Back to the 1970s - return of platforms

[Cali]

It was Feb. yesterday and close to 80 F yesterday here;

Pre-pandemic, a few faculty (including me) wore high heels.  More administrators and their assistants did. Our lab faculty will almost never wear heels in labs.

[VirginHeels]

7 hours ago, Chorlini said:

I'm at a lower latitude then Virginheels who is in Scotland, which is not known for its warmer weather.

 

 

He is right, we are not know for our sun, it often rains in some form here 200 odd days a year. I am at 55.85 north, same as Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan and Shamattawa, Manitoba plus a city where there’s a bunker baby right now Moscow I believe.

Had about 70 sightings today at work, from 2 inch block and kitten heels to 4.5 inch stilettos.

Im thinking it may be cultural and economic, we may be different. There’s a phrase, when times are tight, heels and hemlines go up, when times are good the hemlines and heels go down. And with the pandemic entering endemic stage and the inflation rate here at 7%, probably 8.5%+ once Russia/Ukraine is factored in, folk are going back to more traditional ways. 

[mlroseplant]

To be fair, I don't think a single female member of my university faculty wore heels over 1 1/2". I say 1 1/2" because I remember hearing this conversation, "I refuse to wear heels over 1 1/2"." I cannot remember the context, but I remember that line out of Dr. Shelley H's mouth. Here at what is now home, where I grew up, I don't remember the local college faculty women wearing heels at all, and I would have noticed.

I got to thinking, and I tried to remember how many girls wore heels back then. I think that perhaps memory is a little rosier than reality, because I came up with half a dozen girls (out of 1,000) who wore heels pretty much every day. There were a bunch more who would heel up for dressier events, but it just wasn't a deal where you'd see heels all the time everywhere.

[Shyheels]

I was at college during the 70s (76-80) and I don’t remember anybody wearing heels, now that I think of it. I do recall a huge trend for these Swedish clogs with wooden soles - otherwise it was mainly Topsiders, trainers or hiking boots

[mlroseplant]

15 hours ago, Shyheels said:

I was at college during the 70s (76-80) and I don’t remember anybody wearing heels, now that I think of it. I do recall a huge trend for these Swedish clogs with wooden soles - otherwise it was mainly Topsiders, trainers or hiking boots

Yup, I remember the clogs for sure, but I was just in elementary school at the time. Hiking boots were a thing for a while. I remember there was this one skinny kid in junior high school who wore size 15 U.S. men's. All you could see were the hiking boots. Don't know where the rest of him disappeared to.

[Shyheels]

Hiking boots were always my thing. Except for cycling or the gym or when I did fencing, I virtually never wore shoes, always boots. That’s where I get my partiality for ankle and knee boots - racier, edgier versions of my normal style choice.

Edited March 5, 2022 by Shyheels

[mlroseplant]

Now that a few months have passed, I am sorry to report that, in fact, the platform is here in the Midwest USA. Which means that it's an actual trend, not just a passing fad. When I say platforms, it's not like the kind I wear. I mean huge, clunky, elephantine shoes. Not every girl is wearing them, but I've seen enough of them to know that our worst fears have actually gained some traction in the fashion world.

[Shyheels]

Thankfully they have not crossed to this side of the pond.

[5150PLB1]

9 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

Now that a few months have passed, I am sorry to report that, in fact, the platform is here in the Midwest USA. Which means that it's an actual trend, not just a passing fad. When I say platforms, it's not like the kind I wear. I mean huge, clunky, elephantine shoes. Not every girl is wearing them, but I've seen enough of them to know that our worst fears have actually gained some traction in the fashion world.

Too bad the girls don't have the fashion sense to leave that style of platform shoes to Herman Munster.

[alphax]

I think a pair of platform boots looks like those on Bratz dolls, which many of today's women grew up with as girls, and I've seen social media comments from women wearing them saying as much.

They're a retro thing that take more after the 90s than the 70s style platforms.

[mlroseplant]

I remember the 90s as being a lean time in terms of high heels. I don't remember a whole lot about that time, only that the shoes were huge and largely, but not always, effectively low heeled. And oh yeah, kids wore their pants 3 inches too long and walked on the hem. Then along came the television series "Sex and the City," and the stiletto came back into fashion again. Eventually.

There is some overlap, however. Bratz came out in 2001, but Sex and the City debuted in 1998. The Spice Girls and their huge platforms were solidly mid 90s. Bratz dolls were almost too late to the game, but I seem to remember giant shoes well past 2000.

These modrun platforms are a little different than the ones from either the 70s or the 90s, but they are definitely big looking shoes.

[Chorlini]

We're back to lean hard times it would seem. Crazies on the left invading our spaces making the general public think we're Alphabet Cult adjacent, and now the return of the accursed platforms back again. Disaster never travels alone.

[mlroseplant]

What I have actually seen more of than anything else out in the wild are "flatforms." That is, flat shoes or essentially flat shoes with a sole which is 2-3" thick. Those are everywhere. They can range from actually kind of cute (if only they had normal-thickness soles) to absolutely hideous. This effect is obtained by designing the shoe so that the sole is not only thick, but actually gets wider as it goes between the wearer's foot and the ground. And to think, girls often complain about having big feet!

[Shyheels]

My daughter has a couple of pair of boots like that. I just don’t get it.

[bootsmike]

Yes, of coarse we all have different taste, but as far as I am concerned, platforms should haved stayed in the 70's.

Edited March 27, 2023 by bootsmike

[mlroseplant]

It would appear that platforms have actually come to Iowa, at least in a small way. This is bad, because if they've made it here, then they're basically worldwide. The hope is that the trend has already burnt itself out in leading fashion places, but these days there is not all that much lag between when something becomes fashionable in London or New York, and when it gets here as there used to be.

The black, rubber-soled plats are all over the place here (female only, of course), which is not totally surprising because there is not much of a learning curve with such low-heeled shoes. BUT, I actually saw a pair similar in shape to the red pair out in the wild just two days ago, being worn by a young woman at a shopping mall. They were a fabric floral pattern instead of the red, though.

[Shyheels]

That’s the global village for you. Platforms do seem mercifully thin on the ground here in Sussex though…

[ohnoberty]

Although in the last couple of weeks I ended up on ego.co.uk and they are definitely pushing the platform angle, and if I dare say it some are not that awful 🤣

[at9]

On 3/27/2023 at 12:46 PM, Shyheels said:

That’s the global village for you. Platforms do seem mercifully thin on the ground here in Sussex though…

My emphasis!

[Cali]

Well I'm wearing my new black Jessica Simpson knee high with a platform today. Another rainy day and I waterproof them.  I have and wear  MANY heels with platforms. 💜 my platforms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shyheels]

2 hours ago, at9 said:

My emphasis!

Yes, I’d considered the potential for humour there

[mlroseplant]

19 hours ago, ohnoberty said:

Although in the last couple of weeks I ended up on ego.co.uk and they are definitely pushing the platform angle, and if I dare say it some are not that awful 🤣

I agree, there are some that are not so awful. See my extended answer below.

17 hours ago, Cali said:

Well I'm wearing my new black Jessica Simpson knee high with a platform today. Another rainy day and I waterproof them.  I have and wear  MANY heels with platforms. 💜 my platforms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Well, there are platforms and then there are PLATFORMS. Generally when I think of platforms, I am not thinking about Jessica Simpson boots with a one inch platform that is basically there to give you the look of a 5 inch heel without actually having to deal with a 5 inch heel. When I think about the Return of Platforms, I am thinking about the shoes and boots that are designed to look absolutely massive on purpose, which is a look that is at once inelegant and problematic to walk in.

[Shyheels]

That’s how I think of platforms too - cloddish ungainly things

[Chorlini]

I see more flatforms then platforms here. I would appear even the modest heel height of a platform is too much for most women.

[mlroseplant]

In a more casual setting, it is my observation that the platform trend has settled largely on combat type boots with a thick sole, and a low to mid-rise clunky heel. This can range from kinda cool to absolutely hideous, depending upon the extremism of the sole. I even saw like an 8 or 10 year old girl wearing combat boots with a dress the other day. They had 4 inch heels and 1 inch platform. On the other hand, on the same night, I saw another girl of similar age wearing a dress and cute little gold wedge sandals, so there is hope for the future.

One demographic that does not seem to have embraced the huge platform is Asian women my age. They either wear flat sandals or mid-heeled sandals at this time of year, same as they always have. Latinas wear heels sometimes. White women do not wear heels. Trainers are everywhere for all demographics. I am speaking of casual out and about situations, not weddings or church.

[Shyheels]

Yes, there is certainly a falling off of heel wearing, possibly a legacy of the pandemic when casualness became chic. I do not see many platforms over here but when I do, they are, as you observed, generally the massive soles on combat boots or Doc Martins and not really heels as such. 

[at9]

Yesterday evening, about 8:30pm, in the Kilburn area of NW London. Woman wearing white kneehigh boots with 3" heels, no platform. Mid length brown dress. Looked elegant, even though she was running across the road. Though I don't know why you'd wear kneehigh boots at all in the summer weather we've got in London at the moment. I've seen several women doing this in the last week from pale blue go-go style (very 1960s look) to black OTK worn over leggings. All seemed wrong in high 20s heat. (About 80F for left-pondians)

[Shyheels]

It’s always boot season in my book…

[Cali]

Wearing knee high boots and shorts in the summer is great!  Don't knock it till you try it. It's a feeling I can't describe, you got to do it to understand. I do it several times a summer, I call it the "mess with your mind" look. Be assured, you will be noticed.

[Chorlini]

On 6/24/2023 at 12:15 PM, mlroseplant said:

In a more casual setting, it is my observation that the platform trend has settled largely on combat type boots with a thick sole, and a low to mid-rise clunky heel. This can range from kinda cool to absolutely hideous, depending upon the extremism of the sole. I even saw like an 8 or 10 year old girl wearing combat boots with a dress the other day. They had 4 inch heels and 1 inch platform. On the other hand, on the same night, I saw another girl of similar age wearing a dress and cute little gold wedge sandals, so there is hope for the future.

One demographic that does not seem to have embraced the huge platform is Asian women my age. They either wear flat sandals or mid-heeled sandals at this time of year, same as they always have. Latinas wear heels sometimes. White women do not wear heels. Trainers are everywhere for all demographics. I am speaking of casual out and about situations, not weddings or church.

Spot on! It's an epidemic of trainers and combat boots out there. I think in the past three months I saw 1 young woman in heels. And I live in a university city with an above average young female population.