Master Resource: General Public Discussions of men in heels

[Puffer]

8 hours ago, kneehighs said:

John Fluevog, Prince George Glitter, limited edition, 4" heels made for men.

...

https://www.fluevog.com/shop/5300-prince-george-glitter?item=6&of=130&anchor=true

 

The boots don't seem to feature on the Fluevog website any more; suggestion is that they are 'discontinued' (or maybe just sold out).

I agree with Shyheels that the description alone is enough to deter many potential purchasers.   But, that aside, their appearance does not lend itself to everyday street wear - or are they only intended for 20-somethings to wear to a club or party?   The heels may pass muster without too much adverse reaction but the glitter and sharp square toes provide the wrong sort of emphasis.   And at that price ...

Edited February 2, 2018 by Puffer
typo

[Shyheels]

Apparently a one-off novelty  - "collector's edition", that sort of thing. 

And clearly the marketing is not designed to get any fence-sitters to try a pair of heels. Reminding them of the questions that will be raised, the questions of sexuality and androgyny, the doubts, is poor salesmanship at best.

And yes...the price... 

Edited February 2, 2018 by Shyheels

[Steve63130]

When Payless copies it with a $39 knock-off for men, I may get a pair! LOL

And if Payless rounds the toe and eliminates the glitter, I'd be even more inclined.

Steve

Edited February 2, 2018 by Steve63130

[kneehighs]

7 hours ago, Puffer said:

The boots don't seem to feature on the Fluevog website any more; suggestion is that they are 'discontinued' (or maybe just sold out).

Works for me on a browser that I've never used to visit the site.  Could be Fluevog blocks IP's from  countries they don't deliver or sell to.  

[Shyheels]

Odd that they would deliver to Belarus and not to the UK

[kneehighs]

VPN 

[Shyheels]

No comprende 

[alphax]

Hmm, they look kinda like high heel ankle boot versions of Allbirds wool sneakers http://www.allbirds.com which is a total SF tech hipster trend.

[HHMafia]

VPN = virtual private network, allows you to view content that is blocked by your country. Could be paid subscription or Tor net

[kneehighs]

31 minutes ago, HHMafia said:

VPN = virtual private network, allows you to view content that is blocked by your country. Could be paid subscription or Tor net

Thank you sir.  

[Heelster]

30 minutes ago, HHMafia said:

VPN = virtual private network, allows you to view content that is blocked by your country. Could be paid subscription or Tor net

 - - and with Net Neutrality gone, many ISP's are looking to eliminate VPN's so that they can channel you through their preferred websites and hide the ones who won't pony up to their costs.

[Puffer]

I don't think there is any blockage of the Fluevog site.   It is simply that, if I go to the site, I can find no mention of these Glitter boots or any similar ones, except that a search for 'Prince George' shows them in black leather, but said to be 'discontinued'.   Nothing else of interest there; most of the shoes are plain ugly imho and all are expensive.

[Shyheels]

Agreed. And there would be no logical reason for them to block anybody in the UK from viewing their wares.  

Edited February 3, 2018 by Shyheels

[Huhwhat]

I'm able to open the link and it shows the shoes and has them listed as available, but only in sizes 6,7,8 

Is there a chance that the site had your actual size set in their cookies, so for you they weren't available since they are sold out/discontinued in all sizes other than 6-8?

 

[kneehighs]

http://www.refinery29.com/2017/11/182470/instagram-men-heels-syro-photos

An interesting interview with the design team behind the Syro, the Bushwick Brooklyn based brand of heels for men.   

I'm sure a comment in there from Shaobo Han will be met with controversy here.   

 

 

 

[Steve63130]

Interesting find, KH. I saw the comment you mentioned, but I took it in the context of where he's coming from, so I wasn't offended, even if his thinking is far too narrow. That kind of mentality would seriously limit their audience, as they've only got it half right. They've eliminated gender but kept sexual preference, which doesn't help our cause; it reinforces public perception that heels on men are a gay thing. 

As far as their styles, I would wear some of the boots like that. In fact, I already do. The only difference is that mine are women's and they cost a fourth of what Syro is asking. 

Steve

[pebblesf]

1 hour ago, kneehighs said:

http://www.refinery29.com/2017/11/182470/instagram-men-heels-syro-photos

An interesting interview with the design team behind the Syro, the Bushwick Brooklyn based brand of heels for men.   

I'm sure a comment in there from Shaobo Han will be met with controversy here.   

These guys look GREAT, just the confident masculine look I would love to achieve....Will have to look into their offerings for sure...

 

 

 

[Shyheels]

11 hours ago, Steve63130 said:

Interesting find, KH. I saw the comment you mentioned, but I took it in the context of where he's coming from, so I wasn't offended, even if his thinking is far too narrow. That kind of mentality would seriously limit their audience, as they've only got it half right. They've eliminated gender but kept sexual preference, which doesn't help our cause; it reinforces public perception that heels on men are a gay thing. 

As far as their styles, I would wear some of the boots like that. In fact, I already do. The only difference is that mine are women's and they cost a fourth of what Syro is asking. 

Steve

I agree. I can't help but feel they do nothing but reinforce - strongly - the stereotype that men in heels must be gay or at the very least cannot possibly be masculine and are wearing them as expressions of their femininity. I can't see that sales pitch endearing itself to very many straight masculine guys.    

Edited February 4, 2018 by Shyheels

[JeffB]

12 hours ago, kneehighs said:

http://www.refinery29.com/2017/11/182470/instagram-men-heels-syro-photos

An interesting interview with the design team behind the Syro, the Bushwick Brooklyn based brand of heels for men.   

I'm sure a comment in there from Shaobo Han will be met with controversy here.   

 

 

 

Meh! After all this time, I'm used to reading comments like those, and they stopped mattering to me a long time ago. As for the heels themselves? Double meh! The styling does nothing for me, and the prices are a turn-off as well.

[kneehighs]

Thing is, among the Millenial and Gen-Z  population (gasp, yes I dare to use this terms despite being triggers for others here), the LGBT association doesn't carry the stigma that Gen-X or Baby Boomers might assume it does.  The way I see it, the emergence of more businesses with "skin in the game" who put their money where there mouth is at, is symbolic of the times.  If you go back in the archives here at hhplace to 2001-2008, the hope we dreamed for back then is in existence now.  And though that change hasn't brought the communities desires to fruition yet, it's an improvement on the past.

http://metro.co.uk/2017/08/30/i-dont-need-vogues-permission-to-wear-stilettos-men-in-heels-is-and-has-always-been-ok-6878051/ (a man with a bear who wears stilettos) 

 

 

  

Edited February 4, 2018 by kneehighs

[Shyheels]

I would totally agree with you that the better educated and more enlightened millennials or whatever you want to call them have a far healthier degree of tolerance towards the LGBT community than previous generations and that is certainly a good thing. I am guessing too that your lifestyle and work brings you much into contact with these enlightened millennials and so that would inform your view of the world it’s people and the future. And within that context you are correct - in that world, your world, the future does look nice and tolerant and (possibly)  well-heeled.

Even there though, I would say that acceptance of the LGBT community by this enlightened demographic is not the same as identifying with it, which is where the ads and marketing for these heels will ultimately fail.

And the skin in the game you speak of is transitory - as is all fashion. Heels this year, something else next. Heels as novelty, a way of gaining lucrative press and shock value, have come and gone before. Often in fact. I see nothing that suggests this is any different.

Looking further afield there is also a great swathe of far less educated, less enlightened and less tolerant young people, also in that age bracket - ones you do not come into contact with in the course of your daily life and business and whose faces do not appear in glossy fashion magazines. This lumpenproletariat forms a critical mass and can and do shape society as a whole.

 

Edited February 4, 2018 by Shyheels

[Heelster]

On 04/02/2018 at 2:07 PM, Shyheels said:

Looking further afield there is also a great swathe of far less educated, less enlightened and less tolerant young people, also in that age bracket - ones you do not come into contact with in the course of your daily life and business and whose faces do not appear in glossy fashion magazines. This lumpenproletariat forms a critical mass and can and do shape society as a whole.

 

And this population seems to be growing, and gaining a voice. I'm seeing it here stateside.

[Shyheels]

1 hour ago, Heelster said:

And this population seems to be growing, and gaining a voice. I'm seeing it here stateside.

It’s not very nice, is it? 

It seems to be going on in Europe and the UK as well

It does not inspire one with optimism.

Also, while there is the broad appearance of enlightenment in society it is a regulated enlightenment - prone to the whims of the latest Twitter storm (the ultimate tempest in a teapot)  

Edited February 6, 2018 by Shyheels

[Puffer]

6 hours ago, Shyheels said:

It’s not very nice, is it? 

It seems to be going on in Europe and the UK as well

It does not inspire one with optimism.

Also, while there is the broad appearance of enlightenment in society it is a regulated enlightenment - prone to the whims of the latest Twitter storm (the ultimate tempest in a teapot)  

No, it is certainly not nice - and very worrying.   Standards of general education and behaviour are declining - largely due to teachers and other role-models being themselves less well educated (and less conscientious).   And nothing is helped by the ever-growing degree of influence, regulation and control exercised by the state and (perhaps worse) by one's peers - which at one and the same time attempts to make people conform (not always sensibly) whilst sowing seeds of anarchy.   I do wonder what lies in store for my young grandchildren. 

Today marks the centenary of 'Votes for Women' being implemented in the UK, and rightly so.   But has it been steadily downhill since then?

[Shyheels]

Indeed it has been mainly downhill for the past century, but I'm not sure we can blame women for that! 

And launching a petition for repeal would probably not get terribly far with either the Home Secretary or the PM....

Edited February 6, 2018 by Shyheels

[Puffer]

5 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Indeed it has been mainly downhill for the past century, but I'm not sure we can blame women for that! 

And launching a petition for repeal would probably not get terribly far with either the Home Secretary or the PM....

I wasn't suggesting that women were responsible for this country's decline since 1918!   But they have played a part, and we have been seeing a somewhat disturbing new wave of female militancy recently.

My point was that a notable, and overdue, reform a century ago may have been one of the few high spots (along with the defeat of Nazi Germany) before the rot set in.

[Shyheels]

I knew you weren't suggesting women and the vote triggered a decline in society! I was being facetious. 

social media has been response for much of what one might call a decline - flash mobs on Twitter forcing policy changes, plus an almost gleeful willingness to take offence at anything and stoking up a Twitter storm seems to be the rule of the day, with those who are not fanning Twitter storms running scared of them. It does not leave me feeling sanguine about the future.   

[Heelster]

19 hours ago, Shyheels said:

It’s not very nice, is it? 

It seems to be going on in Europe and the UK as well

It does not inspire one with optimism.

Also, while there is the broad appearance of enlightenment in society it is a regulated enlightenment - prone to the whims of the latest Twitter storm (the ultimate tempest in a teapot)  

Agreed!

[kneehighs]

On 2/4/2018 at 12:52 PM, kneehighs said:

http://metro.co.uk/2017/08/30/i-dont-need-vogues-permission-to-wear-stilettos-men-in-heels-is-and-has-always-been-ok-6878051/ (a man with a bear who wears stilettos) 

 

 

  

Did anybody catch this guy in the link above?  Also, the CEO of the CFDA posted this on his Instagram: 

Which lead to this post from Mic https://mic.com/articles/187849/new-york-fashion-week-calendar-adds-category-for-unisex-and-nonbinary-fashion#.3eUsYnDXe

The gender non-conforming movement (non binary fashion) is officially upon us from the most influential ranks of the fashion world.  

I assume this will add to a favorable cultural climate for men who wear heels/stilettos/women's footwear.

[Shyheels]

Quite possibly it will - at the cocktail parties, fashion shows and launches attended by a particular social set who, through fame and fortune and cultured notoriety, will be immune from the slings and arrows of society at large. And since these events will be well attended by photographers - with paparazzi waiting outside - and glossy magazines will publish breathless accounts of the proceedings and who is wearing who, there will be an illusion created in the minds of some that heels for men is now the dernier cri 

And that may be true - for a time - among the very small circle of fashionistas described above. But they are not, and never will be, a critical mass.

O.K.! and Hello and Vogue and Vanity Fair - or fashion calendars, for that matter - do not enjoy a great following among rank-and-file blokes; that is not their demographic. And while such as The Daily Mail may carry in their fashion/celebrity columns tales of daring new looks being exhibited at the launch of such-and-such, blokes will be reading the footy pages. They won't be looking for fashion advice and the look they ought to wear down to the pub or the footy match or the betting agency.  Won't happen.

And the risk-averse companies who produce the millions of shoes and boots that are actually worn by the masses will know this, and continue to invest and produce accordingly, and conservatively.  

It will take a profound cultural/societal change - of some sort, and what that would be I can't imagine - for men to be able to wear heels or enjoy any of the fashion freedoms or theatricality in dress that women take for granted. Whatever the profound cultural change might be, if it ever comes it won't be something that is led by a fashion house.     

 

Edited February 11, 2018 by Shyheels