Aiming High - Practicing in Heels

[Shyheels]

My 12cm heels are very definitely the proper angle for 12cm stilettos - they were made for the right proportions for my size.

Even just wearing them as a potter around and sit and write I am starting to feel more at ease in them. They are becoming more familiar which is a help. I just need to put in the distances and practice. And probably with an 11cm first!

[higherheels]

I never really felt like any of my heels were the wrong angle, but I also don't always look at which height they're labeled at and then measure them.

Which shoe size do you have, Shyheels?

 

That's a great progress!

I don't feel any progress so far. Wore them twice last week at home.

[Shyheels]

Thank you! I’m quite pleased at feeling more at home in them.

i wear a 45 or 46 so it is not always easy for me to find nice heels. I have no interest at all in fetishy ones which are what you usually find in larger sizes. I bought a couple pair of knee boots from Italian heels - very classic style - and a pair of really lovely custom OTK boots from Jean Gaborit in a very nice black suede. They are my favourite pair by far - and the 9cm heels are really easy and stable to walk around in. They were expensive but I absolutely love them.

Edited Monday at 07:02 PM by Shyheels

[higherheels]

That's a big size, I can imagine that it's hard to find heels in this size, but nice you were able to find some.

[Shyheels]

Yes it is very difficult to find nice fashion heels in my size. It can be done but you have to be committed enough to spend. I’d always wanted to try wearing heels and when I finally summoned the nerve to do it, I decided to do it well and buy some really nice ones. Jean Gaborit is fully custom and make gorgeous boots in just about any size. And so my collection of heels is quite small but very nice.

[higherheels]

May I ask which prices we are talking about when it comes to custom made boots? Very cool thing, but pretty expensive I guess?

[Shyheels]

49 minutes ago, higherheels said:

May I ask which prices we are talking about when it comes to custom made boots? Very cool thing, but pretty expensive I guess?

Yes they are expensive. Depending on the style - they do quite a range of boots, from fashion to country boot to vintage styles for the classic car/motorcycle/aviation enthusiasts - the prices range from about €650 to €1200. Mine are at the lower end.

Most custom makers - and there aren’t many these days - charge a lot more. These are all hand made in France and are fully custom, even the soles. Mine fit perfectly, the nubuck suede is thick and luxurious and they’ll last forever. So it seemed a good investment. My other two stilettos are not custom though. The OTK ones are special 

[higherheels]

Wow, that's a lot but totally understandable for custom shoes.

I am blessed with feet in a size where everything is widely available, so no need for custom made ones. But still my most expensive ones (the Hot Chick 130) cost as much as your custom made ones, but somehow they're also worth it.

Even more if i will wear them out more in the future 🙂

[Shyheels]

I was thinking of your Hot Chicks and guessing they were roughly the same price as my custom OTK boots. It’s nice to have something special like that.

Definitely worth the effort of learning to walk well in them! I hope that is going well

[mlroseplant]

20 hours ago, Shyheels said:

I would not gave guessed those were 11.5cm. At this angle I would have guessed they were 10cm. My 12cm heels look much more than 0.5cm higher. Then again, my 10 and 12cm stilettos are both scaled up for the larger size that I wear. The standard for the style is a 10 or 12cm heel based on a size 38 shoe - the actual measured heel height is scaled up (or down) as you move away in size from the standard 38. This keeps the lines and proportions consistent for that particular style throughout the size range.

If the maker of your shoe does not do that it would explain why your 11.5cm heels look lower.

My collection is much smaller than yours - I have two pair of stiletto knee boots (10 and 12cm) and one pair of suede OTK boots with 9 cm heels

I went and remeasured, and they're actually about 11.1 cm, and that's actual measurement in a size 39 equivalent, but now that I'm looking at them, they do not appear as steep as one might think, yet the tape measure says what it says. I have another similar pair from the same brand (Steve Madden) that measures 11.7 cm up the back of the heel, and yet this pair appears much steeper for some reason. When I get time, I'll have to snap some pictures so we can all geek out trying to figure out the differing high heel curved profiles. Got to run!

[Shyheels]

It must be the angle.

I'm on my way back to my boat after ten days in the Scottish highlands. Not great for wearing heels! I did get some practice in at my hotels. Slowly getting used to the extra height and steeper pitch 

[pebblesf]

2 hours ago, Shyheels said:

It must be the angle.

I'm on my way back to my boat after ten days in the Scottish highlands. Not great for wearing heels! I did get some practice in at my hotels. Slowly getting used to the extra height and steeper pitch 

Great news!

[mlroseplant]

Here is a comparison between the blue sandals I wore a few days ago, which actually measure 111 mm, and some D'Orsay pumps in the same color, which measure 117 mm. Is it just me, or does the shoe on the right appear to be significantly taller than the one on the left, even though there is only 6 mm difference (1/4")? I have no idea what they would be in USW size 7 or 8. I haven't practiced walking in either one this week. Bad for me.

[Shyheels]

The one in the right definitely looks significantly taller, although I can also see where it could be an optical illusion too. But 6mm would definitely make a difference in terms of wearability - especially at those lofty heights.

I wore my 12cm boots for a couple hours this morning - making breakfast (in the midst of which I had to go out on my well deck (bow) to change gas canisters! Right as I was heating water for coffee.) I still have a long way to go to achieve anything like effortlessness in 12cm stilettos 

[mlroseplant]

I really tried to get the angle of the photograph to be neutral, but it's very difficult without taking two separate photographs. Anyway, I like them both, but don't wear either very often. Suede and Iowa often don't mix very well. We've finally had an entire week without rain (and here we were talking about drought last year).

Speaking of steepness and appearance, I can remember back in the early days of HHP, somebody told a woman not to be impressed when some dude said he could walk in 5 inch like they were carpet slippers. Said dude also took about a size 15, and his 5 inch were not really all that steep. I take and refer to the actual heel measurements as they are on my shoes, which are either 8.5 or 9 (39/40, something like that). You mentioned that your 12cm are the right proportion to your size. I am curious as to what the actual heel height is on your 12 cm?

Edited 4 hours ago by mlroseplant
Clarity

[Shyheels]

According to the Italian Heels heel height chart, a 12cm heel is actually 14.5cm in a size 45. As you can see they base their nominal heel heights on a size 38. So you and @higherheels will be pretty close to the nominal heel height, but I don’t get to “cheat” by having longer feet. The lines, proportions and the steepness will be the same as yours. Which is nice, even if it means I can’t cheat and have to work just as hard to master 12cm heels - it’s not the number that I like but the aesthetics and so I am pleased to have the same aesthetic despite my larger size. How frustrating it would be otherwise!

Sizeaaaaaaaaaa	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45
.
Heel 8 cm	07,0	07,5	08,0	08,3	08,5	09,0	09,3	09,5	09,7	10,0
Heel 10 cm	09,0	09,5	10,0	10,5	11,0	11,5	11,7	12,0	12,3	12,5
Heel 12 cm	11,0	11,5	12,0	12,5	12,7	13,0	13,5	13,7	14,0	14,5

Suede is not readily worn in Britain either although this year you can pretty much wear suede with impunity. We’re having a drought here, our reservoirs and rivers are at historic lows and some of the canals are closed because there is insufficient water to work the locks.