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’m 5’ 2” so, short of wearing stilts, everybody’s going to tower over me. Heels make no difference except that my feet hurt. My son reckons “Though she be small, she be fierce” was written for me. I feel no need to look them in the eye.

I look like Bambi on Ice in heels. I might stretch to a mid-heel for a wedding if I liked the person. Maybe. I tower over DP in heels anyway (we're both 5"8) so it's probably just as well.

I have a cousin who is 6"1 and she looks stunning in heels. Unfair she got all the good genes .

It is true Exhausted, the people who look best in heels are very tall women. I’m 5ft 2 and heels don’t do anything for me.

Slipperorchid, not sure....

I am just over 6ft and bang my head on door posts and oak beams in people's houses in heels....

Also, last time I wore high heels to a party, the music was so loud and all the conversation was happening so far below for me, I felt lonely and left out ...that evening sucked! Everyone else seemed to be around 5ft and chatting happily, and I kept having to bend down and say "WHAT?!"

I hope so

as a pp said, there’s no going back.
Of course there is. Fashion is always going back. You may choose not to but the next generation will do it just to annoy their mums.

Fashion is always going back

Agree with that. Think of the lovely, comfortable clothes women wore in the Regency period (Jane Austen era). Then fashions changed and, within a decade, they were trussed up in corsets & crinolines.

I often go in charity shops, and seen loads of those sky scraper wedge shoes, and conclude they were probably only worn once, as they are invariably in new condition. As for the trainer subject, I used to wear trainers back in the early 80's daytime for walks, low heel/flattish shoes for general out and about, sometimes small heel to town, then the higher heels for evening. It seems now people wear the same thing for every occasion.

Christ well I'm fashion obsolete then i live in pencil skirts and heels for work

Fashion is always going back
A lot of women are rejecting fashion now, and wearing whatever they want to. See the racks of unsold clothes.

Christ well I'm fashion obsolete then i live in pencil skirts and heels for work

But are you trying to be fashionable?

Absolutely agree that only already tall women look good in heels. Women under 5ft 2 look like they're playing dress up in heels.

Rubbish watery, anyone can look good in heels- it's all about finding the right shoe for your outfit- look at Kylie here

The link doesn't work but kylie and Cheryl Cole are prime examples. As good looking as they both are, they look like they've raided mums show rack in heels

Height has never been something I think about when considering whether someone looks good in heels. In my opinion the people that look good in heels are the people who can walk in them like they are trainers, but unfortunately many people can't and looking like you are uncomfortable in your shoes - never looks fabulous!

watery Well, that might be your opinion but I disagree.

DH and I often comment on the presenters and female judges on Strictly in their sky high heels, they are beautifully dressed, made-up, great posture etc and they are all very accomplished at walking in them but the shoes spoil the whole effect.

I have always hated heels. With a dress or skirt I wear flats.

I work on the Tube so I wear chunky metal free boots!

I see women go to work in office-wear but wearing converse or Skechers. I assume they change at work.

In Paris recently I mainly saw tourists in Converse etc. We stayed in a non-touristy area and I didn't see any French women wearing heels. In the museums, a few of the female staff did, but it wasn't prevalent by any means.

Yes, the shoes are ruining their overall look- they'd look much nicer in a pair of Stan Smith's, or even some Birkenstocks or Hotter sandals would suit them.

They'd look much nicer in dressy flats. Those ankle straps make Tess's legs look stumpy and Claudia looks as though she's about to topple over.

I would like to wear heels 👠 again but after I broke my leg 🦵 last year I can't yet cope with them. I keep trying but it is easier to wear trainers and flats 🥿

It's the short legs bunny. They look daft with a pair of skyscrapers tied into the feet.

Yes, Tess's legs look really dumpy in that photo! Some flats would make them look much longer and they wouldn't look a bit like golf clubs.

I think I'd love to have dumpy legs!

I don't understand women who are saying it's not a feminist issue because they personally like their high heels. It's a feminist issue because women (and not men) were expected to wear heels for many things, regardless of how the woman in question felt in heels (and let's not forget there are those of us who even in our 20's have physical disabilities/problems that whilst aren't obvious to others, make heels impossible to wear). Now there is a legitimate choice of flats for pretty much any situation.

Should women have to go back to wearing just skirts / dresses and make trousers be totally socially unacceptable again? That was a big feminist issue in its day and there would have been plenty of women who liked their dresses and skirts but it was about choice and being able to wear something practical, when needed, like men can (I don't mean that dresses are impractical all round (I like dresses) more that there are certain activities where trousers can be far more practical).