The High Heeled Ruminations Of Melrose Plant

[mlroseplant]

Now that you say that, it's absolutely right. For some reason, I couldn't think of the word "mauve." Anyway, I just bought some pants to go with the shoes. They are not matchy-matchy, but I think they go better than the pink pants.

In other news, I am still largely wearing flats around the house. If I have to go out somewhere, which is not all that often, I'll put on some heels, and I'm still pounding the pavement almost every morning in heels, but I don't feel like I wear them all that often these days. I don't skip days or anything, but I don't feel like I'm putting in the hours that I used to. Hopefully I can report soon about my newer shoes and my new pants.

[Shyheels]

Mauve is a great colour. I don’t have any boots in that colour but I’ve plenty in my wardrobe 

[mlroseplant]

I have two things to report. Number One, I talked with a college friend of mine and told her that I was wearing my giant Prada mules for my morning constitutional on account of the fact that it was raining. I know I shouldn't abuse such expensive shoes in this way, but hey, they keep my feet out of the puddles. I didn't pay anywhere near the grand that this brand normally goes for brand new. For one thing, they're slightly damaged, and that was before I started using them for rain shoes. This particular friend is not in my true inner circle, so she said the usual "I want to see pictures, or it didn't happen."

Number Two, the other picture you see here is my church OOTW. I got my new pants to go with my new shoes. This is one of the few times, maybe the ONLY time I've ever worn the same pair of shoes to church two weeks in a row. To refresh present recollection, they are Steve Madden Daisie pumps in mauve. They're just a tad under 4 1/2", which puts them more in the 11 cm range, but hey, I can walk in them!

[Shyheels]

Did you show your friend the pic?

I like your colour sense. I’m a fan of pink, mauve and violet myself

[Puffer]

I have said elsewhere that your shoes look to me to be 'lilac' (which has a pinkish tinge) rather than a true 'mauve' (which is more purple).   Without being able to see them 'in the flesh', am I wrong?

[Shyheels]

If you really want to explore the colour, I suggest a book called Mauve - which is a fascinating history of colour, dyes, pigments and the invention of the colour mauve which took the late Victorian world by storm 

[mlroseplant]

With colors like this, I would say it is impossible to get an accurate rendition that is universal. They look different than what they looked like in the sale pictures. I still like them, but they are less purple-y than I expected. To my eye, they look browner than they do purple, especially when put next to my other pumps in that color range. It's about time for another shoe inventory, and things have shifted a lot since the last one. I have quite a few pairs of shoes that I would call some sort of "neutral patent." And yes, I sent the pictures to my friend. So far the only reaction I've gotten is a heart icon, but that means little.

[Shyheels]

Yes that’s very non committal. Could mean anything - or nothing.

[mlroseplant]

2024 has been a hard year on my shoes. I went through my collection a couple of days ago, and found that I've had to throw out 11 pairs of shoes this year. About half of these simply grenaded on me, and the other half simply deteriorated to the point where I couldn't wear them anymore. I have many more shoes which leave pieces of colored lining material all over my feet every time I wear them, but are otherwise sound. I have half a dozen which need some sort of repair or other.

It has gotten to the point where these phenomena happen more and more with shoes I've just purchased, and have worn only once or twice, even though it's obvious they have never been worn before. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to do something different in the coming years if this trend continues.

[HappyinHeels]

Mlroseplant,

Spent some time looking over your posts and offer this;

You’ve always been a fan of, and have looked nice, wearing the mule style of heels so keep it up.

A remedy to the show glue degradation , as someone mentioned, is a commercial/industrial type of epoxy like Loctite adhesive. Having used it for years on various projects it bonds like nothing else but withstands extremes of temperature. I have glued a pair of wedges and a pair of chunky heels using this adhesive and wood clamps overnight and it has worked fine so far. The adhesive has withstood -25F/-33C at our cabin and 120F/49C inside our shed in Yuma, Arizona. Highly recommend.

Agree if you wore heels into the bank then a question posed about footwear to the bank employee would go over much better. I equate it to shopping for heels as a guy when interacting with sales staff. When one wears the merch it leaves little doubt as to intention.

Give it some thought. HinH

[mlroseplant]

Thank you for the suggestion. I do have a couple of situations where epoxy would be a good solution. Most of my problems have either to do with sandal straps breaking, which a person might as well forget about repairing, or the deterioration of the inner lining of the shoe/sandal. Normally, it's just an irritant, but sometimes it gets to the point where one can begin to notice it from the outside, and that's a bridge I cannot bear to cross.

[Jkrenzer]

On 11/10/2024 at 7:35 AM, mlroseplant said:

 

It has gotten to the point where these phenomena happen more and more with shoes I've just purchased, and have worn only once or twice, even though it's obvious they have never been worn before. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to do something different in the coming years if this trend continues.

Older unworn shoes dry up, even non leather ones and fall apart. I've seen this over and over. Must wear them more often but created my own issue as my collection soared and from used heels that haven't been worn either. 

[mlroseplant]

I have definitely created a two-tiered system with my shoes. First class is for walking, and second class is for showing. Actually, that should probably be the other way around, as I wouldn't wear most of my walking shoes in any but the most casual situations. What this mean is that 80% of my collection is worn very little, and I should probably be more ruthless about getting rid of pairs I haven't worn for a couple of years.

Most of the time, but not all, the trouble is caused by a combination of leather upper with a man made lining. That combination does not seem to age well when exposed to oxygen. My all leather shoes do not seem to have this problem, and my plastic shoes seem to have it less. Sandals seem to suffer worse than fully enclosed shoes. Maybe this is a false perception on my part, as once this problem starts happening on a sandal, you might as well throw that pair away, because the flaking is usually quite visible as they're being worn, whereas with a fully enclosed shoe, such as a pump, you can't really tell until the shoes are removed. The latest example of this was when I wore my red Steve Madden open toed mules to church a few weeks ago, and by the time I came home, I noticed I had red flakes all over my toes. Not a good look, and there is nothing to be done about it. They're just gone.

I used to have a rule that if I couldn't walk at least two miles in reasonable comfort, I didn't keep the shoes. Nowadays, I do not maintain any such hard and fast rule. I think that I probably could walk two miles in a lot of my "dress" shoes, but I don't want to for a number of reasons.

[mlroseplant]

Got a couple of pictures this week. One is the church OOTW, featuring a gray color palette, which may be an oxymoron. The second is Casual Saturday, when I decided to wear my new boots, which are rather on the chunky side.

[mlroseplant]

Some of you will be happy to learn that I have increased the size of my boot collection by 100% in 2024. I now have four pairs of knee boots, two high heel, one low heel, and one flat. I had all of those by the end of last winter, but I was down to one pair of ankle boots. I now have four pairs of ankle boots, all high heeled. However, I am still looking for another pair of tall, slim heeled (not stiletto) boots, because the pair I bought that fits that description has already started disintegrating, and may be unwearable already, from an aesthetic standpoint.

Specifically, I would like to find some Simply Vera Wang ankle boots, model Velma or Svellie in size 9. My Svellies I just got are just as good as I remember, but the color layer on the outside of the faux leather boots has started peeling off in sheets already. How disappointing. Basically, I want something similar looking. I have found a couple of pairs, but they want way too much money for something that is over 10 years old, and may have the same problem as the pair I've already got.

[pebblesf]

On 11/18/2024 at 6:10 AM, mlroseplant said:

Got a couple of pictures this week. One is the church OOTW, featuring a gray color palette, which may be an oxymoron. The second is Casual Saturday, when I decided to wear my new boots, which are rather on the chunky side.

Great outfits indeed