I just don't get high heels

[Orangeanddemons]

I don't know why. I don't honestly think they flatter anyone. I grew up in the era of the DM, and they sort of passed me buy. I don't think I've ever wanted to wear anything with a really high heel. I see loads of boots and shoes I like, but the heels always seem to be so high. Am sure the rest of Europe aren't as bad as the Uk. I always seem to find lower heels on holiday

i think heels can look lovely but they're such a bugger to wear. hats off to anyone over the age of 20 who regularly wears heels all day. i wish i could be bothered because i'm 5'2 and have "sturdy" legs, so could do with the elongation.
yy to AnnieL once a new student in my lab rocked up in stilettos. everyone noticed and commented. it was hilarious. poor little thing tottered round all day she must have been in agony by hometime.

But Annie

Don't you wear your hair in a bun and glasses?

When you remove glasses and let down hair after a long day hunched over a bench; doesn't the (male) pipe smoking, tweed wearing fellow academic say "Why Dr Lobeseder, you're beautiful. But why the fugly flats?"

I wear heels every day,have since my teens (now 31).I love them,they're pretty,comfortable and they make me taller!I can also run in them.

I love shoes.

Most flats are,in my personal opinion,decidedly ugly and as I have a thing for pretty shoes I don't touch flats (and clompy shoes are just wrong!)

Heels come in different shapes and sizes - eg a wedge heel, or a slightly higher heel (not spiked) on say a boot.

some people prefer legs to be elongated rather than flat.

personal preference to me.

scrap my middle sentence - some people prefer legs to be elongated which is what most heels do rather than a flat profile which I think most flat shoes/boots give.

I'd feel frumpy going out on in the evening in flat shoes. For me, heels (3 inches max) are an evening going out shoe. I wouldn't even consider wearing flats. I like the clip clopping and the height it gives me, makes me feel dressed up.
During the day, it's always flats, I wouldn't consider wearing heels, especially with a 5 and 3yr old around!

Day to day I wear flats or ankle boots with a little heel, I walk a lot and like to be comfy.

I don't agree that all heels are the modern day equivalent of foot-binding, that's just stupid. There are varying degrees of heels, many are quite comfortable, easy to walk in, flattering, oh and they look good.

I really, really hate the current trend for stripper type shoes with a massive platform and a 7 inch heel. They are so ugly! Nothing more inelegant than seeing someone teetering around like a baby giraffe or worse still, barefoot and carrying their shoes.

When I wear heels I wear something like this which are actually quite comfy as they aren't too high and they have a small inbuilt platform.

@ CerealMom!!

Sadly, we all all work in scruffy old scrubs and trainers, so no tweed, and certainly no pipes! And we all look as crap as each other.

Not a Dr (yet).

No bun. Just a ponytail.

I am wearing glasses!

I still remain baffled that people give any consideration to the "profile" of their legs.

And can someone please explain to me WTAF is up with THESE FREAKY MONSTROSITIES I'm suddenly seeing in all the shops?!?!??!

They are vile. I always wonder how the hell people walk in those

Those freaky shoes do look as though they're defying some law of physics. I blame Lady Gaga.

I don't wear them - they just feel like an accident waiting to happen. And they hurt. And I have a bad ankle. etc

I get the comparison with foot binding - many women are choosing to limit themselves physically via their shoes. The standard varies from person to person. I can wear a 2" chunky heel usually without issue, but a 2" spiky heel would be my lower threshold of the 'foot binding' equivalent for me.

I have such mixed feelings about them.

I just hate to see a woman tottering around on HH's (and I see it many times every single day) - it looks stupid, it looks like she prioritises how these shoes "look" over how she feels. It must limit her life/day wearing them - and I think that is a dreadful equation to be in on a regular basis. Looks more important than life. I'm not sure what the upshot is in this HH relationship for them?

There seems to be a culture of HH's being "feminine" and "sexy" but it's all very porn star "feminine & sexy" to me.

Then again, I do sometimes see women who can wear them, look comfortable in them and pull them off. And I admit to feeling slightly in awe of these women and wonder what super powers they possess in order to live life in HH's.

Then the sneaking suspicion creeps in that they too are in pain, and have just learned to 'manage' that pain for the sake of 'fashion'.

A few girlfriends who have successfully worn HH's, now in their 40's are having dreadful problems with their misshapen deformed feet - all cause by wearing HH's in 20's & 30's. They can barely get out of Birkenstocks and Converse these days. What will their feet be like in 10/20/30 years?

I would like to see more sexy, funky flats or shoes with low chunky wearable heels available in UK. I'm always looking and they are hard to find (unless you want to pay a lot of ££).

I would not buy shoes I couldn't run in (if I had to).

Damn this thread!!! Clicking on all the links to silly shoes means I now have adverts for silly shoes in the ad bar at the top of the page!!

I still remember my High School prom - I wore velvet flat ballet pumps (that lasted me ages afterwards, through years of waitressing, so they really were comfy!) and at the end of the night, I was the only girl still wearing her shoes. All the others - high heels - were in a big pile in the middle of he floor and all the girls were dancing around them!

I felt quite smug.

I love my heels and I wear some kind of heel (not always stilletos, but also wedges, block-heeled boots etc) pretty much every day. However I don't wear them to feel sexy or attract men or whatever.

I'm quite tall (5'8") but with a long torso and short dumpy legs. Wearing heels makes me feel more in proportion

vitaminC does it hurt you to wear them all day? You say wearing heels makes you feel in proportion, but do they also make you feel limited in what you can take on in your day?

I have a friend who always wears heels, it was talking point when I saw her in flats. If you're a habitual heel wearer your achilles tendon shrinks making them more comfortable and flat shoes more uncomfortable.

I only wear high heels in bed

It doesn't hurt me to wear heels daily.Although for things like the school run,walks with ds,I prefer a high wedge rather than normal heel as it's slightly more practical!

I'm like VitaminC - I always wear high heels as my legs are quite short in proportion to my body and it elongates them. At the weekend I don't wear particularly high heels - wedges in summer or block heeled boots in winter. I have some very comfortable high heels that i wear to work that I can walk all day in. Otherwise I just change when I get to work.

I do think that everyone looks better in high heels. You see loads of woman walking around in ballet flats, and they all have a kind of waddle that goes will ballet flats. There are very few people whose legs look good in flat shoes imo.

I get leg ache now when I wear flat shoes.

I also feel more dressed up in higher heels - whether it's for work or going out, I just feel more stylish and finished somehow. (probably don't look it though). If I wear flat shoes I feel more scruffy and less er thin maybe.

none of my heels are stilettos by the way or the platform shoes of e.g. kerry katona, but ones like the chie mihara shoes linked to below. They still elongate the leg etc without making you totter.

I have small feet and "shapely" calves so I tend to look a bit like this.

Every time I wear heels I fall over - and I'm not talking a clumsy stumble - I'm talking full on, in the road, near death experience.

I also can't stand being preoccupied with discomfort and I can't walk elegantly in them, hence I feel and look self-conscious - which is never a good look.

Ahhhh Annie you need... (apologies for the DM linky)

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1347718/High-heeled-trainers-Run-away.html

... and this. Just with you rather than man in drag.

www.rockymusic.org/showimage/ba986e3f06a2f7b895724e78fa9d9e83.php

I was going for slightly scary/sexy scrubs outfit. Suitable for viva? Non!

I never wear them – I don't think it matters. I'm 5'10" and not willowy - anything above 2 inches and I'm all over the place. Also I have big feet and high heels are never made for wide/large feet.

I sometimes do think they are a thing of beauty, especially fantastically arty ones by mcqueen etc. - but not to actually wear.

I do sometimes wish they would make shoes that have the drama and style of high heels, but are flat IYSWIM. Flats often seems to mean ballet flats, brogues or (yeuch) loafers. Still I am mainly happy in converse-style trainers, flat sandals, and flat chunky boots in winter.

I wear heels most days. I find them just as comfortable as any other shoe - if they caused me pain I wouldn't wear them. I guess I find them comfortable and easy to walk in because I'm used to them.

I don't like those ridiculously high shoes with the huge platforms though. But that's only because I think they're ugly.

Personally I don't think many styles of flat shoes are very good for your feet either, particularly ballet flats. They provide no support for the arch of your foot whatsoever.