Aiming High - Practicing in Heels

[Cali]

Like @mlroseplant, when I started to wear women's shoes in (aka stopped wearing men's shoes), I hide them under longer pants. And those were at most 6.4 cm heels. Then when I had to raise my heel 4 inches I hide them at first. But it was a hot summer, over 100 F (38 C) daily, so I wore shorts and exposed my heels and got thicker skin.  Now I wear my tall boots on the outside; yesterday I had my Jessica Simpson black knee highs on and got "that's a fierce fashion statement" from a waiter when I went to the restroom.

I have about a dozen stilettos but I have to consider the surfaces I will be walking on. As a result there are only a few days I can wear stilettos. The places I go to now are NOT stiletto friendly, so I rarely wear them.

But I will wear my suede JS knee high stilettos with short shorts in the summer. Now "that's a fierce fashion statement."😁

Edited December 12 by Cali

[Shyheels]

I just don't do shorts - not unless I'm cycling or going to the gym, and in neither case am I wearing heels.  

[Cali]

@Shyheels "1 don't do shorts" is the same as "I live in Britain."

Edited December 12 by Cali

[Shyheels]

Not at all! There’s a Scot moored just up from me who wears shorts when it’s below freezing. Lots wear shorts. I didn’t wear them when I lived in Australia either!

[Puffer]

Shyheels is right.   Very many men, of all ages, wear shorts in England (and the rest of the UK) for much or all of the May - September period whenever the weather allows - and often when it doesn't!   I am in shorts and sandals as a matter of course during that period unless my activity requires otherwise.   Twenty or thirty years ago, few men above school age would be seen in shorts unless for a sporting/recreational activity, and open sandals, especially if worn barefoot, were rarely seen except at the pool or beach - being considered too girly by many.   

What does surprise me is the huge popularity among men of trainers/sneakers/plimsolls in almost all modes of actvity, including with a suit or jacket/trousers in otherwise formal or semi-formal settings.   Comfortable they may be - although in my view far from ideal when the weather is hot or very cold - but smart they are not.  Here is Tim Davie, the recently-resigned Director-General of the BBC, in what appears to be his usual 'business' outfit of suit plus plimsolls.   Hardly impressive.

[CrushedVamp]

I am NOT a shorts wearer either, no matter how hot it is outside. Here, I do not think I am in the minority, but a few men do wear shorts all year, enough so that no one gives them a second look. I remember being at my chiropractor's office and a man came in wearing shorts, I remember because he kind of looked funny stomping off his shoes because we were having a snow storm and six inches of snow (150 mm) was outside.

For dressing up, which you guys and gals know I do almost always, for truly formal events I do wear true dress shoes, but about 80 percent of the time I do wear plimsolls. The reason is simple. I try and match my shoes to my pants. With so many color variations of plimsolls, I can do that easily. And they are comfortable, easy to wash, and look good in my opinion.

In super formal settings, not so much, but they are a huge staple of my fashion sense right now.

[higherheels]

1 hour ago, Puffer said:

What does surprise me is the huge popularity among men of trainers/sneakers/plimsolls in almost all modes of actvity, including with a suit or jacket/trousers in otherwise formal or semi-formal settings.

It's the same for women. Every outfit is combined with sneakers nowadays. Even traditonal clothes like the "Dirndl" here in Germany.

[mlroseplant]

I have always worn shorts in the summer, as did my father before me. However, neither of my two sons ever wore shorts after the age of about 10, and they don't show any sign of ever changing. Oddly enough, both of them have legs that are like tree trunks, and yet they have different mothers. They certainly didn't get that from me! I also know plenty of women who never wear shorts or an above the knee skirt.

I don't want to say I never do it, but it is easier to wear my beloved wooden heeled sandals with shorts rather than stilettos. Probably absolutely no one outside a certain group thinks about it this way, but to me chunky wooden heeled sandals with shorts is far less radical looking than stilettos with shorts. There is probably almost no one in the general populace who makes such a distinction.

@higherheels I always thought the only proper footwear with a Dirndlkleid is none at all, meiner Meinung nach. Certainly much better than sneakers.

[higherheels]

Hm I'm not that familiar with the tradition, you could be right. In public places I never seen anyone go barefoot with a Dirndl, mostly it was matching classic pumps or ballerinas.

[Shyheels]

I took a bus to a nearby town today to do some shopping. I had thought about bringing my practice heels and practicing but I knew I was going to be doing a lot of walking and carrying a rucksack full of shopping so I went in my chunky heeled knee boots. As you say, both for men and women trainers seem to be de rigueur these days

That said, winter - boot season - is the time of year when you will see the most heels. As I was liked around the town I did see a number of women in heeled knee boots. The men, with the exception of me, were universally in ratty trainers.

Although I wasn’t practicing in my 12cm stilettos, it was nice  to walk about the town in my chunky heels - it’s all good grist for the mill!

[mlroseplant]

It has still not been a great month for practicing in super tall heels. Part of the reason is the weather, but part of it is that I'm taking a bit of a break from walking in heels just for the sake of walking in them. I've had the last four days off due to the Christmas holiday, and I've actually gone out walking on three out of the four. I purposefully wore mid heels for two of those days, because I figured I would be a little out of condition, and didn't want to overdo it. Nothing bad happened, so I switched to actual high heels yesterday. I did my 2.1 mile (3.4 km) route in the equivalent adjusted steepness of 10.5 cm, and wow, the difference between 9 cm and 10 1/2 is remarkable, or so my calves thought! And it's not like I gave up wearing heels altogether, I just haven't been pounding the pavement like I usually do.

[Shyheels]

Same here! Again a combination of winter weather, a muddy towpath, and frankly a bit of holiday laziness. Like you, I’ve worn mid heels as a kind of maintenance heel to keep myself in some kind of heel wearing condition.

I’m making mastering 12cm heels a New Year’s resolution though and going to get right back into practicing.