boot shopping adventures

[corsair]

I’ve been lurking on this forum for months and thought that I would contribute. First, some background: I have been facinated by women’s boots since I was very young and I am one of those guys who would sneak into closets to try on boots when I was at someone’s house. Later in high-school and college I managed to start buying some for myself. I’m now 38 and have 80+ pairs of boots. Plenty of them are high-heeled or thigh-high, but lately I have been buying mostly lower-heeled boots that I can wear to work and in public. During the summer, I could dress like a beach-bum and be happy, but once the weather cools off, I prefer dressing better and wearing boots. I wear a women’s size 11 if I wear thin socks or hose, and size 12 if I want to wear my regular athletic socks. Most of my everyday boots are riding-boot style with ½ inch and ¾ inch heels. I have enjoyed reading about you guys who wear higher heels on a regular basis. BTW, Jeff, great photos of you at work in pumps, can you post some of you in your boots? And to further set the scene: I am a fairly conservative person in manner and attire, work in a fairly conservative setting and go to a church of a fairly conservative denomination. So I am not someone who overtly lives an edgy lifestyle. So I thought that I would recount some boot buying adventures for those who are still rather timid about it. Last year, I was doing some Christmas shopping at the mall and went into a Rack Room shoes and looked since they sometimes have larger sizes. Sure enough, I found some Maripe boots that I thought would be perfect: knee-high zipper boots with about a 1.5 inch block heels. These would be higher than my regular boots, but still low enough for public wearing. I was wearing a pair of blue riding boots at the time. I don’t usually try on women’s shoes in public, but I didn’t want to have to return them if they were too small, so went to one end of the aisles, pulled off one of my riding boots and zipped on a black pair of the new boots. They fit! One woman and a sales guy walked by, gave me a glance and kept going. I walked around a minute and discovered that the boots, while snug, were comfortable. I decided that I wanted to wear them that night so I put on the other one and put my blue boots in the box. I then scooped up a pair of the boots in brown and went to pay for them. As now seems to be the custom, at the register they checked to verify that the boots in the box are the same size and the brand that is supposed to be in the box. This went fine for the brown boots, but then she (girl in her late teens or early 20’s) got a puzzled look when she saw the blue boots. I casually said, “Those are the boots I was wearing when I walked in.” She did a double-take and you could see the mental reset occur, and then she asked,”Are you *wearing* them?” (meaning the new boots). I said “Yup” and smiled. She recovered and completed the sale and I happily spent another hour or so walking around the mall finishing my shopping. No one gave my boots so much as a glance. I have worn them out in public since then and even to work a few times. This past month I went into one of these shoe warehouse store where all the shoes are sitting out on low shelves and there is zero privacy. I would go through there every now and then to see if there was anything worth buying in my size. So early this month I found a pair of size 11 over-the-knee boots! These are stretchy vinyl or pleather with 3-inch heels. I did not try them on, but I did grab the box and headed for the checkout. Another young lady in her early 20’s. As she checked the boots in the box, she lightly asked, “Are these for you?”. I just as lightly replied, “Yup” and smiled at which point she smiled and said, “I thought so.” Now I have no idea if she was asking me seriously, or if she was just kidding with me and thought that I was kidding back. In either case, the whole purchase was a non-event. She told my bye and I left. The moral for guys who are nervous about buying shoes: it’s not that big of a deal, so relax and make your purchases. I have also been told that retail is sooooo boring, that a guy wanting to buy some girl’s clothes adds a bit of something different and is welcomed more than rejected. So far, I have found nothing to refute this. I love wearing leather, and this includes skirts and dresses. At one shop, I was I guess being too obvious looking at one outfit. There was a short line a the checkout and the salesgirl looked over and said that if I could wait a minute she would let me try it on. With everyone in line looking at me I chuckled and walked off, but I did return ten minutes later and she was good to her word and I bought the outfit. I had a similar experience in another store where the sales women were actually upset that I didn’t come out of the dressing room in skirt and jacket to show them. Gotta like that. This weekend, I was at the mall and discovered a store called the Shoe Dept, and was happy to see that it carries size 11 and 12 women’s shoes. I found a pair of Aerosoles boots that caught my fancy. These were knee-high zipper boots with a 2.5 inch black heel. I was already wearing my 1.5 inch heel boots under some black leather jeans, and I really wanted to wear the new boots. The store was too open for me to try them on there, so I bought the boots and headed for the restroom of a nearby department store where I changed boots. The new pair fit great and my pants hid most of the heel. The nice thing about Aerosoles is that they are very quiet, so there didn’t attract a lot of attention because of their noise. I went up and down the length of the mall doing some more shopping and window shopping for boots for my wife. I wasn’t trying to be noticed, nor was I trying very hard to see if the boots were being noticed. I think that only a few people even noticed the boots, and these were the ones that were sitting on the benches staring at the floor while waiting for someone. At any rate, no one said a darned thing or even gave me any funny looks. I think my leather jeans attracted more attention than anything else. It wasn’t an outfit that I would wear to church, but it was great for any afternoon out and about. Then yesterday, we went to a movie and I wore my brown leather pants and the 1.5 inch heels under them. Afterward, I helped the wife with some boot shopping and helping her try on some boots. She normally wears a size 10 shoe, but in boots she likes to wear thick socks and prefers a size 11. After trying on some great looking riding boots, she declared them not to her liking and asked if I liked them. I did. So there I am sitting on the little stool that the shoe sales-people use and holding an upzipped boot in my size. And I’m just 5 feet from one of the main aisles through the store. I still said (to myself) to heck with it and decided to try on the boot that my wife had just been wearing. This meant hiking up my leather pants and unzipping a knee-high boot and putting on the new boot. Even though I was wearing a thin sock, the new boot was too snug. But here is my wife very casually asking if I liked them (Yes!) but I had to admit that they were too small and I would decline. So I took the boot off and put my otherone back on. I don’t think that anyone noticed and it was a non-event in terms of negative response. But it was a BIG event in terms of how much fun I had. I know that this has been a huge, long post, but I thought you might enjoy reading about my little adventures. I wish that I could join you fellows at the boot meets in England and Europe. Most importantly, for you guys that are still bashfull, the lesson is that you can go shoe shopping without worrying about fuss. Go buy some shoes and enjoy them! Corsair

[gary0618]

Welcome Corsair.

Interesting name. Does it have andy significance? Kinda sounds like the 1960 car, The Corvair and one model they had call the Corsa.

I enjoyed reading your post very much. My current lady friend also wears the same size boots as I. I have given her a couple of pairs from my collection when it was closet cleaning time.

If you don't mind me asking. What part of the world are you from? We are planning a Street Heeling meet in New York City in March 2005.

Keep the posts coming, and look forward to some photos from you and your wife too!

Gary0618

[RobertB]

Most of my everyday boots are riding-boot style with ½ inch and ¾ inch heels. I have enjoyed reading about you guys who wear higher heels on a regular basis.

A 3/4 inch heel is actually quite low. Guys can easily wear 2 inch heels

is plain view without anyone thinking anything of it. It's surprising how

high heels can go before anyone notices. Heels have to get around

3 /12 or 4 inches before you start getting glances from people. Even

then, the glances are rare.

I bought some nice Mudd boots with 2 1/2 inch heels at The Shoe Dept

on sale for $20 that are absolutely great. I've been been wearing them

every day for the past week without problem. I didn't see them the

last time I was there so, I guess they sold out quickly.

Robert B.

[loveheel]

Hi Corsair, Thanks for the great stories ! And welcome. You will find a lot of like-minded people here. I agree with Robert. With 2" and under people won't even stop to look at your shoes, unlike they are like pink with kitten heels. Even at 2.5" block heels my experience is that people are more thrown off by my flare pants than the boots. I hope you get to enjoy a lot more heel wearing outings

[coolshoes]

Corsair-- Let me also welcome you. Small world--I have a pair of knee high boots with 3" heels that I bought at a Rack Room. Tried them on with customers milling around and paid for them with a male manager and his district, or some such, manager with him the entire time. Never an eye batted, just normal business. The only unique thing is that the boots were 11s, I normally have to have a 12, if not a 13. A wide toe box seems to make all the difference. Wore them while shopping the after Christmas bargins today. Even smaller world--I have a pair of ankle boots I bought at The Shoe Department (size 12), about 2 1/2" wide block heel. Same deal tried them on, paid, etc. The only noteworthy event, a woman with her young teenage daughter asked me if this was the women's boots section while I was trying on the boots I that I later bought. I said yes and she responded it was hard to tell if the boots were men's or women's.

[Dawn HH]

Corsair:-) Welcome to the High Heel Forum and I enjoyed your shopping stories immensely. I regularly wear 3" to 4" heels just about everywhere and what Robert B. says is true. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[sendra45]

Hi Corsair, Welcome, I too lurked on this site for a while before I became a member, thanks for your store stories, I have found that the assistants are very helpful and I found once that the assistant offered me a store card for a womans shop, she must have been keen to see me spening more money in her shop. If we had more money then perhaps I would spend more, still the sales are just starting, give it another few weeks and they will be giving the stuff away! I look forward to more of your posts! Nigel

[tal]

Great stories, love to hear more. A simple 2 " should be fine to wear i think.

[balletboot2000]

Hi Corsair, welcome on board, I too spent too long watching without joining in.

[corsair]

Thanks for all the replies. I am an airplane nut. Corsair comes from the Chance Vought F4U of WWII. And I live near Atlanta, GA. I'd love to come to the NY meet, but vacation time and travel are limited by grad school and young kids. I once went into a Naturalizer at Lennox Mall in Atlanta to buy some boots. This was at least 12 years ago when I was first out on my own and discovered that Naturalizer carried larger sizes. This store was all glass front, so anyone walking along the mall could see in. I had gone through there a few times scoping out the place and doing the "just looking for the wife" bit. One day I was going through the mall and went by and decided to get some boots. I went in and there was one woman in there in her 30's or 40's with a debris field of shoes around her as she tried to find something to her liking. The girls left her on her own a minute and asked if she could help me. I pointed to a pair of low-heel boots I liked and asked for them in their largest size. The boots were promptly brought to me and I sat down a couple of seats away from the other customer and tried on the boots and walked around in them. I decided that they fit well enough and told the sales girl that I would take them. Since the other customer was still deciding on shoes, the sales girl said that she would go ahead and ring me up. At this point the other customer had an exasperated look on her face and blurted out, "Did you see what he just did?" I thought, "oh no, she is about to spaz out". The lady looked at me, at the sales girl, and then at her pile of shoes, and said,"Here I've been for close to an hour trying to decide on a pair of shoes, and he comes in, tries on a pair, and is ready to buy them in less than 10 minutes. Amazing". I chuckled and paid and big htem farewell. The nice thing was that the woman wasn't fazed in the least by me trying on the boots or shopping in a women's-only shoe store, just by my ability to transact the deal quickly. (I didn't bother mentioning that that is typical of men shopping). Last year I again found myself at that mall and went by the Steve Madden store where they had some great looking over-the-knee boots. I asked for the largest size and the teenage girl brought them out to me. I looked at them in the box and decided that maybe they might fit. At this point, she still thought I was shopping for someone else, but I sat down and pulled up my pants leg to unzip the knee-high boot I was wearing. She blinked, but recovered very quickly and continued on quite professionally. Alas, the boots did not fit, to the disappointment of both of us. But at that point she was looking around for other styles that might suit me. And form the other people in the store, no reaction at all. The closest that I have come to a bad reaction was in a mall up in Chattanooga. I saw a store with a nice leather skirt and after looking on the rack, discovered that they had one in my size. I asked to try it on and the 17-year-old girl quietly freaked out a bit. I told her to ask the manager. The manager (an older woman) came over, heard the request, and then looked at the girl as if she had lost her mind and said, "Of course he can." At this point I was shown to the dressing room and that was the end of it. And I bought the skirt. Now I'm remembering another shopping trip at a mall in the Seattle area. There was a gorgeous below-the-knee navy blue suede skirt that I liked and in my size. There weren't many customers and I didn't see anyone around so I went into the women's dressing area and into one of the stalls. I had the skirt on and was admiring myself in the mirror when a sales woman looked over the door and asked if there was anything else I needed. This was the very first time that I had done any such thing and I was a nervous puppy and she suprised the heck out of me. I stammered somethings like "no, thanks" and mananged to redress myself with my hands shaking. However, I really liked the skirt and took it out to the cash register. She rang me up as if it was the most natural thing in the world. right before I walked away I told her thanks for being so cool about that. She shrugged and said,"No problem" and meant it. Of course, in Seattle, that was probably far from the first time that had happened. There is actually another incident in Seattle at one of their most upscale malls. A fellow cross-dresser told me about a shoe store at the Bellvue mall and even called them up to inquire about some boots in my size. He hung up the phone and told me that I should head over, they were expecting me. I went over and sure enough they had a gorgeous pair of Joyce Selby boots, about a 2.5 inch heel and tapered toe. They fit, and are comfortable, and are still a favorite pair of mine. Anyway, they woman running the store had me sit down to try them on and walk around and treated me like I was just anyone buying boots.

[Jimnj3]

corsair, Again, welcome to the forum.. Sounds as though you have had quite a time shopping and buying and these great shopping stories you have provided should be of help to all of us who are a bit shy. Thanks...Jim

[BobHH]

In the very old days, corsairs were pirates.

[Thighbootguy]

Corsair

Welcome to the forum.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts. Since I wear a 14 in a high heeled boot I can’t just pop into a store and try a pair on but lower heels in 12-13 range often fit so I should start looking more aggressively. The closest I have ever come to trying clothing was buying a pair of suede women’s slacks at Wilson’s without having the nerve to ask if I could try them on. I’ll ask next time.

Sounds like you really had fun. Thank you for sharing.

[Dawn HH]

Corsair:-) What great shopping stories you have related for all of our reading pleasure. Keep them coming. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[micha]

Thybootguy said it already: What a pity, that my feet are too big! But it's really a fun to read your shopping stories micha

[Bubba136]

This post has nothing to do with high heels. However, Corsair wrote:

Corsair comes from the Chance Vought F4U of WWII

This is the same type of aircraft flown by the famous U.S. Marine's Black Sheep Squadron commanded by Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington in the Pacific Theater during WWII. I've always been a big fan of the F4U and when I read in an on-line newspaper that one was going to be on static display at a WWII vintage aircraft show in Columbia, SC in November of 2002, I went with a neighbor who flew B-25's and B-26's back in the middle 50's, to see the show. (I flew C-130s and C-141's in the late 1970s and early 80s, both types of A/C were also on display.)

We spent most of the afternoon talking to many of the pilots, reflying many missions with some of them and stuck around to see the departure of some of the aircraft at the close of the show. We watched the B-17, B-24, PBY2Y2, the B-25, along with several others, depart. The F4U took off, made a low-level pass back across the field and then picked up a northerly heading for it's home base in Pittsburg, Pa. A few minutes later, as we were leaving the airport we heard on the car radio that the F4U had crashed in a swampy area just north of Owens Field, killing the pilot, Mr. Joe Tobul. It was a long drive back to Charleston for us because he had spent about 30 minutes talking to us shortly before he took off.

[heelsRus]

This post has nothing to do with high heels. However, Corsair wrote:

This is the same type of aircraft flown by the famous U.S. Marine's Black Sheep Squadron commanded by Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington in the Pacific Theater during WWII. I've always been a big fan of the F4U and when I read in an on-line newspaper that one was going to be on static display at a WWII vintage aircraft show in Columbia, SC in November of 2002, I went with a neighbor who flew B-25's and B-26's back in the middle 50's, to see the show. (I flew C-130s and C-141's in the late 1970s and early 80s, both types of A/C were also on display.)

We spent most of the afternoon talking to many of the pilots, reflying many missions with some of them and stuck around to see the departure of some of the aircraft at the close of the show. We watched the B-17, B-24, PBY2Y2, the B-25, along with several others, depart. The F4U took off, made a low-level pass back across the field and then picked up a northerly heading for it's home base in Pittsburg, Pa. A few minutes later, as we were leaving the airport we heard on the car radio that the F4U had crashed in a swampy area just north of Owens Field, killing the pilot, Mr. Joe Tobul. It was a long drive back to Charleston for us because he had spent about 30 minutes talking to us shortly before he took off.

/quote]

It's a beautiful plane. The closest I've come to them is watching "Baa Baa Black Sheep" on TV in the 70's.

Did you ever find out what the cause was for the plane going down? That would really make for a rough trip back.

I was at an air show here about 10 years ago when a pilot crashed on a golf course. His wife was watching too. They apparently had loaded the plane for the trip home and on a loop he didn't pull out. Rumour was that he had a heart attack (or some such) and had died in the air. We can only hope he didn't see the ground coming at him.

[Thighbootguy]

For all who enjoyed corsair's adventures, he has several more posted in another thread.

http://www.hhplace.org/hhboard/viewtopic.php?t=4183&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20

Enjoy

[BobHH]

I took this at Chino, CA three years ago.

[BobHH]

I have several pairs of boots, none of which are totally satisfactory. The first was a pair of black patent 6 in. lace-up stiletto platform ankle-high boots. Although I tried them on before buying them, they are very hard to get on, even though they are 14s. I then got a pair that were zip-up, which are easier to get on, but very uncomfortable after a few minutes. The third were custom leather lace-ups, oversize 14s so I can wear boot sox with them, but they are also very uncomfortable after a while, even if I am not standing or walking. The wife picked the style. My last pair was leather 5 in. lace-ups, no platform, which seemed OK in the store, but not very comfortable afterwards. The platform boots have no padding inside, unlike platform sandals. Even adding an inner padded sole doesn't make them comfortable. I'm not sure why they are so uncomfortable when platform slides or sandals with the basically the same design are very comfortable, but they hurt my feet. I think some of it may be inability to flex the feet while wearing them. The 5 in. boots have little arch shape to them, and my feet have high arches. I have added arch support inserts, but they are only half as much as I need. Haven't given up, yet.

[cosmolovesph]

This is on reason i have hesitated (other than my large feet) as to getting some boots... as I was not sure what type of difference there could be versus just heels. Interesting

[Bubba136]

heelsRus asked:

Did you ever find out what the cause was for the plane going down?

I watched the newspapers for the next few days to see if they would report the cause of the accident. However, I never saw or heard another word aout it and haven't taken the time to see if I could find the cause. Perhaps I should do that if for nothing more than to close the loop on the question.

[heelsRus]

heelsRus asked:

I watched the newspapers for the next few days to see if they would report the cause of the accident. However, I never saw or heard another word aout it and haven't taken the time to see if I could find the cause. Perhaps I should do that if for nothing more than to close the loop on the question.

When you find out, I'd be interested. Good luck.

[dressboots]

corsair; I really enjoyed reading your accounts of shopping for boots. Real confidenece builders. I too am an avid fan of the equestrian styled boots, size 12, though this site is for higher heels. However, "womens" equestrian styled boots are not typical fashion wear for men, so we gotta be somewhere, right? Many of the same issues in wearing high heels are also experienced with this style. Any equestrian styles/brands you reccommend? You have a most impressive sized collection (way greater than I thought possible) of such and certainly must have some you like better than others. It has been my experience that some makes are not comfortable. One of my present favorites is the modern riding boot from the Eddie Bauer catalog. It is sort of clunky in style, but is very comfortable. It has more room in the toe than any other 12M boot I have ever owned. They are a bit gothic looking. I also like the "Anna" from Sudini.

[corsair]

I have these on order, I'll let you know how good they are for wearing.

http://www.chadwicks.com/chadwicks/product/product.asp?pf_id=57917&dept_id=472&parent_id=&

I also have other zip-up riding boots from them (can't find a good link) that have been very, very comfortable. And some of the Nordstrom brand boots have been comfy. I also have some size 11 boots from Maripe (find them a Rack Room shoes) that have been comfortable.

I just bought a pair of these and found them to be comfortable.

http://www.chadwicks.com/chadwicks/product/product.asp?pf_id=33258&dept_id=472&parent_id=&

I don't really care for the "scrunch" look, but that part of the boot isn't visible under a pair of jean, but the blue leather looks great with jeans.

Corsair

[joenj]

Surfed the web today, at the stevemadden.com site and found, lo and behold, a special section for SIZE 11 PLUS!!!! Check it out!