How high?

[iluvboots]

Hi, I wear high heel boots around house. Some as high as 4". I luv the feel. However, I'm far from ready to go out in public with obvious high heels. I do like the extra height it gives me. The best I've done in public is to wear lady's cowboy boots with flare jeans. So far the most I ventured out in was a pair that was 2 3/4" high. I definitely felt it got noticed - not confortable with that. Was wondering if this group might help with what they think may be the highest stacked heel on a pair of cowboy type boots would pass without getting noticed. I'm sure 1.5" heel is ok since I've seen some standard men's boots that had that height. I'm thinking 2" is about the max. Be interested what others might think. Kind of interesting where the line would be drawn for most people. I wonder if it varies by gender. Thanks.

[NH Heels]

I have a pair of custom made 4" Western Ranch cowboy boots that I have been wearing for years, never once covering the heels with my jeans. Personally I think they look silly when I try to hide them. I have never had any comments one way or the other. I have always felt comfortable wearing them and don't give them a second thought. I honestly don't know what it is about this pair of boots that is so special. Any other pair of boots I have worn I feel compelled to wear longer jeans, although not so much with a block heel. This is something I'm trying to work on, because I want to look good while wearing my heels and not just like I'm trying to hide them. I have several other pairs of cowboy boots in all different colors with heels ranging from 1 1/2" to 3" that I also wear without trying to hide the heel and have never had any reaction to the heel hight. I am starting to realize that most people truly don't notice what other people are wearing. It is up to you to decide you own comfort level and try to either accept it or expand it. Everybody is different and it really isn't anybody elses place to judge you. You have to be happy with yourself. Just my 2 cents worth. Cheers, NH Heels

[wood&metal]

Have a look at my pics in the gallery.. I have 2 pair of womens cowboy boots that have 2.5" heels and I've had nothing but complements on those from both women and men... Never a question about the heels.. I think the 2 pair of men's boots I have are about 2" heels...Many complements.. I have a pair with 3" heels and I did get what I felt were a couple odd looks from a lady in the grocery store and a sales clerk in a shoe store (I was looking for guy's nikes, BTW), but then again sometimes people just look at others in an odd way..... Could have been the very pointed toes?.. The shock of seeing a guy who cares about how he looks instead of the normal run of the mill lazy-ass droopy-shorts dude in flip-flops?.. I dunno.. Could have been anything.. Sales clerk at Radio Shack thought they were cool... One other pair with 3.5" heels that never seemed to interest anyone either way... Think about this for a minute.... Has someone ever given you an odd look when wearing "normal guy shoes"?.... Probably...

[SandalFan]

Any boot with a heel shorter than 3 inches is not going to attract any odd looks from anyone.

No offense, but with a heel that short, what's the point?

[thighhighguy]

I wear cowboy boots with allmost a 3 inch heel nearly every day. no one gives you a second glance realy.

[Dr. Shoe]

I often wear 4" heeled cowboy boots with no comments other than compliments.

[jwhite44]

I've found that a pair of bootcut jeans, 1"-2" longer than your normal size, does a good job at hiding almost all of a heel (I've have outings like this will heels up to 3 1/2" high). These were men's jeans - flare cut jeans might have been a bit too excessive, and could have contributed to the attention you thought you got. If you willing to, if it's your goal to, hide your heels, this outfit should work well for you.

Still along the lines of wanting to be discrete, I think darker shoes, with as chunky a heel as possible, work best. Ideallly you want something that for the times when your shoes are most exposed, they don't attract attention. You could wear pants that, when standing still, cover your heels completely, but if those shoes are bright pink, pencil-thin stilletto heels, someone's going to see part of them eventually, and they will stand out. If you look in this thead: http://www.hhplace.org/everybody/9428-what_shoes_you_wearing_today-27.html around post 265, and look at the shoes I was referring to in that post, you can get an idea of what I'm referring to.

This isn't to say you can't wear other shoes of your choosing, you can. You just have to look at them, try to estimate what reaction you might get if you wear them, and decide if that's acceptable. There are lots of members here who would go out in the pink stilletto heels I mentioned above. I doubt it's because they think they'll be minimal reaction to it; rather, they just don't care about the reaction.

If your goal is to be able to keep some of your shoes exposed, then yeah, 2" heels (perhaps on cowboy boots) might be about as much as you can get away with (especially in the sense if you were trying to defend them as 'mens' shoes if asked by someone). I think you'll find men's shoes with any significant heel height to be extremely rare. I have a pair with 1 3/4" heels - high for a man's shoe, but practically kitten heels when it comes to women's heels.

Hope this wasn't too long. Let us know what you decide to do, and if you go out, how it went.

[William]

I'm guessing you're still not feeling confident. Cowboy boots really don't get much attention, except from those of us who really enjoy seeing a sexy pair of cowboy boots. You're probably a lot more aware of yourself than anyone else ever will be. Practice will help a lot. Any boots that you're not yet comfortable in will take a while to break in -- they have a very different feeling than ordinary shoes, and a very different walking stride. Some, are quite slippery on some floors. Take some time; it will come. Slow down your walk and get comfortable with the swagger of your boot walk. You may want to practice next time your farther away from home. I've worn 5" heels a few times when about an hour away from home, so I wasn't afraid of running into people. As to heels in general... the same will be true. Right now, I've got on a pair of 7" sandals. My walk is slower and stride is smaller. I'm not one to wear these heels out in public. Mostly in public, I'm comfortable with 4" block heel boots or my 3.5" cowboy boots. Stilettos are really fun to wear, but I save them for indoor use. Most of all, if you're putting out a solid confidence, you can wear what you want anywhere you desire. Enough said... Good luck!

[maninboots]

wear as high as u feel comfortable with and can manage, if u r struggling to walk in them then u draw attention, i wear 4 inch stillettos daily round town either under jeans or even with jeans tucked in my boots, u may get some looks and sniggers but just take no notice, most difficult part is actually getting them on in the first place, who designs some of these boots and have they ever tried them?

[iluvboots]

Hi all. Just wanted to say thanks a bunch for all that responded. Was great to get your opinions.

[roniheels]

I wear cowboy boots with allmost a 3 inch heel nearly every day. no one gives you a second glance realy.

Same here. I wear them to work and no one says a word. No one even looks at me when I wear them in public.

[4 ever heels]

As girls say the higher the heel the better and i agree, the highest I own is a pair of strappy stiletto platforms with a 2 inch front and 7 inch heel, and the highest I own without a platform is a pair of 5 1/2 inch stilettos.

[benno]

Considering that men's shoes are freely available with up to 3 inch heels I don't think you have a problem. Cowboy boots can be as high as you realistically want them to be and they still look 'right'. It's all in you head I'm afraid. I've been out wearing so many different pairs of proper skinny 'women's' high heels and never had a single bad thing said, or happen, to me.