board are actually engineers. Often, you might be surprised by the reactions go get from

people. Engineers may appear conservative, but they are often also non-nonsense people.

Hi Mickey, Yes, walking style is definitely a way some people spot you. I think it goes something like that: they first notice that your walk is unusual for a guy, which leads them to focus on the leg and shoe. I don't think that a lot of people look at other people's shoes. Unless of course they are shoe fanatics, like most of us.

Kneehighs, that is an awesome collection of sightings. It is in particular important if these guys were not in tranny mode. Seems like New York is the city where everything goes !

I have exactly the same Franco Sarto's ! I am at my second pair already. They are a great comfortable loafer. But the heel does give the more hollow sound typical of women's shoes

Blackslide, Thanks for the really nice story. Just shows how much opinions already have changed and become more tolerant.

Micha, I love those sandals from Nellyshoes.com. We all look forward to seeing you in them. Like you, I also like a sturdy sole. It just is more comfortable to walk in.

Epi Cene, these are great finds. Cowboy boots with a heel, like these, are a great boot for guys that are a bit shy of wearing the more feminine styles.

Thanks. Definitely have to go on my list for Santa. The dragon on the boot looks so hot.

In the end it is just a matter of statistics. I probably know (by face) at least a few hundred people in the Boston area, but except for the people in my own little twon, I never run into anyone I know. If we assume that less than one in 100,000 men would wear boots outside (that would still make it a 1000 or so in the US alone, which is much more than we get on this board), we are unlikely to run into anyone of them, unless we do activities that are strongly correlated (like going into shoe stores). Actually, this would make for a great math exercise. if we could get some statistics on how may men we observe in heels on the street (randomly, so not in a heel meet), I could probably make some estimate of how which fraction of men in the world wear heels outside.

Bakers stores will occasionaly have up to size 11, but that's it.

The dragon boots are listed as having a "micro" thin heel. Does it look sturdy enough to walk on ? I think Santa Claus will be delivering those boots to me

Cool ! I have only once seen another guy wear heels, many years ago in Pittsburgh in a rather nice hotel. I have seen lots of men BUY heels in stores.

I think that is a good question. But I wonder if the answer for men is not just the same as for women. What advances the cause is what looks good. When a women wears 6" heels and does not coordinate it with the outfit or walks terribly in them, she doesn't advance the cause for women in heels either. But some women look awesome in them. Because men are somewhat more restricted in what they can wear (unless you want to go into crossdressing), we can probably also not wear any type of shoe without it looking out of place. But, if you look around this board you will see many styles of shoes that men have made to look good on them, by combining them with the right outfit, and considering what looks good on them. It definitely takes some experimenting. It even depends on the environment. Last week I wore high heeled slippers when going shopping. When I walked into a shoe store, the sales lady remarked that I was wearing sandals ! In talking to her it turned out that she was not questioning the heel (these had a 3.5") but the fact that I was wearing sandals when it was pretty cold outside and most people were wearing boots. I wear everything from stiletto sandals to block heel boots and often gets compliments on my choice. Most styles can be made to work in the right environment.