The High Heeled Ruminations Of Melrose Plant

[RonC]

I'd happily wear either the Nine West or the Edelman's if they fit me properly (which is unlikely due to my wider than typical foot shape), but I could not handle your pumos Jkrenzer, as that heel height is beyond my desire both from a practical wearability standpoint and an aesthetic standpoint.  As indicated in a prior post, I just don't find heels that high attractive.  But you keep on keeping on sir!  And if I saw you wearing them, I'd pass on kudos!

Edited August 8, 2020 by RonC

[mlroseplant]

On 8/6/2020 at 9:44 AM, Jkrenzer said:

These are for me the optimal heel shape and height. Leather pumps from Steven by Steve Madden. Heel is 5.25 inch and there is a .25 in hidden platform. As seen by the wear, I've gotten good use out of them. Currently wearing them at work at my desk. Co-workers are all aware, however i don't walk around the office or obviously the factory in them.

 

 

And to the other topic, never find heels like this on Madden's site now.

Got a couple of questions: 1) Do you know the model name of these pumps? I wouldn't mind finding a pair of these somewhere out there, but Uncle Google isn't being very helpful. 2) Since this is the place for ruminations, may I ask why do you wear high heels at your desk, but feel you can't walk around the office in them? I understand why you can't go on the factory floor wearing heels.

[Jkrenzer]

1 hour ago, mlroseplant said:

Got a couple of questions: 1) Do you know the model name of these pumps? I wouldn't mind finding a pair of these somewhere out there, but Uncle Google isn't being very helpful. 2) Since this is the place for ruminations, may I ask why do you wear high heels at your desk, but feel you can't walk around the office in them? I understand why you can't go on the factory floor wearing heels.

The model is NEWBEE. Steven by Steve Madden. These have been long since discontinued. 

I know it goes against the intent of most of us but, i don't walk around the office in heels out of respect. We always have customers and suppliers in and I don't want to detract from the business at hand. Also, i often go to the factory floor from places other than my desk, safety shoes etc. are required.

I just googled them, very specific. There is a pair of size 8 on poshmark right now at 25 bucks.

I wear these in 10, they were a little tight at first but the soft leather stretched nicely. 

[HappyinHeels]

mlroseplant,

I saw you mention NineWest in your post. I used to shop both an outlet store as well as a specialty retailer NineWest store in the Hawthorn shopping center in Mundelein, IL but all NineWest stores I knew of or shopped have been closed. NineWest went into receivership some time ago and part of the plan to recover debts was for other reailers to market NineWest footwear. This explains why I've seen NineWest in places DSW, Macys, and Nordstrom Rack. You've seen me so you I wear heels as high as yours. Luckily I bought many heels back in the 2009-2012 time frame when the economy wasn't good but heel heights were the highest since the 1970's. I have an arsenal of heels above 5"/12cm to choose from, When Bakers was going strong they sold many shoes with a 5.5"/13.5 cm heel before eventually selling some 6"/15cm heels. So many shoe venues have disappeared like NineWest, Bakers, Shi, Steve Madden (scaled back), Charlotte Russe, Sheikh Shoes (scaled back), BCBG (scaled back) and others. I wrote in another post how at the same time the US shoe market is changing and not for the better the shoe market in Mexico is thriving. Lovely shoes of wondrous heights and made in Mexico and on sale for very low prices. HappyinHeels

[mlroseplant]

@Jkrenzer and @HappyinHeels, I'm going to respond to your posts, but probably in a couple days, as I have a lot of ruminating to do today, and I don't want to make this post extremely long.

I have only two items to report, but the story is a little bit long. Suddenly, things is happening! My wife sent me to Walmart last night to pick up a few things. As you know, Walmart now requires masks to enter the store. So they have a person underneath a canopy outside making sure everyone is following the rules. So here I am, walking up to the entrance of the store, and this little Mexican woman yells at me, "I HATE you, I absolutely HATE you!" Don't be alarmed, it was the Walmart employee, whom I've known casually for years, expressing her frustration about how she can't wear heels anymore. I'm guessing she's about 55 or 60. She always comments on my shoes every time I see her. Interestingly, she always wears Dansko clogs to work, often in patent leather. She even has a pair of fire engine red patent leather clogs that she sometimes wears to work. So I stopped to talk for a minute. There was a man there also, obviously another customer who also knows her. She said to me, "How do you wear those heels all the time? I used to wear heels when I was young, but I can't wear them anymore." I said, "Well, I didn't get started until I was in my 40s, but I've practiced a lot since then." The man really didn't react one way or the other. I then said, "Sorry about this, I really need to shave my legs." I had been lazy and let it go for about four days. She said, "I can't see anything from here! You have great legs!" I sheepishly thanked her and proceeded into the store.

As soon as I got into the store, I was accosted by a young woman. I don't know whether she had heard the earlier exchange between me and the Walmart employee a few seconds earlier or not, but she asked me, "HOW? How do you do it?" I said, "How do I do what?" She said, "How do you walk in those heels so easily and gracefully? I sometimes trip in my flip-flops." I swear, she actually used the word "gracefully." I said, "Really, it's just like any other athletic activity. It's just practice. I'm not really all that talented, but I am experienced." She nodded, and we both went about our business.

After purchasing my items, I met the Walmart employee at the front door again, and we had a nice chat about immigrating to the U.S. and learning English. This came up because my wife works at Walmart also, and as many of you know, her first language is not English. It is rather amazing and inventive how people wind up learning a language. This woman said she learned English watching Sesame Street and reading children's books. Her foreign accent is almost undetectable, it's really quite amazing. I have not yet subjected her to my terrible Spanish.

[HappyinHeels]

my Iowa neighbour,

Others have said before so I'll refresh everyone. Firstly once one has practiced a new discipline thoroughly and completely then confidence kicks in and people notice that. Secondly once one has done something enough the novelty to others wears off and that person simply blends into the background of what's expected. There may not be many men who wear high heels in your small Iowa town but you have become that different yet expected part of the background. Just what you wanted all along. Think about what Cali has said about what happens if he doesn't wear heels where he lives and works. People around town including merchants come to know you and they would miss that quirky contribution to the local scene. HinH

[Cali]

15 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

"I HATE you, I absolutely HATE you!"

Heard that, or a similar phrases, like "I wish I could walk that well in heels",  many times.  It tells you that you have the walk down. Part of it is having the confidence to not think about it.

 

[mlroseplant]

On 8/8/2020 at 6:47 AM, Jkrenzer said:

The model is NEWBEE. Steven by Steve Madden. These have been long since discontinued. 

I know it goes against the intent of most of us but, i don't walk around the office in heels out of respect. We always have customers and suppliers in and I don't want to detract from the business at hand. Also, i often go to the factory floor from places other than my desk, safety shoes etc. are required.

I just googled them, very specific. There is a pair of size 8 on poshmark right now at 25 bucks.

I wear these in 10, they were a little tight at first but the soft leather stretched nicely. 

OK, I get it. If it were me, I would have to leave the heels at home. I would be far too tempted to get up and walk around. Then stroll around the factory. Then get fired. You have great discipline.

I need size 9 in close toed shoes. I found a pair elsewhere online that I'm thinking about. Thanks!

On 8/8/2020 at 10:17 PM, HappyinHeels said:

mlroseplant,

I saw you mention NineWest in your post. I used to shop both an outlet store as well as a specialty retailer NineWest store in the Hawthorn shopping center in Mundelein, IL but all NineWest stores I knew of or shopped have been closed. NineWest went into receivership some time ago and part of the plan to recover debts was for other reailers to market NineWest footwear. This explains why I've seen NineWest in places DSW, Macys, and Nordstrom Rack. You've seen me so you I wear heels as high as yours. Luckily I bought many heels back in the 2009-2012 time frame when the economy wasn't good but heel heights were the highest since the 1970's. I have an arsenal of heels above 5"/12cm to choose from, When Bakers was going strong they sold many shoes with a 5.5"/13.5 cm heel before eventually selling some 6"/15cm heels. So many shoe venues have disappeared like NineWest, Bakers, Shi, Steve Madden (scaled back), Charlotte Russe, Sheikh Shoes (scaled back), BCBG (scaled back) and others. I wrote in another post how at the same time the US shoe market is changing and not for the better the shoe market in Mexico is thriving. Lovely shoes of wondrous heights and made in Mexico and on sale for very low prices. HappyinHeels

Glad to hear that the Mexican market is still doing OK. I imagine that the same is the case farther south, as well. I can't see the Latinas giving up their stilettos anytime soon. Asians, on the other hand, are more fickle. They will latch on to a trend, usually led by Korea or Japan that is either super cute or hideous, one or the other. There doesn't ever seem to be any in between. They're in one of those hideous phases right now.

___________________________________

SEPARATE POST, BUT WAS MERGED:

Totally off-topic, but it was a little too exciting of a day today. We had a severe thunderstorm (no tornado, thank goodness). I was at work at the Facebook facility in Altoona (Iowa). I was outside rooting around in my conex looking for something, and I could see this cloud of dust or sand or something, off in the distance. Several seconds later, the wind speed picked up from about 5 mph to like 75 mph in an instant, and I was pummeled with sand. I tried to get the doors on the conex shut, but was unable to do so. The wind just knocked me over. I gave up quickly, and sprinted to the building, where we stayed in the storm shelter for the next 45 minutes.

Then guys started getting phone calls from their wives and children about trees down, power out, fences being uprooted and crumpled up, and so forth. Therefore, after it calmed down a bit, they sent us home. I was encouraged when I rolled into my town to find that the traffic lights were all still working, and that trash cans were knocked over, but not 3 blocks away from their associated houses. We had zero damage at our house, just a slight mess from small tree branches on the ground.

Edited August 10, 2020 by mlroseplant

[mlroseplant]

Not much to report here, but I did run across a photo of a woman, and I'm like, "Hey wait a minute, I own those shoes!" Steve Madden Crunk. Not in white, but I do have them in black and tan. They're very hard to come by these days, being an older model, but I did manage to snag two almost new pairs earlier this year on Poshmark. Maybe it's just the angle of the photo, but I think they look rather taller in person than they appear here. The heel measures just shy of 5", but they appear lower than that to me in the instant image. To be honest, even though I like the style, they're not that great of a shoe. If you replace the heel tip early with something more durable, that helps, but the main problem is that the lining, both in the interior of the strap, and the footbed, wears out rather quickly if you actually wear the sandals as everyday footwear. I realize I'm sounding like a broken record I say this so often, but the main problem with heels in general for me is lack of durability. And I'm not hard on shoes!

Other than that, I guess the outfit the woman is wearing is in the ballpark of what I would wear to go get fuel for my car. I wouldn't wear anything sleeveless, but that's a function of my job and tan lines that would look rather unattractive with anything sleeveless. I'm not going to waste a lot of time trying to get rid of them, not to mention I've already had one cancerous area chopped out of my left temple. I just accept that I will wear shirts with sleeves the rest of my life. Not a big deal.

[p1ng74]

I'm in the same situation with the tan line, and it's too late in the summer to do anything about it.  It's too bad, because I just discovered how much more comfortable going sleeveless can be in the August heat.  Oh well, I guess I can look ahead and be on the lookout for sleeveless shirts to wear for next year.  

Edited August 17, 2020 by p1ng74

[mlroseplant]

9 hours ago, p1ng74 said:

I'm in the same situation with the tan line, and it's too late in the summer to do anything about it.  It's too bad, because I just discovered how much more comfortable going sleeveless can be in the August heat.  Oh well, I guess I can look ahead and be on the lookout for sleeveless shirts to wear for next year. 

Yes, unfortunately, I have to wear a minimum of a 4" sleeve at work, so I'm going to have the same problem.  .  . basically forever. If I were as rail thin as you, I might care about it more. My wife likes to keep me a little bit fat, but she has no idea that her encouraging me to gormandize actually keeps me from wearing stuff that she'd truly hate! 🤣

In other developments, for one reason and another, I wore flat sandals pretty much all weekend, and my feet are tired! I do much better in heels, as long as they're not at the extreme end of my personal physical limitations (greater than 4 1/2" steepness). I don't mention this to the general public, because they always say, "You are SO full of it, that couldn't possibly be true." Many of you will understand.

[Jkrenzer]

On 8/17/2020 at 6:23 AM, mlroseplant said:

 

In other developments, for one reason and another, I wore flat sandals pretty much all weekend, and my feet are tired! I do much better in heels, as long as they're not at the extreme end of my personal physical limitations (greater than 4 1/2" steepness).

Careful, you may become stuck in heels. I spent most of last weekend im sneakers doing heavy work or in golf shoes playing. No issues physically, but mentally yes, i wanted heels.

[mlroseplant]

7 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Careful, you may become stuck in heels. I spent most of last weekend im sneakers doing heavy work or in golf shoes playing. No issues physically, but mentally yes, i wanted heels.

"May" become? My only goal in life is to learn to walk properly in heels of your caliber. (Deadpan) But I'm only about 90% kidding.

[mlroseplant]

As promised elsewhere, I will turn to the subject of why I think women are not wearing heels anymore, and how it's been made worse by the pandemic. This is not an exhaustive scientific study, this is a few conversations I've had with two people, and is completely anecdotal, but this is my thread, so I get to engage in conjecture, at the possible risk of looking like an idiot sometime in the future.

I used to hang out with a particular woman my freshman year in college. We lived in the same dorm, and we were both in various string ensembles together, so it was only natural that we became friends. She was also a heel wearer, but only for very circumscribed events. However, when those events occurred, she often wore heels that were bordering on shockingly high for the day. I, of course, was quite enamored of these shoes, and we got to talking one day (keep in mind we were 18 or 19 year old kids), and I asked her, "What does it mean to you when you wear high heels?" She answered something like it meant that she was going to the extra effort to look dressed up, and that there was some important event. I may have pressed her further, but that was a long time ago.

Fast forward 33 years (33 years? That kind of hurts!), she is the one and only person from college that I still maintain any sort of regular contact with. We live in different cities, have our own careers and families, but it's pretty much still the same as it was 33 years ago. We still get along very well for some dumb reason. So just days ago, I put the same question to her: "What does it mean to you, what are you thinking in your head, when you decide to wear heels?" Now, keep in mind that some things have changed in the intervening years, number one being that 33 years ago, she wouldn't have had the foggiest notion why I was interested in heels, and now she knows everything. Second, as with most of us, muscular-skeletal functionality was much higher at age 18. However, the answer hasn't changed in 33 years. She still answered that it means she is dressing up for a special event or occasion. She didn't have a lot of endurance in heels when she was 18, and things have not improved with the passage of time. Therefore, she rarely wears heels, and the heels I have seen at all in pictures are always very modest in height. Also, she has no idea how high her heels are, as in how many inches, that's not a thing with most women. I can tell you that anything higher than a normal cowboy boot would be a "high" heel for her, so I would take that to mean somewhat less than 2 inches.

My second anecdotal example is a woman I went to high school with. Back in high school, she wore heels very regularly, and the heels she wore were definitely more vertiginous than most of the girls. I estimate in the 3 1/2 to 4 inch range. Kids back then, particularly girls, dressed up quite often to attend high school, and in addition, she went to church every Sunday, dressed up, same as me. It was sort of a "thing" in the 80s. Anyhow, she is one of those people who got a job right out of college with a major U.S. bank, and is still working for the same bank today. How often does that happen these days? Anyway, she was recalling that when she started back in 1989, it was expected of her that she wear a skirt suit, pantyhose, and heels every day to work. That is no longer the case, and I recall her recently saying, "Thank God those days are over!" She lives in a different town now, but still comes back to our church 2 or 3 times a year when she is visiting her parents, and when she comes to church, she does always wear some sort of mid-heel, but I guarantee that's one of the few times a year she wears heels. Again, for her, it's part of being dressed up, it's the perceived demands of the style, and not simply loving to wear heels, or attaching any special significance to them.

The takeaway from all this is that the vast majority of women do not think of heels in any sort of special way, any more than we men think of ties. The advertising may suggest otherwise, and all you see among the elites is Louboutins and Jimmy Choo, but here in the real world, the truly high heeled shoe is basically dead, because to wear such shoes for most women would require them to be dressed very formally, and who does that anymore? Nobody. Because it isn't required in the modern world, and isn't expected. Just like many of you almost brag that you haven't worn a tie in years, so it is for women and high heels. This is made even more pronounced by the pandemic, because we don't go anywhere anymore. Nothing to dress up for, even if we wanted to. Therefore, hardly any heels. @Bubba136 mentioned elsewhere that he can't understand why, if you were in a position to wear heels and no one would think a thing of it, no one would look at you funny, why wouldn't you do it all the time? This is evidently because we are a very small subset of people who actually like to wear heels for the sake of wearing heels. I could go on, but this post is already ridiculously long.

Do any of you have similar stories about your female friends, coworkers, and significant others?

[Shyheels]

I've no stories - I am practically a hermit these days and other than by email, I have long lost contact with girls I knew way back when.  Your analysis those rings true, especially your comparison with men's ties. There are men who genuinely like to wear ties (or bow ties) and the pride in them. For the vast majority it is a dreary obligation. And those of us who do not have to wear them, take a certain gleeful pride in not having worn a tie in years - or, in my case, not even owning one.

What does your friend - who wears heels only for certain obligatory occasions - think of your keenness to wear heels as a regular thing? As a guy you certainly are never going to be obliged to. 

[mlroseplant]

19 hours ago, Shyheels said:

What does your friend - who wears heels only for certain obligatory occasions - think of your keenness to wear heels as a regular thing? As a guy you certainly are never going to be obliged to. 

The college friend, the violinist, fully supports my choices. She is a fashion junkie, and has at least a million outfits stuffed into her closets. Possibly approaching two million. If I ever wanted to do the JeffB thing, I would know who to go to for advice at putting together an outfit.She has said on multiple occasions, when I have showed her some of my shoes "Oh, I could NEVER wear those! I couldn't have worn those when I was young!" Which is true, she probably couldn't have. What I've never heard her say is, "Oh, I WISH I could wear those!" Most people don't have the high heel gene.

Here is another example of heels that are beyond her. I sent her this picture, taken only yesterday, to show my basic summer uniform, and I think I'm actually starting to get thin again after gaining quite a bit of weight during the lockdown.

 

[jeremy1986]

Nice heels , great legs! 

[mlroseplant]

23 hours ago, jeremy1986 said:

Nice heels , great legs! 

Thanks, Jeremy. My cousin Trang seems to agree with you! Another gal for whom heels are a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. She wears an awful lot of kitten heels.

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by mlroseplant
Image didn't load properly

[HappyinHeels]

mlroseplant,

I think your observations, though anecdotal you deem them to be, are logical given the amazing trend toward casual dress nationwide and over most of the world. Yes, the pandemic has certainly taken the fun out of 2020. Two places where I have worn heels, eating at restaurants and the movies, have been largely eliminated this year at least since March. That leaves shopping trips or just wearing while travelling like when I've visited you. I'm sure we'll all be glad when things return to normal. Seeing movies or news footage of times when people were together at fairs, carnivals, and sporting events now seems like "days of yesteryear". HinH

[mlroseplant]

I went to the dentist yesterday for the first time since before the pandemic. Going to the dentist is always a bit of a challenge, because I have to figure out what to wear. First of all, I have to remember what I wore last time to be sure not to repeat it. Which is kind of hard to do when your wardrobe is kind of One Note Samba. One thing I knew for sure is that I didn't wear these particular shorts last time, because it was February, and I'm no Galina Kutereva (look her up sometime, if you haven't already). I have a similar, if not identical pair in pink, and I briefly considered going in mainly pink, but decided against it, partially because my pink sandals are very time consuming to get on and off. In the end, I decided on this rather boring earth-tone palette.

The shoes kind of selected themselves. I was going to go with my Alaia sandals, but then remembered I had worn those to the dentist the year before (don't ask me how I remember that, but I do), so that was out of the question. Although I had yet to wear them out of the house, I decided to take a chance on these new Joie "Raja" mules, figuring, eh, how bad could it be? Even if I have to park very far away, the most I'd have to walk is like a total of a half mile, so I put them on and left. I am not a huge fan of peep toes, and these are no exception. I feel that they would both look and feel much better if they showed three toes on each foot, rather than two. Other than that, I got used to them in pretty short order, especially considering they were a little tight at first.

When I got to the dentist, I had to wait outside for a bit for them to come and get me, then what has become usual took place. They all wanted to see my shoes, and my hygenist said what she says 8 times out of 10: "I think your heels are getting higher!" To which I have had to reply in recent years, "No, it can't be, because I sort of reached my terminal height several years ago." It's probably that they don't ever see 5 inch heels up close anywhere, ever, so they just seem shockingly high every time. I got a new dentist because the old one bought a practice elsewhere to be nearer to family. I have no idea what she looks like, what with all the PPE, but my hygenist made it a point, almost before saying my name, to say that I'm the only patient in the entire practice who can actually walk in 5 inch heels. The dentist thought my shoes were cute. I have no idea if it was gratuitous or genuine. No facial expression clues. Anyway, I was given a clean bill of dental health, and I was on my way back home to cook supper.

Edited September 2, 2020 by mlroseplant

[Cali]

I get the same thing from my dentist, all the workers (receptionist. hygienist, assistant) all must come to see what I have on. Last time it was knee high JS stilettos.

You know you made their day.

[jeremy1986]

Quite the heel on those, @mlroseplant - nicely done!

[mlroseplant]

17 hours ago, Cali said:

I get the same thing from my dentist, all the workers (receptionist. hygienist, assistant) all must come to see what I have on. Last time it was knee high JS stilettos.

You know you made their day.

Yeah, what is it about the dentist in particular? Several people have said that the dentist IS the place to get compliments on heels. Maybe it's because you go there regularly (or at least you're supposed to), but they don't see you often enough so that it becomes boring.

14 hours ago, jeremy1986 said:

Quite the heel on those, @mlroseplant - nicely done!

Thanks, Jeremy. I did take a really big chance wearing those out before "road testing" them, but I got by with it. They're really not hard to walk in at all, being more "full coverage" mules, and having a 1" platform. I was telling the dental hygienist that yeah, they look impressive, but really, they're only 4 inch heels. Which, without me realizing it when the words came out of my mouth, sounded kind of cocky. It wasn't meant to be.

I really need to learn how to pose for photographs. I look like such a dork. Also, I like wearing a mask because then I don't have to worry about my facial expression. The only benefit of coronavirus. I can wear a mask for photos and people don't question it. Once this is over, I'll be forced to learn how to smile for pictures without its looking forced. Edit: HA! Look what I just wrote! Forced to learn how to smile for pictures without looking forced. I think that maybe I have discovered the source of the problem.

Edited September 3, 2020 by mlroseplant
Silliness

[Jkrenzer]

Buddy, very well done and bold with the short shorts.

Been getting comments a lot latey, all positive and all women. Is the virus bringing out the best in people?

[RonC]

Not my cup of tea, mlroseplant, but boy, I sure have a great deal of respect for your desire and ability to wear them!

[Cali]

6 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

Several people have said that the dentist IS the place to get compliments on heels. Maybe it's because you go there regularly (or at least you're supposed to), but they don't see you often enough so that it becomes boring.

The dentist lies you down so your shoes are many times more visible. After seeing sneaker after sneaker, all of a sudden they get a chance to see something very different.  And you know they will talk about the shoes for days.

LOL

[mlroseplant]

22 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Buddy, very well done and bold with the short shorts.

Been getting comments a lot latey, all positive and all women. Is the virus bringing out the best in people?

To be fair, all of the positive comments I've listed lately have been either friends or family, except for the dental hygienist. I'll still take the comments, but it's not like strangers are stopping me on the street.

16 hours ago, Cali said:

The dentist lies you down so your shoes are many times more visible. After seeing sneaker after sneaker, all of a sudden they get a chance to see something very different.  And you know they will talk about the shoes for days.

LOL

I don't know if they'll talk about it for days, but it will probably be at least hours, especially with the new dentist there now.

16 hours ago, RonC said:

Not my cup of tea, mlroseplant, but boy, I sure have a great deal of respect for your desire and ability to wear them!

Ron, I know you're not a big sandal guy, and I also know it's a "style" I see all the time, common as dirt on places like Instagram and the like, but I cannot see myself wearing pumps with shorts, ever. Thank you for your vote of confidence, however! Pump season will be here all too soon, unfortunately, and once again, I've let another summer go by without fixing the heater in my car. Time to get on that, like now!

[RonC]

5 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

Ron, I know you're not a big sandal guy, and I also know it's a "style" I see all the time, common as dirt on places like Instagram and the like, but I cannot see myself wearing pumps with shorts, ever. Thank you for your vote of confidence, however! Pump season will be here all too soon, unfortunately, and once again, I've let another summer go by without fixing the heater in my car. Time to get on that, like now!

Not the sandal part, it's more the overall mule/slide style and platform combo that is not my cup of tea.  While I don't mind a mule/slide like those BCBG Bonny slides you have shown, the wide upper on those here is just a style I dislike.  My taste in sandals runs toward the thin, strappy bare styles with single soles and stiletto heels, and I much prefer those on women with nice looking feet.  They don't look good on me, that's for sure!  But the reason there are so many styles is because there are so many people with different tastes, so heel on!

[mlroseplant]

On 9/4/2020 at 11:19 AM, RonC said:

Not the sandal part, it's more the overall mule/slide style and platform combo that is not my cup of tea.  While I don't mind a mule/slide like those BCBG Bonny slides you have shown, the wide upper on those here is just a style I dislike.  My taste in sandals runs toward the thin, strappy bare styles with single soles and stiletto heels, and I much prefer those on women with nice looking feet.  They don't look good on me, that's for sure!  But the reason there are so many styles is because there are so many people with different tastes, so heel on!

I understand completely what you mean now, and I think I mentioned before that I wish the mules in question were cut a little bit differently. I would have to go look for sure, but I'm quite sure that these Joie mules are the most "full coverage" mules I own, that you could still call sandals. I don't mind the platform, it's only 1", but I wish the toe opening were bigger, to show at least 3 toes instead of just 2, and I wish the top of the upper were cut a good inch lower than it is. That way, they'd still be "high coverage" mules, but they'd seem less massive. I also think they'd be more comfortable if they were cut that way.

Which bring me to the point of why I sort of like and continue to buy, own, and wear "high coverage" mules, when what I really like, as apparently do you, are the minimalist, barely-there styles. It's practicality. While my Bonny beaded mules have honestly got to be some of the best walking shoes ever (no one ever believes me on that one), if you trip, slip, or even kick your foot moderately strongly, you're losing your shoe. You could never dance in the Bonnys. You have to be very careful if you must run for some reason, like the light just turned yellow, and you're in the middle of a wide street. The higher coverage mules do not suffer from this problem. They stay on your feet quite securely, to the point that you basically can't put them on or take them off hands-free.

[Puffer]

I like wearing the Berkemann sandals below - cool and comfortable in the warmer weather.   Despite the wooden soles, they are light (lighter than Scholls).   But one does have to be wary of them coming off in awkward places (such as descending a flight of steps).   The similar Birkenstock Madrid style is easier to keep on.   I also like the Birkenstock Piazza sandals - now discontinued and never made in larger sizes; mine are modified from the otherwise identical Mayari style by removing the strap across the instep.