Is there any definition of what a High Heel is?

[HighHeelArt]

Is there any type of definition on this forum on what a high heeled shoe is? I am surprised by some of the threads here in which shoes are posted that I would never even closely consider of being a high heel. Some are flats and other have a heel but are far away from a HIGH heel.

Is any female shoe considered a high heel?

Is any heel automatically a high heel?

Is any platform shoe automatically a high heel even so there is no noticeable arch?

Shouldn't we have a definition on the HIGH HEEL Place of what we consider a minimum heel height (arch) to be a high heel? Granted some people have small feet but shouldn't a HIGH HEEL have at least an arch of 3" (7,5 cm)? Shouldn’t anything below that just being considered as a heel?

[jmc]

There is a poll here: http://www.hhplace.org/discuss/everybody/6007-minimum_height_high_heel.html

on this very question. If I remember right, the numbers came out to 3.5" -- anything less than that is not "high" by the working definition of this board.

I cannot believe that any feminine shoe would qualify as a high heel. Flats are not high heels by definition. I don't think anybody around here would call a thick-soled platform a "high heel" either unless there was some significant rise (like about 3.5") from the toe to the heel.

I know there are a lot of old threads discussing this question.

[Guy N. Heels]

There is a poll here: http://www.hhplace.org/discuss/everybody/6007-minimum_height_high_heel.html

on this very question. If I remember right, the numbers came out to 3.5" -- anything less than that is not "high" by the working definition of this board.

I cannot believe that any feminine shoe would qualify as a high heel. Flats are not high heels by definition. I don't think anybody around here would call a thick-soled platform a "high heel" either unless there was some significant rise (like about 3.5") from the toe to the heel.

I know there are a lot of old threads discussing this question.

DITTO! There are indeed several threads discussing this matter.

[RPMindy]

of the many threads here.. the consensus here and elsewhere is that once you clear 3 inch.. you're now into the high heel area! most will not argue that 4 inch is not a high heel. fetish heels are now being seen in the 5 inch area whereas a few years ago.. you had to be 6 inch to get the fetish distinction. sadly.. the information age has also produced more 'dummies'. and in that regards.. plats are now considered high heels. ex.. 2 inch plat with 4 inch heel is considered a high heel although by definition.. that is a two inch rise and hence a low heel. a 1 inch plat with 4 inch heel is also considered high.. although the actual rise is 3 inch.. and that is the border of mid to high heel. though young in age... i'm old school. a high heel is 4+ inch including subtraction of the platform height. fetish heels are 6+ inch. but enough said. RPM

[taliheels]

all i know is that irritatingly there is a huge amount of shoes pics by members that are never ever high heels

[Dr. Shoe]

A high heel is just that, a high heel. It doesn't matter what the platform is, if you have a 6" sole and a 6" heel you still have a high heel but not one that'll give you the tactile sensation that a high heel wearer would seek. If your heel is lifted from the ground by more than 5" in lager sizes or 3.5" in a smaller size then you have a high heel.

A more correct term would be an "elevated heel".

Interestingly, Syros at the LSB was asked to make some "six inch heels" for a troop of models. When they got there the designer who'd demanded them went hysterical and asked him how her models were expected to walk in them. It would seem that in some quarters "6" heels" means high heels and "high heels" means anything over 1"!

[DGMurdock]

this is not on the forum but this may give you all a goo d definition of what a high heeled shoe is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_heel

[Bernheels]

Greta link - I love reading about the history of the high heels shoe. Thanks Bernheels

[Guy N. Heels]

A high heel is just that, a high heel. It doesn't matter what the platform is, if you have a 6" sole and a 6" heel you still have a high heel but not one that'll give you the tactile sensation that a high heel wearer would seek. If your heel is lifted from the ground by more than 5" in lager sizes or 3.5" in a smaller size then you have a high heel.

A more correct term would be an "elevated heel".

...It would seem that in some quarters "6" heels" means high heels and "high heels" means anything over 1"!

BRAVO! BRAVO!

How refreshing to find someone with some sense on this topic. A high heel is a HIGH HEEL. Even chopines, which were hardly more than shoes on stilts, were high heels.

As for that sexy inclination of the foot - well that's a horse of a different color.

But I was honestly begining to wonder just what sort of madhouse this was, what with some people talking about high heels as only relating to the size and angle of the foot, and still others plainly declaring that the minimum height for a high heel was 5" or more! It all rather makes one wonder just what they've got in their water?

Thank you, Dr. Shoe! Thank you, thank you. What a relief it is to at last have a sensible answer.

[Tech]

Dr Shoe is indeed very correct, just the phrase high heel is a heel thats high off the ground. No need to read too much into it or over analyse... Doesnt matter what height the rest of the foot is at, if the heel is high, then you have a high heel

[Guy N. Heels]

Dr Shoe is indeed very correct, just the phrase high heel is a heel thats high off the ground. No need to read too much into it or over analyse...

Doesnt matter what height the rest of the foot is at, if the heel is high, then you have a high heel

OKAY, so what are those other guys drinking in their water?

[HighHeelArt]

BRAVO! BRAVO!

How refreshing to find someone with some sense on this topic. A high heel is a HIGH HEEL. Even chopines, which were hardly more than shoes on stilts, were high heels.

As for that sexy inclination of the foot - well that's a horse of a different color.

But I was honestly begining to wonder just what sort of madhouse this was, what with some people talking about high heels as only relating to the size and angle of the foot, and still others plainly declaring that the minimum height for a high heel was 5" or more! It all rather makes one wonder just what they've got in their water?

Thank you, Dr. Shoe! Thank you, thank you. What a relief it is to at last have a sensible answer.

If just any platform shoe is a high heel than I wonder why most member’s avatars are showing nothing but very sexy, very high (high arch) heels. In fact most of the avatars can almost be considered fetish type shoes.

Why not just call this entire forum "Shoe Place" since the Heel height apparently does not matter anymore (based on some responses to this threat here)?

Just one last thought. On this forum are many threads about the "wearing of heels in public". Are all the people that are posting on these threads just concerned about wearing a high platform shoe or are they really concerned about wearing a "high heel" shoe (which is synonymous for Female Footwear) in public? Is not practically the entire site about the reaction of other people towards us that are wearing high arched heels?

I am sure that no one would give a second thought to anyone that is just wearing a 6” platform shoe (6” toe – 6” heel) in public. The worst reaction you could get is that someone things you are rocker or a punker and I am sure that that is not worth discussing on a high heel forum either.

So way do we have to be so politically correct and make it sound like any foot wear should be discussed in this HIGH HEEL forum?

[FunInHeels]

Greta link - I love reading about the history of the high heels shoe.

Thanks

Bernheels

If you want to find more history about high heels, here is a great source of high heel information.

http://www.highheelshoemuseum.com/html/facts.html

This site indicates a heel of 3.6 or 9cm to be a high heel shoe.

It is my opinion that a shoe is a high heel shoe if the shoes physically highten the arches of the feet.

Have fun,

Shelly

[Guy N. Heels]

If just any platform shoe is a high heel than I wonder why most member’s avatars are showing nothing but very sexy, very high (high arch) heels. In fact most of the avatars can almost be considered fetish type shoes...Why not just call this entire forum "Shoe Place" since the Heel height apparently does not matter anymore (based on some responses to this threat here)?

Permit me to respond in this way: those high-arch stiletto avatars are indeed very sexy and provocative. I like them and I have chosen one for myself, even though I haven't worn my stilettoes out of the house in years. Moreover, the consensus of opinion is that any kind of footwear higher than 3.5" constitutes a high heel. So, IMO this forum is indeed about high heels.

However, the main point that I think needs to be clarified is the fact that the realm of high heels includes far more than the stiletto shoes and boots. I mostly wear 3" wedgies because they're both comfortable and convenient. But I also wear chunky heeled boots from time to time. Also, one type of shoe that was mentioned, but has gone out of fashion since Shakesperian times, is the chopine. These too constitute high heels, and if you ever saw a pair you'd know why. Some of those things could get you nearly 2 feet off the ground, so how could that not be a high heel?

One other matter that we were trying to address is the nonsensical notion that only heels that are 5" or higher constitute high heels. There are any number of high-heeled wearers - including myself - who simply cannot wear such shoes. So does the fact that I only wear shoes in the 3" to 4" range, and almost never stilettoes, mean that I am not a high-heeled wearer? I don't think so. There are any number of very sexy women who wear similar shoes every day who will tell you in a heartbeat that they wear high heels.

So the main point here is that a whole bunch of the macho braggadocio that seems to have invaded this forum really needs to go. High heels are a very real and viable topic for people to discuss. Moreover, it is refreshing to talk to people around the world who are caught-up in this fashion. We just need to be a lot more sensible about matters and start looking at high heels as being the fashion accessory that they are, rather than trying to make them something that they are not and excluding entire segments participating in this forum in the process.

[StiletoSiren]

In my opinion, it should be based on the lift of the heel above flat, the "arch" if you will. High HEEL implies that the heel is lifted significantly higher than the remainder of the foot, which delieates it from terms like "platform". You can have platforms with high heels, but without substantial lift of the heel above the rest of the foot, you just have platforms. For me, minimum for a "high" heel is a 4 inch lift...I guess that is kind of subjective, but for me that is the definition. 3 inches are mid-heels, 2 inches are low. Of course this is from someone who customarily wears heels above 5 inches on a daily basis. Just my 2 cents worth...

[Guy N. Heels]

In my opinion, it should be based on the lift of the heel above flat, the "arch" if you will. High HEEL implies that the heel is lifted significantly higher than the remainder of the foot, which delieates it from terms like "platform". You can have platforms with high heels, but without substantial lift of the heel above the rest of the foot, you just have platforms. For me, minimum for a "high" heel is a 4 inch lift...I guess that is kind of subjective, but for me that is the definition. 3 inches are mid-heels, 2 inches are low. Of course this is from someone who customarily wears heels above 5 inches on a daily basis.

Just my 2 cents worth...

In my response to HighHeelArt I deliberately avoided any discussion of platforms and "lift" which, IMO, opens up a whole range of discussion that is actually irrelevant to the subject of high heels. There are, no doubt, purists like yourself who only consider X inches of "lift" or "arch" to constitute a high heel. But that has nothing to do with what the language says, and speaks only to the way the shoe (footwear) feels or looks to you. We could also employ even more archane and esoteric definitions like: how much does the shoe shorten your stride; angle of inclination (or declination); how well (or fast) can you walk, run or whatever; how much does the shoe cause your hips and buttocks to protrude, and so on. The fact that such things occur when wearing heels is a given. But if anyone has ever bothered to quantify such data imperically, I'm totally unaware of it.

Still, in the final analysis, it really has nothing to do with the words heel or high heel. Any modern dictionary worth owning will define these words without mentioning any of the matters you are pointing to. Therefore, as a purist of the language, I must reject your notions and definitions as being non-applicable. I have a very good idea of just what a shoe is. I also have a very good idea of what a given part of a shoe called a heel is. From this perspective, I must insist that a high heel is one that is bigger or greater than a ordinary heel. In the case of Catherine d'Medici, it was court shoes with 2 inch heels. Today, many men around the world wear work boots with heels that tall. In the movie High Noon Gary Cooper wore boots with about 2.5" heels. My mother typically wore heels in the 3" to 4" range, as I do today. I have worn a pair of her shoes (before I was a teenager) with about 5" heels and 1" plats. I'll admit, they seemed quite high at the time. But according to the language I have used all my life, they are ALL high heels. I prefer to wear shoes with 3" heels. If you prefer to wear shoes with 4" heels - that's fine with me. But there is a great deal of difference between a preferance and a definition!

[StiletoSiren]

I was just giving my take, but you know what? This is really a pointless discussion in the first place. This is not a scientific analysis here. I suppose any shoe with any heel at all could be considered a high heel. So there you go. Call them what you wish...if you think a 2 inch heel is high, so be it. Doesn't require beating this dead horse, and doesn't affect MY definition.