The High Heeled Ruminations Of Melrose Plant

[Shyheels]

Indeed. It is healthier to walk with good posture and grace no matter who you are or what sort of footwear you favour.

[Puffer]

I have an immediate mental image of Grouch Marx loping along.   I wonder how he would have proceeded if he had been wearing heels? 

[Bubba136]

My wife used to say that the way I would walk would change with the height of the heels that I was wearing.  Wedge, block and stilettos around 3 to 4 inches, my gate would normal for me, or the way I usually walked.  More masculine, less feminine.  Whenever I would wear 5 or 6 inch heels, my gate became more feminine.  She attributed this change to the more attention that I had pay to where I put my foot when walking on broken, uneven pavement, inclines, downhill and up and down stairs when wearing higher heels.  Which, while she never would tell me not to wear heels that high, she would often ask me if “I really wanted to walk that far wearing those shoes?”    

[jeremy1986]

13 minutes ago, Bubba136 said:

... she would often ask me if “I really wanted to walk that far wearing those shoes?”    

That's a cute and caring way to say it! 

Edited April 7, 2019 by jeremy1986

[Shyheels]

7 hours ago, Puffer said:

I have an immediate mental image of Grouch Marx loping along.   I wonder how he would have proceeded if he had been wearing heels? 

Whatever way would have provided the most laughs

[mlroseplant]

18 hours ago, Cali said:

The trouble is when you over think your walk you look clumsy. Before I started wearing heels I use to walk around on my toes a lot, it was ankle exercises for my reconstructed ankles.

I realize it's possible to overthink almost anything, but I think most people underthink their walk. I mean, it seems silly to most people to even think about the subject, much less study it, and it shows. 

I'm not going to name names, but there is someone I know fairly well who has worn heels for years, but has no idea how to walk in them properly. It just hasn't even occurred to her that she looks slightly ridiculous, or that there is a different way of doing something so common and normal. 

[mlroseplant]

There are some who say that one of the major things to consider when buying a pair of high heels is the "rocking test." That is, if you set a pair of shoes on a level surface and push either of them to the side, they should return immediately back to the center and stop moving. If they continue moving after the first return to the center, they will be incredibly difficult to walk in, and you should reject them.

I am here today to testify that it ain't necessarily so. One of my favorite pairs of sandals, BCBGirls model George, which is a very bare thong type of sandal with a pretty steep heel (4 1/4" difference between the small platform and the heel), rocks pretty freely, as you can see in this video:

I know they are trashed, and I have stopped wearing them in public. If any of you has a lead on finding another pair in a U.S. 8.5, any color, I'm interested. At any rate, my point is that these sandals are super easy to walk in, at least for an experienced heeler. How this is possible, I have no idea. Being a thong type sandal and being that steep, you'd think they would just kill the spot between your big and second toes, as well as making your ankles tired because they are not rock stable at resting position, but they do neither. They are very easy to wear. Therefore, I don't believe in the absolute validity of the "rocking test."

Having said that, I do believe that it's absolutely necessary that the shoes return to a 100% vertical (or plumb) position when released. I've had situations where one shoe sits at a slight angle at resting position, and that does make the shoes pretty unwalkable. That is a different issue. But just because shoes are a bit of a free spirit doesn't mean they are useless. I have a number of shoes that pass the "rocking test" with flying colors that are considerably more awkward to walk in.

[SF]

Never tried the "rocking test" but I love the thong style and have many styles of thong heels that I wear often.  If the shoe is designed well and properly fitted, a thong style heel can be quite comfortable.  Here is a pic of my first pair of thong heels from long ago.  A bit beat up but still very functional and comfy...   Nice sandals Mlrose.....  take care....  sf

[mlroseplant]

On 4/5/2019 at 9:01 PM, mlroseplant said:

I got quite a surprise today. As I may have mentioned just a few times before, I have a very good friend who is my partner in crime when it comes to shoes. It just so happens that I have been doing some babysitting for her lately, because of her work situation. "Babysitting" might not be exactly the best word, as the children in question are 8 and 12 years old, but anyhow, they have been staying with us for several hours a week.  My story has to do with the 12 year old girl. She is a bit of a tomboy, does not like wearing dresses or worrying about her hair or anything else like that, and up to now, she has sworn up and down that she will NEVER wear high heels. Well, look at what she showed up to my house wearing this afternoon! I would like to think I had something to do with that change of heart. And they weren't little heels, either. They were 4 1/2 inch wedges.

I took Miss V to an orchestra concert tonight, as she is interested in taking up the violin. It was a good concert, featuring compositions by Elgar, Berlioz, and others. You can kind of tell when somebody is truly interested in listening versus simply attending out of politeness.

I wore heels of course, but Miss V stuck to flats, perhaps wisely, as we had to walk several blocks. 

[mlroseplant]

It's been a little while since I received an unsolicited compliment, but I got one yesterday at church. I was wearing a dark reddish suit, not really a maroon color, maybe like burgundy. It's a bit of an unusual color for a suit, but I get compliments on it all the time. It just so happens that I have a pair of women's dress pants that match the color of this suit exactly. I mean, it's like they were dyed with the same batch of dye in the same Vietnamese factory. The only difference is that the men's suit pants are, well, men's suit pants, and the women's pants are bordering on skinny. Not skin-tight, bulging skinny, but a very slim cut, and I have them hemmed at the ankle. I'll wear these pants with the suit if I want to do something different. Truth to tell, I wish all my suit pants were cut more like slimmer women's pants. With this suit and the slim pants, I wore some ordinary, boring (to me) black loafer style pumps with black trouser socks.

After the service(s), I had to go to multiple services because I was substituting for a musician who was out ill, I was putting the dust cover back on the grand piano and a young woman, probably in her mid to late 20s, walked all the way from the back of the sanctuary to the front, shouldering through people trying to exit just to tell me how much she liked my shoes. I thanked her, and continued to wrestle the cover back on (it isn't as easy as it seems, even after having done it hundreds of times). Then she said she wasn't brave enough to wear pumps. Not heels, but pumps. I said that yes, they are very easy to accidentally walk out of, and that I don't usually wear pumps, but that these were ok for me. It was kind of noisy in there with all the people talking, but she said a couple of other things about her husband or boyfriend or something, I thanked her again and she left. I don't know whether she's a visitor or what, I don't think I've ever seen her before, but I suppose I will know within the next few weeks. I know, I'm not a very good church member, I should have continued talking to her to find out more about that, but I had about a million other things on my mind at the time and didn't really feel like getting into a longer conversation at that moment.

On a completely different note (no pun intended), I am getting better at walking aesthetically in very high heels, but I still don't have the stamina that I once had. After five hours, my feet were really tired. They didn't hurt in the sense of true pain, but were quite fatigued. It must not have been too much, though, I am just fine this morning.

[Jkrenzer]

That's a great story. I'm curious about why she said wasn't brave enough to wear pumps. Not sure about her reasoning by your answer. Anyway, love to see a pic of the shoes.

[mlroseplant]

On 4/29/2019 at 4:46 PM, Jkrenzer said:

That's a great story. I'm curious about why she said wasn't brave enough to wear pumps. Not sure about her reasoning by your answer. Anyway, love to see a pic of the shoes.

It seemed to me that she had the same problem I usually have with pumps--if they are truly the correct size, they won't stay on my feet easily. Perhaps I have narrow heels, I don't know. Those heel gripper things either don't work at all, or just give the appearance of the shoe being obviously too large for me. My perception was that she thought pumps were the extreme end of shoes that were hard to walk in. I wonder what she would think of my mules? Which to me are much easier to wear.

I have posted pictures of these shoes at least a half a dozen times. They are my now 5 year old Nine West Plantera loafer pumps. I do not have a downsized (less than 500kb) picture of these at the moment. I am surprised at how many requests I get for pictures. I don't dislike having my picture taken (except at work), but neither do I go out of my way to document outfits and events. I suppose I should do more of that. My wife would never do it, but my son would probably help me out, if begrudgingly.

[RonC]

I've been having the same issue regarding walking out of pumps.  Don't remember that being an issue in years past, but certainly a problem with pumps these days for me.

[mlroseplant]

The subject of my musings today is aftermarket shoe padding, particularly at the ball of the foot. I have long stopped using inserts in an attempt to make a shoe be more cushioned. I do use them quite a bit, but they are for fitment purposes only. Some people swear by them for comfort, but I have never found them to make a nickel's worth of difference, comfort-wise. To explain it another way for the sake of clarity, by "comfort" I mean using them to relieve pressure at the ball of the foot, thereby making them more comfortable to wear for longer periods of time. Certainly, the way I use them, they do in fact increase comfort by taking up the slop in a shoe that is not perfectly sized or shaped for my foot.

Some of my most comfortable, wear-them-all-day, go-on-a-walking-tour-of-Downtown-Chicago-in-them shoes have no padding whatsoever. The insole of the shoe is just bare hard wood. Conversely, some of my shoes that have quite a bit of built-in padding, and some that have built-in padding to which I've added an insert for fitment, are considerably less comfortable on the old balls of the feet. I don't have any truly uncomfortable shoes, I won't deal with them, but on the continuum of relatively comfortable high heels, there seems to be no correlation between how much padding there is at the ball of the foot and how comfortable they are to wear in real life.

By the way, I only like one brand of inserts, and that is Foot Petals Tip Toes ball of foot cushions. They also make other cushions, but I use the ball of foot cushions the most by far, again for fitment purposes, not for actual cushioning. I absolutely hate gel anything, can't stand that squishy feeling, and they often make my feet sweat more than they already do on their own.

I am curious to know what other people's experiences are with foot cushions as it relates to comfort or fitment.

[Cali]

I use Aldo Gel Instep Cushions and a few Aldo foam inserts. I was given my first set by a former manager of an Aldo store when she saw I was wearing heels. Her reasoning was it was not just for the padding but to help hold your foot in place, that is, to keep your foot from sliding forward. When you wear 4+ inch heels all day (12+ hours) the last thing you want is you foot to slide forward and jamming your toes. This is specially important during the summer when I wear sandals and don't wear socks.

These Gel inserts have a sticky back that sticks to your shoe while your body sticks to the top surface of the pad.

I also find it makes some on my single sole heel easier to walk in. I never get a squishy feeling from them.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Cali

[nzfreestyler]

I have used foot petals  - ball of foot cushioning - they're quite cute because I got them in varying colours to contrast my insoles.. just for fun, and there little flower petal shaped pads and in my opinion they do work a little bit. I don't think though that a well fitting pump needs padding to any great degree, if the shoe arch is good and your weight can get back onto that heel as much as possible then its quite comfortable.

 

I have the dr scholls inserts for high heels - the ones for shoes over 3.5 inches. they're specifically designed for higher heels and sit under the ball of the foot with a little ridge on the ball of your foot before your tos and it stops my foot sliding forward a little. The cushion also rises up under my arch and pads my arch/instep slightly which kind of feels nice. Its discreet and clear coloured so it is hardly visible, and can't be seen when wearing pumps, even the lower cut ones and slings nothing can be seen.

They feel ok with barefeet but I find when I wear stockings that I slide into my pumps a lot more, so I appreciate these when I am obligated to wear stockings, and also for some of my peep toe pumps I find I slip down them after many hours - and they help there too and take that presure of my 2nd toes from the edge of the peep. I don't wear opaques/socks etc every and I find hosiery (10-15 denier is about my limit) with high nylon content is very slippery in high heels and the inserts really really really help in that situation.

The only time I walk out of my pumps is when I am wearing stockings, and then ots after a few hours of wearing that it can happen, so its annoying and I have to be much more careful. Bare legs/feet is so much easier for fit and then comfort too.

 

[mlroseplant]

I really haven't felt like writing lately, but I suppose I should report on my visit to the chiropractor. I decided to seek medical care because I've been having a slight amount of trouble with my left knee off and on for years. I have always suspected it was not really a knee problem, but what do I know? As it turns out, I was at least partially correct. My hips are way out of alignment, which causes my spine to take a wonky turn (it's really quite dramatic on the x-ray, even to a layman), which then affects the rest of me, including my knees. After two weeks of therapy, I must say I can definitely tell a difference in my yoga practice, and I think that I walk much better in heels than before. Knee still hurts a little though. I'm not expecting miracles. It will take a while. The good doctor advised me against wearing high heels (twice), which I suppose he feels obligated to do, but we did not talk about it in great detail. If he brings it up again, I suppose I will have to tell him off a bit, but he hasn't mentioned it for a while. I'm not complaining, though. He's a super nice guy, and really seems to know his stuff.

[mlroseplant]

7 hours ago, kneehighs said:

Honestly curious.  What does therapy do for you that yoga can't?  

Chiropractic techniques are specifically designed to manipulate your bones back into proper alignment. Now that I have a neutral position to start from, I find it much easier to keep my body in proper alignment for yoga poses, particularly those involving outstretched legs. As far as pain management, there really wasn't any real pain to begin with, so the difference is subtle (to me, anyway). My doctor told me that I am fairly unusual in that I showed up at his office before I was completely incapacitated in some way. I wish I had a picture of that x-ray to show!

[HappyinHeels]

I have used foot pads from both Bakers, when they were in business, and Aldo but almost exclusively in my pumps as few of the other styles seem to need them. I think part of the reason I put the in the pumps is that I normally wear them with hosiery. I can't ever remember wearing pumps in bare feet. Hosiery will cause the feet to slide a bit more as moisture is being wicked away. I have enjoyed wearing my wedges in bare feet this year which means I have to keep those toes nicely polished. I have had more compliments this year then any previous year. I do encourage you all to wear your heels out and enjoy your life. HinH

[mlroseplant]

I had an interesting experience yesterday evening. My wife sent me to the local Walmart to purchase a couple of things, and to make a delivery of a few odds-and-ends to the Nail Shop Girls, who run a nail salon that is inside Walmart. Before I made my purchases, I went to the nail salon to make my delivery. While I was there, a customer, a young girl, who was most probably high school age, but possibly college age, said "Oh, I just LOVE your shoes! I want them! Where did you get them?"

I was wearing 4 inch Coach wedges/mules in patchwork gold uppers and dark brown bottoms. I bought these at least two years ago on ebay, and I wear them occasionally, but they're not my favorite. So I said to the girl, "What size are you?"

She replied, "8 1/2."

My eyes widened. "What an amazing coincidence! I am also size 8 1/2. I will give you these shoes if you want them. Would you like to try them on?" She blushed bright red and didn't know what to say. I told her, "I've got some shopping to do, I'll be back before I leave the store."

I went and did my shopping, which took some time, but she was still there when I came back. I said, "I'm done shopping now, and I'm serious about the shoes. Would you at least like to try them on? The gal that just did your manicure, whom you know as Diane, I know as em Dung. We have been friends for ten years. She'll tell you I'm the real deal."

"Eleven years," Dung corrected. "We have known each other for eleven years now."

"See, she even remembers better than I do!"

After some banter back and forth, the girl turned down my offer, explaining that she had no place to wear them, an excuse that I always find rather amusing, because there I am in Walmart, of all places, wearing heels. I pretty much expected her final answer, but I really would have given them to her if she'd wanted them.

I can't imagine that Dung didn't say anything to my wife about that little exchange, but if she did, my wife hasn't mentioned it to me.

[Jkrenzer]

You have small feet. 

She may have wanted them, but it's an odd offer. Plus many people cringe at the idea of wearing anothers shoes. I wouldn't take it bad that she ultimately didn't accept, initially she was being spontaneous but given the time to think it over I'm not surprised she declined. By the way, were going to leave the store shoeless?

[mlroseplant]

8 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

You have small feet. 

She may have wanted them, but it's an odd offer. Plus many people cringe at the idea of wearing anothers shoes. I wouldn't take it bad that she ultimately didn't accept, initially she was being spontaneous but given the time to think it over I'm not surprised she declined. By the way, were going to leave the store shoeless?

Yes, I do, but they are proportional to the rest of me! My hands are not particularly small, but I have always thought they looked big and meaty compared to the rest of me.

I agree with you, it WAS an odd offer, and completely out of character for me, it was just one of those things that hit me at that particular moment. Strangely enough, the girl did not seem to be uncomfortable at all once we got talking (it probably helped that I was known by all in the nail shop, and also I had my 10 year old son with me). The encounter was somewhat longer than what I documented above. I am also not surprised by the ultimate outcome, plus I would have missed the shoes a little bit, but not that much.

And yes, I had planned to leave the store barefoot. That's why I left the initial conversation and got my shopping over with first. I've been kicked out of stores for being barefoot before, which is kind of BS, but that discussion is probably beyond the scope of something called hhplace. HA!

[SF]

I liked the story, interesting encounter.  I applaud your grenrosity in offering to give up your heels, I probably would not have been so generous!  

Especially if I had to leave barefoot.  No shirt, no shoes, no service - ha ha....  

As for foot size, I am tall, 6ft 3in and wear a men's size 10 or 11 shoe, which is small for someone as tall as me.  I am lucky that I can wear gals size 11 or 12 shoes and sandals.  

Enjoy your heels....   sf

[HappyinHeels]

I am impressed with your generosity but it's probably a normal part of the Iowa identity. As to those people who may cringe at wearing someone else's shoes I guess they have never shopped Goodwill or St. Vincent de Paul or any other thrift store for that matter. Besides things like laundry detergent and sanitizers are cheap and plentiful. HinH

[mlroseplant]

It is an effort on my part to promote the wearing of our favorite footwear. There is just so much negative publicity associated with heels these days. Like I said, it was a completely spontaneous thing, outside of my normal character. But who is going to take over wearing heels when we are gone? Got to recruit any way we can, I say!

[mlroseplant]

It has been mentioned several times that I do not provide enough photographic evidence of my fashion sensibilities, and I suppose there's a reason for that. I just don't feel it's very interesting. I haven't really changed all that much--I might have a few more wrinkles than last year, I might have a few more gray hairs, and I still don't have the abs I've always dreamed of. Furthermore, I don't think my style has evolved very far. I am still wearing mostly women's clothing (suits excepted), but you wouldn't necessarily know it just from looking at it. Perhaps the shoes have gotten a bit more daring, and certainly taller, and the pants have gotten a bit narrower, but I don't feel like I'm doing much of anything too different than when I stepped out of the house wearing high heels for the first time just over 7 years ago. I particularly don't know what to do with tops. I pretty much have three modes: 1) Full dress shirt, usually with a tie, 2) polo shirt, which may or may not be from the women's section, they aren't all that different from each other except for size, and 3) plain crew neck t-shirt, although I have many colors which most guys don't wear. And that's basically it.

Nevertheless, I have gone to the trouble of having several photographs taken, or tried my hand at the self-timer, which is always awkward, especially when you get caught by your wife. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Uh.  .  . nothing."

"You are a very silly boy!"

Ummmm.  .  . yes.  .  . Yes, I am."

So these are the last three weeks of outfits I wore to church on Sunday. The first one, featuring my never before worn by me Jimmy Choo suede pumps, is obviously in a suit and tie. It was the last week of school for the kids, and the last Sunday of what I call my "winter" church clothes. The next two outfits are my "summer" church clothes, and basically the only reason it changes is because I own a heck of a lot of sandals I like to wear out, and I still don't feel it's proper for me as a guy to wear sandals dress more formally. And besides that, me and my dad and a handful of old men are the only ones who still wear a suit to church anyway. So now you know.

The second outfit features my Nine West Dancecard mules, in dusty rose with a sort of a cork-esque heel. I'm just not sure about the boot cut pants. They fit well, but I'm not sure I like the look anymore. They used to be a staple of my wardrobe.

The last outfit, captured by the aforementioned self timer, features my Michael Kors Sommerly wedges, which unusually for me, are NOT mules, and they are shorter than 5 inch heels. The last time I wore them, the strap dug a hole in my ankle, but this time, they didn't seem to bother me at all. Weird. Also featured here are women's dress pants, which are stretchy tight. I wasn't feeling all that fat on that particular morning, so I just rolled with it.

P.S. Evidently, not only has the file size been restricted, but the total of all files uploaded at once has been restricted to about 1/3 MB. Therefore, I guess you only get to see one picture for now. I already downsized it mightily, or so I thought. An even better reason I don't feel bad about not sharing pictures. I think I'm done taking photos of myself for a while. Back to ruminating.

[bluejay]

I like your style miroseplant. That's my style for Sunday church wearing too. A suit jacket and some style of heels. Being the warmer weather is here, I've shed my blazer and suit coats for polo shirts and camp shirts. I too don't feel comfortable wearing sandals to church. Many of my lady friends know that I have a red pedi, but I don't want to shock my pastor although he knows that I wear heels to church. I usually change into sandals after church on my weekly shopping trips and do carry a cross body bag, too. I like mules just like you do. I have about 10 pairs of the Nine West "Gemily" slides in a rainbow of colors. I'm a big fan of color and I try to match my top or suit coat with the same color of my shoes. Besides Sunday heeling I'm out in heels and flats several times during the week. I like to wear leggings and jeggings, skinny jeans, ladies capris too. I have many colors of capri jeggings and I'm not afraid to wear colors that other guys wouldn't. I've always considered myself as a fashion forward male which includes wearing heels  and other women's shoes and boots. I get a regular pedi in a red color and get a clear gel mani regularly. My Vietamanese nail teck is all too happy to color my little pinkies with some color and some art decorations, too. She is so talented!

I also have trouble adding pics of my ensembles. I use a self timer camera, but the resolution is too big for HHP, that's why I only write about my heeling jaunts. JeffB must have more time to add all of his pics on his jaunts.

Happy Heeling,

bluejay

[Pierre1961]

That's a perfect example of what I called " men in heels as men" 

i love it. 

[mlroseplant]

Thanks for the replies and encouragement, @bluejay and @Pierre1961. OK, I've manged to jam the rest of my pictures into a file size that will hopefully fit. To briefly review, the above picture (in the previous post) was suit and tie plus Jimmy Choo suede pumps. Photo No. 1 here is a closer view (taken behind the lectern at church, by the way) of the pumps. They are my first true "designer" heels purchase, and it's something I may never do again. I paid the princely sum of about $200 with shipping for them, and then didn't realize I'd bought from a seller in Ukraine. Well, everything turned out OK in the end, except that these are never going to be a great value per wear item. They are my highest heels, coming in at just a tick under 6 inches (a tick meaning like 5 15/16"--still can't claim I own and wear 6 inch heels) with 1 1/4 inch platform. They are not terribly difficult to walk in, but they are lower cut pumps, so I have to be extremely careful not to lose a shoe. I really like how they look, but I don't see me wearing these things all the time. It was a bit foolish to wear them to church without a test run someplace else first, but I got by with it.

Photo No. 2 is my boot cut dress pants with Nine West Dancecard mules. I think they'd probably look better with slimmer, shorter pants. Photo No. 3 is a behind-the-lectern closeup. Heels are 5 3/8" with 1 1/8 platform. Very comfortable sandal, but a bitch to get on and off right at the moment.

Photo No. 4 is my skinny dress pants with Michael Kors Sommerly wedges, coming in at a much more terrestrial 4 5/8" with 1 1/8" platform. These pants were inexpensive, and are what I imagine some boring chick would wear to an office job. Doesn't say much for me, does it? At least people are always excited to see my shoes.

[Cali]

11 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

Full dress shirt, usually with a tie, 2) polo shirt, which may or may not be from the women's section, they aren't all that different from each other except for size, and 3) plain crew neck t-shirt, although I have many colors which most guys don't wear. And that's basically it.

Try some linen shirts. You can get them in basic colors, they are cool to wear in the summer, they're somewhere between a full dress shirt and polo. You don't tuck them in and you can wear them with dress pants to shorts. Great at summer backyard bbq's.  I like to pair them with wedge sandals, like my old Charles by Charles David, or strappy heels.

And No tropical shirts? No shirts with prints of fun things on them, like small piano's.

I think I wore my first tie in over 10 years last month.