Heel-Lover Posted October 20, 2007 Posted October 20, 2007 Hi Bubba and Quella, Sorry - I must not have explained myself well. In terms of what you are questioning - I will try again. Imagine you can cut off the leg of someone standing in heels at the ankle. Then compare the face of the leg (from the knee down to where you cut it off at the ankle) to the face of the foot (from the ankle down to the toe part of the shoe). The closer the later is to the vertical (or in line with the face of the leg) the higher the heel is for the wearer. When someone is standing side on wearing high heels - if the heels are very high the leg appears to go perfectly straight down to the toes, a lower heel and the foot part from the ankle down bends off at an angle going down the high heel to the toe. Does this make any more sense??? Heel-Lover
bigbadkatz Posted October 20, 2007 Posted October 20, 2007 My first pair was a pair of 4" pumps when I was 18, still living at home parent's house going to school. I tried them on in the car and the feeling was absolutely unbelievable. I was trembling. I FINALLY was wearing women's shoes. I drove home in them, very carefully, quite enjoying the cramping of my toes and the slight difficulty of working the brake/gas pedals. When I got home I took them off, put my clunky hi-tops back on, and went to the basement and finally got to WALK AROUND the concrete floor wearing heels! The click-click-click sound, the calf muscle tightness, and the increased cramping of my feet was indescribable. Now that I have my own house, I wear 5" mules and stretch pants I ordered from the Lane Bryant catalog. They still drive me crazy...
Bubba136 Posted October 21, 2007 Posted October 21, 2007 Here's a couple of sites that have been around for ever. They are (somewhat) on topic here. They came from Andrews high heel page.http://users.powernet.co.uk/wingett/ scroll down to "6" Heels Explained" and "Just how high is high" Being mentally comfortable in your own mind is the key to wearing heels in public.
Danielinheels Posted October 21, 2007 Posted October 21, 2007 Ok, someone tell me what's wrong with this method. I measure the height of my ankle bone from the floor when barefoot and then measure the hight of my ankle while wearing a pair of heels. The difference in this measurement is actually the total height I gain when wearing heels of different height. It doesn't have much correlation between the height of the heel and how much taller I am when wearing them. This is what I do as well. Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. - Oscar Wilde
HappyFeat Posted October 23, 2007 Posted October 23, 2007 I took to heels quie naturally. Women are often amazed at how well I walk in them. In many cases I have been told that they (a woman) couldn't walk in a heel that high (which is suprising since I seldom wear anything over 4".) Style is built from the ground up!
lolla Posted November 13, 2007 Posted November 13, 2007 I can wear 5" high heels without effort (I wear 13 US size heels). The problems appear when the heel height is over 5" ( eg. 5,5"). This height is much harder to wear.
jagman Posted November 13, 2007 Posted November 13, 2007 Wearing 3.5" was very easy for me, though I still have to concentrate on posture ( I tend to lean forward but I think thats more phycological than anything else ). There are some boots that are no problem at 4" but not all and I can't seem to break the 4.5" and its quite frustrating. All my measurements are from the sole of the shoe to the floor at the back minus any platform. I call it heel lift. I have a pair of wedge boots that give the apparant heel lift of 4.5" but I can walk in these because the heel ends about an inch and a half forward though you need to be aware on smooth surfaces. So what's all the fuss about?
Majo Posted November 18, 2007 Posted November 18, 2007 As has happened to many of you, I've been into heels since I can remember. Ranges from 2" to 4.5" were very common during my childhood and teenage; although I believe 3" / 3.5" was the standard during '70s and '80s. I manage 4" with no problem. My size is 42EU. The highest ones I have are 12cm -slightly below 5"- The took me a bit of stretching to use them. My wife has a similar pair, she is a 38, and handles them quite well. Regarding Bubbas and Quellas doubts: What I've found, after more or less 150 pairs between both of us, is that your height will grow up to 3" inches with 3.5" heels. On top of that, you might get very low gain of height -maybe 0.2" more with a 4.5" heel. This is why -in my opinion- most brands don't push the limit over 4". Maybe 3.9" for a size 35 (6US) and 4.3" in a size 41 (US11). Foot sizes vary with the total length of the foot as I can see. Toes are not taken in account for that length. I've been doing some research on shoe total length and the length from the ball of the feet -where the toes bend in a heeled shoe- to the end of the heel. At least here, in my country, the good brands produce heels according to the length of the feet, and the steeped part gets a "proportional" growth. The heels for a 38 will be 0.4cm shorter than those in a 41. I don't have any 34 to prove this but I assume those should be almost 0.4cm lower from the 38s. From my investigation -not very scientific, I guess- I have realized that what should be taken in account to define the height growth is the arched part of the foot and not the total length of it. Many brands put the length of the shoe into the data provided to the customer. I think that this can lead to confusion, as the toes can be longer or shorter than "standard" and the shoe won't fit properly. Take care.
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