Shopping for heels: try them on?

[Dawn HH]

I order most of mine through catalogs and if they don't fit right, I call and order another size and return the first pair for a refund. That way I usually get my size right before they run out. Being in the normal women's size range helps a lot also. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[chris100575]

I've gone into this at some length in another thread, so in brief: I've been shoe shopping today, and in Faith I tried on and bought a pair of very high and pointy knee length stiletto boots. The assistant looked momentarily surprised, but was very friendly and professional. I didn't pay enough attention to the other customers to judge their reaction, but they all seemed to be just as engrossed in their own shopping as I was. As it turned out I'm glad I did try on the boots, as they only had a size nine and I wouldn't have bought them assuming they were too big. True to Faith sizing variance however, they fit like a snug eight! Chris

[CrazyIcecap]

The biggest problem for me is to find a store with shoes in my size....really hard to find. We need more sizes! :-)

[micha]

I've gone into this at some length in another thread, so in brief:

I've been shoe shopping today, and in Faith I tried on and bought a pair of very high and pointy knee length stiletto boots. The assistant looked momentarily surprised, but was very friendly and professional. I didn't pay enough attention to the other customers to judge their reaction, but they all seemed to be just as engrossed in their own shopping as I was. As it turned out I'm glad I did try on the boots, as they only had a size nine and I wouldn't have bought them assuming they were too big. True to Faith sizing variance however, they fit like a snug eight!

Chris

A snug eight? Much too narrow for me. You are a lucky guy. I need at least a snug ten. That's the reason why I am ignoring ordinary shoe shops. As CrazyIcecap said: we need more sizes!

[chris100575]

I know, I'm a UK 7.5 / EU 41 which makes it easy to buy heels that fit. The last pair of Faith boots I bought are marked as an eight and are a looser fit. Go figure. So I now own pairs in sizes 7, 8 and 9 and they all fit. Guess that's why trying on is important. Chris

[Danielinheels]

Trying on in the store is a must for me.

[johnieheel]

Here's a video of Shafted trying on some boots in DSW at Union Square:

OK Shafted, what was the girl saying that pointing at your boots?Also good to finally see a vid of a fellow heeler trying on heels in public. I see you were not escorted out of the store and cained or taken off to jail either.LOL

[micha]

I know, I'm a UK 7.5 / EU 41 which makes it easy to buy heels that fit. The last pair of Faith boots I bought are marked as an eight and are a looser fit. Go figure. So I now own pairs in sizes 7, 8 and 9 and they all fit. Guess that's why trying on is important.

Chris

It's not quite hopeless for me with my EU 44/45 feet. Last year I found pink 3'' cowgirl boots at a Deichmann shop in Frankfurt. They were signed as EU 42 but at the first sight they appeared much bigger. Precautionary I had pulled on nylon pantihoses. I tried them on in the shop and after slipping into the pull on boots with ease they were simply mine. Even if a female sales clerk meant that this crazy guy has done enough mess with the shoe boxes. She tried to grab my boots for putting them back into the box and became red like a tomato as I spitted at her like a cat: these are my boots, I want to buy them! I have never seen such a helpless stuttering and confused salesgirl. Afterwards I felt really ashamed because of my harsh reaction.

[dressboots]

Never intended to try any in the stores but had made the leap to select/request a apir of women's boots without the world exploding so made the next step in trying them on. Generally speaking if I just bought them without trying them on the clerk knew they were for me anyway so why not try them on?

[micha]

I know, I'm a UK 7.5 / EU 41 which makes it easy to buy heels that fit. The last pair of Faith boots I bought are marked as an eight and are a looser fit. Go figure. So I now own pairs in sizes 7, 8 and 9 and they all fit. Guess that's why trying on is important.

Chris

It's not quite hopeless for me with my EU 44/45 feet. Last year I found pink 3'' cowgirl boots at a Deichmann shop in Frankfurt. They were signed as EU 42 but at the first sight they appeared much bigger. Precautionary I had pulled on nylon pantihoses. I tried them on in the shop and after slipping into the pull on boots with ease they were simply mine. Even if a female sales clerk meant that this crazy guy has done enough mess with the shoe boxes. She tried to grab my boots for putting them back into the box and became red like a tomato as I spitted at her like a cat: these are my boots, I want to buy them! I have never seen such a helpless stuttering and confused salesgirl. Afterwards I felt really ashamed because of my harsh reaction.

[chris100575]

Exactly right Dressboots, I'm sure that every time I've been shoe shopping the staff have known they were for me. It was the reaction of the other customers that used to worry me, but they've always been just as engaged in their own shopping as I was. Chris

[Fog]

I've gone into this at some length in another thread, so in brief:

I've been shoe shopping today, and in Faith I tried on and bought a pair of very high and pointy knee length stiletto boots. The assistant looked momentarily surprised, but was very friendly and professional.

Chris

I avoid most salesguys (as they're sometimes a bit sniffy), but 99% of the girls are absolutely fantastic, especially as more and more guys are apparently 'coming out' and trying on the ladies' large sizes.

I wouldn't miss it for the worlds! It's one of the best things about the whole

streetheeling experience. Oh yes, and I always wear the out of the shop!

Cheers, Heelfan

I've always had good experiences in Faith. In one shop they went out of their way to give me a brochure listing all the styles they did in size nine.

I always used to avoid male sales assistants, but have never had bad or sniffy service. Two occasions stand out - one in Faith in Wimbledon, where the male assistant complimented me on my confidence trying on heels in the shop. I asked him if he often saw men buying heels. He said he'd only had that twice - and both the guys were really nervous - and shaking all over. I asked him if they tried them on, he said they didn't. He was amused by their furtiveness.

The other occasion was in Office in Croydon. I was browsing and a young male assistant asked me if I needed any help - in a friendly way. No I'm just looking I said, but then said, well I would like to try those on. He was really great as were everyone else in the shop. I had decided that I wouldn't buy them if I didn't have the guts to wear them straight out of the shop so spent about ten to fifteen minutes walking round the shop deciding, that was after the ten minutes I spent with one boot on when he was trying to locate the other boot.

Try before you buy guys - that is if you're lucky enough to find shoes in shops that fit.

[tiffany]

Today I did a little bit of shopping and I finally tried my first pair of heels in the store. I must admit I was really nervous as I had already made up my mind that next time I walked into a shoe store I would try any model I wanted to buy.

So I was walking and I saw some nice heels in a store called B2 (http://www.b2shoes.com) and I tried the pair similar to the Mimosa model but in pink and white. Unfortunately they didn't have my size (9) so I didn't buy them but I tried the same model in a different color just to make sure the size was the correct one.

There were a couple of ladies that saw me try on the heels but they went about their business talking about how one of them didn't like the way a particular boot model looked on her and a guy who just saw me and then went back to doing his own shopping.

The sales guy was really corteous and went out of his way to see if he could find my size in another store and he even asked me if I needed some toe hose.

So even though I didn't get to buy the pair I'm really happy with my experience.

[highheellover]

of course you try on.

[dr1819]

So even though I didn't get to buy the pair I'm really happy with my experience.

Terrific!

That's been the experience of many of us here on the board, that most others really don't care.

I went shopping for groceries in 3-3/4" Franco Sarto loafers. Two people noticed, but there wasn't a hint of body language of "what the..." which indicated disapproval in the slightest manner, and one of the people who noticed was a woman I was talking to in line at the checkout, and she didn't change her patter one bit after she noticed - she kept right on going with a friendly Tscusch! (spelling?) as she went to her car and I went to mine.

[pumpedup]

I haven't ever gotten looked at funny, because it's completely normal for a man to walk into a women's shoe department at Macy's and buy some shoes. It doesn't mean he's buying them for himself to wear. Why would anyone working in the shoe dept think that, unless the guy acts very feminent. I bought only one pair at Macy's, my Jessica Simpson "Niva" pumps, and the lady didn't seem all that pre-occupied that i was buying women's shoes. It could be for a gift for someone. Plus, she actually asked me if i wanna try them on. Then she laughed and caught herself, and said, "well, you're a guy. I guess it wouldn't be your thing, eh?" I laughed and agreed with her, but when i got them home, they were on my feet in 5 seconds flat! I've gone into thrift stores, and gotten strange looks from people. One cashier at one store asked me "what are you doing with these shoes? selling them?" I just said, "You might say that." It's none of her business, really, but she probably thought i WAS selling them. She probably had no thought in her mind that i was buying them to wear them. I just bought some Friday night from a thrift store, and i'm wearing them right now. They're Etienne Aigner, black leather pumps, with about a 3" heel. I got them for $7 when they probably were $75 brand new. They're in GREAT shape, though. Hardly a scuff or scratch on them, except for the soles. I love them! The cashier said, "Wow! those are some cute shoes!" She didn't bat an eye that i was male and buying them.

[HappyFeat]

I have a slightly different perspective on trying on shoes. Since I am pretty much a perfect size 11 (US) I have never had a pair no fit. In fact I can usually do a 10 Wide, if I can find them. I usually only buy shoes in a self-serve situation, mainly because finding the bargin is really what seems to excite me. I have never asked for a pair off the floor; though I would likely do it if the mood struck me. Also, I have found younger women to be more accepting and open to possibilities of men wearing heels.

[chris100575]

Pumpedup: Don't kid yourself, she didn't "accidentally" ask if you wanted to try them on. What she was doing was letting you know that if they were for you, and you did want to try them on, she was OK with it. Even when I've not tried heels on in the shop I'm sure 99% of the time the staff have known I was buying for myself, and anyone on here who's met me can testify that I am in no way feminine. Chris

[pumpedup]

Interesting post, Chris. I wouldn't think the staff would have any idea that you were buying those heels for yourself. How many guys buy women's shoes for themselves? There's not many of us out in the world that do. This website is quite a rare one, i'm sure. Like i said in my original post, you could be buying those shoes as a gift for a lady. If you're a big man, and you ask for a particular shoe in a big size, then that may be a dead giveaway, too. I'm somewhat of a small guy, but i have what i would assume to be big feet, so without ever checking my own shoe size in a woman's pump, I have always bought size 10. They fit well, but after a while of buying about 10 pair over a period of time, i noticed they looked a bit too large and bulky for me, plus there was a tiny bit of play. I wanted to try a size 9 1/2. So i tried a 9 1/2 one day, and found that they fit better. So i started buying pumps in size 9 1/2. I never even thought of going lower in size, but i could have! It was a year after trying out that size 9 1/2. I found some pumps that were 8 1/2 in a thrift store, and they were a must-have pair. I bought them, and got them home, and tried them on, and surprisingly, they were a little tight, but they fit! After wearing them a lot, they loosened up. So now, it's 8 1/2 for me. I tried an 8, but it was a painful struggle getting my feet in them, so i couldn't go any lower. As i said in another post, it seems that a smaller shoe looks more feminine. The larger shoe looks masculine. That's why it seems that CD shoes are of a large size. I'm straight, but I guess i like a feminine look, as far as wearing pumps.

[dr1819]

How many guys buy women's shoes for themselves? There's not many of us out in the world that do. This website is quite a rare one, i'm sure.

While this website is rare, it's not that rare. I've more than 35,000 URLs about men wearing heels, although less than 50 point to full-blown websites like this. Most are discussions of men's fashion trends and variations on other websites.

As for "not many," are you kidding? Payless currently reports between 20% and 50% of the buyers of heels in sizes 11 and up are male. Nordstroms reports that a "sizeable number" of those who purchase their larger sizes are male. Several other non-fetish shoe stores openly cater to male clients.

What's rare are open heel-meets, such as the ones we conduct through our website.

What's rare is the courage to heel in broad daylight.

What's far more rare are the reactions that anybody really cares how you, as a man, dress, provided you're not walking across bridges at 6am wearing 6" pumps, hot pink dresses, and showing your genitals.

That's rare, and the reaction is expected, as it falls too far outside the bounds of common decency to be tolerated in modern society.

But a man wearing heels?

In literally more than a year's worth of wearing heels in public (365 in all situations, broad daylight, through airports, etc.), to date, only one woman has verbally acosted me, and she turned out to be a loony. The other, perhaps 300,000 folk I've come across have been, at the very least, politely disagreeable. But that's just the 1% of them.

The other 99% just don't care.

Meanwhile, modern psychology reports that men wearing heels is on the rise, both in private (mostly) and to a much lesser extent in public. In fact, the ratio is around 1000 to 1 (1000 private wears to 1 public wear). The most amazing thing is that nearly 40% of men under 50 throughout the western world have worn heels on more than one occasion, and 15% have done so on a "frequent basis" (whatever that was).

We're just not wearing them outside, and do you know why?

Because men have been scared into be conformists over the last 200 years. Those who weren't, died!

However, the sociel pressures behind the deaths no longer exist, not with respect to fashion in the Western world, so there's no longer any disincentive to wear flats.

There's only the fear of being different (without any of the repurcussions, as society as a whole is also in fear of being discovered that they're non-tolerant on some issue).

Thus, there's no better time to take a break, and take a walk around the block in your finest pair.

Or perhaps a hardy pair if it's raining...

[Tech]

I've more than 35,000 URLs about men wearing heels, although less than 50 point to full-blown websites like this. Most are discussions of men's fashion trends and variations on other websites.

Well... where are all these websites? Why not get them into the website links and share them for all to see?

Its not just a discussion forum here...

[chris100575]

Hi Pumpedup. Another question might be how many guys go out shopping alone for shoes for their partner? Whenever I've been either in the ladies section of a shoe shop, or somewhere like Faith which only sells ladies' shoes the only other guys I've seen have been with their girlfriend / wife / whoever. From speaking to the assistants, guys buying for themselves is more common than you might think, especially in places that carry the larger sizes. Other than the fact that it's easy for someone who works in a shoe shop to make an educated guess that you're looking at your own size, most guys are pretty indifferent to ladies' shoes and therefore don't know much about them. So, looking at shoes that look like they'd fit, shopping for them by yourself and not asking anything along the lines of "can I return these if she doesn't like them?" make it a fairly safe assumption that they're for you. I stopped pretending to be shopping for shoes as a gift quite a while ago, but the more important point isn't "do the staff know they're for you?" it's "do they have a problem with it?" in my experience I've had better service and more enjoyable shopping when I've been honest. Chris Chris

[admirer5577]

Payless currently reports between 20% and 50% of the buyers of heels in sizes 11 and up are male. Nordstroms reports that a "sizeable number" of those who purchase their larger sizes are male. Several other non-fetish shoe stores openly cater to male clients.

Meanwhile, modern psychology reports that men wearing heels is on the rise, both in private (mostly) and to a much lesser extent in public. In fact, the ratio is around 1000 to 1 (1000 private wears to 1 public wear). The most amazing thing is that nearly 40% of men under 50 throughout the western world have worn heels on more than one occasion, and 15% have done so on a "frequent basis" (whatever that was).

Your posts are very often full of statistics, where do you get all this figures from? It would be interesting to know how you/they come up with these figures. What surprises me is that Payless has such a variation; 20-50%. It sounds to me like they have absolutely no figures to back it up with, otherwise they for sure would be able to come up with more precise figures.

[Danielinheels]

He's probably heard different numbers from different stores. Payless is super-ubiquitous and of course the numbers in free-thinking downtown New Orleans will be diff. from those in a more rural area.

[dr1819]

He's probably heard different numbers from different stores. Payless is super-ubiquitous and of course the numbers in free-thinking downtown New Orleans will be diff. from those in a more rural area.

It's funny you should mention New Orleans - the first time I ever saw a man in heels, real heels, not the 1970's men's heels, was in 1976, in New Orleans. He was walking down Chartres (in the French Quarter), around 10 am, smoking a pipe.

[pumpedup]

wow! 35,000 URL's? Can you post some of them? I've done some yahoo searches but never gotten too many pages of pump-wearing guys. Of course, Nordstrom has a far more quality selection of heels than Payless. Here in Las Vegas, there is supposedly a Nordstrom-related shoe store called "The Rack" or something. I am trying to find a particular pair of pumps that i fell in love with while doing a search on one of the shoe websites, either Shoemall.com or Shoes.com. They are made by a company called Madeline shoes. I hope i find them. I am not that daring to wear pumps in public. One day, maybe, but not at this time. It's my own personal private fetish, my own secret, strange thing to do. I will post pics and videos on the net, though, parading around in some Jessica Simpson's.

[Danielinheels]

It's funny you should mention New Orleans - the first time I ever saw a man in heels, real heels, not the 1970's men's heels, was in 1976, in New Orleans. He was walking down Chartres (in the French Quarter), around 10 am, smoking a pipe.

I mentioned New Orleans... for 2 reasons

1) home

2) it's where I got my start (alt, see #1)

[dr1819]

I mentioned New Orleans... for 2 reasons

1) home

2) it's where I got my start (alt, see #1)

Hmmm... Probably not you, though, as he looked to be around 45 years old back in '76, which would make him 76, today.

[Katrina]

Since shoe shopping is the most fun type of shopping, I always do it in person - not online. I've been burned with shoes that were not all that comfortable or didn't fit right when I did the estimation or assumed they were the right size. Because of that, I always try on before I buy. I'm getting more brazen about it. In the past, I would go to a deserted area and try them on, now if there is only women around, I will try them on right in front of them. I can't seem to do it if there are guys around though.

[loveheel]

I always try them on in the store. it is so much fun. You don't know what you are missing if ou buy by mail. My suggestion is to go when it is not too busy in the shops so that the assistants can give you plenty of attention and help. I have had many times sales people (male and female) suggest different models of shoes. Sometimes i try on 4 or 5 pairs before I buy. Can't wait to go shopping again