The High Heeled Ruminations Of Melrose Plant

[Cali]

What about the parents?  I know at least one had real heels.

[mlroseplant]

18 hours ago, Cali said:

What about the parents?  I know at least one had real heels.

The parents are a little tougher to gauge. The kids are up on a stage, and walk by on the way to their proper seats in a long line, so you get a chance to see what each student has on their feet, at least for a few seconds. With the audience, you may only see a small percentage of lower extremities, so no, I didn't see any real heels on the parents. Ankle boots with 1 1/2 to 2 inch block heels do seem to be popular among the Mom crowd this year, though.

[mlroseplant]

I went Old School this week, at least for me. Just a simple black suit and tie with plain black pumps. The coat is slightly more interesting, evidently. I did get a couple of compliments on the coat.

As I mentioned before, I'm feeling weary these days, so I chose some shoes I thought would be easy on me. These Cole Haan pumps are pretty easy to get along with, if less than exciting. It was when I went to face my Wall of Shoes on Sunday morning, I realized that I do not own any enclosed shoes that are lower than 4 inches, and precious few that even have a steepness of less than that. Sometimes a fellow would like a nice pair of oxfords or loafers with a 3 inch block heel, just for such occasions. However, I can't seem to bring myself to spend money on a dressy shoe with such a low heel.

Two more things: First, somehow these shoes got missed when I got them, so I'm going to post them over in the "New Shoes" thread, even though I've had them for a while. Second, I just completed a shoe inventory. I just need to compile some stats, and I'll post the results soon!

[Jkrenzer]

Fine looking heels. I get not having lower heels. They just aren't sexy so they don't catch your eye. I fall into the same trap. It's OK though as once I put on my higher heel I feel better. 

[mlroseplant]

For some reason, I went and bought a ton of mid and low heeled sandals last year, which I actually wear pretty often. However, this lapse in judgment did not extend to my dressier, enclosed shoe collection. My only non-high heeled closed toe shoes are my Dansko wedge clogs, which have a tad over 3 inch heels, but you would never wear those except in the most casual situations.

The reason why I bought all of these lower heeled sandals is because I bought the first pair specifically for my wife's farmer's market venue that is not on pavement. They were actually pretty cute, and they worked out great. So me being me, I bought several pairs in the same general style, and now I really have too many. But you wouldn't know a thing about that, would you @Jkrenzer?

[Jkrenzer]

Yah, uh, no, not me. 🤣 

[Cali]

@mlroseplant:  "too many" and "heels" in the same sentence? NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jkrenzer]

1 hour ago, Cali said:

@mlroseplant:  "too many" and "heels" in the same sentence? NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My sentiment exactly 

[mlroseplant]

19 hours ago, Cali said:

@mlroseplant:  "too many" and "heels" in the same sentence? NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

23 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

The reason why I bought all of these lower heeled sandals is because I bought the first pair specifically for my wife's farmer's market venue that is not on pavement. They were actually pretty cute, and they worked out great. So me being me, I bought several pairs in the same general style, and now I really have too many.

Technically, I did not use the aforementioned words in the same sentence. The words are, however, in the same paragraph. I will admit to that.

Here is an example of my lower heeled sandals, of which I have 6 pairs in various colors and slightly different styles:

Sorry, fellas. I'm not perfect. However, I think @SF will approve. Just for the record, I actually had to trash the shoes pictured, because I'd abused them too much. I think wearing them in wet grass regularly is what done it in the end. I actually hate getting my feet wet, but what impressed me about these sandals was that yes, my feet got wet while I was setting up in the morning dew, but they dried out lightning quick afterwards. This is preferable to wearing rubber boots like I used to do, but over time it seemed to have a deleterious effect on whatever they used to glue everything together, and eventually they fell apart from the inside out.

[mlroseplant]

The shoe inventory is now complete! Now all that remains is to compile some stats, à la @JeffB. Anybody else miss that guy? I hope he is well.

As a preliminary report, I evidently now have 99 pairs of heels. 85 of them I would call high heels. 6 low heels and 8 mid heels round out the near-century. I should really, really stop buying shoes for a long while. I actually would have had 103, but I divested myself of 4 pairs. Three of them never really fit right, and the remaining one I never wore because I didn't really like the way they looked on me. I have only 2 pair that I still won't wear in public. In both cases, they are simply too steep for me to walk and move in properly. I keep them around for aspirational purposes. Maybe someday.

[Shyheels]

THat's a lot of shoes - although you could always buy one more pair to make your ton.

I've got eleven pair of knee/OTK boots (I think) - three high heels, tree mid-heels, and five low heels; of the eleven six are OTK boots, five are knee boots

[mlroseplant]

All right, folks, it is STAT time of day. When I was compiling these, I realized that I am a complete amateur compared to JeffB. I think he kept track of every aspect of every shoe or piece of clothing he ever bought, including how many times he'd worn a particular item. Information that would be quite valuable for a hoarder like me, so that I could have actual evidence of a reason to divest myself of a number of items. Alas, my record keeping, while not nonexistent, is severely lacking compared to the pros. And we won't even get into the non-shoe part of my wardrobe.  .  .

I decided to compile data on four metrics: Actual heel height, as measured up the back of the heel (in a plumb line, of course), effective steepness of the heels (thereby taking into account a platform, if it exists), type of heel, and style of footwear (pump, sandal, etc.). One thing I just thought of is maybe compiling data about platform shoes vs. single sole. I have never owned any truly giant platforms, but have been moving away from my formerly favored 1 inch plats in favor of single soles lately. Well, sort of. We'll get to that in a minute.

So here are the numbers, and I will mention again that the present count is 99 pair, the percentages may not always add up to exactly 100%, due to rounding:

Actual heel height

<4" 15.2%

≥4" - 4.5"  25.3%

>4.5" - 5"  32.3%

>5" 27.3%

In addition to these stats, I can state generally:

Low heels (>2" - <3")  6 pairs

Mid heels (≥3" - <4") 8 pairs

High heels (≥4") 85 pairs

 

Effective heel height (steepness)

<3.5"  18.2%

≥3.5" - 4"  30.3%

>4" - 4.5"  40.4%

>4.5"  11.1%

 

Heel type

Stiletto  38.4%

Slim (near stiletto)  5.1%

Tapered (much thicker than stiletto, but substantially thinner at the bottom)  29.3%

Block  7.1%

Wedge  20.2%

 

Footwear description (these definitely don't add up to 100%, as there is quite a bit of overlap)

Pump  18.2%

Open toe  58.6%

Open back (mule or clog)  57.6%

Lace-up (oxford or derby) 7.1%

Boot (all styles  from shootie to knee boot)  6.1%

 

A word about my boots, since I know there are a lot of people on here who wear boots exclusively: I have four pairs of true boots, two over the ankle boots, and two knee high. The remaining two I consider shoes, but some call them "shooties," that is, they stop below the ankle, but are sort of in the style of boots. Sorry to disappoint, I don't really like boots all that much. I wear them when it is necessary to deal with cold or snow out of utility. In my ideal world, I'd wear sandals 365 days a year. I don't foresee me ever moving away from Iowa, so that's not going to happen.

Back to my tendency of getting away from platforms--yes, my total collection is less platform-y than it used to be, but what do I actually wear the most on a day to day basis? That's where it gets a little subjective, because I don't keep records of that sort. My general sense is that most of the time, I wear open toed mules with a modest platform (.75" - 1"), and with an effective steepness of 3.5" - 4", even though the stats for the entire collection would indicate higher and thinner on average. We'll never truly know for sure. Pictured below is most of the collection, but just a bit of it is in a different location. Excuse the mess, who am I kidding? I'm never going to clean that up all the way.

[Shyheels]

THat is quite a collection, and quite a compliation of data and stats! As a boot-wearers, I must say I admire your adherence to shoes and sandals when you have Iowan winters to deal with!   

[Mr. X]

Quite the collection my friend!

[mlroseplant]

I typically do not keep great records about the stats of my heels. I have actual inventories going back to 2015, back when I had less than 50 pairs of shoes, but unless I comb through the lists, I don't really know what I had back then versus what I have now. One thing that surprised me however, was the fact that I really don't have very many pairs of pumps. It feels by the seat of the pants, that I have bought a hell of a lot of pumps in the past year. I know I have worn pumps way more than I used to in the past year, but they still make up a mere 18% of my collection, up from 13% two years ago. Reality does not match up with feelings in this case. Another surprise after having gone over my spare records, I used to own a lot more heels that were higher than 5 inches compared to what I have today.

[Shyheels]

I wonder if the smaller percentage of heels over five inches is a sign of your establishing a sort of personal style - settling into a heel height that feels right to you, aesthetically and physically, after the initial rush of blood. 

[mlroseplant]

On 12/19/2022 at 7:14 AM, Shyheels said:

I wonder if the smaller percentage of heels over five inches is a sign of your establishing a sort of personal style - settling into a heel height that feels right to you, aesthetically and physically, after the initial rush of blood. 

I must admit to having bought more than one pair simply BECAUSE they were super tall. I won't do that anymore. I am thinking specifically of a pair of Aldo oxfords I used to have. They were at least 5 1/2 inches (with a platform, of course), and I thought I liked them until I saw myself actually wearing them. I can't remember whether it was a photo or a video, but it was something that somebody else had taken, and it was a wakeup call. "Holy crap, those shoes are ugly! Why did I every buy them?" And of course, I had to admit to myself, I bought them pretty much because the heels were super tall. This has happened on more than one occasion over the years. I am a slow learner.

Also, as a further thought, I actually wore flat boots to my several musical rehearsals last night at the church, in preparation for Christmas Eve services. This has not happened for longer than I can remember. I had to load/unload six different instruments, and it was snowing rather heavily at the time. Call me a wimp if you must.

[Shyheels]

I think it is actually a sign that you have fully settled into your own personal style  - that there is no longer a need to buy super tall heels just because you can, or to wear heels all the time for the same reason, but because wearing heels has become a natural and unforced aspect of your style.

I have found that with myself - I wear boots with heels interchangeably with those that don’t have heels without giving any thought to it other than what I  just happen to feel like wearing, 

[mlroseplant]

Merry Christmas, everyone! For some reason, my whole family is already awake at this hour, which is unusual. And it has nothing to do with Christmas, since all of our gifts are over at my parents' house, which is half a mile from here. We are not six years old anymore.

Today, my thoughts are not upon gifts, but upon what I really need to get rid of, and there's a lot. Since this is a shoe site, let's stick to shoes. Let's pretend for a minute that I have to get rid of 50% of my shoes. I'm not saying that I'm actually going to do it, but let's pretend for a short time. Which ones would go, and which ones would stay? That is a more difficult thought exercise than one might imagine.

Ok, the first to go is easy. A couple of pairs of nostalgia shoes, ones which I no longer wear, but keep around because they represent some important turning points in my life. Also, I own several pair of what I call "aspirational" heels, which are shoes that I can't really wear, but aspire to gain the skill someday. I don't really own any fetish shoes, but these are bordering on that. They'd be gone, in my imaginary purge.

OK, so now what? The decisions are still not getting that hard, do I really need like 12 pairs of nude patent pumps? I could get rid of 2/3 of them without much problem, and I still would have round toe, almond toe, and pointed toe to choose from. It just wouldn't be quite the subtle palette of beige and the subtle difference in heel shape that I now have the option from which to choose.

I could also get rid of anything with more than 1" of platform. Some of these I actually enjoy wearing, but I don't necessarily like how they look. I've never had any huge platforms, like what used to be popular around 2010 or so, but I've a number of plats that exceed 1" in thickness. I am thinking of YOU, Prada wooden mules, with your 6 inch chunky wooden heels, and your inch-and-a-half honking wooden platforms. But wait, am I going to get rid of those before I get rid of some others? Because they are actually a blast to wear, and they're an all-day shoe. I just hate what I see when I look in the mirror, sort of. I am being too hard on them. I don't actually hate them that much.

I have a whole bunch of little tiny stiletto open toed mules that don't actually get that much wear. Now the decisions are starting to get hard, because in my fantasy world, that's all I would ever wear. But we could stand to get rid of most of those. While we're at it, let's get rid of most of the wedges, too. They're practical (in most cases), but they don't get a ton of wear, either.

I guess that wasn't all that hard. I just divested myself of half my shoes! Will I actually do it? Nah.  .  . it's just a thought, y'all have a Merry Christmas! Or whatever holiday you celebrate.

[Puffer]

On 12/5/2022 at 10:49 PM, Puffer said:

Thanks.   I rather agree about the squareish toe, and can understand a preference for a toe-post.   In fact, my wife has a pair of toe-post strappy wedges that I admire and I think you would approve of.   If I can locate them, I will provide a pic for your delectation.

Somewhat to my surprise, Mrs Puffer said she liked the new wedge sandals (especially the squareish toe!!), although they are a little narrow for her feet, but reckons the straps should stretch a little.   She then told me that the toe-post wedges were thrown away as, although I had mended a broken-away piece in the wooden heel, they had (allegedly) failed again.   So, win one - lose one.

[mlroseplant]

One Christmas Eve picture, and one Christmas Day picture. You can sort of see my shoes, but not really. I did enjoy getting to play with the boy on both days. He's growing up fast.

[mlroseplant]

I post these photos not to show off any heels, but to show off my new winter coat. I finally found a coat that I actually like. This one I got from Macy's online for about 100 bucks. It's Tommy Hilfiger, size Medium. I like the fact that it has a belt, and the belt sits kind of high on me, which somewhat balances out my long torso/short legs. It has an inner liner which can be zipped separately, so you can wear the coat unzipped yet still be covered. It may be totally useless, but it's kinda cool. The big furry hood can be detached if desired.

[bluejay]

I like your  new coat. It fits you well and I can tell that it's a women's coat. I like women's coats too, there so much nicer looking. I have several different styles of women's coats to wear out in our cold climates. Just bought a maxi length coat on clearance. Even with 50-60% off, at Lands' End, I couldn't beat the price of $70.00 for a $225.00 list coat.

Happy Heeling,

bluejay

[mlroseplant]

I received the same coat for my birthday in red. In this photo, the tags and the wife are still attached.

I have no idea why the picture continues to load 90º off from the way it actually looks, but I'm not going to spend a lot of time trying to figure it out.

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by mlroseplant

[Jkrenzer]

2 minutes ago, mlroseplant said:

I received the same coat for my birthday in red. In this photo, the tags and the wife are still attached.

The image doesn't work 

[mlroseplant]

3 minutes ago, Jkrenzer said:

The image doesn't work 

That's probably because I was in the middle of trying to get the photo to load right side up. I failed at that, but try it now for a sideways view.

[Shyheels]

Nice coat - nice couple!

[Jkrenzer]

Ready for the artic

[Shyheels]

1 hour ago, Jkrenzer said:

Ready for the artic

Or an Iowa winter… 

[Puffer]

10 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Ready for the artic

I assume you mean 'Arctic'?   This is an artic (or what I think you call a rig in the colonies):

But the coat would doubtless be snug when driving, in an artic or otherwise, in the winter.