To think high heels look a bit silly?

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I'm a sucker for them (or used to be) but the more time goes by I'm starting to feel they have very little place in my wardrobe.

I feel overdressed and try to hard in them. I think it's hard to pull off the effortless look in heels. But I also feel like something is missing when I don't wear them on a night out for example.

I feel like it's yet another pointless trend for women to continue following - that are really uncomfortable and serve no real purpose.

I've also noticed younger women rarely wear them - have they seen the light?!

Or AIBU for feeling this way

I love heels. As long as you can walk properly and confidently in them, there's no issue. If you totter around like Bambi on ice, then maybe stick to flats.

But when dressing up for a night out, flats just don't do it for me. I feel dumpy and scruffy. A heel makes me walk better, stand more confident and just feels more polished overall.

I massively missed wearing heels during lockdown.

@EarringsandLipstick I guess I never thought about shorter women - that makes sense.

I suppose being a bit shorter I can totally see why heels would maybe be a preference.

I am short, and have a "big" job for my age. I can't risk looking any more youthful at work than I am. So I do still generally wear heels into the office. Interestingly I don't think I have worn them on a night out probably ever - maybe a pair of heeled boots, but not shoes with heels - so maybe if I'm ahead of the trend in some areas and behind in others then it all evens out!

It's interesting people saying it's bad for your bad - I would say wearing heels is definitely better for my lordosis. They clearly aren't good for your feet, but I am very careful with which shoes I pick: 95% of shoes I try on are rejected for not being comfortable enough.

@ArianaG

I think they look unfashionable and are ageing. Most younger women wear trainers, chunky boots or DMS, it's the middle age women that wear them nowadays it seems.

It’s true down South but I recently went up to Manchester for the weekend to see a friend and all the younger girls were wearing body con dresses and heels.

I felt a bit weird in my Stan Smiths, I felt like someone who had lost her suitcase or something!

I do think stilettos look dated now but that’s probably as I live in the South and I think there is a difference in how the South and North dress on a night out, it’s probably not as dated in the North ifyswim.

I think they're going the way of corsets, and not before time. Like corsets, they might come back as novelty items, but they'll never again be the norm. I can't believe I allowed so many nights out to be spoiled by blisters and aching feet. My daughters wouldn't dream of wearing uncomfortable shoes- they've much more sense than I had.

Yeh they are ridiculous and also incredibly bad for your health.
I view them as oppressive

Haven’t worn high heels in around 35 years. Live in DMs, trainers and brogues. I doubt very much that I could stagger more than a few paces in heels without crying in pain. In my teens I used to trot around in skyscraper heels but they were never comfortable. I’m bemused to find my ‘look’ suddenly in fashion.

But ‘cheese boots’ OP? That’s an edgy fashion look but you can always eat your footwear if you feel hungry.

@brokenbiscuitsx I agree there is certainly a north/south divide when it comes to fashions.

Also I guess it depends what circles you spend time on too.

I love high heels with the right outfits and find them very comfortable. I have no intention of stopping wearing them but I follow catwalk trends and I'm not in the least bit interested what is happening on the high street. My platform boots are one of my favourite new season purchases.

I love my heels, but I'm 5' nothing and need every bit of fake authority i can muster up! I don't have any issues walking in them either, and I like the noise they make on hard floors

The person who sneered at them for being 'secretarial ' needs to have a word with themselves.

I always used to wear heels, I was known for it- could walk miles in them and stand all day in them and never had so much as a blister. Then I had kids and my back got buggered in pregnancy so I didn’t wear them as much, although would wear a lower heel or a Mary Jane type strapped shoe for work. Then obviously WFH happened so that was it for me really; trainers, flip-flops and ballet flats for good. And for the most part I’m too old and go out to fancy places too little to care. But me and DH and our friends went to a swanky restaurant and a show one night over the summer and I did wear a pair of understated heels with my dress and I felt so tall and willowy and glam.... I felt like it took years off of me. It was probably just the confidence of feeling like I did in my youth, but I felt so attractive in a way I had forgotten heels make you feel.

That said, the theatre, restaurant and our hotel were all within less than 1/4 of a mile of one another and I was still a hobbling, hunchback the next day with bunions on my bunions, so that tells you everything you need to know about how good heels are for your body!

They are ridiculous, when you think about it. Why wear something that is so uncomfortable and impractical, and throws your whole skeletal structure out of alignment? People teetering about on heels do look fairly silly. If we didn't have them, no-one would invent them because it would so obviously be totally impractical.

@CornishGem1975

I love heels. As long as you can walk properly and confidently in them, there's no issue. If you totter around like Bambi on ice, then maybe stick to flats.

But when dressing up for a night out, flats just don't do it for me. I feel dumpy and scruffy. A heel makes me walk better, stand more confident and just feels more polished overall.

I massively missed wearing heels during lockdown.

Why couldn’t you wear heels in lockdown. ? Was there a law against wearing them

I think lockdown hastened a trend that’s been brewing for years. You walk differently in heels, use different muscles and have a different posture and many of us would have fallen out of it. And on top of that the trendy aesthetic now is very, very casual, utilitarian and unisex, and the opposite of try too hard. Heels don’t have much of a role in it.

On Love Island or Married At First sight the ladies all wear them. They look glamorous and sexy I guess but not fashionable, in the same way fake tan and scouse eyebrows are common but not stylish. Just because they aren’t stylish doesn’t mean people won’t carry on wearing them, and enjoy doing so.

I love seeing youngsters out on a Saturday night in London wearing short dresses and big trainers, even drunk it feels safer.

Have rarely seen anyone walk , remotely properly, in a pair of tarts' darts.

Just saying.

(Runs and hides.)

Hmmm I don’t know.

I wear them at work. It’s a relatively dressy office. I’m short and in a more senior role than a lot of older people. They serve a purpose.

I’d also finding myself being drawn back to more formal wear more generally. It’s nice to put a outfit together, but new flattering things. I am very over the loungewear of lockdown.

If they give you blisters and aching feet then you have the wrong size or fit. I have bought flats that I have worn a handful of times because of the horrible blisters, I think that they were too narrow. However I have pairs of heels that I know I can wear to walk to my local and back (about 3 miles total) and still feel fine.

And yes it is judgemental to say "They are aging/dated/secretarial (wtf?!) silly" instead of "I dont like them, I dont wear them but dont give a thought to anyone else who chooses to wear them".

I used to dance in 5 inch stilettos. Don't think I could even stand up straight in them now.

Younger women may not wear heels but they do things that are for more worrying. The amount of young girls I see with over inflated pillow lips and those huge eyelash extensions that must be pulling their own eyelashes out. At least they won’t have bunions though...

I think lockdown hastened a trend that’s been brewing for years.

I’m not sure about this, I think we’ll see a swing back

Why do high heels need to be part of 'formal wear' though? Why do we need to damage our feet to look smart? Men wouldn't. It certainly doesn't make sense from a safety or comfort angle .

I can walk in fairly serious heels. Mostly because of the 9 years of ballroom dancing lessons I did (I have all 15 grades in my main style, at least 4 grades in a further three styles).

Heels were out of fashion prior to lockdown. But they'll be back in time. No doubt about it.

And my 19 year old daughter never wears heels but would live in her football boots if she could.

@Downton57

Why do high heels need to be part of 'formal wear' though? Why do we need to damage our feet to look smart? Men wouldn't. It certainly doesn't make sense from a safety or comfort angle .

Exactly this. The more I think about it the more I find this frustrating.

Men do nothing from a fashion perspective or rarely do that's uncomfortable or risks their health.

Women tend to do this much more often - agree because of societal pressure a lot of the time but also it would be great if more of us put two fingers up to it.