The stiletto high heel, for all to wear? The male side.

[hoverfly]

50% percent of women, have the feet to properly fit the pointed toe box of the stiletto high heel, from the heel at the widest point to the end of the their foot is tapered. So it explains how such a shoe was made, by a half image of the perfect (ok maybe that put it over the top) women. For the other 50% of women it’s reversed, wide at the foot narrower at the heel. No thanks to current shoe makers fixed one size and shape fits all, they sell the most sexy, classic shoe to all, but doom those with out there knowledge. The women's desire to wear them needlessly in pain and/or unnecessary deformity that will take away the joy of ever again of wearing such shoes or simply just not wear them at all. The bastards……….. But even though half do not have the right foot shape, other stiles will accommodate the wider front end. Rounded, square, Simi pointed ect,.. But lets face it, it’s just not the same for some. What have been proven hands down the sexiest shoes on earth ever created but for some is what dose not exist, is the same shoe with two fits and I am not talking about the wide width versions they fallow the same format, there just wider and their ankles will no longer have the snug fit. I my self have this particular problem. Any way, I wonder on the male side of things how is your foot shaped? I am going to take a guess that there is a split between foot shapes as well. For some have no problems in fitting in heels, others do and are either limited in what they can wear in stiles or can't wear. simply because of not being able to get the proper fit need, especially with courts ie pumps here in the U.S. and other variants. For now I will leave it at this point for your input as it’s past my bed time…………zzzzzzzzzzzzzz (dang……. should halved waited on those sleeping pills.)

[Mickey S.]

Okay, lemme see what can be said 'bout that, in case I got Hoverfly right. As far as it concerns me I'm happy with the main-stream medium width high heeled shoes. Fortunately, being a man, I have relatively narrow feet. CU! -Mike

[highheellover]

i have to say i like the shoe sizes.

[Dr. Shoe]

Same here. I find that a 12US or ladies 10UK fit me perfectly in pointy toe styles. In the more "robust" shapes I can get into a ladies UK9 or even an 8 at times. It is true though that some women have feet the "wrong shape" as it were but most of the best designers will do them to fit an average.

[Danielinheels]

My foot is kinda narrow at the heel, but widens at the ball of the foot to around 4". I have a rather high arch, so much so that when my foot rests on the ground, only the heel and ball touch.

That makes it kinda hard to wear pumps, but very easy to wear women's sandals because most of them accomodate a variety of foot widths (with adjustable or stretch straps), whereas pumps are not as forgiving due to the very style.

Now I know the general disapproval flip-flops have here but I wear these because 1- I think they're nice (they're a gold color with a straw footbed, and I love natural colortones) and 2- because they accomodate my feet better than mos theels that I've tried on do. Plus I was lucky to find such a style in my size, so I couldn't pass them up

[Bubba136]

These descriptions of the way your feet fit into shoes demonstrates the importance of trying shoes on before you buy them.

[Danielinheels]

Yes, and the fact that I take a larger size doesn't faze me. If I'm gonna spend money on ANY shoes I at least want them to fit right.

[bluesman]

Another foot variation I've noticed is the taper angle of the toes, from big toe to small. Most women's feet seem to have more of angle than men's, which of course helps them slide into those pointy toed shoes. I seem to have more of an angle than many guys, greatly helping me fit into some ladies heels that perhaps I otherwise couldn't. Maybe it's genetics, or maybe it's a gradual reshaping from 30 years of occasional heel wearing!

[luxxyheels]

My toes are narrow, as is my heel. The widest part of my foot is the ball of it and sometimes makes it difficult buying shoes. Wearing hose seems to help tho.

[rainbow6562004]

I read an article some time ago that said most women have feet that are narrower in the heel than in the front of the foot. Once upon a time, women bought shoes with both a heel-width and a toes-width size. So shoes fit them fine. Today there are only toes-width sizes, so that if a woman buys the correct size for the front of her foot, her heel will keep slipping out of the back of her shoes. Something like 80% of women wear too tight shoes to prevent this problem. Of course, this is very destructive to her feet.

[Bubba136]

You are correct, rainbow. In additon to width across the instep, some of the more expensive brands do have heel widths associated with them. Espeically the narrower widths. For instance, while my wife wears a size 8½ she also wears a "A" width in the toes and a "AAA" and, in some cases a "AAAA" width in the heels. Additionally, she has a very high arch and most of the less expensive shoes on the market do not fit her at all. I've often said on this forum that she used to wear 4" heels when we were younger. Now, however, she finds them uncomfortable. She claims that the higher heels make her feet and ankles hurt. I think her extremely high archs might have something to do with it. The fact that her heels aren't as high as they used to be doesn't mean the shoes she buys are any less expensive. Shoes that fit her properly are excruciatingly expensive. And, not every shoe store carrys them, either. So, when she finds a place that does sell her size, she focuses in on that store almost exclusively. So, those that can wear shoes that are standard sizes and widths are lucky. They do have a much larger choice.

[Dawn HH]

Mickey68 wears a size 5M US women's shoe and we sometimes have a hard time finding shoes for her. When we do find her shoes in that size, the fit seems perfect for her foot size and shape. Therefore, when we find shoes, we buy them for her whether she needs them or not. Her shoe space in our closet constantly encroaches on my space. She has shoes she hasn't worn yet that were bought years ago just because they fit and she liked the way they looked on her feet. One time we bought her a child's size 4.5 black patent flat that really looked very good on her and she loved to wear them everywhere. They were "Buster Brown" brand with a picture of him and his dog "Tige" on the insole. She had a habit of slipping her foot out of her shoes often and a little girl in a store that we were in one day saw her shoes and remarked to her Mother, "Look Mommy, that lady has shoes just like mine". Needless to say, she had me take that picture out of the in-sole immediately. TEE! HEE! HEE! And now for me! My story goes like this---. I have always had an extremely high arch for a man so that when I walk barefoot in wet feet you only see the mark of my heel and the toes and the ball of my foot and nothing in-between. I have been wearing very pointy heels since I was 12 years old and still do wear that type of shoe and boot today with no problems what-so-ever. I do this daily after 58 years of wearing heels. I just quess that I have that type of male foot just designed for wearing high heels. I wear a 7.5M in heeled shoes and an 8M or 9M in heeled boots depending on the manufacturer, which means that I can buy right off of the rack. I quess that I have just been lucky enough to have the right combination or mix of male and female genes from birth to do all of this. Cheers--- Mickey68 Dawn HH

[rainbow6562004]

I wear a man's 12 1/2 wide, so you can understand that to find women's shoes for me is difficult. Despite the rule of adding two sizes to a man's size, to find the correct woman's size, this has never worked for me. Even a woman's 14 is too big on me, when, theoretically, I should find 1 14 1/2 a good fit. Most of the women's shoes I can find (that aren't outrageously expensive!) and own, are 13M. Though some are a little too narrow for me, persistent use of the shoe stretcher just before I put them on leaves them quite comfortable and soothing on my feet.

[Dawn HH]

Rainbow6562004:-) The adding 2 sizes between the male size and the female size never worked for me either. My male size is a 7.5W and my female size is anywhere from a 7.5M to a 9M depending on who manufactured the heeled shoe or heeled boot. Go figure. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[rainbow6562004]

Oh, my, I wish my feet were as small as yours; but I'd fall over, I imagine, at six-feet-two. Rainbow

[Dawn HH]

Rainbow6562004:-) I quess that at that size you would be quite top heavy. I'm only 5' 4.5" tall so my foot size has been quite adequate for me. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[rainbow6562004]

Sigh. LOL Rainbow

[genebujold]

Although my feet are closer to being flat than high-arched like DawnHH's, they're unmistakably feminine, so much so, in fact, that in sandals they look more like the feet of a woman than most women's feet, a fact that some of my former girlfriends (and the swim teach) used to tease me about back in high school. Although I'm glad they fit into women's shoes like women's feet, I still detest pointy toe boxes, for while my feet are narrow (even in women's sizes), they're by no means pointy. Personally, I believe most women's pointy feet is more a product of their wearing pointy shoes too early and too often than anything genetic. Don't believe me? Just visit other countries where the women don't wear heels and examine their feet - not a pointy one in the bunch!

[Dawn HH]

Genebujold:-) So that is why my feet fit pointy-toed heels so well. Never-the-less, I love the look and feel of that style of shoe, and they are quite comfortable for me also. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[azraelle]

My problem is that I started wearing fairly pointed male boots ("Spanish", then "Beatle" boots) when I was ~12, and so my big toes acquired an inward lean to them. This is a problem, I finally figured out, because my 2nd toes (corresponding to the index fingers on the hands) are now longer than my big toes; pointed toe shoes don't allow enough room for this, which causes them to "hammer up" which is quite painful. Pantihose with a lot of spandex (lycra) tends to cause the same thing. Those with high arches quite often find that a smaller size hi-heel shoe than they normally wear in lower heels actually fit better.

[rainbow6562004]

Dear genebujold, I agree: nurture not nature, to coin a phrase. Rainbow

[Dr. Shoe]

Another foot variation I've noticed is the taper angle of the toes, from big toe to small. Most women's feet seem to have more of angle than men's, which of course helps them slide into those pointy toed shoes.

I seem to have more of an angle than many guys, greatly helping me fit into some ladies heels that perhaps I otherwise couldn't. Maybe it's genetics, or maybe it's a gradual reshaping from 30 years of occasional heel wearing!

This is because women wear pointy toes not the other way around.

[Bubba136]

Gosh, rainbow, living and working around New York City as you do, it would seem to me that you shouldn't have any problem finding heels to fit you, seeing all of the shoe stores and speciality shops that are all over the city. If shyness keeps you from visiting them, perhaps Sexy Shoes is the place for you to shop. They carry pumps, sandals and boots, etc., with 5" heels in your size.

[rainbow6562004]

LOL! They've been my major source. Lately I've moved to buying from Pierre Silber. Except to my girlfriend and therapist (both very supportive), I'm not ready to go out into the world with my affection for shoes, and I don't want to spend alot of money, so it takes a bit of surfing on the Web to get what I want. But I get there! Rainbow

[Dawn HH]

Good for you, Rainbow. If you have a proven way of getting yourself the shoes that satisfy you, by all means stick to it. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[Bubba136]

I noticed that you said that you didn't want to spend a lot of money for shoes and that's why you surffed the web to find what you wanted. Well, just think how much you would have to spend on shoes if you quit paying a therapist?

[rainbow6562004]

Thanks, Dawn and Bubba, for your replies. Bubba, I stopped seeing my therapist last June, after showing her photos of me in heels. Her loving acceptance helped me get to this site. And, indeed, I am saving lots of money. But I still don't want to spend alot on shoes! Rainbow

[Bubba136]

Remarkable story, Glad you found this site. Is your therapist aware of it -- did she tell you about it ? Or did you just go looking for a site like this one and happened to find it?

[rainbow6562004]

Hi, Bubba, I found this place by accident. I had put "pretty feet, pretty shoes" into my browser, looking primarily for places to buy less expensive women's shoes in my size. Around hit 510 of 37,000(!), I discovered High Heel Place. I had no idea such a place existed. Serendipity! Rainbow

[Bubba136]

have you had a chance to tell your therapist about it since you found it?