Then And Now

[evoviii]

I was wondering if anyone else out there who was influenced by heels and all that can go with them years before you understood what your interest was, and it has come back as a style-look-feature that you favor wearing today?

 

I had known since the beginning that I liked ladies watches. One of my first jobs out of school there was a lady who worked there that wore a nice gold bracelet watch loose on her wrist with that little safety chain. She wasn't exceptionally pretty, but she was VERY leggy and she knew it. I noticed that too. So her MO was high heels, a number with ankle straps, shiny leather, colors, etc. with pencil skirts that made the best of what she had. People were looking and she was happy to oblige them striding through the office. the memory of her helped drive me years later to give heels and then the associated accessories a try.

 

Another influence of the past has been bearing down on my mind as something I am becoming interested in. I had a teacher once upon a time; I liked her watch, bought a copy of it. She was also VERY busty, and with boys noticing, she favored bulky turtleneck sweaters and ruffled siky blouses to hide the girls. I don't know if she had some issue involved, but the stress increased when she came back after a summer break quite noticeably larger than she was before. So she favored the sweaters and especially blouses even more. Something about those silky ruffled blouses appealed to me, and I'm feeling inclined as something I'd like to try in addition to the watches, heels, and the lady things that go with them.

[jetheelsfan]

My first inclination of something about girls shoes was in kindergarten.  There was some kind if "game" that involved learning about "things" that one wore.  An item of clothing was called out and if you were wearing it - you got out of your chair which was one arranged in a circle and skipped around in front of the others remaining seated.  The only "item" I can recall being called is "black patent leather shoes." I knew I had on black shoes and did not know until then that "only girls wear black patent shoes" as I got to look at the girls who were wearing pretty mary-janes.  Of course I was embarased but also became very facinated in the difference between girl's shoes and those I wore. 

 

Later when I learned to read and discovered catalogs from Sears, Penneys, Spiegle, Montgomery Wards, and especially Aldens, I started looking at girls shoes and thinking of how many pages they had compared to THE page of boys shoes.  In the 1963 Spring and Summer Aldens catalog, there was something different - shoes for girls with little "stiletto" shaped heels.  I use what I saw on that page as my signature line.  I was around ten years old and wondered what it must be like for a girl to get her "first heels."  They made it sound like a really big deal - I guess it really was at that time.  But the thought never crossed my mind to try any my Mom had as she was not really into high heels.  If I had, I think I might have been able to fit into her size 6 1/2 B shoes.  It never crossed my mind. 

 

Forward a couple of years when I am in seventh grade when one of my peers came to class wearing her first pair of heels.  The girls were going wild over her and the guys seemed to be clueless as to why the excitement.  Her showing up made me want to try a pair and Mom's were way too small by then.  When I was left at my grandmother's house to watch TV as my parents took her shopping, I found she had shoes two full sizes larger.  There was a pair of black felt dress shoes with open toes and a quarter strap around the back of the heel and over the instep.  I tried and they fit.  Then came that first time standing and the steps that followed.  What a feeling I had never experienced in many ways.  I was "lucky" I did not break off the blocky 2" heel as I rocked back, balanced, and walked on the heels.  I guess that is somewhat a norm as I still see that happen today when heels are still a experience when shopping with parents.  It always reminds me of my first experience.  Not long after then I got caught by Mom and was given a "strong talk" about that not being appropriate. 

 

By the time I started high school, the stiletto had lost favor to the chunky little heels of the "mod" age.  But every once in a while a class mate would wear a pair of plain pumps forsome occasion and I admired how they had to walk in them and sure wanted to try.  That was denies until my freshman college year when I purchased my first, starting with a 3 strap black shiny mary-jane (coincidence? I think not) with a mini shaped heel from Wards catalog and a couple months later, a pair of white plain pumps with a 3" stiletto heel was added.  The higher heel was so much more fun to walk. 

 

I could not understand why girls did not spend as much time in heels as possible.  They were not uncomfortable to me to wear and were just so much "fun" to me.  Yes, as time continued, I understood they were not comfortable to the vast majority of the girls.  When I met my wife to be, she had on some 2" wedges she wore all the time.  But she too had to give up heels - even the ones I bought for her and never wore after one time until I learned it was fruitless to hope she would.  So, now I guess you can say I wear the heels in our family.

[SleekHeels]

I was wondering if anyone else out there who was influenced by heels and all that can go with them years before you understood what your interest was, and it has come back as a style-look-feature that you favor wearing today?

 

My answer would be no, I don't think I had a "subconscious" interest in heels before I understood it, I think my attraction to heels has always been clear to me as far back as I can remember. When I was a kid getting dressed for school in the mornings I could hear the click-click-click of certain women in heels commuting to work, and I'd always rush over to the window to gaze at them in admiration as they walked past, dreaming that it could be me. During my teenage years some girls started to wear heels to school (or at least try to get away with it) and I secretly wished they'd send all the boys home and do away with the boys school uniform regulations but of course let me stay so I could try to get away with wearing pretty heels too. Even from a young age I'd take every opportunity I could to secretly try my mum's heels and feel the magic of wearing them. I guess maybe I didn't understand what that magic meant, but I felt it and still do, it's just less suppressed and more liberated now.

[evoviii]

 

My first inclination of something about girls shoes was in kindergarten.  There was some kind if "game" that involved learning about "things" that one wore.  An item of clothing was called out and if you were wearing it - you got out of your chair which was one arranged in a circle and skipped around in front of the others remaining seated.  The only "item" I can recall being called is "black patent leather shoes." I knew I had on black shoes and did not know until then that "only girls wear black patent shoes" as I got to look at the girls who were wearing pretty mary-janes.  Of course I was embarased but also became very facinated in the difference between girl's shoes and those I wore. 

 

 

 

You just reminded me of my first time, when I realized that the girlsin my kindergarten class had something amazing that I didn't. There were two that wore super glossy pattent lace up gogo boots. One had white, one had white and black pair. The white seemed to glow and was soooo glossy. It had such an interresting shape, and the rows of laces going up to the knee. I remember trying to touch one of the boots, getting caught, and the girl shooting me a nasty look and moving her foot. Another look that I have been thinking about buying my own pair.

[Chorlini]

Somehow reading this I'm reminded of a line from Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. What do we covet? Well, we covet what we first see, often as kids. And those things can become powerful obsessions or fetishes later on in life. 

[jetheelsfan]

Somehow reading this I'm reminded of a line from Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. What do we covet? Well, we covet what we first see, often as kids. And those things can become powerful obsessions or fetishes later on in life. 

 

Imprinting?  I think so as it does not seem to be a "learned" behavior.  There were never any specific lessons in school for boys on how to wear "girl's shoes."  Of course the girls sure were able to "teach" by example.

[Dr. Shoe]

It was Mum's knee length stiletto zip up boots with (must have been) 4" heels. I was about 5 years old at the time and Mum thought it really "cute" that I would want to try them on. They came up to my thighs and were much too big in the foot as Mum took Uk size 7 (40 Eur and 9 US). I found that I could wear her heels up until my mid teens before I grew out of them though by this time her green boots had long since been consigned to landfill.

 

Once when I was about 14, we went to visit my aunt and my brother disappeared to play with our cousin. After a while she could see that I was starting to look bored. She suggested that I take her dog fo a walk. As I had no wellies she said that I could borrow her riding boots. These too came well over my knees and that dog must have had the longest walk of his life!

[hh4evr1]

When I was young I remember one of my aunts used to wear classic black pointed stilettos with a 4" heel. This style is still my favourite and the first pair I brought for myself are this style.

[Curt]

I know it might sound strange, but I wasn't attracted to heels when a was young. It was womens clothes in general. I liked the bell bottom jeans, long sweaters that could almost pass as a dress. But I really started to love heels when flare leather pants get popular in the late 90s. If you didn't wear them with heels, then they would bunch up at the bottom, but heels made the legs so long. I've always loved the long legs- short torso look. I try to capture that look for myself. But I remember seeing a woman in the liine at the bank with tight flare dress pants on with square-toe pumps or booties on, and mosty of the shoe was covered until she walked, and you could see the beautiful heels. I never recovered from that. I wanted to dress like that so bad. Then a saw a special on the news on fluevog heels for men. It was the prince george heels. I went into the store, tried them on, loved them but couldn't pay $400 on a pair of shoes. I wasn't the fashionista I am now! When I was walking out, I glanced over the the womens shoes thinking that they weren't much different, the cool thing was, they were all heels. The possibilities! But I was too scared to try on girls shoes. The next month I went back in there, I bought a pair of the portside pumps. 4..5" of sexyness. I got them on sale for $199, I wore them out, but couldn't walk any more than two blocks in them wiithout my ankles turning. Sort of like a kid learning to ice skate for the first time. I was worried that I wasted my money on somethiing that would stay in my closet forever or be sold on e-bay. But I wore them at home a lot and got used to them. Pretty soon I could run in them. Now 2 years later I have 25 pairs of fluevogs, and I have 3 other portside pumps as backups, 2 which I dyed different colours. I summarize a long boring story for you guys: that woman in the bank 10 years ago inspired me to dress in a certain way. I wear heels every day and only have been insulted once, and I was wearing mens 70s platforms. Maybe that's why I was insulted. I love wearing heels and enjoy the compliments I get from women.

[Gudulitooo]

Pumpcat, you are a rare person.

You wear women's attire all over the city, so why only buy shoes labelled as "heels for men" ?

[Curt]

Why not? Is there any difference for heels for men and heels for women iif they are all 4" heels. A lot of women bought them and posted comments on the website saying how much they love wearing them. Plus, I don't have to justify what I wear. I'm not one of those people: I love to wear heels, but only inside my house. Please get over yourselves for doing that, and stop worrying about what others think. No one else could care less!

[saudade]

Why not? Is there any difference for heels for men and heels for women iif they are all 4" heels. A lot of women bought them and posted comments on the website saying how much they love wearing them. Plus, I don't have to justify what I wear. I'm not one of those people: I love to wear heels, but only inside my house. Please get over yourselves for doing that, and stop worrying about what others think. No one else could care less!

 

So recently I got "outed" in line while wearing some bootcut jeans with a "are you wearing heels" comment by a woman. Followed with a "why are you wearing woman's shoes?", and I just belted out the Eddie Izzard line of, they aren't woman's shoes, they're my shoes. That stopped that line of questioning fast enough.

 

I might wear some things like jeans/shoes that are marketed for "women" but lets be honest, there is very little that is truly gender specific. I'm still a guy, I just have a certain look I go for that happens to include stilettos/heels/boots etc...

 

Whats good for the goose is good for the gander, I've found a lot more clothes for my body type in the womans section than I have for the guys. And it all started because of girlfriends telling me as such. So why not roll with it, I get compliments and noticed when I do and very rarely do I get any crap about it from women. Only guys really, and well a 1000 yard stare tends to fix that up quickly.

 

I still couldn't do what thigh high boot guy does with thigh high boots in public. Mainly because I don't have a pair, but also because I don't know if the look "fits" my style.

[HappyinHeels]

All,

 

Fantastic discussion here. The things I like today from ladie's watches that evoviii loves so much to the zip-up boots that Dr. Shoe remembers her mother wearing to the certain shoes with stiletto heels that jetsheelfan remembers seeing in his childhood are all things I was exposed to over the decades and which made an impression upon me knowing full well that there was a battle within me between understanding the feminine and the masculine. I wear what I like and what is affordable and stylish for me but it is also a function of how I actually feel that particular day. Many here, if not most members, have opined that they just want to emulate the feminine look without actually becoming women. Present oneself as a man but with varying degrees of feminine accents. That degree of feminine accents is determined by that particular day's mood. All of us have a need to express our personality and women do this all the time via their clothes. I think many of our members here now understand this and are now doing the same perhaps within certain parametres they have set for themselves. I know I am failry happy to be a man but also know quite well I am quite happy to wear high heels to a variety of places and those may be accompanied by other "feminine" articles depending on my particular mood that day. Our group is focused on shoes and boots but it certainly leads to many other things as well. Not so long ago I found myself discussing amateur radio while wearing 6" wedge sandals!!  Carry on my friends in your heels and boots! HappyinHeels

[antha]

Hi all

For me it all started with my mums block heel leather boots, I think, as I can't remember a time when I wasn't infatuated with leather boots. I'm pretty sure I was born with it.

My mum has never been fashionable and the boots went quite early on, so to my dismay by the time I was 7ish I had nothing to try on the quiet.

I spent the next 15yrs repressed. Until in eventually bought a pair of thigh boots which took 4months to turn up?!

Anyway after moving in with a girlfriend, once when she was out I tried on a skirt, the flood gates where opened after that.

 

Now i'm married (different girl), and wear heeled boots out in the cooler weather in what I consider to be a manly way. However I would love to be able to go out in the evening in what's considered to be full women's wear, as trousers and shirt is SOOO boring.

We tried me going out once in the full TV thing once, but I just struggle with the make up and I just want to be me.

Although I may do it again once more before all my long hair falls out!! lol

[Shafted]

We tried me going out once in the full TV thing once, but I just struggle with the make up and I just want to be me.

Although I may do it again once more before all my long hair falls out!! lol

 

Just be yourself. It's so much more fulfilling than to try to be one or the other on the gender binary. Society is much less understanding than individuals. Society as a whole is absolutely nuts. Individuals will judge for themselves. You just may find that they like what you are doing, and eventually you may find that they approve of what you are doing ( as I have) if you don't go over the top.

 

My advice to you is to go with the gender God gave you. Look in the mirror and ask yourself ,"Is this too much?"

 

I'm at the point where I wear women's clothes head to toe ( Even at work). Why? Because they fit me and they create a pleasing appearance for others. You are always going to run in to the the ignorant a-hole. Now is the the time to stomp on their absurd beliefs.

 

Don't try to emulate a woman, but try to use their wardrobe to your benefit. Isn't that what freestyling is all about?

 

There is much on the woman's side of the store that will flatter a man's body if done right.

[Steve63130]

Great advice, Shafted!

 

Steve

[antha]

I've been in a reasonably good place for a number of years now, especially after I took the decision to wear heels out in a manly way.

I made a point of collecting together outfits that enabled me to wear the boots I wanted to over jeans, as wearing heels under trousers is easy. I love the 70s 80 and early 90s Metal/Rock music and style so it wasn't too difficult getting something together, although I made a point in doing it in a more 'British' way, as that's where I live.

It's not until you try to get something together that you realise how bad the men's clothing choice is now, getting the right style jumper or coat even, it's dire out there. No wonder men dress down these days, anything good has been sold to the women's department!

 

The WOMEN'S BIKER BOOT is a pet hate of mine, us men wore them in the 80's on our (you guessed it) motorbikes, and now it's WOMEN ONLY!! 

 

The problem is always access to the RIGHT style boots in a EU43, and access to the right clothes in the right cut and with men's shoulders even harder. 

So even if you have got several looks that work really well, the inappropriate cut of the women's clothes makes it very difficult.

There are a few coat's that are a men's or unisex design that i want to finish outfits off, BUT they are in the women dept in a women's cut and too small in the shoulders and arms too short.

 

As you can tell i'm really one for getting the whole look right, i feel it's alright to be outrageous, but you best look damn cool in the process. 

 

If i go for an evening out in a long black full length,figure hugging skirt, wait cincher and very feminine top. . .yes it may well look good on me, but going out in my local town cinema is going to be too much for many, so not really an enjoyable night out for me.

Added to that no-one (including the rest of my family) wants to be ridiculed on a facebook picture gone semi viral!

Wearing make-up can give you some anonymity, but i just can't be doing with putting it on an taking it off.