dressboots

yes. At casual glance they may appear to be very much mens shoes with a higher heel but there are subtle differences in the design of womens shoes that immediately identify them as womens shoes even those styled such as these that look like men's shoes. Two inch heel is not a typcial men's heel height for this style of shoe or for any shoes for that matter - cowboy boots being the main exception I can think of. A guy in cowboy boots with a 2 inch heel catch my eye as being in high(er) heels. I consider women wearing 3 inch plus heels to be a bit over the top for every day wear not to mention guys. The width of the heel makes a visual difference but the height even in chunky heel to me 2 inches and up.

My preference is to boots, whatever is the latest fashion trend. Typically I want femine knee boots that would be considered moderate by many on this forum, in the 2.5" to 3" range. I like what I see on the street. The first boots I really wanted were GO GO boots of the 1960's. When riding boots first became popular I wanted those too. With the advent of the Internet I can be inspired of new boot fashion year round rather than just in the fall and first half of the winter. Before that with a larger foot size (women's 12) I had to be ready to buy as soon as the fall/winter catalogs came out in late July as the larger sizes did not last long. The style I got was often a close second of what I wanted as it came in my size as opposed to what I wanted. There are better choices now too. I have always liked the unadorned shaft knee boot. I like for them to hug my leg. In the early 90's knee boots became very loose around the ankle by design, but am now happy the close fitting styles have returned.

The more upstanding a member of society is the less people find wrong with them real or imagined. To the other direction the more others look for flaws in their character. Thus doing something out of the norm becomes an obvious way for the critics to have their day. One does not have to be a "saint" to meet the former criteria.

I grew a shoe size each year from age 12 to 18. I stopped growing at American men's size 10 AAA when I was 17.5 years. I wore American size 12 B Womens shoe at that point. Size 12 as very rare then but my very narrow foot really helped out in fitting what I could find. It really limited what I could wear in men's, however. Today, 35 years later, I wear a size Men's 10.5 B. Still is hard to find men's shoes that narrow. Now I wear a women's size 13 B or C depending on the manufacture. There was a period of several years when I could wear my younger sister's boots very comfortably. She takes a size 8 B so everyone can calculate how long ago that was. Those were the days.

I work in a very liberal environment and likely could wear heeled boots to work but my job involves a lot of ladder climing and hauling of 100 pound + loads so gotta keep my feet flat on the floor. There are other men in the organizaton who wear several earings in each ear not to mention long hair half way down their back. Then my wife is another issue - would likely get a much more negative reaction from her than any coworker. They do notice, coworkers do. I was wearing two different colored socks the other day and a female coworker pointed it out to me asking if I knew I made the choice on purpose. I did and due to one each of the pair wearing out but the reimaining sock still being perfectly sevicable. Bet I would be the envy of some female coworkers who cannot wear heels anymore due to foot problems - oops forgot I have foot problems too. Fun to read about others who do wear heels on the job successfully.

Love this thread.

Forgot to also comment they have a timeless style I look for in boots. So many boots are going to be out of style next season. Women seldom wear last season's out of date fashions so why would men? Stiletto fashions seem to change more rapidly. Don't get me wrong. As others have said stilettos have their place as well just not for errands. Timeless styling also equals a better investment.

Knee high here too. Great heel for everyday wear, I agree.

My wife American women's 7WW. I take American women's size 12B or 13B depending on the make. The irony here is her feet are wide thus she finds it next to impossible to purchase women's shoes and often ended up buying men's shoes in the past as they fit better. My feet are narrow (for a guy) so I find it hard for the opposite reason to buy mens shoes and have on occassion bought women's shoes as they fit better. However, my buying women's shoes is far less acceptable to my wife and society as whole. Our feet are the same width (physically). My wife would love to be able to wear high heels but finds them painful and virutally impossible to find in double wide width. She has commented she finds it amazing that I can walk so well in high heels and that it is unfair that I have an easier time finding high heeled boots that fit well not to mention having a much wider selection of styles available in my size.

Some people never grow up. They were to chicken to address your footwear on their own so tried to get a crowd to agree with them I imagine. I never heard of throwing change on the floor to get people to look down. No reaction is was likely the best. Wonder what looking them in the eye, smiling and wishing them a good day would have done.

Re. museums being good places to heel Museums love their patrons. I dont' know how it is in England but here in the USA many museums are suffering funding problems big time. Numbers of people that come in the door are important to justifying funding to organizations that give grants to museums not to mention potential and existing donors. What a patron wears on their feet is inconsequential to the goal of getting the word out that a museum has something good to offer, not to mention no museum manager in his/her right mind is going to sit by and let their staff run off patrons with negative comment on their appearance. That a man was wearing high heeled women's shoes will not be recorded. That a member of the public thought enough of the museum to pay it a visit will be. Museums are business (of sort). A good business does not run off customers.

I am attempting to find some understanding as to my taste in women's boots - not so much to give up the liking of them but to be able to have more constructive conversation with my wife about the subject. Just saying it is an unexplainable taste is an inadequate explanation. As heterosexual men liking women's footwaer appears to be not that uncommon a taste in fashion (based on this forum) I am hoping that my counselor can help me shed some light on the subject. As I noted in another post some time ago my parents never said it was wrong but that I should use caution as people might make fun of me. The not talking about it in my family is more a policy of my choosing. My older sister years ago told me to stop wearing a pair of black stretch boots with 2" heels (what are called gogo boots nowadays). It was at that point I went underground with family. I loved those boots and wore them everytime I went out the previous winter. Some people made fun - thick headed idiots but some women I knew said they liked them. Most people were indifferrent. I'm getting off on a tangent. I am wondering if the point my mother was trying to make by bringing the subject back to surface with the knee socks was that they do know I have an ongoing taste for women's footwear. I do not have much of a relationship with my older sister anymore (she has drifted away - no feuds or anything like that) but am on pretty close terms with my younger sister. I was thinking recently that I might share with her the boot sense to see what she thinks. Like I said, she certainly knows but is likely making up things in her head to fill in the blanks I have imposed. I will let you know how that goes. She certainly knows I do like women's boots as there is not much one can keep form their siblings - not to mention I got permsisison from her occasionally to wear her tall side zip boots when we were teenagers. My older sister had stolen my guy's hiking boots and made them her regular wear by then. She did not like women's boots at all and did not own any. I did say to my wife the last time we were on the subject that I was trying to rid myself of the boot "demon" (a strong word that I don't believe but wanted to define how she felt on the subject) and she said it was nothing like that and she never opposed my wearing women's boots. She swings back and forth on acceptance and rejection. It does have a lot to do with what her female buddies say and think.

So have you been able to transition heel wearing into part of your regular look? If so, were there any bumps? Some might be pretty much of the attitude that they concluded that about you as you adhered to the rules of the bet so religiously. Others might draw negative conclusions. Losing a bet and doing it involuntarily is one thing but doing it by choice might another. Just curious.

In reference to other posts on this thread I wonder that my wife may have always resented my liking womens shoe fashions. I did tell her about my passion well before we were married but well after we had been dating. I felt confident she would not reject me all together for the idea by that point. At the time she said she had a bit of trouble accepting it but seemed cool with it after talking to her mom about it. My premise is that she might have been "blinded by love" at that point and willing to accept most anything about me that was harmless. I need to have that discussion with her. I think it will need to be under the guidance of a detatched third party, it is to say a counselor. She has been to a couple's session with me so know I know she will go. We talked about so many things but women's footwear was low down on the list of issues to address at that point. I have not arrived at a great understanding for why I like womens boots so much but my counselor suggested that it could be a reaction to "ugly" orthopedic shoes I had to wear in my childhood. I had flat feet thus the shoes. I remember wanting so much to be able to wear "normal" shoes of my chosing and being so thrilled when I could wear regular boy's shoes. It was soon after that I started wanting to wear girl's boots. I was still in grade school (third grade or so) at the time so the appreciation for such goes way back. By the 7th and 8th grade it was a passion. My wife knows about the history. When visiting my folks recently I was looking at old family photos and came across pictures of me in the orthopedic shoes and thought to myself "My God, those are even more hideous than I remember. No wonder I hated them so much." Unrelated but also related to that my mother related to me and my sisters a story that when we were very young she was cleaning out her sock drawer and let my sisters and I pick any socks we wanted before she passed them onto Goodwill. I picked out a pair of purple knee socks which she thought "OH well, he has high top (orthopedic) shoes and wears long pants to kindergarten so no one will see them. She said the first thing she sees me doing when she drops me off at Kindergarten is me hiking up my pants to show my teacher my purple knee socks that I was obviously proud of! I just said to family at the moment, I was a very odd child. Everyone in my family knows about my tastes in footwear but we do not talk about it.

My wife has made it clear recently that acceptable footware for me is that which is marketed to men in men's sizes. Apparently this is not exactly hard a fast rule. Some "men's" shoes cross the line into women's style. Over dinner the other night I tell her that I am considering trying some Dansco clogs as they look comfortable and the heel is only a bit higher than the Merrel clogs I presently wear - which she approves of as "men's" shoes. She baulked at the Danskos idea reasoning that the heel is higher and narrower and I would likely have problems walking in them at risk of breaking my foot (sound familiar - an oft stated augument against wearing higher heels?) She said do not order them off line, that the local shoe shop would carry thenm but that I would not find them in the men's shoe section. They are considered unisex and would be found in the women's section of the store. She admitted lots of medical people wear them but was very retiscent about my trying them. I reasoned that with a narrow foot and having to use inserts in my present shoes to make them fit right that the Danskos come in men's narrow widths and from testimonials on a popular web shoe store they sounded right for me. She said they are not sized for men specifically - but as unisex shoes thus why they come narrow - for women. More story to come.

So, has anyone asked what your friend would have had to do if you won the bet? Go out with you while you are wearing womens heels? I certainly would have wanted to know that of anyone I knew who lost a bet with the result you cooked up. Sounds like a great idea and have had fun reading the thread.

None of the listed heights. Am totally out of "practice." Tried wearing 2.5" heels around the house a few weeks ago and they "murdered" my feet. Years ago I could wear the same boots out for an entire evening with no issue.

Posters, Yes, it has been over two months. I still get totally mixed messages from my wife about wearing womens (high heel) boots. In one breath she says it is totally OK with her then another day she will be saying that it is unacceptable. I am down to two favourite pairs from the 1980's, having tossed out all the rest. Can't bring myslef to get rid of those. Some sort of nagging feeling that it would be a big mistake What is this doing for me? It has become an almost an obssession trying to find the perfect pair of knee boots in my size. I find that I now take a size 13. Tried buying an "acceptable" pair of boots from Nordstroms recently but at a size 12 they we too short so I sent them back. The style was not in 13. There are some really nice looking Sudini boots this year. I know that lots of other posters have gone through the personal turmoil I presently experiencing. I often get to feeling like a freak at times lately. Thought I should touch base and let you know that the story is not finished. dressboots

I taken a break on therapy for the time being. One always has the choice to do what they do. Nothing is required. I choose to lay low on the heels subject at this point. My wife will not go to therapy. I have porposed it. I feel like at this point my going alone has done as much as I can. I looked at it along the line of an alcholoic. If my wife would not go I would go alone. At this point the next step is a couples session; with a different counselor if that woud suit her. In the meantime I will leave my core of three pair of boots hidden deep in the "closet" as this storm will too pass. There are alternatives to women's boots with high heels - Cuban heels , cowboy boots, etc. that are sold to men in men's sizes so perhaps that is a way to reintroduce the subject and desensitize my wife. Thanks for all your support, encouragement and kind words. dressboots

I'm going to talk to my therapist about this subject this week. I think there are problems in our lives but my wife will not go alone or with me to therapy so I am going alone. Her mother died two years ago. Until that time she was very supportive of whatever I did as for fashion. She talked to her mom about it and she never acted like it was anything to freak out about. To give my wife credit I suspect she figures that my therapy sessions will result in my doing something that she will find hard to explain to her friends - now that she has lost her source of rational thinking/input. My parents were always accepting about my wearing women's boots. they figured it was my choice. They even bought the afore mentioned pair I wore in high school. The problem with my wife's friends is I do not think they have her best interest at hand all the time. Some of them can be very controlling. I recongnize the folly of the path that I choosing at this point. Wearing high heeled boots is part of who I am and being told absolutely not to do it is indeed counterproductive. Example: I will be traveling to New Jersey (USA) by myself next month for a couple weeks to visit my folks. I am already kicking around that this would be an ideal time of year to go shopping for some new boots as the stores will be stocking winter fashions and larger sizes will still be in stock. Then I say to myself "how do I explain what I come home with and then just dump them in the back of the closet?" My parents said I can use their car to go out and do things for me. I am flying there so will be without transportation. I will continue to post. I do have a bunch of social obligations as well as full time employment for the next month so it is hard to get in front of the computer daily to check theads on this site. Thanks for the supportive comments.

My wife used to not mind at all but I was supicious that her mind was changing. I broached the subject a few weeks ago and she emphatically said I am not to wear any footware not specifically marketed to/for men and sold in men's sizes (unisex sizes are Ok as long as they are specifically marketed to men as wella s women). Even masculine looking womens boots (chunky heels for instance) are out. Used to be fashions like equestrian inspired boots were totally OK with her. High heels, not every day wear but in certain circumstances like out to the movies at night, and with heels more chunky OK. Lately she will not even have a pair of boots sitting in the corner of the bedroom much less the house, putting them away in the back of a closet. I suspect it is her friends. They are ultra conservative and a very judgmental lot of people. She said she would be very embarassed if anybody asked about what shoes/boots I am wearing. I reminded her about my wearing high heeled boots in high school. My wife and I went to school together so she was there. She said she never noticed that I wore women's boots in high school. They were what are called GO GO boots nowadays, 2 inch heel, knee high, black patent. stretch, side sip; to give a you reference of the boots not noticed. That is contradictory that if she did not notice the very feminine boots I wore in highschool why would anybody notice what I wear now even if they were a very conservative style? She shut down the conversation before I could continue. I have two pair of high heeled boots left from my original collection of over 20 pair. I just threw out my last pair of equestrian boots this week as they were no longer acceptable wear. Also tossed a pair of high heeled winter boots with very worn 2.5" heeels that had seen a lot of out and about wear in more liberal days. I have a pair of what are now marketed as "Campus Boots" to women from the 70's when they were unisex. They are men's size boots. I do not know if changing fashion also qualify as forbidden wear but expect so. Throwing away my boots is the correct thing to do at this point as having them in the house adds tension to our relationship not to mention tempting me to wear outside. This is a very long thread which I have not read completley but seemed like the logical place for me to post this entry. Still am interested, but much less enthusiastic. Have been away awhile but thought people would like to know why.

No. But would sure like to and encourge it.

Wife was fine with my wearing HH in private before we married and soon thereafter. Did not mind the occassional public setting when we were unlikely to encounter friends or family and done so tastefully. Last several years is still fine with private wearing, but is intolerant and worried about public settings due to opinions of her friends. Some of them even disapprove of unisex shoes for me such as Crocs. I assured her I would not wear Crocs - easy choice as I think they are ugly anyway. However, it does not change the situation of peer pressure. Thus why I vote does not tolerate. Footwear is out in the world for me. I go barefoot at home so wearing heels in the privacy of my home is not approval in my book - it is an artificial setting.

Maximillian, As others have noted, a great look you make in heels. It looks natural. Great going. Your whole look goes together, complimented by your heels. It is not solely about high heels. They do not appear girly. An aspect of street heeling from my viewpoint is that around the house I prefer to got barefoot. As soon as get home from being out off come the shoes. Heeling around the house while fun, is not "natural" for me. I put on shoes/boots to go out in the world, thus street heeling is so much more an expected choice. It is a good idea to get practive heeling in private. I have seen women struggle with heels which does attract full attention to the shoe at the expense of the rest of the outfit no matter how well put together.

That's dining room, not "dinging" room. Guess my ability for typos is not effected by age! Heels so sound nice on the hardwood instead of the carpet it replaced.