High Heel Race

[Shyheels]

I saw this article on the CNN website about a high heels race in Spain as part of the local Pride festival. Apparently it has been going for quite a long time. Minimum heel height is four inches or 10cm - so they are racing in genuinely high heels. 
 

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/05/travel/madrid-pride-high-heel-race

 

 

[higherheels]

If I remember correctly a similar event took place in Germany a long time ago.

A high heel race sure is an interesting discipline 😄

[Shyheels]

I am reasonably competent in 10cm heels, but I don’t think I’d care to run a race in them! Partly I’d be worried about damaging my heels! But as you say, an interesting discipline!

[mlroseplant]

I'm pretty sure I could hang, even on cobblestones, but I wouldn't really want to be around that many people by choice.

[higherheels]

I had to run in about 10 cm heels when I had to catch the train once, so I kind of know what it's like. 

Definitely possible, but I wouldn't bet on winning a race (even without heels)

[CrushedVamp]

There is a High Heel Race in Washington DC every year and is coming close now to 40 consecutive years of the running of it.

I think on May 20th, High Heel Day, men are encouraged to wear high heels to their jobs so that they understand the rigors of what some women are required to wear for shoes all day, every day. Not the same as a race I know, but I always thought that was a great idea and not encouraged enough. I read an article years ago about the day and suggestion and some men had to remove the heels only a few hours in because of the rigors of wearing them showing that wearing them did heighten awareness.

[Shyheels]

I am always highly skeptical of this business about what women are “required” to wear all day every day. While office dress codes may call for women to be in heels, as with coat and tie for men, we’re not talking about four-inch stilettos here - more typically two inch heels and rather thicker than stilettos. I don’t believe anybody should be forced to wear something they dislike or which is uncomfortable - you won’t find me wearing a tie, for example - but I think far too much is made of the “forced to wear heels” business. They aren’t in towering stilettos but in something much more demure and far easier to wear.

Lets be real: two inch heels are no more uncomfortable than wearing a tie

In my experience and observation women who actually do wear four inch heels are those who genuinely love wearing heels - and they wear them because they like them, and the emotional lift and sense of empowerment they get by wearing them, not because they want to please the men around them, or out if a sense of obligation, but because heels are a part of their identity.

 

[higherheels]

Are office dress codes even a thing anymore?

I've worked in offices for quite a while now, but never was there a dress code.

Shyheels, I absolutely agree to your last paragraph. Some women who wear 2 inch heels sometimes might just do it because it fits the occasion, but the ones who wear 4 inch+ heels most probably do it because they love heels.

For me the height is a big part what sets them apart from other shoes, and a good-looking heel starts for me at around 3 inches.

[Cali]

At work, the women who wear heels all the time love their heels. When we randomly run into each other we always compare heels.

Let's get off of this statement that heels are uncomfortable and start looking for heels that fit properly to begin with.

[Shyheels]

Yes, fit is something that is seldom mentioned in articles castigating high heels. Poor fit, lack of practice and the assumption that the heels women are expected to wear as a part of a dress code are invariably four- or five-inch stilettos colour virtually all narratives about high heels.

[CAT]

I would be in 4 and 5" every dam day if I could !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pebblesf]

27 minutes ago, CAT said:

I would be in 4 and 5" every dam day if I could !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Same here buddy

[Shyheels]

And there are women who feel the same. They’re not the ones complaining about being forced to wear heels

[Cali]

2 hours ago, CAT said:

I would be in 4 and 5" every dam day if I could !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in 4"+ almost every day. Many day for 10 hours or more.

[higherheels]

I literally wouldn't even know what to wear to the office if it wasn't heels.

[Shyheels]

I'm fortunate in being a freelance and working from home - I can wear what I please without reference to anyone, and have made eels more or less my office dress code. 

[CrushedVamp]

On 7/13/2025 at 10:10 AM, higherheels said:

Are office dress codes even a thing anymore?

The only dress code I can think of in regards to shoe-dress-codes are airline stewardesses. The last I knew they were required to wear heels while in public settings. I think it was a two inch heel height minimum, but honestly I can see no reason why they could not be allowed to wear flats if they wanted too. I do not like the look of flats myself, but am not into forcing anyone to wear something they loath either.

An interesting note about their dress code too is that they do not actually wear pantyhose/tights but instead wear compression nylons because of the constant pressure and depressuring they are subjected too. It does not matter so much for only a few flights a year, but a career of it can be damaging to a person's circulatory system. Because of that they were once required to wear them, but I think that requirement has eased up. Mostly because they are not paid that well and so many just wore regular pantyhose/tights which were NOT compression ones because they were much cheaper but their employers were none the wiser just looking at them. And in a fire situation several stewardesses sustained severe leg burns when the nylon melted onto their legs in a crash.

[Shyheels]

In a lighthearted way I’ve made heels part of my office dress code - since I work from home I can wear what I like and so why not heels? There’s purpose in it too though. I’ve always tried to make it a point to get dressed for work, even though my office is my kitchen table. It can be easy and tempting to slob around in track suit bottoms and T-shirt, but to succeed in working from home you need to create a businesslike atmosphere, to remind yourself that it’s a work day. You don’t need to wear a tie or anything, just make an effort to put on something that communicates to yourself that you’re now at work. What fun it is to do that with stilettos

[CrushedVamp]

On 7/13/2025 at 11:43 AM, Shyheels said:

Yes, fit is something that is seldom mentioned in articles castigating high heels. Poor fit, lack of practice and the assumption that the heels women are expected to wear as a part of a dress code are invariably four- or five-inch stilettos colour virtually all narratives about high heels.

I think fit and function are what dooms the high heel industry.

Having raised six daughters almost everyone of them wore heels for the first time at their Junior Prom, a right of passage for a high schooler here in the USA anyway. But since they might grow out of them, and being for a singular event where they would only be worn for a few hours, they were all chosen entirely for how they looked with my daughter's dress. They therefore were cheap and ill-fitting. That was how they were introduced to wearing high heels and it really never got better for them. Most of the time the only time they wear high heels beyond their junior prom which was to weddings and other special occasions. Again the high heels chosen for a singular event and chosen for how they looked and not fit and comfort.

This causes many problems. The first is that they learned by experience that high heels were uncomfortable to wear. The other issue is, being chosen for how they looked and costs, properly fitting heels are hard to find. The girls went to the local shoe store where there was a crappy selection of heels to buy and none were expensive because people were not buying expensive, well-fitting heels. And when they bought them off the internet, they were bought based on style and color and not about to be sent back because they did not fit well. "It was only for one evening" was the statement made.

My wife, she is a little different. She loves high heels, but struggles to find good ones. When she does find a pair that is comfortable, she wears them exclusively, and I tended to notice these are often the most expensive ones. But the quality retail shops are closed now, and only crappy, ill-fitting ones grace the local chains that are still open. 

[Shyheels]

I think your take on the experience most people - women - have with high heels is accurate. Presented as occasional footwear, and with their sole initial experience likely to be something cheap and ill fitting, it’s not likely they would be drawn to trying new and better fitting pairs and styles. One and done.

only those who are naturally drawn to them - aesthetically, emotionally or for whatever other reason - are likely to persist.

As with anything, you tend to get what you pay for. Although I have heard of expensive shoes being duds, by and large you need to spend more, for better more stable designs, reliable and consistent fit, and better materials - high quality leather and suede.

i am fortunate enough to gave a couple pair of custom made boots. The craftsmanship, fit and leathers are beautiful, well worth the money. I’d rather have fewer pair of heels, but comfortable, stylish and well fitting than a closet full of painful ones.

[mlroseplant]

Interesting that this conversation should come up once again, but in a slightly different way. Just yesterday I was setting up our tent at the farmer's market, and our neighbor vendor, a thin, fit-looking middle aged woman who sells fresh baked bread, said to me, "I just don't understand how you can do manual labor in heels. I could never do that!" By "manual labor," she meant setting up the tent and tables, &c. I told her that I'd been working at it for over 12 years, and maybe that had something to do with it. Full disclosure: What I was actually wearing was wedge sandals with a slight heel, effectively a 2 1/4". I wouldn't call them flats, but almost.

As it turns out, this woman evidently used to wear heels all the time "for dress up occasions." Like all of us have heard a hundred times before. It doesn't explain everything, but it accounts for a good deal of it. Occasional wear is never going to get you the comfort and endurance you want, in the same way that picking up the guitar once a month is never going to make you a decent guitarist. In addition to this, you're tempted to buy a cheap instrument, which doesn't usually help your playing either.

I never quite know how to respond to these kinds of things, because I am quite sure that I like to talk about all things high heel considerably more than most people. Since I don't want to seem like a crushing bore, I usually cut the conversation off short. In this case, I did not have to do so because at that very moment, the wind picked up suddenly, and I had to physically grab on to my tent to keep it from skating across the parking lot and blowing into the next county. This despite having double the usual amount of weight on each leg. Naturally, the conversation immediately shifted to whether this little squall was going to pass quickly, or should we just go home.

 

[Shyheels]

Yes regular practice or wearing is crucial - even if your heels fit well and are nicely made, you still need to be wearing them reasonably often to develop or maintain the feel of wearing them.

[Cali]

Ten years I was at an indoor University's special division graduation (not the main campus graduation where it snowed). Many of the women wore high heels. It was clear, many of them had no idea how to walk in them.

[CrushedVamp]

14 hours ago, Cali said:

Ten years I was at an indoor University's special division graduation (not the main campus graduation where it snowed). Many of the women wore high heels. It was clear, many of them had no idea how to walk in them.

It is too bad because we have never lived in such a time as when educating yourself is so easy.

It is kind of like making repairs on a car. Here anyway, the parts places are closing down because no one o=works on their car any more, they take it to a mechanic. Yet, need to do a brake job on your car? Just look it up on Youtube and the parts, prices, and even tools are listed on what you need, then they proceed to show you just how to do it. Many repairs are actually quick and easy yet no one does them.

It is the same with high heels. There are a ton of videos on how to walk in high heels yet it is obvious few watch them. I really is a shame because watching a few videos and buying a good pair of well-fitting high heels might just change what a person wears for life.

What may not change however is a stigmatism or what could be considered a judgmental encounter.

I remember my wife and I went to a pub as a quick date night. We had four young daughters at the time and getting away together was extremely hard. It was the first time we left our oldest daughter in charge of her sisters so we only were out for an hour or two. But the wife wore her high heels and jeans. Nothing earth shattering or slutty, and we had soda and a pizza, not even drinking or anything.

But the waitress told us, "I'll get your check quickly. Wearing those heels I know what you two are headed off to do".

It was actually ironic because she thought my wife wearing high heels meant we were going to have relations" when we had four young daughters at home. I don't think we even did. She just wanted to wear heels out for a few hours as we had some alone time as a husband and wife.

So there is a stigmatism with wearing heels unfortunately too that may put some people off.

[Shyheels]

THat's true, and quite a remarkable comment by your waitress. In my experience Americans seem rather prudish or abstemious - I don't mean just on the subject of heels but in so many ways. I lead tours sometimes as a supplement to my meagre income, and generally the guests are elderly Americans. If we visit a Scottish distillery, very few will sample the wares. Likewise wine with meals or coffee or tea afterwards. I feel almost Falstaffian by comparison. They don't sty up late and even the most politically liberal of them have very settled opinions on things like high heels. So in a way your waitress' comment seems par for the course. Unfortunate though.  

[higherheels]

My first experiences with high heels were the same - cheap, not well-fitting, uncomfortable, and way too high for the beginning.

But somehow I kept going, I just liked them too much. But I can understand that this is a part where many might choose not to ever wear heels again, or only very occasionally.

Then after a few years I started going more for a perfect fit and good quality. I was quite surprised how comfortable high heels can be, and that was when I started wearing them also for everyday life.

[Shyheels]

I’ve always preferred boots to shoes - typically hiking boots - so when I went to try high heels for the first time, it was in a pair of stiletto knee boots which I think gave me a bit of an advantage as they offered a bit more support. I started with 10cm heels which was high for a beginner but doable in boots.

I've never worn pumps or sandals, only boots. I would kind of like to try sometime, to see what that’s like, how much trickier they are, but because I’m not really a shoes person, I’ve never bought any.

[higherheels]

If they fit right, pumps or sandals don't have to be more difficult than boots. For sandals it can get more difficult if they only have few straps.

[Shyheels]

Maybe I shall give pumps or sandals a try sometime for the experience - although stylistically I much prefer boots. Except for running and cycling I don’t even own any shoes!

[mlroseplant]

I personally find pumps to be much more difficult than sandals. It's probably due to the shape of my feet, and I am a little bit embarrassed to admit that as much time and effort as I have spent measuring and analysing my shoes, I really have no idea how my feet stack up against an average woman's foot, even there is even such a thing. I know I'm a size 9 U.S. women's, and that I'm halfway between a B and a C width, so most women's shoes work just fine for me. What seems to be the case for me is that my heels must be kind of narrow left to right because a lot of the time I walk right out of pumps without even trying. I have found that Steve Madden pumps tend to work for me, but I have to wear them pretty tight, and some might say uncomfortably tight. Sandals do not have this problem, as they are held on by straps which are usually adjustable. Or there is no back at all (my preference), and you don't care how the heel fits because it doesn't exist.

You and my both my sons have something in common. None of y'all ever wear anything but boots. Of course, theirs do not have anything higher than a normal work boot heel. Although I my older son (26) has got a pair of loggers that have pretty decent heels on them. 2 inch, probably.