Highest Walking Heels

[mlroseplant]

14 hours ago, StilettoLuv said:

I could not find a source for replacement steel heel tips. They are a solution to the delicate heels tips for those that wear stilettos consistently and often. 

I have to walk regularly through a train station that has ceramic tile floors and while the sound is amazing (but does say "LOOK AT MY HEELS") steel heel tips are frankly super slippery and dangerous for walking.

Absolutely! That would be my main concern. The idea of metal heels appeals to me, the reality seems like it might be quite different.

On 4/17/2022 at 1:21 PM, Pumped said:

My "go to" is 4". Like Melrose I started with 3: and worked my way to 4". I find it funny that I thought my leg muscles were going to explode wearing the 3" heels, and then as I moved up again the muscles were arguing with the heels! Now I can pull on a pair of 4" heels and after a couple minutes for the muscles to settle in I forget I am wearing them.

Some time ago I bought a pair of 5" heels with no platform with the intentions of working my way into them. It may have been a year and I just can not seem to wear them. It seems to me I am simply at the end of the range of motion in my ankles. nothing short of surgery will help!

 I do keep trying to wear them. If nothing else it has make the 4 heels easier to wear.

I pretty much did the same thing, and, while I do not share your pessimism about needing surgery to walk well in them, I have to ask myself if I am really willing to put in the work necessary, and especially at my age. The answer is probably "no." I have too much shit to do. Still, a boy can dream.

[StilettoLuv]

On 4/9/2022 at 8:46 AM, mlroseplant said:

Every once in a while, I drag out this tired subject. Some people find this subject exciting, and some cannot figure out why it keeps being brought up. In the case of the latter, sf, bluejay, and Puffer would be the prime examples of "Why on earth do you care?" In reply to this, like the song says, "I Can't Tell You Why." I can already walk and live in heels way higher than anyone else that I personally know, why would I want to go higher? I could blame it on Instagram, which has the ability to create a fantasy world where many people, both men and women, wear 5 inch heels regularly, everywhere. We consciously know that this is not the case at all, but nevertheless, that aspiration remains, and all of these years later (I am within a month of celebrating 10 years of public heeling), I am stuck at essentially the same place--about 4 1/2", or in the neighborhood of 115 mm.

To be sure, there is no way I could walk in >4" shoes in the early years, at least not up to my standards of today. But I worked my way up within a few years, and my favorite heels tend to be in that 4 - 4 1/2 inch range of steepness. I have a very few pairs of shoes that fall outside this range on the high end, and obviously more than just a few that fall outside this range on the low end, for reasons of practicality. Still, I am stuck at this point with 4 1/2 being my high end. You will see a picture of three different styles of heels that meet this standard that I can actually walk in and wear in normal situations. Also pictured is me in a pair of shoes that I cannot yet wear in normal situations, Pleaser heels that measure 5+ inches, or right at 130 mm. They are beyond my capability, ever-so-slightly. Obviously, I can stand in them just fine, I just can't walk in a manner that I find acceptable for public consumption.

My question to you folks is, "How do I get there from here?" I have been trying to wear my steepest heels more often, and I can tell right away when things get stretched out and it becomes easy. It usually takes about 5 to 10 minutes after I get home from work, when making the transition from relative flats to 4 1/2" heels, to feel somewhat natural walking in the high shoes. I get the feeling that 90% of it is ankle flexibility. If I could just get that extra few degrees of ankle mobility, I think I could walk in those 5" shoes. What are your thoughts?

I wish when I joined this thread that I had read your original post in detail.

I completely understand your desire to wear the higher heels. I assume you mean those attractive black pumps in your last photo? They are really nice. 

If that shoe portion is comfortable on your feet and it's only the heel height you are adjusting to, you are correct. For me it's always been about feet and ankles becoming relaxed at the arch angle you choose and in my opinion your choice of a pump rather than a sandal will help you greatly. 

It took me a lot of practice and walking to make 5"-5.5" heels my day to day heel height and now after a lot more stretching I have these for special evenings out.

Best of luck with your practice.

[pebblesf]

28 minutes ago, StilettoLuv said:

I wish when I joined this thread that I had read your original post in detail.

I completely understand your desire to wear the higher heels. I assume you mean those attractive black pumps in your last photo? They are really nice. 

If that shoe portion is comfortable on your feet and it's only the heel height you are adjusting to, you are correct. For me it's always been about feet and ankles becoming relaxed at the arch angle you choose and in my opinion your choice of a pump rather than a sandal will help you greatly. 

It took me a lot of practice and walking to make 5"-5.5" heels my day to day heel height and now after a lot more stretching I have these for special evenings out.

Best of luck with your practice.

I am so envious of your skills.  The heels pictured here seem higher than 5.5" for sure!

[StilettoLuv]

1 hour ago, pebblesf said:

I am so envious of your skills.  The heels pictured here seem higher than 5.5" for sure!

Thank you but there's no skill involved. Just takes a little time and practice.

[Pumped]

3 hours ago, StilettoLuv said:

Thank you but there's no skill involved. Just takes a little time and practice.

I don't know about skill, but like I mentioned earlier in the thread, my ankles will just not flex far enough! I can slip on the 5" heels, try to walk in them and I can barely lock my knees straight. The muscles in my legs don't seem to care as I don't have sore muscles while or after wearing them. Pretty sure I have simply reached the end of the range of motion in my ankles. But I do continue to wear them in hopes something changes!

[mlroseplant]

10 hours ago, StilettoLuv said:

Thank you but there's no skill involved. Just takes a little time and practice.

There is skill involved for sure, but I believe what you're saying is that it is not simply all natural ability, there was a lot of work involved. I get this all the time with music. People will say, "Oh, you are so talented!" Perhaps, but it seems they often have no inkling of the tens of thousands of hours of thousands of hours I've practiced over the last 40 years.

7 hours ago, Pumped said:

I don't know about skill, but like I mentioned earlier in the thread, my ankles will just not flex far enough! I can slip on the 5" heels, try to walk in them and I can barely lock my knees straight. The muscles in my legs don't seem to care as I don't have sore muscles while or after wearing them. Pretty sure I have simply reached the end of the range of motion in my ankles. But I do continue to wear them in hopes something changes!

One of the things that drives me crazy about these motivational speakers is that the message is always some version of, "You can do anything you want if you just put your mind to it." Which is another way of saying, "If one person can do it, then anybody should be able to do it if they're motivated enough." Which is a load of cobblers.

Obviously, learning to walk well in 5 inch heels is not the skill level of say, becoming a professional level tennis player, but for some of us who were not blessed with naturally flexible ankles, it might seem like it sometimes. I do believe that you and I could do it (walk in 5+ inch heels, that is), but the time and effort required might be more than we're willing to pay. Also, it doesn't help that we're not 20 years old anymore.

[pebblesf]

1 hour ago, mlroseplant said:

There is skill involved for sure, but I believe what you're saying is that it is not simply all natural ability, there was a lot of work involved. I get this all the time with music. People will say, "Oh, you are so talented!" Perhaps, but it seems they often have no inkling of the tens of thousands of hours of thousands of hours I've practiced over the last 40 years.

One of the things that drives me crazy about these motivational speakers is that the message is always some version of, "You can do anything you want if you just put your mind to it." Which is another way of saying, "If one person can do it, then anybody should be able to do it if they're motivated enough." Which is a load of cobblers.

Obviously, learning to walk well in 5 inch heels is not the skill level of say, becoming a professional level tennis player, but for some of us who were not blessed with naturally flexible ankles, it might seem like it sometimes. I do believe that you and I could do it (walk in 5+ inch heels, that is), but the time and effort required might be more than we're willing to pay. Also, it doesn't help that we're not 20 years old anymore.

I would agree.  For me, it is a double edged sword.  I'm surely not going to get better in 5.5" heels unless I practice, but walking around a carpeted hotel room isn't much practice for sure.  Venturing outside is an exercise in humiliation because my stride is short and discomfort sets in quickly.  Maybe I need to just walk up and down the hotel hallways for awhile, but don't want to seem "creepy" or attract attention from hotel security.   Looking to find a nice pair of ankle boots with just 5" heels, perhaps jumping up one inch from 4.5" is an unreasonable expectation.  

[mlroseplant]

21 hours ago, pebblesf said:

I would agree.  For me, it is a double edged sword.  I'm surely not going to get better in 5.5" heels unless I practice, but walking around a carpeted hotel room isn't much practice for sure.  Venturing outside is an exercise in humiliation because my stride is short and discomfort sets in quickly.  Maybe I need to just walk up and down the hotel hallways for awhile, but don't want to seem "creepy" or attract attention from hotel security.   Looking to find a nice pair of ankle boots with just 5" heels, perhaps jumping up one inch from 4.5" is an unreasonable expectation.  

Ah, the place to practice. For you, practice at home is not possible because of your significant other. For me, practice at home is not possible because of lack of physical space. I mean, one can only get so good walking 4 steps back and forth in the kitchen waiting for the rice to finish cooking. But where is one to go so as not to let other people see you struggling? I have been advised over the years that my habit of walking after dark is not safe, although in my location it is perfectly safe, except for the possibility of tripping over cracks in the sidewalk.

But this is a whole nuther world, this learning to walk in 5 inch heels. It ain't like when I was first starting to wear 3 inch heels. I may have looked a bit awkward, but it wasn't like I was learning how to waterski or anything. I was mainly building endurance. I could still blend in, especially in the dark. This 5+ inch heel thing is fundamentally different. You don't want anybody seeing THAT shit. So, you don't practice. And you don't get any better. I don't know what the answer is.

On 4/21/2022 at 4:23 PM, StilettoLuv said:

I wish when I joined this thread that I had read your original post in detail.

I completely understand your desire to wear the higher heels. I assume you mean those attractive black pumps in your last photo? They are really nice. 

If that shoe portion is comfortable on your feet and it's only the heel height you are adjusting to, you are correct. For me it's always been about feet and ankles becoming relaxed at the arch angle you choose and in my opinion your choice of a pump rather than a sandal will help you greatly. 

It took me a lot of practice and walking to make 5"-5.5" heels my day to day heel height and now after a lot more stretching I have these for special evenings out.

Best of luck with your practice.

Two thoughts: Number One, part of the issue that I have with my 5 inch pumps is that the back of the shoe, which I believe is called the counter, digs into my achilles tendon, due to the severe angle of my foot. So I'm thinking that a pump is not for me in this height. Or at least I need to find one that is a little bit lower cut. Number Two, what space did you find to practice in to get to where you're at?

[pebblesf]

3 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

Ah, the place to practice. For you, practice at home is not possible because of your significant other. For me, practice at home is not possible because of lack of physical space. I mean, one can only get so good walking 4 steps back and forth in the kitchen waiting for the rice to finish cooking. But where is one to go so as not to let other people see you struggling? I have been advised over the years that my habit of walking after dark is not safe, although in my location it is perfectly safe, except for the possibility of tripping over cracks in the sidewalk.

But this is a whole nuther world, this learning to walk in 5 inch heels. It ain't like when I was first starting to wear 3 inch heels. I may have looked a bit awkward, but it wasn't like I was learning how to waterski or anything. I was mainly building endurance. I could still blend in, especially in the dark. This 5+ inch heel thing is fundamentally different. You don't want anybody seeing THAT shit. So, you don't practice. And you don't get any better. I don't know what the answer is.

Two thoughts: Number One, part of the issue that I have with my 5 inch pumps is that the back of the shoe, which I believe is called the counter, digs into my achilles tendon, due to the severe angle of my foot. So I'm thinking that a pump is not for me in this height. Or at least I need to find one that is a little bit lower cut. Number Two, what space did you find to practice in to get to where you're at?

Well, instead of taking a cab/bus last night in Vegas, decided to walk to a pub I have not been to.  The complete trip was over three miles, but I was happy that I handled it well in my Zara boots.  The balls of my feet were a little sore, but not that bad.  I started to question my choice while heading down one street that got darker and more deserted.  Passed others with no issue, even though these Zara heels are louder than I would like them to be.  The trip was not worth the effort, perhaps I was out a little earlier than the normal nightlife crowd.  No problem, I did enjoy the walk and my legs/back feel fine this morning.  I will look for boots/ankle boots with just 5" heels, perhaps a one inch jump all at once is expecting too much.  I really want to find another pair of the nine west ankle boots I had, really enjoyed those, but managed to break another heel.  Found one pair, but they want $100, which seems a little pricey.  Guess I was lucky to find the last pair for just $35.  

[Pierre1961]

Going from 4,5” to 5,5” is a big jump. Reaching our limit each 5mm more can be a challenge. 

About training the only and not perfect way I found is to go outside,in the dark,to rather busy places ( more secure) with the shoes hidden with boot cut jeans. That’s not perfect but better than lonely places at night or struggling in public in day time. 

 

There are what I personally consider as a good “ training “ pair of shoes 

[pebblesf]

23 hours ago, Pierre1961 said:

Going from 4,5” to 5,5” is a big jump. Reaching our limit each 5mm more can be a challenge. 

About training the only and not perfect way I found is to go outside,in the dark,to rather busy places ( more secure) with the shoes hidden with boot cut jeans. That’s not perfect but better than lonely places at night or struggling in public in day time. 

 

You are right, of course, guess I have gotten a bit discouraged.  Hoping I will have better luck with 5" heels, take some time to get better in those, then move up, we will see.  Like I say, could not even make it around the perimeter of the hotel outside in 5.5" heels without really struggling, and let that upset get me down.  

Edited April 24, 2022 by pebblesf
grammar

[Pierre1961]

Some of the keys: well balanced shoes( if not,no matter how high they are,it’s a lost battle) 

then acceptable surfaces. And put a lot of hours in training. It’s a kinda sport! 

[pebblesf]

6 hours ago, Pierre1961 said:

Some of the keys: well balanced shoes( if not,no matter how high they are,it’s a lost battle) 

then acceptable surfaces. And put a lot of hours in training. It’s a kinda sport! 

You are so right about "well balanced shoes" indeed.  And yes, my boots with stiletto heels just don't seem to survive on city sidewalks and pavement, alot of weight on a small surface.  

[Jkrenzer]

11 hours ago, Pierre1961 said:

Going from 4,5” to 5,5” is a big jump. Reaching our limit each 5mm more can be a challenge. 

About training the only and not perfect way I found is to go outside,in the dark,to rather busy places ( more secure) with the shoes hidden with boot cut jeans. That’s not perfect but better than lonely places at night or struggling in public in day time. 

 

There are what I personally consider as a good “ training “ pair of shoes 

Love these training heels. 

[Pierre1961]

These are more than training shoes. They are one of my favorite pair. It was just an idea about the kind of shoes that are well balanced and in which the feet feel firmly  secure.

[mlroseplant]

18 hours ago, Pierre1961 said:

Going from 4,5” to 5,5” is a big jump. Reaching our limit each 5mm more can be a challenge. 

About training the only and not perfect way I found is to go outside,in the dark,to rather busy places ( more secure) with the shoes hidden with boot cut jeans. That’s not perfect but better than lonely places at night or struggling in public in day time. 

 

There are what I personally consider as a good “ training “ pair of shoes 

I want those, training or not! I think they would go with my traditional men's suits quite nicely.

[Pierre1961]

Hi @mlroseplantThese come from FSJ shoes in China. You can ask for the same. If you want I can take more pictures. 

Sure they would match a traditional man suit. 

The only risk with FSJ is you could receive something that doesn’t fit. It happened often to me. These ones arrived with a bad balance. Heels too high: I reduced them by myself.Still 15cm,which is high enough.  I also asked a cobbler to add a 5mm sole. Now they are one of the nicest and more comfortable I own. 

[mlroseplant]

22 hours ago, Pierre1961 said:

Hi @mlroseplantThese come from FSJ shoes in China. You can ask for the same. If you want I can take more pictures. 

Sure they would match a traditional man suit. 

The only risk with FSJ is you could receive something that doesn’t fit. It happened often to me. These ones arrived with a bad balance. Heels too high: I reduced them by myself.Still 15cm,which is high enough.  I also asked a cobbler to add a 5mm sole. Now they are one of the nicest and more comfortable I own. 

I have one pair of FSJ, and yeah, it wasn't wearable out of the box, either.

I get what you're saying about increasing height very gradually. The problem I'm having is that there are a lot of shoes in my size that are about 4 - 4 1/2", or in that 100 - 115 mm range. These are your "normal" shoes. Then you can find 5" and above very easily, by looking for "fetish" type shoes. What I cannot seem to find, outside of super expensive designer shoes, is stuff in the 4 3/4" or 120 mm range. Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, Brian Atwood, and similar seem to have a plethora of models in that height range, but by the time these get mimicked by the Nine Wests and the Steve Maddens of the world, they lose just a little bit of vertical dimension in the process.

[Shyheels]

Italian Heels has a lot in the 120mm range and they scale their heels heights according to size too. They are more expensive than high street shops, but far less than designer brands.

[Pierre1961]

Yes! Right! And the quality is pretty good. 

We  more or less are all in the boat @mlroseplant . As many others I have started with fetish shoes. As they are often of a poor quality,difficult if not impossible to wear publicly without looking stupid ,my passion for extreme heels has progressively vanished with the time. 

Being a size 12W in the US I can’t find anything in the designer shoes range. No mention the price. 

So a company as FSJ was a good “ second” choice. I could get what I wanted ( mostly Oxford or ankle boots in the 15 cm, which is high but not tremendously high  in my size). The problem is one pair on two had to go directly to the trash,the other one having to be modified. 

Sobern is an other similar choice. Same problems. That’s not surprising as both companies work hand in hand. 

Extreme Heels in Spain was another nice company. I got from there  some shoes close to perfection. Then suddenly the fitting got terrible. Unwearable. So I gave up. 

Italian heels is or too high or too low  for me 

Back to the “ training shoes “ question. It takes a perfect pair for starting a training  in very high heels. And as a novice it’s difficult to know what we need,like and where to get it. I personally waisted a lot of time and struggled before finding my perfect shoes and the perfectly heigh depending  to the situation  

 

[Chorlini]

It is odd how above 10 cm the choices become erratic. There seems to be very little between 12cm and 14cm, which might make it a rather high increment for people to advance into. Italian heels has heels in 10, 12 and 15 cm, but nothing in 13 or 14 cm. Pleaser has shitloads of 10 cm, basically every platform shoe if you think away the platform, they have 12cm (Amuse range), 14 cm (sexy range), 15 cm (domina range) but nothing in 13 cm range. Onlymaker has nothing above 12cm, and when you go on eBay it was all either 12 cm or 17,5 cm. Cause apparently every high heel fetishists aspires to wear 7" heels only. Although Aliexpress seems to have something in the 13 and 14 cm range these days. But they advertise it very badly, often you have to check the fine print. And still much luck figuring out their sizing,

[Shyheels]

I suspect this is because there are two entirely different markets. Ten and twelve centimetre heights are what you find on high street and with designers; fashion heels in other words. Above that you enter a different world entirely. Few designers go above that - and for a reason. The look becomes much less elegant and graceful and is overtly tarty and fetishy

[Pierre1961]

Tarty is a word I didn’t know and it  sounds  funny to  me. I like it!

Back to our original subject: 12 cm seems to be the highest heels height that is possible to find in “ normal” shops  That’s right. And sad because in my opinion 13cm ( not much higher but big difference ) gives the perfect look to a USW 7/8/9 size 

Well,I must agree not all women are able to walk in such shoes. But when they do then it is perfection .

 

 

[Chorlini]

16 hours ago, Shyheels said:

I suspect this is because there are two entirely different markets. Ten and twelve centimetre heights are what you find on high street and with designers; fashion heels in other words. Above that you enter a different world entirely. Few designers go above that - and for a reason. The look becomes much less elegant and graceful and is overtly tarty and fetishy

I dunno, you may call anything above 12 cm tarty and fetishy, but the platform shoes that infest the market today come straight out of the strip clubs and porn movies. And high heeled boots used to the hallmark of BDSM mistresses. Now they are mainstream too. So if those can be mainstream, why not single soled shoes with heels higher then 12 cm?

[SF]

"Tarty" look.  Possibly shoes that a "strumpet" would wear??  smile...  

To see the word used in a sentence appropriately, skip to 1 min 3 seconds..  ha ha...

Classic Terry Thomas....   Have fun....   sf

[Cali]

Market driven, Law of Large Numbers. Do you want 50% of a small market or 5% of a huge market. If I write an entry level book and get 10% of the market, that could mean 500,000 copies sold whereas a high end book might get 80% of the market and sell only 30,000 copies.  The ideal situation is 80% of a large market. 

[StilettoLuv]

20 hours ago, Shyheels said:

I suspect this is because there are two entirely different markets. Ten and twelve centimetre heights are what you find on high street and with designers; fashion heels in other words. Above that you enter a different world entirely. Few designers go above that - and for a reason. The look becomes much less elegant and graceful and is overtly tarty and fetishy

I disagree with the fetishy and tarty observation. You may recall that Louboutin experimented with a gorgeous 130mm single sole pump they call HOTCHICK. That was a 130mm stiletto in size 7 so it was almost 150mm in size 10.

I read that Louboutin discontinued this design and the heel height because 99% of women simply could not walk in them or refused to try.

[Shyheels]

5 hours ago, Chorlini said:

I dunno, you may call anything above 12 cm tarty and fetishy, but the platform shoes that infest the market today come straight out of the strip clubs and porn movies. And high heeled boots used to the hallmark of BDSM mistresses. Now they are mainstream too. So if those can be mainstream, why not single soled shoes with heels higher then 12 cm?

Because heels higher than 12cm look tarty and fetishy 

1 hour ago, StilettoLuv said:

I disagree with the fetishy and tarty observation. You may recall that Louboutin experimented with a gorgeous 130mm single sole pump they call HOTCHICK. That was a 130mm stiletto in size 7 so it was almost 150mm in size 10.

I read that Louboutin discontinued this design and the heel height because 99% of women simply could not walk in them or refused to try.

I knew a woman who was a true expert in wearing heels - 120mm was her usual height - and she owned a pair of those but never wore them because she couldn’t walk well in them. I think also that few women like the look of heels that high. I know some who love heels but won’t go over 100mm because they say it creates the wrong impression.

[Pierre1961]

More than the height,the positioning of the heel of the “hotchick” makes these shoes barely walkable. 

[mlroseplant]

8 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Because heels higher than 12cm look tarty and fetishy 

I knew a woman who was a true expert in wearing heels - 120mm was her usual height - and she owned a pair of those but never wore them because she couldn’t walk well in them. I think also that few women like the look of heels that high. I know some who love heels but won’t go over 100mm because they say it creates the wrong impression.

Probably the reason why they look tarty and fetishy is because almost nobody can walk in them, and what good is a shoe if you can't actually walk in it? Bingo.

Not very many years ago, giant platformed monstrosities with 15 or 16 cm heels were quite fashionable (think Louboutin Daffodile, et al.). Those were not necessarily fetishy. Heck, pianist Yuja Wang to this day wears similar for every concert, even though she has toned the rest of her look down considerably from what it was pre-pandemic. I think a lot of it has to do with not actually being able to use single soled shoes over 12 cm for their intended purpose. I would be willing to bet money that even Ms. Wang could not negotiate Hot Chicks, as least not well enough to present them in public.