The High Heeled Ruminations Of Melrose Plant

[skateheels]

On 6/25/2015 at 5:12 AM, mlroseplant said:

It seems that indeed some shoes weren't made for walking. I have several pairs of shoes which have not held up very well under the rigors of actual walking, and none of them are terribly cheap shoes. All of them are shoes which most people (ok, most women) would not consider walking 3 or 4 blocks in, much less miles. I guess the manufacturers never figured anyone could actually wear them like normal shoes.

I fully agree that many heels are simply not built for long walks. However, over the years I have found 6 or 7 inch stiletto heeled platform boots by Pleaser Shoes, where the platform and heel are one casting, last me for years without any sign of breaking.

[mlroseplant]

Hi everybody, I'm home again! I have no idea how we managed to make it home on time. Every flight was late, and how we managed to make our connections is nothing short of miraculous. It was literally a matter of minutes, and sometimes seconds, in each case. And somehow, all our luggage made it right there with us! Unreal.

I will try to get some stories and pictures on in the next few days, but right now I'm dealing with 13 hour jet lag. I need to take a nap already.

[Shyheels]

Glad you got home safely! Hope the jet lag won’t be too bad

[Bubba136]

I guess we’re kind of fortunate because we have actual eye ln sightings from around the world on the fashion health of high heels popularity.  It appears from these reports that the trend is about the same in all quadrants. While women are still wearing heels their popularity is declining.  I sincerely hope that manufacturers will still offer us a good choice of styles to purchase when our need arises.  

 

 

[Shyheels]

One can but hope. The trouble is big companies are so risk averse - in everything - and catering only to the biggest part of the market. Outliers, even substantial ones, are ignored in favour of the quickest and easiest profits.

Why else for example would the bulk of women’s shoes range in size from 3 to 8 when there are lots of tall women with bigger feet? It’s easier. Less risk. 

[Cali]

For the same reason Jimmy Choo duty free stores in Austrillia only have up to a size 6.

[mlroseplant]

Day 2 of being back. I thought I was doing pretty well yesterday, but that was a grand delusion. It's just as bad as any other trip that goes through that many time zones. We'll see how today goes.

My State of the Heels address, southeast Asia edition: To begin with, I have always admitted my love for Incheon Int'l Airport (ICN, in South Korea). It is by far our usual transit airport, based solely on usual ticket price. While staying at Incheon, there are any number of shops, eateries, places to sleep, and there are always very interesting outfits and heels to look at. Until this year. The airport itself is under major construction, so the amenities are limited, but more importantly, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KOREAN GIRLS? Every single girl I saw was wearing baggy jeans and trainers (or worse). This is supposed to be the land where there is no such thing as a skirt that is too short (even in winter), and where women are known for wearing their heels everywhere, even to climb a mountain! I'm not saying things are quite that bad in Seoul, but I used to be able to count on even the airport crowds as a gauge of current fashion. The only people who were wearing heels were the flight attendants, and even the "airport" uniform shoes have never really been all that impressive in Asia. I was bitterly disappointed.

However, I can report that in Hanoi, heels are still very much alive and well. It's just that about 80% of them are hideous. The other 20%  are obviously shoes that are several years old, and they still look nice. I did not manage to get a picture of what is the typical modern heel, and I had a great deal of trouble trying to find it on the internet. Maybe it's a Vietnam only thing, but the most poplar heeled shoe these days by far looks something like this, but with a round toe.

https://www.asos.com/us/raid-wide-fit/raid-wide-fit-maya-block-heel-mary-janes-with-embellished-buckle-in-black-patent/prd/203151762

These seem to be wildly popular in both slip on and Mary Jane styles, 90% of the time in black patent leather. Also very popular is a loafer with a very thick, lugged sole, and a little bit of a heel, but not much. The main feature of these shoes is that the heel is wider at the base than it is at the top. Very, very odd looking. I haven't seen such shoes over here yet. Hopefully never.

I also noticed this year that it seems to be a fashion city of extremes with the girls. If you go out to Hoan Kiem Lake, or to a shopping mall, or a semi-nice restaurant, you will see girls dressed nicely. There may be some questionable taste, but they did make the effort. That's about a third. The other two-thirds are girls dressed as unattractively as possible. Shirts and pants that are three sizes too big, worn with either Crocs or super thick soled boots. This "fashion" sure seems to have a grip on Hanoi at the moment. It's everywhere. The boys, of course, look the same as they always did--indifferent. I think that remains the same the world over.

Included today is the only picture I manage to capture of heels in the real world on a motorbike. It just so happened that I was waiting at a red light, and somebody with non-hideous heels was nearby. Her shoes must be several years old. They are not flashy or noteworthy, but they're just--tasteful. Just an ordinary woman going to work. Or in this case, probably coming home from work. I will leave it at that today.

[Shyheels]

Interesting post - and one that probably reflects the global norm these days.  Although I do not travel anywhere near as much as I used to, there is a proud and common slovenliness to dressing these days no matter where you are

[mlroseplant]

I am back in the saddle, sort of. Even though I had very odd periods of sleep on Saturday, I had a lot of total sleep. Sunday, I arose very early, but managed to stay up the entire day, with only two 20 minute naps. Today is my first day back at work since returning to the U.S. We'll see how that goes.

More importantly to y'all, I spent some time in heels for the first time in 15 days. That time off has not done me any favors. Also, my trumpet playing really sucks after 15 days away, but I digress. I really wanted to hit the ground running, er, walking as soon as I got home, but I know better than that. That first day back is basically wasted. I did no walking on Saturday. I forced myself to go out Sunday morning, and it didn't hurt a thing that the weather was quite a bit nicer on Sunday. Still, it was a shock, being used to temperatures in the mid 20s, and then coming back to minus 10.

I walked my "short" loop Sunday morning of 2.2 miles/3.5 km, and I was quite slow and my feet were tired when I was done. I did very little walking at all when I was in Vietnam, so not only was I out of heel practice, I was out of walking habit in general. I didn't have much time to be discouraged, though. I had a church service to play, for which I had zero rehearsal. I went over my music one more time, and finally elected to wear my Zara suit with my brand new (to me) red pumps. They came in the mail while I was gone. I will have to give details in the New Shoes section. The angle of the sun at this time of year just gives me fits trying to take pictures in my usual spot at the noon hour.

[bluejay]

Nice Valentine's ensemble, Melrose. Red suits you well. I wore red  patent booties last week for Valentines. Was going to wear my red pumps yesterday, but with 8" of  new snow on the ground, that wasn't happening yesterday, going to church.

Happy Heeling,

bluejay

[mlroseplant]

17 hours ago, bluejay said:

Nice Valentine's ensemble, Melrose. Red suits you well. I wore red  patent booties last week for Valentines. Was going to wear my red pumps yesterday, but with 8" of  new snow on the ground, that wasn't happening yesterday, going to church.

Happy Heeling,

bluejay

Valentine? Who is he? We don't really do saints in the Methodist church. This is my first Sunday of Lent outfit! 😁

[mlroseplant]

I have managed to make it through my first work week back. I almost feel normal again. I have gotten back into the walking routine, and my feet are getting to where they tolerate walking in heels again without complaint. I blew out the right heel cap on my good dress boots last Sunday, but Marty the cobbler should be able to fix that right up. Happy Friday, everyone!

[mlroseplant]

I have found a picture of the ugly shoes girls/women in Vietnam are wearing now, plucked off of somebody's social media post, and heavily cropped to protect the guilty. Shown here are Mary Janes in a spectator style, which I've never seen before now. Most of the time, these shoes are plain black patent, in either this Mary Jane style, or in a regular pump/court. Note the flared heel, which is what I find so objectionable. In person, they make a person's foot look much bigger than it actually is.

[Jkrenzer]

Yikes 

[Shyheels]

Yes, genuinely hideous. Almost like an Identikit composite of everything revolting in terms of so called dress shoes 

[mlroseplant]

22 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Yikes 

 

22 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Yes, genuinely hideous. Almost like an Identikit composite of everything revolting in terms of so called dress shoes 

Which is too bad, because the rest of this young lady is crazily beautiful. To be fair, I cannot say that with 100% confidence, as this is somebody I've never actually met in person. I feel guilty about that to this day, but that's another story for another time.

In other news, it is time for the church outfit of the week. Again, forgive the pictures, I was really fighting with the angle of the sun. I need to figure out something different for the next several weeks until the solar angle changes.

I wore my Kut from the Kloth skinny pants with a regular suit jacket and purple shirt (both no-name from Vietnam), and Steve Madden Varcityy D'Orsay pumps. I've had these a while, but had never worn them out before. The left shoe had to spend a bit of time on the shoe stretcher to make it fit without puckering around the little toe area. These have been worn enough by some previous owner to almost need heel tip replacement before I even got them. They're not completely worn, but noticeably worn.

Heels are 4 5/8" (117 mm) tall, traditionally curved toward the front, and quite slim at 1/4" or slightly more than 6 mm diameter. Despite this very skinny heel, they are stable to walk in (or is that just my trained ankles?). The only problem I had, other than the sheer height of the heel, which is, if I am being perfectly honest, right in that range that might be too high for me, is that just as I was trying to haul my bass and associated equipment through the back door of the sanctuary, I got my heel caught in a crack in the sidewalk. I was able to extricate it without causing any damage to the heel, but it was a close call.

[Mr. X]

The 2 toned shoes are interesting.

[Puffer]

Elegant and properly-proportioned classic courts - very nice!

[Jkrenzer]

2 hours ago, Puffer said:

Elegant and properly-proportioned classic courts - very nice!

Careful buddy your approaching my style. Very elegant pumps, and I'll say it, sexy heels.

[StilettoLuv]

7 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Careful buddy your approaching my style. Very elegant pumps, and I'll say it, sexy heels.

Mine too! You can't have them all😃

[mlroseplant]

23 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Careful buddy your approaching my style. Very elegant pumps, and I'll say it, sexy heels.

I know, init? For my next act, I'll be wearing cargo shorts with those pumps. 😛

So, to counteract such tendencies, I took my "new" vintage Bakers wedges out for a spin. That was quite possible two days ago. In a weird, yet very normal turn of weather events here in Iowa, the temperature has dropped more than 60 fahrentheit degrees in the last 12 hours to land at 12º, or -11º C. All of this with a 30 mph wind, as well. Lucky us.

I didn't do a ton of walking in the Bakers, but enough to know that they are going to work out just fine. I did my weekly grocery shopping in them, which is just enough walking to sort of tell how things are probably going to go.

With an effective heel height of just under 4 inches, they are easy to manage. The very narrow wedges, which is one of the more distinctive things about them, do not seem to hurt them in the practicality department, and in fact, their narrowness may be an advantage from my point of view. One of the things that I normally dislike about wedges is that they typically feel clumpy to walk in above a certain heel height. These do not at all. They feel and sound just like normal shoes to me.

One thing I did notice is that I may have to experiment with footpads eventually. I noted elsewhere that I was concerned about them being size 40, which is normally just a bit big for me in sandals. I would not say that these are actually too big, but perhaps it is their very open toed criss-cross design, which fully shows four toes, that allows my feet to slip forward a little after a while, bordering on the dreaded toe overhang. We'll figure out something to correct this almost problem before it becomes a serious problem. Overall, I am pleased with the purchase.

[Bubba136]

I like those. They would work for me. Especially wearing them with a pair of shorts on the beach or at a restaurant on a pleasant summer evening.

[mlroseplant]

I had a conversation the other day with a coworker. We don't really have a lot in common outside of the trade, except for the fact that we are the two senior members of the crew. I am 56, he is 60. We also both have young children for our age. I have a 15 year old son, he has a 12 year old daughter. We have both been mistaken for grandparents at school.

I bring this up because evidently the daughter needed new pants the other week. My colleague took her shopping. He said, "What kind of pants do you want?", thinking she was going to want some expensive designer jeans or something. She replied, "Sweatpants. That's all I need." He asked, "Don't you want something a little bit nicer than sweatpants?" "No, that's what everybody's wearing, and I don't want to stand out."

Yup, that's what you see--sweatpants or pajama bottoms. This is what it's come to. I hope it doesn't take too many years to swing back the other way again.

[Jkrenzer]

The truly bad part is her not wanting to stand out. It's comformism at its worst. As men wearing heels we stand out in a big way.

[mlroseplant]

22 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

The truly bad part is her not wanting to stand out. It's comformism at its worst. As men wearing heels we stand out in a big way.

And thus has it always been, at least since I've been alive. We don't need school uniforms here in the U.S., because kids make their own anyway. Except for three.

The father, my colleague, I'll call him "Bill" (mainly because that's his name), has actually seen me in the wild. I can't remember exactly what I was wearing, but he at least pretended not to notice, and the subject has never come up.

[Shyheels]

Silent bullying, the tyranny of the crowd

[Cali]

Look at her age...12. That's the age where they are trying to fit in and not stand out.  Give her some time.

[mlroseplant]

I have done something a little bit different this week. Or maybe something a little the same. It has been many years since I limited myself to blacks and browns in footwear, but I bought some purple shoes. They are not a traditional liturgical purple, and they certainly don't look purple in these pictures, but to my eye they are more purple than pink. The photos picked up on the pink tones, so maybe we'll call them magenta.

No reaction at church, but I got more reaction than I have in a long time at the grocery store. Several young girls were obviously watching me, and several adults noticed me as well. I don't know whether it was the general brightness of my outfit, or if those shoes are actually that outrageous. In any case, I have another pair just like it coming in bright blue soon.

[Jkrenzer]

Superb combination in my opinion. Careful my friend your starting to wear stilettos more frequently. Really like the low open instep cut on these pumps.

[Shyheels]

I woukd say it was the colours and overall brightness of your outfit that attracted their notice - the heels were merely the finishing touch.

i would not say your shoes were outrageous in the least. And I too would call that shade magenta