Are high heels becoming obsolete?

[SlipperOrchid]

I rarely wear anything except flats anymore. It wasn't intentional, simply practical footwear for chasing young children around.

However, more often than not, if I was going out for the evening, I wore mid heels as I felt more 'dressed up' in them. My heels were neither comfortable nor uncomfortable although if I had to choose, I will say the latter as when I got home I kicked them off

My social life has changed from late nigh bars to restaurants and putting on heels to go and sit down with my feet under a table seems bordering on insanity.

Trainers are now more popular than ever. I have over ten pairs and wear them daily apart wearing flat boots when it rains (like today!).

I follow En Brogue and she never wears heels and although I know this started for medical reasons, her choice of flat shoes makes perfect sense for everyone.

At the weekend, I had a great seat by an upstairs window in a coffee shop in a capital city where I spent over an hour people watching. Everyone was wearing flat shoes or trainers. I saw one woman who clumped around rather ungracefully in heeled boots and she stood out quite a lot.

Afterwards | went shoe shopping (for a pair of loafers in Aldo) and noticed for the first time that the section for 'high heels' was tiny.
Am I simply totally unstylish these days? Do many of you still wear heels? Or have heels had their day?

I should add that I under 5ft 3" and always liked feeling taller in heels :).

I don’t think they are as fashionable as they were, in general, but I suspect their popularity varies depending on where you live. Some places go full on glam on a Saturday night out, others are more low key.

I think they are a bit old fashioned for the office now. I don't know anyone in my workplace under about 50 who wears proper heels.

Flat shoes are bad for your feet. You should be opting for a very small heel on all your shoes. Buying orthopaedic shoes is always a good idea. But high heels are definitely out now. I haven’t seen anyone under the age of 30 wearing them for at least a year. Even at weddings it’s all about a sensible mid heel or platform.

FWIW, I’m in more of a ‘low key’ place and rarely wear heels.

I do hope so!

I hate them - having grown up in the original 90s era of DMs and trainers I never really got used to wearing heels as a grown up.

Never! I wear high heels to the office these M&S heels and these black wedges for garden events and out and about. I've been told I walk well in them (DH gives me the oddest compliments!) but I do like wearing flats at the weekend/downtime.

They look v dated and try hard

What would you wear on a night out though ?

I normally wear trainers on a night out. Maybe flat ballerinas.

I wear these for work which are comfy and more of a mid heel
https://www.charlesclinkard.co.uk/women-c1/shoes-c2/court-shoes-c82/chorus-pitch-womens-t-bar-court-shoes-p32546/s451337

At our work Christmas party all the women aged from 19 - 65 wore stiletto sandals!
I was the only one in chunky black platform sandals as I'm not confident in heels.

Round our town (south coast) at night the women in the bars are in heels almost without exception.

My sister works for a yacht company- in the office & at boat shoes they are actually required to wear heels except when they walk onto the boats when they are expected to put on deck shoes instead.
My sister keeps trainers under her desk for the commute.

However I have to wear flat black shoes for work so I've got used to NOT wearing heels.
For nights out I either wear sparkly flats, my pretty River Island wedges or my afore mentioned platform sandals.
I wear trainers or pointed pumps during the day, boots in winter including my ankle boots which have mid block heels & are easy to walk in.
I like sandals in summer or flip flops.

I recently was godmother at a christening, I was nervous that I'd be the only woman in flats but actually the other godmother (aged 24) was also in flats.
She says that she wears only flats on nights out too (she lives in London).

I would classify the Charles Clinkard are high heels though.

I often think men would laugh in the face of the suggestion that they wear high heels which stops them from being able to run fast etc.

Regarding nights out, I think it is manageable. I manage perfectly well in the summer. I have a dread of looking and feeling frumpy when I wear flats with skirts. This isn’t helped by my chunky calves! But is this just social conditioning????

I hope not - i'm 5ft 2 and need all the help/ height I can get!

I think they definitely look higher than they are, they're very sturdy and I can run in them! I do wear flats mostly at home, sometimes low heeled (like 2 inches) boots, then a mix of trainers, palmairas, UGG wilcox etc

Nights out I wear the M&S ones a previous poster linked

Yes cities are the natural environment of women wearing flats. In smaller towns heels are more common I think because people don’t walk and get public transport wherever they want to go???

I think someone is still wearing them as went shoe shopping and struggled to find any smart shoes under 3.5 inches tall (I didn't want ballet flats or brogues)

Stuck Whete was this out of interest?

I spent the last two Saturdays in shoe shops in a European capital and apart from a very small area of high heels, they were mostly trainers, loafers, ballerina type shoes (which I absolutely hate!) and sandals which we don’t have the weather for yet.

How high is high? I wear 2-3" heels for work and going out, but flats or low blocky heels for anything involving lots of walking.
I am however old and not exactly on trend.

I had this conversation with DH when we were out the other day. We were out for drinks and the majority of people were in much more casual outfits with flat shoes, there were a few people milling around in wedding guest outfits with heels and the odd person with jeans and heels but it was in the minority.

I used to always wear heels for dinner out/nights out but now I stick to flats. 9 times out of 10 I have on gazelles or converse during the day and if I'm out at night I'll have on converse or loafers. I own one pair of black heels now but I very rarely put them on.

I don't wear heels at all...I am 6 feet tall.

Agree they are v dated now. Especially for work.

How high is high

Simple answer? Anything that is not flat. I don’t mean slipper like flat but not higher than a man’s regular shoe?

I work in the city and everyone still wears heels in my office

I wear them on Friday / Saturday nights out but for a wedding / summer event id wear chunky mid-heeled sandals instead

Boots with a mid heel, skinny jeans and 90s style tops seem to be really popular with young people around here

I have not worn heels for years and years. Not on a night out. Not even to a wedding! Someone mentioned social conditioning - absolutely.

Shirley London? Finance? I always assume people who say they work in the city are talking about London’s financial district.

In The Apprentice tv all the contestants wear dresses and high heels regardless of the tasks often involving running around all day.