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

[mlroseplant]

I have evidently missed my HHP anniversary, but not by much. Evidently, I've been on this site for 12 years! I wonder how this would have all gone without this site. I had already made up my mind that I was going to wear the shoes I liked about six months before I joined here. I'm sure that my fashion life would have been different, but I'm not really sure how. I guess it's been good to know that I'm not the only one, but I've been used to that my entire life, so I don't know that it would have been a deal breaker.

One thing I have noticed is that for my anniversary, I no longer have the option to choose a different font than this default sans serif font that I'm not particularly fond of.

[CrushedVamp]

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.

I think your outfits are well thought out and well put together.

I really like the bottom one, maybe because of the style of hat, and its color does so well with the black heels and coat?

Nice!!

[Jkrenzer]

Happy HHP anniversary. The site has dwindled in participation, myself included, these last several years. 

Your selection of colorful heels has noticeably grown and your contributions have likely kept me coming back.

Happy Thanksgiving. 

[Shyheels]

Happy anniversary and Happy Thanksgiving! 
 

Yes the site has certainly become much quieter in recent years but the people who are here and active are all worth knowing and I’m glad to be a member 

[Puffer]

On 11/28/2024 at 11:03 AM, mlroseplant said:

I have evidently missed my HHP anniversary, but not by much. Evidently, I've been on this site for 12 years! ...

One thing I have noticed is that for my anniversary, I no longer have the option to choose a different font than this default sans serif font that I'm not particularly fond of.

Happy anniversary!   You prompted me to discover my own length of servitude - 20 years and counting.   Makes me feel really ancient.

You can easily alter the font; the 'Font' button is on the top row at the right.   I too am not keen on sans serif for text, but am usually too lazy to alter it - but this time have done so to my preferred Times New Roman, 16pt. 

[mlroseplant]

The font option appears to be back. It was gone a few days for some reason. I have been a follower of this site since the Jenny days (circa 2000), but I was up until recently programmed to believe that heels were only for women. Had I stayed married to my ex-wife, I wonder how my fashion proclivities would have turned out. As a result, I actually joined fairly late, and it took me quite a while to get used to the sight of men in heels, including my own reflection in the mirror. I was a little taken aback when I got here finally, and was not necessarily welcomed with open arms. This place has evolved quite a bit within the last decade. True, it's almost dead, but it's friendly.

@Laurieheels was a favorite of mine back in the day. Punching in the name, I see that she is still technically a member here. She was inspiring to me because she wanted to get to the point where she could wear very high heels every day as her normal footwear. And I really don't remember the denouement of her journal, but I do remember progress documented. And I thought to myself, "I wish my wife would do something like that." What I did not realize at the time is that what I really meant was, "I wish I could do something like that." Here I am, some 20 years later, living the dream. Of course, my job does not allow me to wear heels as much as I would like, but it's enough. I think I can reasonably say that I probably pound the pavement more than anybody, maybe not timewise, but certainly distance wise, and although I've never learned to properly walk in 5 inch heels, I have pretty much mastered 4 inch heels (more about how that is so untrue in a future installment), and I guess I'll have to be satisfied with that.

[Cali]

Just to have a different type.

I've only been here for 7+ years. And my path is very different than others. Yes, I loved the heels that the girls in school wore back in the 60's to ... . And yes, I wish I could wear them too. And yes, I wore a pair of booties with a 2 inch heel throughout the 80's and 90's. But only I switched to only women's shoes 14 years ago after undergoing another painful reconstruction. I finally figured out WHY I was having so much trouble with my knees and ankles, and it was men's shoes. Then my podiatrist told me I needed a 2 inch heel to absorb my arch and stablize my feet. Later a major injury put me in 4 inch heels for life, hopefully another 30 to 40+ years.

This site has help me grow from hiding my heels to celebrating and showcasing them, such as, knee high sitlettos over skinny pants.

Edited November 30 by Cali

[Shyheels]

I’m coming up on my 11th anniversary. My trajectory is somewhat similar to yours. I loved the go-go boots worn by a very pretty red haired girl and wished I could have a pair just like them. But I so believed the so called rules that I honestly believed it was impossible for me to wear go go boots - as though these things were encoded in our DNA and couldn’t be changed. It was quite a Damascene moment when I realised many years later that I could wear feminine boots or heels if I wanted to

[Puffer]

On 11/30/2024 at 4:39 PM, Cali said:

Just to have a different type.

I've only been here for 7+ years. And my path is very different than others. Yes, I loved the heels that the girls in school wore back in the 60's to ... . And yes, I wish I could wear them too. ...

The 1960s were a period of much change on the fashion front.   What heels was it that you loved from that era - the stilettos ubiquitous until c1965 or the low and boring styles that came in as the mini skirt gained in popularity?   Surely not the latter?

[Cali]

3 hours ago, Puffer said:

The 1960s were a period of much change on the fashion front.   What heels was it that you loved from that era - the stilettos ubiquitous until c1965 or the low and boring styles that came in as the mini skirt gained in popularity?   Surely not the latter?

Since I wasn't a teenager until after 1965, it was more the mini skirts, hot pants, go-go boots and lots of sandals because it was a beach town too.

Edited December 2 by Cali

[Shyheels]

4 hours ago, Puffer said:

The 1960s were a period of much change on the fashion front.   What heels was it that you loved from that era - the stilettos ubiquitous until c1965 or the low and boring styles that came in as the mini skirt gained in popularity?   Surely not the latter?

Thigh boots came in with the mini-skirt. Roger Vivier introduced them in ‘64 and they were a hit. Think of the iconic shot of Brigid Bardot on the Harley. The go-go boot came in the following year, with sales given an added boost by Nancy Sinatras iconic These Boots Were Made For Walking. For those fond of boots the mid to late 60s were definitely not boring!

[Puffer]

8 hours ago, Cali said:

Since I wasn't a teenager until after 1965, it was more the mini skirts, hot pants, go-go boots and lots of sandals because it was a beach town too.

6 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Thigh boots came in with the mini-skirt. Roger Vivier introduced them in ‘64 and they were a hit. Think of the iconic shot of Brigid Bardot on the Harley. The go-go boot came in the following year, with sales given an added boost by Nancy Sinatras iconic These Boots Were Made For Walking. For those fond of boots the mid to late 60s were definitely not boring!

As you say and as I well remember, the second half of the 60s was mostly about various styles of boots and sandals, many of which I admired.   But Cali said that he 'loved the heels', although heels of any height or slenderness were noticeably missing from footwear of that period.   Perhaps what he really meant was that he 'loved the footwear'.

[mlroseplant]

I have come to the conclusion that I need to wear pumps more often. It's too bad they are so finicky for me, always a compromise between them being very tight on the one hand, and the constant fear of stepping right out of them on the other. Probably in front of a whole bunch of people.

[Shyheels]

I’ve never worn pumps. I think I’d be worried about the same things. At least with boots there’s no stepping out of them!