Meg-ann

3" Heels! Im glad to see you are starting to enjoy wearing high heels. I remember when I used to wear heels like that. Good luck on your journey to higher heels.

It just came to me from buying higher and higher heels until one day I really thought nothing of looking at buying a six inch heel?

Yes I do talk to my friends about it but not as it's a problem but a benefit!

That sounds like fun and not to far from home. Are husbands or boy friends welcome?

I am still a big fan of a five inch heels for evry day. I love wearing higher but 5 is the best for most activities

I was wondering how other women deal with heel height and work issues? I personally try to find the plainest shoes to wear at work with the highest heel available.

I wear at least a four inch heel!

I can walk in a 6" heel, as long as they are well made shoes like those!

I guess that is why I've always worn heels?

I was wondering if she knows what they are?

3.5" being the lowest I like wearing and 6" being the prettiest I can wear!

I try not to be swayed by peer pressure, but when I wore a pair of beat-up platform boots to a trendy tapas dinner with a bunch of stiletto-wearing girlfriends, I had to wonder: Was I really that out of fashion?One downward and disapproving glance from the restaurant host answered my question: Yes. Suddenly I was feeling so ... last century. It was time, I decided, to investigate whether I should step out of my Herman Munster-style monster shoes and enter the wildly popular and precarious world of needle heels.I know I'm not the only one cursing Sarah Jessica Parker for this unfortunate trend. I'm sure there are plenty of other women who are having a hard time pushing their platforms to the back of the closet. Women who enjoy the height, the intimidation factor, the rock 'n' roll essence of a sole that appears to have been cut from the tire of a Mack truck. Women who would sooner saw their wrists with a butter knife than put on a pair of I'm-so-dainty-I-could-die spike heels. It is for them that I confronted my own stiletto aversion, traipsing around town and trying on shoes that could double as weapons. To set things straight, a stiletto is not any old high heel but one with a specific, sculptured shape--a dangerously tall heel that tapers down to an almost immeasurable point. That's what makes them such a frightening shoe, one that becomes even scarier when coupled with a toe so pointy it could pry off bottle caps. So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I stepped into the Charles David boutique in Santa Monica, responding to the cluster of spiked boots and sandals that beckoned from the window. In a best-case scenario, I'd pinch a toe or twist an ankle. In the worst case, I'd succumb to the whims of style, forfeiting my pride and maybe even a chunk of my 401(k) to buy something I'd previously scorned.Confirming my fears, I noticed, upon walking in, that whatever platforms were there had long ago been relegated to the sale rack. These days, at least at Charles David, it's all about "the mod" (a plain-jane, calf-height 3-inch stiletto boot) and "the maze" (a strappy stiletto sandal with a 2-inch heel). They're the best-selling items in the store, according to manager Michelle Parker. I asked to try on both, but there was one problem: How was I supposed to walk in them? "The best thing to do is to wear them around the house when you're ... cooking and cleaning," Parker said. "That's the best way to get used to the feel of them and how high they are."I slipped on the boot and was surprised by how easy it was to get around. Then again, it was only 3 inches high. After years of clomping here and there on a 4 1/2-inch wedge, under which the earth practically trembled, I felt lighter. More feminine. Less Gene Simmons, more Mariah Carey. I felt downright weird. Even worse, I felt short.I wanted something taller, something dramatic, something that would help me retain the skyscraper, six-foot status I'd achieved with my platforms. Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo? Too predictable. I headed to Frederick's of Hollywood on Hollywood Boulevard. There, at the back of the boutique, past the red lace teddies, purple boas and flossy thong underwear, was a virtual stiletto emporium with more than 50 styles.There was an entire wall of spike-heeled maribou mules, Lucite sandals and shiny vinyl pumps, but my eye was immediately drawn to something called the Ultimate 2000--a black patent leather stiletto with a 6-inch heel, the shoe equivalent of a cliff.I asked to try one on in my usual size 9. Maria Negrete, the shop manager, brought me a 10. Still, it didn't fit. "Most of the time, with this type of heel, you go up two sizes," she told me. I tried an 11. (They carry them to a size 14.) Even then, my feet hurt, and I hadn't even attempted to stand. Negrete extended a hand to help me up. Like a newborn calf, I stood, I hobbled, I lurched. Then I caught myself in the mirror. I looked ridiculous."Do you think these are sexy?" I asked."Not the way you're walking," Negrete answered.Some women try on the Ultimate 2000 and "it's like they're walking in tennis shoes," Negrete said. They're the ones who know the secret: Walk on your toes. But most women take two weeks to get it down. Negrete recommends that newcomers practice while vacuuming, presumably so they have something to lean on other than their boyfriends.The math with stilettos goes something like this: Their sexiness is in direct proportion to their height. Of course that ratio implodes if you trip. So even though I got the height I wanted--hey, I even gained a couple of inches--I walked out of Frederick's empty-handed. Besides, patent leather and Lucite really aren't my style.Next stop: Diavolina, a stiletto specialty shop on La Brea Avenue that carries grape-colored ankle boots, Hubba-Bubba-pink slingbacks and gold lame knee-high numbers with wings on the ankle, among other things. On my way in, I almost fell over a pair of matching leopard-pattern chairs in the shape of--you guessed it--stilettos. Perhaps I'd found the right place.The trio of salespeople that day was wearing the latest look--plumber-butt bluejeans and spiked heels. The mood music: vintage '80s, a perfect soundtrack since the last time stilettos were truly hot stuff was two decades ago.The stiletto first arrived on the scene in 1952, when Jayne Mansfield and other sexpot Hollywood starlets adopted them and forged the shoes' bad-girl rep. Falling out of favor in the '60s, they re-emerged on the dance floor in the late '70s and early '80s. While some would argue that stilettos have never gone out of style as a dress shoe, over the last few years they have become increasingly popular for casual daytime wear, especially in L.A.That's precisely why Evelyn Unguari opened Diavolina four years ago. "I wanted shoes!" she said. Specifically, she wanted more feminine, sexy shoes. In a word: stilettos.There's no denying spike heels are sexy. They create an instant hourglass figure by arching the back, forcing the breasts and the buttocks to protrude. They also elongate the body, making the waist appear slimmer and the legs longer. That's to say nothing of the calf, which also gets a shapely boost.No wonder they're so popular. Women can get a complete physical overhaul for a fistful of twenties. Not a bad deal, unless you factor in the doctor bills. Stilettos have been blamed for everything from blisters and corns to stress fractures and swayback.But never mind that. Stiletto-wearing women are too busy reveling in the attitude adjustment that is an instantaneous byproduct of increased altitude. In spike heels, a woman doesn't just look sexier, she feels sexier--and more confident."Some people say that high heels feed a woman's alter persona," said Linda O'Keeffe, author of "Shoes" (Workman Publishing, 1996). "Once she puts on a pair of high heels, she becomes the woman she believes she really is."Which is precisely why I've resisted stilettos. To my mind, they have a damsel-in-distress quality that makes me want to heave. Stilettos are anti-feminist. Anything that hinders a woman's ability to walk is disempowering. And anything that hinders my ability to kick-start a motorcycle? Well, that's just unacceptable.I asked Unguari, "I can't ride my bike in these, can I?" She insisted that I could, that girls all over Europe had no problem reconciling their desire to ride bikes with their fetish for spike heels. She saw it each time she crossed the Atlantic. That said, she disappeared into the stockroom to bring me a pair of black boots with a zipper that spiraled around the calf.They were so Marianne Faithfull with a millennial twist. I slipped one on. These boots rocked. And they were comfortable. Should I? Could I?At $348, I couldn't quite open my wallet, but my mind had been opened to the possibility.

See me, heel me 18/11/97 The shoe of the season is inspired by a classic male fantasy. AVRIL GROOM explains why women are falling for the stiletto all over again THERE is one fashion item that defines the season's look. If you want your style to yell autumn '97, you don't need to buy any clothes. Just invest in a pair of stonking stilettos so high they make you look as if teetering on the edge of an abyss, and preferably with heels sheathed in shining steel for an extra aggressive impact. To buy the shoes that are getting all the attention from Gucci to Russell & Bromley women are joining waiting lists, despite a rash of killjoy articles by medical experts outlining the dire consequences for the feet and posture of tottering around in the things for any length of time. Depending on your point of view, the new stiletto is either the sexiest thing since Marilyn Monroe (and look where high heels got her) or the result of a conspiracy by misogynist designers to make women look ridiculous. Women seem to be voting with their feet for the former and discovering that, once you remodel your walk no flat footed striding but a voluptuous roll from the hips high heels and a tight skirt do make you feel sexy. The question is, why would women want to get back into stilettos after so years of freedom and comfort in sensible shoes? Some still say they would never forgo the liberation pumps, loafers and trousers have brought to fashion. Yet many suddenly seem happy to torture their toes in shoe shapes that until this autumn were only available, usually in sizes nine to 11, in Soho backstreets. Here the conspiracy theorists have a point. The stiletto forms part of every female sexual stereotype from vamp to drag queen, and male designers, notorious for playing more to the image than the comfort of women, make full use of it to literally heighten the drama of a catwalk show. There is also timing the buzzword for this autumn's fashion is the Eighties, the last time stilettos were in vogue. Of course, fashion is never regurgitated exactly the second time around and designers have conveniently forgotten that the Eighties heel, as worn by newly liberated female executives knocking on the glass ceiling in their power suits and pussy bow blouses, was actually an innocuous wee cone shaped thing no more than two inches high. On to that reality Nineties designers have grafted a classic male sexual fantasy. It is no accident that the two autumn collections which have most forged the new stiletto in the public consciousness Gucci and Givenchy were both designed by men and Eighties inspired. When Tom Ford's first shoes appeared on the runway at Gucci's Milan show, steel needle heels and silver pointed toes glinting like a set of knives, 300 fashion editors instantly recognised the shoe of the season. That view was confirmed in Paris when Alexander McQueen's smart streetwalker, in leather, leopardskin and black patent stiletto kneeboots, took to the catwalk at Givenchy oozing hauteur. But why are ordinary women embracing the stiletto? Vivienne Westwood has always designed high heels remember Naomi Campbell's fall from grace off Vivienne's eight inch platforms? She wears them herself, sees them as an indispensable aspect of her femininity and has an unshakeable belief that women not only want to look pretty and feminine but powerful as well something she believes stilettos can help achieve. Tamara Yeardye, business partner of Jimmy Choo, a leading designer of dainty, sculptural shoes who has always sold satin evening stilettos in brilliant colours, says: "Jimmy was already adding more stilettos to the range a year ago because economically the moment seemed right it's well known that skirts and heels go up in good times. But all the woman who buy them say they love the feeling of power high heels give them." "Empowering" is the word, surprisingly, that women are using to describe their reaction to the new stiletto. Far from seeing it as an awkward encumbrance foisted upon them by male fantasy, they are looking on it as a weapon in a newly liberated sexual armoury. Boosted by favourable judgments in sexual harassment cases and with more confidence in their own careers, women no longer feel they need to tone down their dress to appease men. Rather, as a way of flaunting their new power, they dress as they please and woe betide the man who suggests this might be provocative. The extreme version of this attitude is Givenchy's high class Eighties catwalk tart; in real life it means the softer and more overtly feminine style that women now feel able to adopt in the workplace. Even the two nicknames given by the media to the new stiletto betray this mood. The term "killer heels", may have aggressive connotations but is about the attitude as much as the shape of the shoes, some of which are extreme. Designer Manolo Blahnik, recognised as the king of sexy shoes, has had featherlight strappy stilettos in his repertoire for years. "I did a steel needle heel for John Galliano two years ago and thought it would be nice to refine it this season," he says. "But the results were so sharp they would qualify as an offensive weapon. It wasn't practical for production. As it is, my styles mostly in shiny black with either a pointed toe or a more classic almond toe which I think will be longer lasting are quite aggressive, very ultra vixen." The other nickname, "chauffeur shoes", points to an even deeper reason why women are clamouring in droves for the impossible stiletto it has become an ironic status symbol of power and independence. The implication is that, if you are wearing these heels to work then you must have a limousine at your disposal as no one could possibly walk in them. The rehabilitated stiletto is even more attractive to women who can only aspire to a limo, as was glaringly apparent at the recent international collections. For every top flight editor or buyer gliding into the shows from her chauffeur driven motor, there was a horde of lesser souls complaining about the trials of Milanese pavement gratings, Parisian cobbles and metro subways everywhere, and muttering that the real meaning of killer heels is the way they mash your feet. The truth is that really high heels become uncomfortable because they throw your posture out of kilter, unless exceedingly well crafted and balanced for which read expensive. Blahnik says he is always striving for "the lightest, most delicate and yet strongest shoes possible, which means using the best materials and researching each shape so it is perfectly balanced. Even within one style the heel height varies larger sizes need a higher heel for balance." Old stiletto hands insist that Blahnik, Choo and Prada high heels are all day friendly but they are expensive. If you don't want to pay so much, there are three good compromises. One is to stick to the low and sensible by day and turn vamp by night from lady to vamp in one easy stage. The second is to choose a heel that, while high, is not quite so vertiginous, like Patrick Cox's slightly waisted heel with three quarter inch base which makes for firmer standing. The third is to go for optical illusion the heel that because of its skinniness looks higher than it is. Oasis, always quick off the draw with a new look, has an elegant satin slingback at ú39.99 with a very thin but not cripplingly high heel. And Faith has had a three inch stiletto in its collection for at least 15 years, sales of which have shot skywards this autumn. At ú35 it's not the best made but it's not the highest either and for some women it is the standard working shoe. But the chainstores will catch up by spring and there is no sign that this trend is a one season wonder. From the recent spring collections, it is apparent that a more gently nostalgic, romantic look based on decorative, sheer fabrics is firing enthusiasm for the stiletto. But such is its lure that we can already look ahead to summer. The good news or bad, depending on your viewpoint is that flatties are out and the ethereal look is in; delicate sandals are the hot footwear tip, trimmed with feathers (Choo) or beads (Blahnik) and very, very high.

I need some advice? I will be recieving my new ballet shoes in a couple of days. They were custom made for me and I'm very excited and a little nervous. Any and all advice would be appreciated. Love Meg-ann

Does anyone else ever wear a pair of heels they know are too high for the day's activities, or just higher than you can really wear? Meg-ann High on Heels

I would say about ten women started to wear heels because of me! One of my friends from work who really took to heels tried them in exchange for me getting the cartilage pierced on the top of both ears! She does piercings for a living and when she looked interested in my heels, she said she would love to try and wear them! She has been hooked ever since. Meg-ann High on Heels

I have a little kids scooter that I ride to the store sometimes in my high heels! Meg-ann High on heels

I'm fast coming up on 40 and never plan on giving up my heels!! I've been in them now for 20 years and love them. I have alot of people ask me why i'm always in such high heels? I just say I feel better in heels! Meg-ann High on Heels

How do you walk in those shoes? Or see someone deciding on my choice of heels as proper. Meg-ann High on Heels

My bad weather boots have a five inch heel and two inch platform. I bought them from Steve Madden two years ago. What about you Laurie? Meg-ann High on heels

Here in Toronto the stiletto boots must be put away once in a while in favor of something high and chunky with traction. I Hat the really chunky boots but what can you do when mother nature kicks up a storm? Meg-ann High on Heels

Today is the first day I wore my stiletto boots this season, very cold and damp here in Toronto. Meg-ann

Hello Its been a long time since I posted here, but its time to get the conversation going! I would love to chat with any one re: high heels. Just to let you know I really love wearing high heels!!!! Love Meg-ann