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. 

[pebblesf]

2 hours ago, Shyheels said:

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. 

Same here, just wearing my block heeled ankle boots lately, better than nothing.  Finally, yesterday, I put on my 4.5" stiletto ankle boots while working on an outboard in the basement, and was thrilled at how easy it was to walk in them, and how good it felt/looked...Wore some tighter fitting levis black women's jeans for the occasion

[higherheels]

Same for me. I wore my 13 cm boots at home a few times, but only out once.

There was a lot going on before Christmas, so I didn't have quite the time to practice a lot.

Naturally there were also many partys and events where I wore some 12 cm boots, so I'm not totally out of routine 🙂

[Shyheels]

Gosh, I wish I could be so casual about wearing 12cm stiletto boots ... I'll get there one day, I hope, but I've sure got some practicing ahead of me ...

[CrushedVamp]

On 12/13/2025 at 6:27 AM, higherheels said:

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

This may anger some on here, and it certainly is not meant too, but my wife switches often between wearing a particular dress with high heels and maybe sneakers. They are a specific type, what we call Keds here, but other call plimsolls in other countries.

It depends on her mood because what she wears for shoes changes the whole meaning of the outfit. High heels just naturally look more formal, whereas the Keds give her a more youthful, informal look. I give her my opinion on what she should wear, but it's just a suggestion: I am not the Shoe Police that is for sure.

Here is an example. She is wearing a sundress and Keds (plimsolls) in this photo. She thought Keds would look more informal because it was her maternity photoshoot for our daughter. I am in no way saying high heels would have been inappropriate, but it was one of those fashion decisions that she made. But she likes her high heels and will wear them too.

Does the shoes work with the outfit for the scope of the photoshoot? Please: be the judge of that for yourself.

[higherheels]

Nothing wrong with combining a dress with a pair of flats, the particular one of your wife is a good combination in my eyes.

And I totally agree on how it gives more of a formal or informal look.

My personal view on this is that flats make a look more boring, and heels more exciting. And for myself it would somehow just feel wrong to wear a dress with flats. But for me it would generally feel wrong to wear flats for anything that isn't a sports or working activity 😉

[mlroseplant]

OK, so I felt guilty about slacking, so I pulled out my highest regular heels for church yesterday morning. I actually had the morning off from musical duties, so I could sit with my family in the congregation like a normal person. These particular pumps are some off brand called Elisabet Tang. There is another brand called GenShuo that is exactly the same. They are inexpensive shoes, but appear to be well made for what they are. They are slightly higher than the similar Steve Madden shoes of that ilk like the Daisie, but still clock in at a mere 11.3 cm when translated to size 38. I thought I did ok in them. I didn't have to walk more than 30 meters at a time, though, so I can't give a real assessment. At the time this photo was taken, the wind had picked up to about 40 km/h, and everything was starting to ice over. Therefore, I switched to boots to after that to run errands.

[Shyheels]

Well done! I need to do the same!